MBP 14 M1 Pro vs M1 Air 13 comparison

[ctjack]

Just thought that i will leave it here for lurkers that might be on the fence.

Reference: Own M1 Air 13 8/512 for 3 years and MBP 14 M1 Pro base 16/512 for 1 year. The thing is that I never had a chance to use MBP 14 fully in a year(9 charging cycles) due to moving out.

As of now, was able to equip my WFH setup with 4k 27 + 1080p 24 displays. Obviously, Air would not be able to drive 2 externals without display link and high cost relevant to it.

Observation: Oh man. That is it. Jumping on and off for 1 year with 9 cycles have shown 0 difference or even M1 Air being faster due to polished BigSur and MBP 14 was lagging on its' own with built-in screen specifically when using web outlook.

Right now, since equipped with the table and 2 screens, I can fully confirm that MBP 14(updated to latest MacOS Monterey) is much noticeably faster than the Air 8/512.

Suffice to say that driving 2 screens put the MBP at extra +1.5GB of used RAM, which Air simply doesn't have a chance to juggle with.
Basically now my M1 Air with single 4k 27 screen microlags here and there when MBP 14 with 2 doesn't even sweat.

If you are on the fence, MBP 14 is a clear winner for the involved work. Though for reading news and watching youtube there is no real difference. Everything changes once you start using external screens - MBP 14 keeps chugging not noticing additional screens.

 

[ArkSingularity]

Yea, mine runs great too. I run my 14" setup with a three screen (one built in + two external monitors, 3440x1440 and 1920x1080). Doesn't break a sweat. Neither of them is 4k, but I'm sure it would handle that okay as well.

The only thing I wish these could do is drive multiple displays out of one port. I have to use a dock for one display (outputs to HDMI from the dock) and then the built in HDMI port for the other, which is not much of an inconvenience, but Macs don't support native multi display modes required to run multiple monitors through a single USB-C port without displaylink. My only options are either to use Displaylink or to use two ports on the Mac.

First world problems, I suppose. It makes a great work machine. I was just straight up doing clamshell for a while, but I decided I liked having the third screen (even if it was just 14").

 

[Queen6]

Learnt a good while back that for a portable used on the go battery life is paramount. While the 14" strikes a great balance the 13" MBP remains my go to Mac for the road. 16" is too big in some situations, 14" can run dry and the Air throttles with less endurance.

The downside of the 13" MBP is the 2016 design with limited ports and the Touchbar which was DOA, however if you need the Energiser Bunny this is the one. The 13" MBP has always been the gold standard for battery longevity and likely will continue until Apple decides otherwise. The 13" MBP is by far from being the latest and greatest, yet it delivers like few if any others can...

Q-6

 

[MacPoulet]

Here's a question for you 14" owners: I'm trying to decide between an M1 Pro with a 1TB SSD (10 CPU cores) for $2100 CDN new, or a base M2 Pro 512GB SSD (also 10 core CPU) for $2400 CDN (minus a $200 Apple gift card).

Basically, for just over a hundred dollars less (give or take), I get a previous gen MacBook (slower CPU/GPU) but more storage. I prefer 1TB, but can make 512GB work.

Either system should be good for my use case (mostly video/audio production and short projects - I've sworn off features) but I always wonder how many more years of use I'd get from the M2 Pro over the M1 Pro...

 

[kp98077]

what about for work, like large spreadsheets, data, hundreds of emails daily, lengthy reports, images/medical etc? would you recommend the 14 pro over the MBA 15?

 

[ilikewhey]

Here's a question for you 14" owners: I'm trying to decide between an M1 Pro with a 1TB SSD (10 CPU cores) for $2100 CDN new, or a base M2 Pro 512GB SSD (also 10 core CPU) for $2400 CDN (minus a $200 Apple gift card).

Basically, for just over a hundred dollars less (give or take), I get a previous gen MacBook (slower CPU/GPU) but more storage. I prefer 1TB, but can make 512GB work.

Either system should be good for my use case (mostly video/audio production and short projects - I've sworn off features) but I always wonder how many more years of use I'd get from the M2 Pro over the M1 Pro...

honestly the only real difference i noticed was the battery life, my colleague has the m2 pro and he gets about 3 hours more out of it than my m1 14, also its not exact comparison since he is on the m2 pro while i have the m1 max.

outside of these two factors the rest of the specs imo feels like splitting hair.

 

[MacPoulet]

honestly the only real difference i noticed was the battery life, my colleague has the m2 pro and he gets about 3 hours more out of it than my m1 14, also its not exact comparison since he is on the m2 pro while i have the m1 max.

outside of these two factors the rest of the specs imo feels like splitting hair.

Yeah, I think the Max vs Pro is probably affecting battery life there.

I was able to do a CPU comparison and the M1 Pro and M2 Pro (binned) are pretty similar, and I doubt I'd notice a difference.