Screen Differences Between 14" MBP and M2 Air

[MajorFubar]

M2 air is nice, but...
If I was in the market for a new laptop and I could afford to buy either the M2 Air or 14 MBP with the same RAM and SSD capacity without worrying about finances I wouldn't look at the M2 Air twice.
I mean, why even would I? The 14" MBP is better in every objective way except it's a bit heavier.
Like countless other people I spent years lugging around a 4.5lb A1278 so the 3.5lb 14" is still featherweight to me. The people complaining the 14" is OMG sooo heavy were either still sucking on their mum's breasticles ten years ago, so they have no context, or they have short memories.

But at the end of the day, buy what satisfies your needs: neither choice is wrong, that's why the choice exists.

 

[jdb8167]

The 14" MBP is better in every objective way except it's a bit heavier.

The M2 MacBook Air is also thinner and will have better battery life. Basically, battery life, completely silent operation, size, and weight are the M2 MBA's advantages. If you don't value those highly and can afford a few $100s extra then you are correct. But many do value those advantages much higher than what you can get in the M1 MacBook Pro.

 

[NotApplicable]

.

 

[jdb8167]

It’s crazy that there are all these people trying to hard to convince everyone else to buy what they did or would. Or going beyond and implying that anyone who doesn’t agree with them must’ve been “still sucking on their mum's breasticles ten years ago” (a convincing and well-reasoned argument to be sure).

Like… why do you care what I buy? I guarantee that I am more capable of making the right decision for myself than you are of making the right decision for me.

Absorb this: I am a software engineer. I understand computers themselves (and the specific requirements of my use case) deeply. I am fully aware of the specs of each machine. I have enough money to buy either. The M2 Air is a better choice for this purchase than the MBP. No, you aren’t more qualified than me (the person buying the computer) to make this decision.

Well said. I'm also a software engineer with a degree in electrical engineering. I've been working professionally since the days of 8-bit CPUs. There are very few people who post here that know more about computers than I do (there are some though they seem to get kicked off MR more frequently than others).

I know what my desired notebook looks like and it isn't a 14" MacBook Pro.

 

[petvas]

The M2 MacBook Air is also thinner and will have better battery life. Basically, battery life, completely silent operation, size, and weight are the M2 MBA's advantages. If you don't value those highly and can afford a few $100s extra then you are correct. But many do value those advantages much higher than what you can get in the M1 MacBook Pro.

I have never ever heard my 14“ MacBook Pro

 

[jdb8167]

I have never ever heard my 14“ MacBook Pro

Doesn't that mean you don't need the MacBook Pro's performance? Did you overpay?

Just kidding.

 

[petvas]

Doesn't that mean you don't need the MacBook Pro's performance? Did you overpay?

Just kidding.

I don’t need the sustained performance, but I need the top display, ProMotion and the memory bandwidth.

 

[petvas]

My main complain with the MacBook Air is the lack of a MiniLED display with ProMotion. Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display? The display should have been higher resolution than the current one. That is my main issue with the new laptop. I love gadgets and I would buy the MBA immediately, even if I don't really need it. The argument of thickness is not really important to me, but the extra battery life would be great. Having said that, the MacBook Pro is really the better laptop and has the perfect size..

 

[jdb8167]

My main complain with the MacBook Air is the lack of a MiniLED display with ProMotion. Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display? The display should have been higher resolution than the current one. That is my main issue with the new laptop. I love gadgets and I would buy the MBA immediately, even if I don't really need it. The argument of thickness is not really important to me, but the extra battery life would be great. Having said that, the MacBook Pro is really the better laptop and has the perfect size..

I have ProMotion on my iPad Pro but not on my iPad mini or my MacBook Air. I don't see any difference. I barely use the iPad Pro any longer. The miniLED display is probably great for watching HDR movies/videos but I don't watch videos on a 13 or 14 inch display very often. I wouldn't complain if the MacBook Air had those two features but they are almost completely irrelevant to me. Size and battery life are used every single day. I don't carry a power adapter any more because I don't need it. Frees up some more weight from my laptop bag. I don't have my M2 MacBook Air yet so I can't say if it is the perfect size but it is certainly closer to the perfect size for me than the 14" MacBook Pro.

 

[luy]

Another one with a ipad pro 12.9 XDR, ipad mini and macbook here. But i can see a huge difference in screen quality. The mini led display with pro motion is so much better. So yes, i can understand people if they prefer the macbook 14 pro just because of the screen. For me its night and day.

 

[Dealmans]

I don't see any difference.

