MBA or MBP for $200 more?

[casperes1996]

Just to be clear, the pixel density is identical between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. There is 0 difference in resolution or screen size, so pixel density is the same. The maximum brightness is the only spec-sheet difference for the displays.

Regarding the TouchBar. I hope that it goes away. But why not meet in the middle; Make it optional. Hell, make the function keys optional. Touch bar is more expensive to make, but if I had to pay $200 extra for regular function keys, I’d be a bit annoyed but I’d do it. I prefer looking at the screen not down at the keyboard
But each to their own, so optional would be better than a complete removal, though I’d personally be fine with it just going away

 

[smirking]

The maximum brightness is the only spec-sheet difference for the displays.

The better brightness was one reason why I opted for a M1 MBP instead of the Air, but now that I've got it, I realize that I'm using it at around 60% brightness most of the time. I almost never go all the way to 100% brightness so the 350 nits of the MBA would probably have been fine.

 

[pshufd]

The better brightness was one reason why I opted for a M1 MBP instead of the Air, but now that I've got it, I realize that I'm using it at around 60% brightness most of the time. I almost never go all the way to 100% brightness so the 350 nits of the MBA would probably have been fine.

One other aspect is I think that the Air will be easier to resell than the Pro.

 

[adib]

With the deals right now, I can get the 2020 MBA M1 base for $850 from the Apple Refurb store. Or for $1050 and student deal, I can get the 2020 MBP M1 for $1050.

Is the MBP really worth the extra $200? Wife mainly uses her '18 MBA for email, browsing, office apps, etc. No graphics design or anything. The few nits and sound improvement on the Pro will not be noticeable to her. And the laptop is used in the house 99% of the time so I don't think the slight difference in battery will be notices. Touch bar - she never used it, but maybe it's worth the extra?

Thanks!

" email, browsing, office apps, etc. No graphics design or anything."... sounds like the basic iPad would save even more money.

"is used in the house 99% of the time" – a Mac Mini coupled with 15" portable monitor would do nicely (and save some money too)... maybe put it on wheeled desk to "move around the house"...

 

[svish]

I think you can go ahead and get the Air. Air should be more than enough for the requirements mentioned.

 

[Wando64]

I think Wando64 was mistaken. They have the same camera as far as I know.

I (mistakenly?) thought that the camera on the M1 Air was the same as on the 2020 Intel Air.
My wife has a 2020 Intel Air and the camera quality compared to that of my 2015 MBP is shockingly bad.

BTW, they are both 720p cameras, but obviously there is much more to it than resolution only...

Has anybody done a direct comparison between the two M1 models?

 

[smirking]

Has anybody done a direct comparison between the two M1 models?

Everything I've read suggests that the Facetime experience between the M1 MBA and MBP are the same and just about everything processor-wise is or almost the same. The key differences between the two are screen, battery size, touch bar, active vs passive fan, sound quality, and sometimes 1-core of the GPU.

I'm really curious about that 7-core vs 8-core GPU. How big of a difference is that anyway? It just seems like such a bizarre product option to have a 7-core and 8-core option.

What's up with the difference in sound quality too? Are the speakers in the MBA just oriented in a way that affects sound?

 

[pshufd]

Everything I've read suggests that the Facetime experience between the M1 MBA and MBP are the same and just about everything processor-wise is or almost the same. The key differences between the two are screen, battery size, touch bar, active vs passive fan, sound quality, and sometimes 1-core of the GPU.

I'm really curious about that 7-core vs 8-core GPU. How big of a difference is that anyway? It just seems like such a bizarre product option to have a 7-core and 8-core option.

What's up with the difference in sound quality too? Are the speakers in the MBA just oriented in a way that affects sound?

The reason for 7 GPU cores vs 8 is effective use of dies. Some dies have all the cores with no defects. Some have one core with defects. So they could throw away the dies with one defect or sell them at a discount. AMD does the same thing.

