I had a 15" Air, sold it, and went to the M3 14 MBP. I returned that and re-ordered a new 15" Air for one reason. The form factor. The 15" M2 is just so comfortable to work on, carry, and see. The combination of the larger trackpad, more spacing between the keys, and the thinness and weight distribution makes the Air a far more pleasant experience for me. Working for hours a day on a laptop I want as much comfort as possible. I do miss the old Air wedge design but the M2 is by far the best experience I've had.
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MBA Form Factor is not overrated
- Thread starter dizmonk
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Thanks for sharing. I have a 15 inch MacBook Air and I was thinking of switching to the 14 inch MacBook Pro. Glad I saw your post. I might just keep the 15 inch air.
but the screen and the speakers
Depends on your needs. The screen is still good on the Air and not everyone listens to a lot of music on their laptop.
The MBA 15's speakers are actually quite good. I also own a MBP 16 with M1 Pro. They both sound really good.
Here is a quote from digital trend review.
They are more then fine for daily usage.
I considered that in the Apple store when the 15" first came out. The reality is that the MBP has a better screen and sound. So much better that it matters? No, was my view. It depends on your workflow, of course, but I suspect the difference becomes an edge case that only truly matters to a few people.
As the OP says, the comfort alone, if you're "working" on a laptop for long periods, makes the 15" the star buy.
I also felt like my hands were more cramped on the 14" keyboard. As another poster said the screen and sound are better on the 14 but they are more than adequate on the 15. I didn't realize that my general practice of working (mostly writing and surfing) in a coffee shop for hours would be much more comfortable on a design that is more spread out (e.g., the 15).
It sucks. You have ultra portable PC laptops with the same performance, same battery life with superior OLED screens and they cost less too.
Apple needs to put OLED displays in the MBA for the price they charge.
Anyone can make claims. Can you actually back those up?
$1299 Asus Zenbook 14:
- Same Intel chip as the Acer Swift Go 14
- OLED display
- 32 GB RAM
- 1TB SSD
A M2 MacBook Air in a similar configuration (Apple cannot go to 24GB RAM however) costs $2100 with an inferior IPS display.
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The other day I went to see a 15" MacBook Air in the Apple Store and found the display PPI disappointing. I always run the display at native res and everything on the Air screen is too big, the same is true on my 16" Intel Pro but since the Air screen is an inch smaller that makes it worse. The Apple Silicon Pros have a near-perfect PPI, element are not too small and not too big, but I've no reason to spend $2,500 to replace a three-year-old computer that still works for me.
$1299 Asus Zenbook 14:
- Same Intel chip as the Acer Swift Go 14
- OLED display
- 32 GB RAM
- 1TB SSD
A M2 MacBook Air in a similar configuration (Apple cannot go to 24GB RAM however) costs $2100 with an inferior IPS display.
Interesting Engadget has different results, giving higher scores (except multi core) in all the benchmarks to the MBA, where the MBA smokes the Zenbook in 3DMark Wildife extreme (8,139 versus 4,827) as well as the MBA have a longer battery life in the PCMark 10 Modern Office battery benchmark (16.5 hours versus 12.75). They also complement the industrial design of the MBA over the Zenbook.
ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED review (2023): A compelling AI PC stuck in a familiar design
The ZenBook 14 OLED shines as one of the first ultraportables with Intel Core Ultra chips, despite its relatively humdrum design. It has a gorgeous screen and it’s primed to tackle AI tasks in the future.
www.engadget.com
But your point remains, that screen is hot. And if I were in the market for a PC I'd be tempted.
Still prefer to work on and ergonomics of m1 air. Mbp 14 gives wrist cramps due to edge after a long day. It is also less portable and chunky.
For basic tasks, mba all day. But if you have to tap into power, MBP is easily a faster machine. Screen is just a cherry on top.
But my next purchase will be a single specced up Air (13 or 15), while i ride it out this time with what i have (m1 air and mbp 14).
For basic tasks, mba all day. But if you have to tap into power, MBP is easily a faster machine. Screen is just a cherry on top.
But my next purchase will be a single specced up Air (13 or 15), while i ride it out this time with what i have (m1 air and mbp 14).
Interesting Engadget has different results, giving higher scores (except multi core) in all the benchmarks to the MBA, where the MBA smokes the Zenbook in 3DMark Wildife extreme (8,139 versus 4,827) as well as the MBA have a longer battery life in the PCMark 10 Modern Office battery benchmark (16.5 hours versus 12.75). They also complement the industrial design of the MBA over the Zenbook.
ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED review (2023): A compelling AI PC stuck in a familiar design
The ZenBook 14 OLED shines as one of the first ultraportables with Intel Core Ultra chips, despite its relatively humdrum design. It has a gorgeous screen and it’s primed to tackle AI tasks in the future.
But your point remains, that screen is hot. And if I were in the market for a PC I'd be tempted.
To be fair that's the 14" MBP with M3 they're using. That said, it's a more fair comparison as the Air still hasn't gotten it's M3 update and those Intel chips are brand new.
So go ahead, buy yourself one of these.
And those that care probably use their own earbuds or headphones so it doesn’t matter what device they’re attached to.
well the screen is what you look at, light bleed, grey blacks and less brightness is a big diff imo
Wait... do people just... buy and sell laptops just for the sake of it?!
I've got an old MBP 16 intel from 2019 and not once did I seriously consider selling it for severe markdown for some laptop I've never used before... and then buy the old one back! You had to have lost ~$600 USD at least doing this over the last year, + $1300 for the original 15 MBA.
God I'd love to have enough money to do this!
I've got an old MBP 16 intel from 2019 and not once did I seriously consider selling it for severe markdown for some laptop I've never used before... and then buy the old one back! You had to have lost ~$600 USD at least doing this over the last year, + $1300 for the original 15 MBA.
God I'd love to have enough money to do this!
Dang right you are, my apologies no misdirection intended. The article talks throughout about the MBA design etc, I didnt notice they benchmarked the MBP. Odd. I think you are being generous to be fair to include a machine that has not been released yet lol. Anyway, like I said, if I was in the market for a PC that would be tempting, thanks for pointing it out.
Well yeah but to be fair, you wouldn't have bought back the 2019 intel MBP. Once you go AS you never go back.
Honestly I still think my 2014 MacBook pro has a phenomenal display. I've seen the 14 pro's display at the store. Maybe I'm blind but I'm not sure the minor difference is worth the huge increase in price. At least, not alone. Taken with the ports, speaker, and slightly larger screen (than the 13) it's a bit more compelling.
Old macbooks still have decent displays (early retina models) and on top of that it is hard to be impressed by the store model - I mean i looked at a studio display for $1500 and didn't feel anything special.
I am sure if I brought it home then I would be able to nitpick the difference. At least that is how I know that MBP14 screen is better - only because i keep it against old 1080P 24" screen, 27" 4K LG, M1 Air 13.3 and those 3 do not come close to MBP14.