Macbook Air or Macbook Pro 13"

[uzapucax1]

Hi guys,
I am originally thinking in buying a Mac Mini but i just came with this deal.
Between this Macbook Air and Macbook Pro 13" both with M1, same specs and price.

Which you do think is the best option?
Maybe i am missing something...

 

[ThonaV]

Pro, or alternatively Air M2.

 

[PhoenixDown]

I went with the M2 Air myself.

 

[Novius89]

Why do you say the m2? OP doesn't mention the m2.

m1 air or pro, there are even pictures in the post.

Ontopic, i would go for the pro. I am personally biased but having used both i do like the touchbar (especially with "pock" so my dock is in there).

i also prefer the fan that is almost never on, and when it is you don't hear it. Except when its on max, but that is only heppened once in the full sun.
And i like the shape of the pro more than the wedge shape of the air.

 

[mystery hill]

M1 Air because it has physical function keys and and an escape key instead of the Touch Bar.

 

[uzapucax1]

Why do you say the m2? OP doesn't mention the m2.

m1 air or pro, there are even pictures in the post.

Ontopic, i would go for the pro. I am personally biased but having used both i do like the touchbar (especially with "pock" so my dock is in there).

i also prefer the fan that is almost never on, and when it is you don't hear it. Except when its on max, but that is only heppened once in the full sun.
And i like the shape of the pro more than the wedge shape of the air.

Thanks for the idea!
How about using the touch bar? do you enjoy it better than the physical keys?

Do both models have the same display?

 

[Novius89]

Same display.

I liked the functional keys.

You can do a lot with the dock. I use pock, but there is a small dock on the right with customizable buttons (volume brightness etc).

You can also put the setting in that you always have functional keys on the touchbar. Works as good for me.

At home I have an Magic Keyboard, but when I use the MacBook out and about, it works good.

A lot of haters, but I love the touchbar.

Edit: out of the box the touchbar is awesome as well. You have a slider for volume and brightness. In YouTube video’s or Apple Music you can easily scrub through the media.
In safari it shows your tabs that are touchable.

 

[uzapucax1]

Same display.

I liked the functional keys.

You can do a lot with the dock. I use pock, but there is a small dock on the right with customizable buttons (volume brightness etc).

You can also put the setting in that you always have functional keys on the touchbar. Works as good for me.

At home I have an Magic Keyboard, but when I use the MacBook out and about, it works good.

A lot of haters, but I love the touchbar.

Edit: out of the box the touchbar is awesome as well. You have a slider for volume and brightness. In YouTube video’s or Apple Music you can easily scrub through the media.
In safari it shows your tabs that are touchable.

Good to know that both have the same quality display!

Regarding the touch bar i saw different Youtube videos with some people loving it and other hate them, hahaha...
They have remove it now but i guess it can be really functional like the trackpad gestures, i guess

 

[Novius89]

Yeah it all comes down on your own preference.
I like the touchbar, but I also liked my air with real buttons.
I could live without the touchbar and be a happy Mac user anyway.

I also liked the Force Touch on the iPhone 6.
Apple removed it and life just goes on 😂

 

[Novius89]

Good to know that both have the same quality display!

Regarding the touch bar i saw different Youtube videos with some people loving it and other hate them, hahaha...
They have remove it now but i guess it can be really functional like the trackpad gestures, i guess

I forgot the only difference is that the Pro Display has a little more nits (maximum brightness).

It doesn’t make a difference in the full sun you will not see anything on either one.

 

[theluggage]

Maybe i am missing something...

Air is slightly thinner and lighter - no fan so always silent - has 'real' function keys.
Pro can be slightly faster thanks to fan - not silent under load - touchbar instead of function keys.
When new, Pro was more expensive than the similarly-specced air, so it's arguably the "better deal" here, on pure numbers (wouldn't put much weight on that).

...the Touchbar is, of course, love-it-or-hate-it and could be the deciding factor. However, the touchbar has now vanished from all but the 13" MBP so even if you like it, touchbar support from applications isn't going to get any better than it is.

Otherwise, all regular-M1 Macs have pretty similar capabilities, just pick the shape of case you prefer.

