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As a student or someone with similar “computer demands”, what would/did you choose?

  • MacBook Air

    Votes: 301 70.0%
  • MacBook Pro

    Votes: 129 30.0%

  • Total voters
    430
Unboxed mine about 30 minutes ago and have pretty much set it up 100% like my 2015 15. Dang this thing is responsive and honestly the screen isn’t so bad. Maybe I’ll like this one more than the big ones

The screen "isn't so bad"?

Are the screens a crap quality on the M1's or what do you mean?

Or do you mean the physical size?
 
The screen "isn't so bad"?

Are the screens a crap quality on the M1's or what do you mean?

Or do you mean the physical size?
Just got my air today, the screen is fantastic. I just returned my 2020 $1800 intel pro for it, it looks exactly the same to me minus a little bit of brightness. I am picky about these things too. Honestly, I used a 2020 intel air for a while and I think this one is actually a bit brighter than that. Of course the P3 spectrum is noticeable, but just in terms of brightness, I think the 400 nits advertised is a wee bit conservative. Take that for what it's worth. I'm very happy with this unit so far.
 
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The screen "isn't so bad"?

Are the screens a crap quality on the M1's or what do you mean?

Or do you mean the physical size?
Sorry I should have stated that clearer- I’m used to the 15 and wanted a 16 and thought the 13 would be too small. The screen is perfect in every way (brightness, sharpness, coloring) just isn’t the size I was thinking about getting. I do have to say I love the size and can see myself carrying it more.
 
Got lucky and mine just arrived a short while ago. I'm going from the Butterfly keyboard back to the scissor-switch so I already feel that difference. I liked the butterfly but was always worried about it going bad. I feel better with this keyboard for longevity but I did really like the feel of the butterfly. I'll get used to this I am sure.

Just got most of my apps setup. Keychain setup. Microsoft Office is still in beta so I'm thinking I'll skip that for now and I am back to using Affinity instead of adobe since adobe isn't ready. We'll see. I might have to cave in on that.

I got Geekbench installed.

My MacBook Pro 6-core i7 got this:
MacBookPro15,3, single: 1066 Multi:5893
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, Compute: 24150

MacBook Air 2020, Apple Silicon M1:
MacBookAir10,1, Single: 1727, Multi: 7575
Apple Silicon, Compute: 18421

So far I have to say I am blown away. This is a fanless MacBook Air. Look how it compares to my $4000 15" Pro. Better single, by far, better multi, by far, and the GPU is almost on par with my Radeon Vega20. At the time I bought that 15" it was the best Apple had. Not that long ago either. Roughly 2/3rds of the GPU performance.

I was expecting good things because of the hype, and so far, good things have been delivered.

But the real deal for me is to be able to run some iOS apps. Let me see how that's done. If that truly works... Well... this is already worth it to me. But that will really make me smile.

Apple's done it. This is really good.
 
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I want to see how bright the screen really is, isn't anyone going to measure both the new air and macbook pro? I've read that the air actually has a around 380 nits instead of the 400 that are advertised :(
 
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Got lucky and mine just arrived a short while ago. I'm going from the Butterfly keyboard back to the scissor-switch so I already feel that difference. I liked the butterfly but was always worried about it going bad. I feel better with this keyboard for longevity but I did really like the feel of the butterfly. I'll get used to this I am sure.

Just got most of my apps setup. Keychain setup. Microsoft Office is still in beta so I'm thinking I'll skip that for now and I am back to using Affinity instead of adobe since adobe isn't ready. We'll see. I might have to cave in on that.

I got Geekbench installed.

My MacBook Pro 6-core i7 got this:
MacBookPro15,3, single: 1066 Multi:5893
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, Compute: 24150

MacBook Air 2020, Apple Silicon M1:
MacBookAir10,1, Single: 1727, Multi: 7575
Apple Silicon, Compute: 18421

So far I have to say I am blown away. This is a fanless MacBook Air. Look how it compares to my $4000 15" Pro. Better single, by far, better multi, by far, and the GPU is almost on par with my Radeon Vega20. At the time I bought that 15" it was the best Apple had. Not that long ago either. Roughly 2/3rds of the GPU performance.

I was expecting good things because of the hype, and so far, good things have been delivered.

But the real deal for me is to be able to run some iOS apps. Let me see how that's done. If that truly works... Well... this is already worth it to me. But that will really make me smile.

Apple's done it. This is really good.
just got my air took (picked up in store! and canceled my online order delivery for December) have a 2017 MBP I'll be shipping for trade in...it is being blown away. Just ran a few iOS games...and Civ VI through Steam downloaded to my Air....not even a sweat.

Lightroom was fast as well for my photos.

downgrade: speakers and peak nits brightness. but no worries because coming from that awful butterfly keyboard this feels so much better.
 
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Figure here's probably better to ask rather than starting a whole new thread for it: Does anyone know if the Air should be enough to run Clip Studio Paint while listening to some YouTube videos without running too hot? My current model (an old 13" 2015) gets kind of toasty while I'm doing these things together.

I saw Clip Studio should run natively on the M1, which is great. But I'd like some insight, if possible.

Should I go with the Pro instead? This is probably the most demanding work I'll use the laptop for. (Digital art while listening to podcasts and maybe music through YouTube).
 