Bigger diff on the 14" than the 11" iPad Pro

 

[Dealmans]

My main complain with the MacBook Air is the lack of a MiniLED display with ProMotion. Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display? The display should have been higher resolution than the current one. That is my main issue with the new laptop. I love gadgets and I would buy the MBA immediately, even if I don't really need it. The argument of thickness is not really important to me, but the extra battery life would be great. Having said that, the MacBook Pro is really the better laptop and has the perfect size..

Yep, but it's like when the old iPhones still had lcd and the new one had oled, some people just buy cheap and don't appreciate a good viewing experience.
Anyone that says they don't see any different with pro motion from a 14" to a 13" or even a 24" iMac like I have is kidding themselves, it's a huge difference.

 

[NotApplicable]

Yep, but it's like when the old iPhones still had lcd and the new one had oled, some people just buy cheap and don't appreciate a good viewing experience.
Anyone that says they don't see any different with pro motion from a 14" to a 13" or even a 24" iMac like I have is kidding themselves, it's a huge difference.

Or they just don’t benefit from the feature enough that it’s worth any thought. I personally am not a creative professional, nor do I use the device to consume media or game (unlike my iDevices). All Mac screens are far beyond my minimum bar in brightness, color reproduction, clarity for what I use them for (IDEs, the terminal, and text editors).

I’m not arguing there’s no perceptible difference. But the difference that exists is too small for me to care about, given how I use the device. Obviously others can assign their own value or necessity to the XDR display and let that guide their decision just as I did.

 

[iLunar]

I was debating between a MacBook Air and a 14" MacBook Pro. The new 14" MacBook Pro arrived a couple hours ago, and I'm really amazed by the screen. It is a huge step up from previous generations. I love the new Air's form and travel-ability, but the screen was a differentiator for me. After only a few short hours with the 14", I think I chose correctly.

The 14" isn't bulky. Compared to other laptops, it's really quite slick. Compared to my 15" MacBook Pro from 2014, it feels solid but still lightweight. I can only imagine how light the Air will feel.

 

[Dealmans]

Or they just don’t benefit from the feature enough that it’s worth any thought. I personally am not a creative professional, nor do I use the device to consume media or game (unlike my iDevices). All Mac screens are far beyond my minimum bar in brightness, color reproduction, clarity for what I use them for (IDEs, the terminal, and text editors).

I’m not arguing there’s no perceptible difference. But the difference that exists is too small for me to care about, given how I use the device. Obviously others can assign their own value or necessity to the XDR display and let that guide their decision just as I did.

Yep it's like going from 13 max to my iPhone 8

 

[PatriotInvasion]

My main complain with the MacBook Air is the lack of a MiniLED display with ProMotion. Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display? The display should have been higher resolution than the current one. That is my main issue with the new laptop. I love gadgets and I would buy the MBA immediately, even if I don't really need it. The argument of thickness is not really important to me, but the extra battery life would be great. Having said that, the MacBook Pro is really the better laptop and has the perfect size..

"Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display?" --- simple...cost

M2 + that display can't sell for $1,199 and achieve 38% margin. Apple is happy to sell you a MacBook with MiniLED and 120Hz ProMotion...starting at $1,999. Pay up.

 

[jav6454]

I was debating between a MacBook Air and a 14" MacBook Pro. The new 14" MacBook Pro arrived a couple hours ago, and I'm really amazed by the screen. It is a huge step up from previous generations. I love the new Air's form and travel-ability, but the screen was a differentiator for me. After only a few short hours with the 14", I think I chose correctly.

The 14" isn't bulky. Compared to other laptops, it's really quite slick. Compared to my 15" MacBook Pro from 2014, it feels solid but still lightweight. I can only imagine how light the Air will feel.

Not as different given their chassis design is the same.

 

[MajorFubar]

It’s crazy that there are all these people trying to hard to convince everyone else to buy what they did or would. Or going beyond and implying that anyone who doesn’t agree with them must’ve been “still sucking on their mum's breasticles ten years ago” (a convincing and well-reasoned argument to be sure).

Pretty sure that's called 'selectively quoting' because I also finished off by saying "But at the end of the day, buy what satisfies your needs: neither choice is wrong, that's why the choice exists." But of course it's easier just to concentrate on the bit that triggered you rather than absorb the full post holistically...

The crux of what I was complaining about was people moaning that they'd buy the 14" except it's too heavy. Where were they all a decade ago when we were all lugging 13" A1278s around (at least) and didn't complain? Like I said, short memories or too young to have context.

 

[petvas]

"Why should only Pro customers be getting such a display?" --- simple...cost

M2 + that display can't sell for $1,199 and achieve 38% margin. Apple is happy to sell you a MacBook with MiniLED and 120Hz ProMotion...starting at $1,999. Pay up.