Personally, I'd say go for the Pro unless you're going to be carrying it around all day and/or using it in a dead silent room.

 

[1BadManVan]

Good to know that both have the same quality display!

Regarding the touch bar i saw different Youtube videos with some people loving it and other hate them, hahaha...
They have remove it now but i guess it can be really functional like the trackpad gestures, i guess

just to correct those that gave you the wrong info on the display. The m1 air display is 100 nits dimmer and a little less colour accurate than the m1. The display improvements were brought to the m2 air

Out of the 2, the m1 pro is the better deal at the same price. Bigger and better battery life, better speakers and a bit better display.

 

[Novius89]

I mentioned the brighter display on the pro. The color accuracy is on the specs, but having used both machines it’s not a noticeable difference.

 

[tstafford]

OP: No bad choice at all. I'd prefer the MBA for the form factor, weight, etc. The M1 MBA is consistently one of the most well reviewed machines in recent years. Recent price drop on M2 MBA makes the M2 hard to pass up however. AMZN has (had?) the base spec M2 MBA for $1050.

 

[Misheemee]

M1 13" Pro - weight and portability are negligible (aren't they the same form factor?), and only benefits of the pro vs air - screen, fan, display brightness, longer battery life etc.

If the pro was more expensive I'd say the air, but at the same price, pro all the way

 

[1BadManVan]

M1 13" Pro - weight and portability are negligible (aren't they the same form factor?), and only benefits of the pro vs air - screen, fan, display brightness, longer battery life etc.

If the pro was more expensive I'd say the air, but at the same price, pro all the way

The m1 air is the wedge shape design, different form factor. Some people love the wedge design of them, I never cared for it myself

 

[Misheemee]

The m1 air is the wedge shape design, different form factor. Some people love the wedge design of them, I never cared for it myself

the M1 13" pro is wedge design too, isn't it?. Didn't the M2 13" pro get the design change - the same design as the MBA and MBP 14"?

maybe I'm confused

 

[1BadManVan]

the M1 13" pro is wedge design too. the M2 13" pro got the design change and is the same design as the MBA and MBP 14"

Not correct, the M1 13" pro and m2 pro received no design change. The pros never got the wedge design, only the m2 air got the new design.

You can actually see in the picture the op posted between the two how much thinner the front of the air is vs the pro

 

[josehill]

Main differences:

• MBP Touch Bar vs MBA physical function keys: depends on personal preference
• Nominal brightness of the MBP is 500 nits vs MBA at 400 nits
• MBP has a fan, but the MBA doesn't. Consequently, the MBA will perform better than MBA under high loads, such as video encoding or software compilation, but in routine usage it is very hard to notice a difference, if at all. Without a fan, the MBA is nearly silent.
• MBP has somewhat longer battery life (due to larger battery), but both MBA and MBP have excellent battery lives.
• The MBA is 3.2 ounces lighter than the MBP. Not a big difference unless you travel/commute a lot with the laptop or you're the sort of person who rests a laptop on your stomach or chest in bed.
• MBA has a wedge shape, while MBP is not tapered.

At the same price for the same amount of RAM and SSD and identical ports, the machines are very, very close. The choice comes down to how much you value any of the listed differences. Personally, the MBA more closely matches my preferences, but I'm sure many others would prefer the MBP.

 

[Technerd108]

Between the M113" MBP or Air I would get the Pro every time.

The Pro has brighter screen and better speakers, has better battery life.

The function keys are irrelevant to me and I prefer the touchbar. However this only holds true for the M1 versions of both. Once you move to M2 everything changes.

If you are talking M2 then I would go with the M2 air because you get a slightly larger screen and magsafe allowing for both ports to be used while charging.

The M2 13" Pro is in a weird spot because of no design changes and when specc'd up is as expensive as base model M1 MBP 14" and the M2 Air is just as capable plus it has a re-design, same bright screen but P3 color correction and Magsafe.

If you really need Pro level performance then the MBP 14 is better than M1 13" MBP because of SD card reader, hdmi port, better screen/speakers for what Pro users need.

Of course I would wait until November when the M2 MBP's should be announced.