 

[smirking]

The reason for 7 GPU cores vs 8 is effective use of dies. Some dies have all the cores with no defects. Some have one core with defects. So they could throw away the dies with one defect or sell them at a discount. AMD does the same thing.

Makes sense. I just figured that they would have staggered it so it'd be a 6-core vs 8-core option. They'd be able to recover a greater number of defects and the difference would seem more meaningful.

 

[pshufd]

Makes sense. I just figured that they would have staggered it so it'd be a 6-core vs 8-core option. They'd be able to recover a greater number of defects and the difference would seem more meaningful.

Hopefully the defect rate is very small, and, if the odds were one in one-hundred to get one defective core, then the odds would be one in ten-thousand to get two defective cores - so maybe not enough of six-core devices to make it worthwhile selling them.

I think that CPU cores are a lot bigger so higher defect rate and so I think that AMD matches up dies with the same number of defective cores and then sells them as 4, 6, 8, etc.

 

[leperry]

Go for the Air. I traded my base 16-inch for it and I don't miss it at all. And 8GB is plenty fast. I use inDesign (still in Rosetta 2) and Affinity Designer (M1-native) for several hours a day and haven't run into any issues.

 

[jerryk]

What is different with the camera? Per the Apple site, they both have:
720p FaceTime HD camera

Thanks to all for the comments. I am getting her that base 8GB MBA. It will be fine for her.

Camera is pretty good in the M1 Air.

I hope she enjoys the new system!

 

[pshufd]

Camera is pretty good in the M1 Air.

I hope she enjoys the new system!

I borrowed my daughter's Air to do a Zoom conference this morning. My son's laptop is going in for service so I gave him mine (Time Machine backup and restore) and wanted something decent to do Zoom. I plan to get an HD camera to put on the top of a monitor as I prefer the camera at eye level instead of at laptop level where it has the effect that you're looking down at the other person.

 

[OdT22]

Another vote for the Air. I recently sold my M1 MBP (base model) and just today ordered a new M1 MBA (also a base model).

My reasoning for getting the Pro version at the release was solely to get the much better battery life. I thought, the more the better! However, the touch bar wasn’t for me, the wedge design of my older Airs was sorely missed, and the better screen brightness of the Pro was never noticed or needed while I had it. The battery life was pretty cool, though, I’m sure the Air’s will be sufficient now that the thrill has been realized & exceeded.

FWIW, I‘ve never needed a ‘Pro’ anything, (but I do own both Pro iPhone and iPad for features that I genuinely prefer and often use). I’m just a lowly small business owner who stares at a lot of spreadsheets and an insane amount of emails daily. And, now that my employees are all of a certain age, it helps that I can reply to texts from a real keyboard instead of my phone. So, my computing needs are pretty meager, but also plenty authentic. Good luck OP.

 

[ritmomundo]

Another vote for the Air.

I've had my M1 Air for ~7 months. It's almost perfect for my everyday use. I say almost because the only thing is the few times I've needed the screen at max brightness (in the sunny outdoors), I wished it would go a bit brighter. But just that is definitely not worth the price difference to me.

 

[leperry]

Another vote for the Air. I recently sold my M1 MBP (base model) and just today ordered a new M1 MBA (also a base model).

My reasoning for getting the Pro version at the release was solely to get the much better battery life. I thought, the more the better! However, the touch bar wasn’t for me, the wedge design of my older Airs was sorely missed, and the better screen brightness of the Pro was never noticed or needed while I had it. The battery life was pretty cool, though, I’m sure the Air’s will be sufficient now that the thrill has been realized & exceeded.

FWIW, I‘ve never needed a ‘Pro’ anything, (but I do own both Pro iPhone and iPad for features that I genuinely prefer and often use). I’m just a lowly small business owner who stares at a lot of spreadsheets and an insane amount of emails daily. And, now that my employees are all of a certain age, it helps that I can reply to texts from a real keyboard instead of my phone. So, my computing needs are pretty meager, but also plenty authentic. Good luck OP.

That sounds pro to me!