I'm using my Windows laptop for Premiere. Two times a week I have to edit a little bit an one hour long movie: trim, add a logo, credits - 10 minutes job, and then export in HD for YouTube upload. Should I buy Air or Pro? 8 or 16GB? I'm afraid you will tell Pro 16GB and that could be too much for me but if that's true - better know it :)
 
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Okay, it looks like the iOS app author has to publish the app for the Mac. So not just any app can be used. And the ones I want, I do not see. So hopefully that will change. There are quite a few apps for iOS that are just flat out much better on iOS than using a browser and the web app equal.

Another observation so far is that the batter seems to be hadly touched by all my installing, updating, running benchmarks and so on. I have not yet even plugged it in. I'm still using it out of the box with the power it already shipped with. I thought I checked the status when I first started at 75% but I keep thinking maybe I am wrong because it is at 74% now and I've using it a while. Seems hard to believe that all this time and only 1%. It just turned 74% too. It was the same 75% for a good while. I guess now that I am documenting it, I'll pay more attention to it and see how long it takes to reach 73%. If the battery is THAT good, well damn... That's awesome.
 
Well it's pretty likely that neither of them are amazing, and certainly not on the level of the 16" MBP or even the four-port 13" MBP with its two dedicated woofers, but I haaaaaaaatteeee tinny speakers. To me, if the Pro is even moderately less tinny and more full than the Air, that will be worth the upgrade.
I have the 12 inch MB and the 13 inch MBP (4 TB port). The 12 inch MB speakers sound much better! But it also made me install Boom on the 13" and I managed to tune it to a decent EQ, so I would be hopeful of tuning the MBA to my tastes.
 
Okay, it looks like the iOS app author has to publish the app for the Mac. So not just any app can be used. And the ones I want, I do not see. So hopefully that will change. There are quite a few apps for iOS that are just flat out much better on iOS than using a browser and the web app equal.

Another observation so far is that the batter seems to be hadly touched by all my installing, updating, running benchmarks and so on. I have not yet even plugged it in. I'm still using it out of the box with the power it already shipped with. I thought I checked the status when I first started at 75% but I keep thinking maybe I am wrong because it is at 74% now and I've using it a while. Seems hard to believe that all this time and only 1%. It just turned 74% too. It was the same 75% for a good while. I guess now that I am documenting it, I'll pay more attention to it and see how long it takes to reach 73%. If the battery is THAT good, well damn... That's awesome.
well a lot of Apple devices seem to stay very long on the percentage you charged them before dropping. I can use my iPhone 11 sometimes one hour before dropping to 99%. Also a new devices takes 1-2 chargings to be accurate with showing battery drain
 
I'm using my Windows laptop for Premiere. Two times a week I have to edit a little bit an one hour long movie: trim, add a logo, credits - 10 minutes job, and then export in HD for YouTube upload. Should I buy Air or Pro? 8 or 16GB? I'm afraid you will tell Pro 16GB and that could be too much for me but if that's true - better know it :)

If I were using Final Cut Pro, and I used to. I used to do a lot of digital video and DVD authoring back in the day. For that, you want that fan in there. So yeah I would say get the Pro just for the fan. I write, email, use the browser, use Excel, etc. Once in a while, I would like to play a game, hence the GPU.

As you render, it is very CPU intensive and the fan will keep the CPU cool to keep the speed of the chip higher while working out.
 
At this point they're both more than capable for prosumer workflows so it comes down to whether you want the touch bar or not. The 13" Pro screen gets slightly brighter, has slightly better speakers and microphones, and it weighs 0.2lbs more.
Apples really shaving off the reason to buy.. The difference before you could at least say CPU performance.. How can you say that now when both machines have 8 core? As long as the MBA M1 never has a TouchBar, there will still will be a noticeable difference.
 
If I were using Final Cut Pro, and I used to. I used to do a lot of digital video and DVD authoring back in the day. For that, you want that fan in there. So yeah I would say get the Pro just for the fan. I write, email, use the browser, use Excel, etc. Once in a while, I would like to play a game, hence the GPU.

As you render, it is very CPU intensive and the fan will keep the CPU cool to keep the speed of the chip higher while working out.
Also 16GB of RAM?
 
Apples really shaving off the reason to buy.. The difference before you could at least say CPU performance.. How can you say that now when both machines have 8 core? As long as the MBA M1 never has a TouchBar, there will still will be a noticeable difference.
I do believe they are very close. Really one has the fan and one doesn't. I didn't hate the touch bar but that I am away. from it, I do feel a bit better. It had a couple of nice features. When I played a video I could scrub it from the touch bar. I do like the regular keys though. That being said I would actually like a full-on virtual glass keyboard.
 
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just played about 30 mins of WOW battery didn't move....
I'm at 63% now and that's after doing the big update to the latest Big Sur. It doesn't come with the final version on it. so I just updated. That took away some of my battery. Still have not plugged it in. This is what I wanted. Something more like the iPad experience where I just plug it in at the end of the day and during the day I don't even think about it.
 
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Rest assured I have multiple pairs of high-quality headphones and speaker setups, but I do not want to always be wearing headphones when I’m watching a TV show, on a FaceTime call, checking out video reviews on the 16” M1X MBPs, etc.
I hear you (no pun intended), just saying I wouldn’t make the speakers a deciding factor, more of a plus/bonus
 
Last week I ordered a MBA SG M1/16/512 which should be delivered to me by December 4 or earlier. I have been thinking all day of canceling my MBA order if its not too late and picking up the MBP SG M1/8/512 at the Apple Store. Do any of you think it would be a good idea by switching from a MBA to a MBP with half the memory?
 
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