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MacBook Air M2 / Pro M1 - Same Price
- Thread starter bmot
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I disagree. The Air was always about being smaller and lighter. In fact, the very first MacBook Air was rather expensive when it was introduced ($1799 in 2008). That's the equivalent of $2485 in 2022 dollars.
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the last 2 years the M1 base model was pegged as the "best value" laptop, and recommended over other models due to it's combination of power and bang for the buck
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In that case, I'm hoping they would lower the price of the redesigned Air by the next refresh like before.
It’s possible that when Apple upgrades the 14” MBP to M2 Pro, they might increase its price, too. Today they aren’t really at the same stage of product lifecycle.
You may be right; I thought by Pro M1 he meant the M1 Pro model, since there has been a lot of argument about how close the price of the M2 MBA is the 14" M1 MBP, equally-spec'd. I'll edit my post to ask.
As far as the pricing goes, they differ by 290 Euros on Apple's German site, equivalently spec'd. I'm guessing you managed to find a Pro for close to the same price as the Air just because you are comparing a BTO M2 Air to a base M1 Pro, and the base models tend to get bigger discounts. So I believe your comparison only works for that narrow situation. You could check this by comparing the pricing when they both have 2 TB SSD's.
Also, the point of the Air isn't just pricing, it's portability and silence (no fan). Personally, I'd get the Pro over the Air for the greater power, better internal display, and better external display support. However, if the Air gives you all the performance you need, you're fine with its display, and you prize portability and quietness, the Air would clearly be the better choice.
The way I'd characterize it is that the price disparity between the Air and the Pro has become smaller than it was a few years ago (14" Intel MBP vs Intel Air), so the difference has become less about price than other attributes. Then again, the performance disparity has likewise become less—e.g., SC speeds are now essentially the same, just favoring whichever one has the newer chip (except for external display support, where Apple has nerfed the performance of the AS Air relative to the old Intel model).
Also, the point of the Air isn't just pricing, it's portability and silence (no fan). Personally, I'd get the Pro over the Air for the greater power, better internal display, and better external display support. However, if the Air gives you all the performance you need, you're fine with its display, and you prize portability and quietness, the Air would clearly be the better choice.
The way I'd characterize it is that the price disparity between the Air and the Pro has become smaller than it was a few years ago (14" Intel MBP vs Intel Air), so the difference has become less about price than other attributes. Then again, the performance disparity has likewise become less—e.g., SC speeds are now essentially the same, just favoring whichever one has the newer chip (except for external display support, where Apple has nerfed the performance of the AS Air relative to the old Intel model).
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In Singapore, the M2 MBA is about $500 cheaper than the MBP. I suppose this could be a quirk of the recent currency fluctuations, but I doubt this is the case around the world. In other words, the MBA is still noticeably cheaper, while also being thinner and lighter to boot.
The screen isn't as good (or as large) as the one on the M1 Pro, but its not junk. Its a very nice screen.
Its all about the smaller form factor & lighter machine when you are looking at the price of an Air with 16GB RAM etc. Apple will sell mostly base Airs to people who don't care about things like HDR and don't need something with the power of an M1 Pro.
I understand that as i mentioned it before. It still does not add up with Apples other price policies.
Are those the new prices from Apple?
I've only seen similar pricing when comparing a new M2 air to 3rd-party discounted 14" Pro. While that is relevant to the person getting a deal on a 14, its not relevant to a larger discussion of Apple's pricing strategy.
I truly think the small price gap presents a very confusing dilemma for many people. If I were to buy today, I’d be very torn on whether to go with a base 14” MBP or an M2 MBA. I would not buy the base model M2 MBA, so it’s really a very small price difference. 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for $1199 is just not good value. As others have said, the value for performance of the M1 MBA is what made it so great.
Without having to pay Intel costs now, I’d think Apple would have the ability to keep the price lower, but I’d guess inflation and just estimated demand were used as reasons for pricing higher. It hasn’t worked well in the past to venture much higher than $1k for the MBA in the past. We’ll see this time.
Without having to pay Intel costs now, I’d think Apple would have the ability to keep the price lower, but I’d guess inflation and just estimated demand were used as reasons for pricing higher. It hasn’t worked well in the past to venture much higher than $1k for the MBA in the past. We’ll see this time.
I ended up snagging a MacBook Pro 14" but I was really considering going to an M2 MacBook Air upgrading from a 2017 MacBook Pro because the prices were so similar.
I checked Apple's German site today and there are price differences:
13" MacBook Air with M2, 16Gb RAM, 512 SSD: €1959
14" MacBook Pro with M1, 16Gb RAM, 512 SSD: €2249
That's €290 in difference.
I do not consider Apple Store prices relevant as they are often much higher than store prices. I check real world prices at idealo.de which compares prices of hundreds online stores and shows the best. The mentioned prices are for new products.
If you're looking at market prices, you need to account for the fact that the M1 Pro is an older product, so you're going to see more discounts there than on the M2 Air, which was just released. If these were normal times, and we didn't have all these supply delays, I expect you'd see the market prices of the M2 Air drop in a few months.
Yeah, that's the 13" M2 MBP vs. the M2 Air. Those are supposed to be the same cost. What's being discussed here is the 14" M1 Pro MBP vs. the M2 Air