They can offer it as an option though.

 

[ascender]

Side by side you'll notice the difference, but once you've used one of them for a while, you'll just get used to that screen and it will be absolutely fine. Unless you're grading HDR content or watching a lot of HDR, the absence of it isn't a deal breaker for me on other Mac devices.

Other than an initial "this screen isn't as bright as my MBP", I quickly get used to whatever device I'm using.

But that's just me, other's "mileage may vary" as they say depending on what you're doing with the machine.

 

[netnative]

This is a list of disadvantages of the M2 MacBook Air display compared with the display of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. They appear in no particular order.

• Older backlight technology (LED compared with mini-LED). Lower LED black levels may result in the notch being more noticeable.
• Less attractive thicker bezels
• Less dynamic range and brightness (500-nit SDR compared with peak 1600-nit HDR)
• Slower refresh rate (60Hz compared with 120Hz ProMotion)
• Lower pixel density (224 PPI compared with 254 PPI)
• Less resolution with the ideal 2X Retina scaling (1280 x 832 compared with 1512 x 982). This means a smaller effective screen size or less visible information on the screen.
• Smaller display (13.6” compared with 14.2”)

 

[jdb8167]

This is a list of disadvantages of the M2 MacBook Air display compared with the display of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. They appear in no particular order.

• Older backlight technology (LED compared with mini-LED). Lower LED black levels may result in the notch being more noticeable.
• Less attractive thicker bezels
• Less dynamic range and brightness (500-nit SDR compared with peak 1600-nit HDR)
• Slower refresh rate (60Hz compared with 120Hz ProMotion)
• Lower pixel density (224 PPI compared with 254 PPI)
• Less resolution with the ideal 2X Retina scaling (1280 x 832 compared with 1512 x 982). This means a smaller effective screen size or less visible information on the screen.
• Smaller display (13.6” compared with 14.2”)

All true but so what? The display on my M1 MacBook Air is perfectly fine for what I use it for. Text is crisp and sharp. There isn't any noticeable problem from fractional scaling. I don't generally use my MacBook outdoors so I never even get close to the peak nits so adding more isn't important. Of course HDR is superior to SDR but I don't watch movies on a 13/14" screen so its kind of irrelevant. Both 224 PPI and 254 PPI are Retina so theoretically you won't really see much difference. The screen is thicker on the 14" so that adds to some of the additional weight and bulk.

None of those advantages listed are very important to me. Nice to have, sure but not something that I use a criteria for choosing a notebook.

 

[DHagan4755]

This is a list of disadvantages of the M2 MacBook Air display compared with the display of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. They appear in no particular order.

• Older backlight technology (LED compared with mini-LED). Lower LED black levels may result in the notch being more noticeable.
• Less attractive thicker bezels
• Less dynamic range and brightness (500-nit SDR compared with peak 1600-nit HDR)
• Slower refresh rate (60Hz compared with 120Hz ProMotion)
• Lower pixel density (224 PPI compared with 254 PPI)
• Less resolution with the ideal 2X Retina scaling (1280 x 832 compared with 1512 x 982). This means a smaller effective screen size or less visible information on the screen.
• Smaller display (13.6” compared with 14.2”)

Don't get me wrong, the 14" MacBook Pro is amazing but the MacBook Air's display isn't anything to scoff at. People who buy the MacBook Air M2 are going to be just fine.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

This is a list of disadvantages of the M2 MacBook Air display compared with the display of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. They appear in no particular order.

• Older backlight technology (LED compared with mini-LED). Lower LED black levels may result in the notch being more noticeable.
• Less attractive thicker bezels
• Less dynamic range and brightness (500-nit SDR compared with peak 1600-nit HDR)
• Slower refresh rate (60Hz compared with 120Hz ProMotion)
• Lower pixel density (224 PPI compared with 254 PPI)
• Less resolution with the ideal 2X Retina scaling (1280 x 832 compared with 1512 x 982). This means a smaller effective screen size or less visible information on the screen.
• Smaller display (13.6” compared with 14.2”)

All true, but fixable for an extra $500. Just need to be ok with Silver and Space Gray.

 

[ascender]

All true, but fixable for an extra $500. Just need to be ok with Silver and Space Gray.

But $500 is a lot of money for most people. Not to mention a massive percentage increase on the cost of a laptop for a screen which, while objectively better than the other option, may give you no noticeable benefit day to day unless you actually need it.

I don't think those things listed above are disadvantages of the MBA screen - its just a list of technical differences and some subjective opinions.