Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The 15" Air screen is beautiful.

kp98077 said:
Having the hardest time trying to decide either to keep the M2 14" MBP or the M2 15" AIR!
-I like the 15 Air (ordered the 16gb version) pretty snappy, but side by side the 14 m2 pro seems a bit snappier!
Love the large screen for sure and light weight.. of the 15" air..
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, it's a tough choice...

I'm leaning towards the Pro because it's MUCH faster for heavy multicore workloads (~2x), the trackpad feels better, I love the XDR brightness with TotalXDR, I like the ProMotion, it feels more compact and less unwieldy, I love the deep blacks, the speakers are better, the screen resolution is higher, the SSD is much faster, and it's better overall value for money.

On the other hand the Air has (to my fingers) a better and lighter keyboard, the bigger display, it fits better on my lap and doesn't fall between my legs, the palm rests are bigger and more comfortable and it feels more ergonomic because the bottom half is thinner, I love the midnight color, it's lighter (only 6% though), and the mic sounds better.

Overall I think the M2 Air just isn't a good buy due to the thermal throttling issue. You can't run all 8 cores simultaneously for more than a few seconds without hitting 108C and getting throttled, at which point you are running the equivalent of maybe 6 cores. The M2 Air 15 feels like it was designed around a more power efficient chip, but the M3 wasn't ready in time for the launch so they shipped it with the M2 anyway betting most people wouldn't notice the throttling. It's really pricey for what's effectively a 6-core machine with an old slow lower definition LCD display. The M3 Air 15 will be a better deal.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn007, ilikewhey and helloapple1
CloudsNeverDie said:
I'm in the same boat, it's a tough choice...

I'm leaning towards the Pro because it's MUCH faster for heavy multicore workloads (~2x), the trackpad feels better, I love the XDR brightness with TotalXDR, I like the ProMotion, it feels more compact and less unwieldy, I love the deep blacks, the speakers are better, the screen resolution is higher, the SSD is much faster, and it's better overall value for money.

On the other hand the Air has (to my fingers) a better and lighter keyboard, the bigger display, it fits better on my lap and doesn't fall between my legs, the palm rests are bigger and more comfortable and it feels more ergonomic because the bottom half is thinner, I love the midnight color, it's lighter (only 6% though), and the mic sounds better.

Overall I think the M2 Air just isn't a good buy due to the thermal throttling issue. You can't run all 8 cores simultaneously for more than a few seconds without hitting 110C and the ~30W power limit, at which point you are running the equivalent of maybe 6 cores. The M2 Air 15 feels like it was designed around a more power efficient chip, but the M3 wasn't ready in time for the launch so they shipped it with the M2 anyway betting most people wouldn't notice the throttling. It's really pricey for what's effectively a 6-core machine with an old slow lower definition LCD display. The M3 Air 15 will be a better deal.
Click to expand...
yeah I hear ya, is this why my m2 14" pro in general feels so much more snappy? Opens up especially Air BnB much quicker than the air (even though I upgraded to the 16gb)?
 
kp98077 said:
yeah I hear ya, is this why my m2 14" pro in general feels so much more snappy? Opens up especially Air BnB much quicker than the air (even though I upgraded to the 16gb)?
Click to expand...

It's hard to say but it's easy for you to find out - you can just install iStat Menus and watch the CPU temperature. If you see it go >100C, that's when you'll see thermal throttling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FriendlyMackle
kp98077 said:
Having the hardest time trying to decide either to keep the M2 14" MBP or the M2 15" AIR!
-I like the 15 Air (ordered the 16gb version) pretty snappy, but side by side the 14 m2 pro seems a bit snappier!
Love the large screen for sure and light weight.. of the 15" air..
Click to expand...
I'm in the same boat. I want the 15" screen and size of the body but I enjoy those 14" ports and when I watch movies or edit stuff just the contrast of the MBP really starts to come thru as useful and pleasant. Speakers are kinda whatever, and 60fps is good enough for me personally. I'm not gaming and don't collapse from anger if things are as smooth as butter when I swipe...I've used 60fps for years and still alive so not a dealbreaker.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adrianlondon and kp98077
kp98077 said:
yeah I hear ya, is this why my m2 14" pro in general feels so much more snappy? Opens up especially Air BnB much quicker than the air (even though I upgraded to the 16gb)?
Click to expand...
its not just how much ram but also the bandwidth, the m2 pro has something like 200gb/s bandwidth. the base m2 def has alot less by 100gb/s
 
  • Like
Reactions: kp98077
kp98077 said:
Having the hardest time trying to decide either to keep the M2 14" MBP or the M2 15" AIR!
-I like the 15 Air (ordered the 16gb version) pretty snappy, but side by side the 14 m2 pro seems a bit snappier!
Love the large screen for sure and light weight.. of the 15" air..
Click to expand...
I went for the M2 Pro. it's great. Depends on your taste. Perfect size for me. Does quick work with my photo programs. Nice screen. Fast with no fans so far.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kp98077
I found the 15” Air’s screen to be a little dim, to be honest. In 3 different shops. And I personally am bewildered by the port situation, it’s got like an empty side where they could have put an USB and a card reader.

So in the end, since the 16” Pro is just not portable for me, I gave up on the extra screen real estate and bought a 14” Pro with the M2 Max CPU. It should be good for a few years. The reason I went with the Max is that it should be ok to run some games too, I don’t really need the extra grunt on top of the Air.
 
I did these sores test and the 15” air kept essentially a tie, any ideas why? (Over M2 14 pro).
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0039.jpeg
    IMG_0039.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 89
  • IMG_0043.jpeg
    IMG_0043.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 89
kp98077 said:
viewing wise, are you seeing a difference in screen color/quality with with text crispness?
Click to expand...
I worked with both for a while. The 14 felt brighter (to the point of being painful to look at even at mid to low brightness). The 15 seems more matte-like with its display. I assume it's not but the 15 seems easier to view. It is way more comfortable to type on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn007, CloudsNeverDie and kp98077
kp98077 said:
Having the hardest time trying to decide either to keep the M2 14" MBP or the M2 15" AIR!
-I like the 15 Air (ordered the 16gb version) pretty snappy, but side by side the 14 m2 pro seems a bit snappier!
Love the large screen for sure and light weight.. of the 15" air..
Click to expand...
I was in a similar spot. I'm keeping the Air as I really don't need the extra power of the 14 and the extra battery life of the Air is more than worth it. Good luck with your decision-making.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kp98077
kp98077 said:
I did these sores test and the 15” air kept essentially a tie, any ideas why? (Over M2 14 pro).
Click to expand...
It very much depends on the disk capacity, which determines how many NAND chips Apple graced you with.

On my 15" M2 Air with 1TB, I get 3GB/s. Tom's Guide found the 512GB also gets 3GB/s, while the 256GB base model gets only 1.5GB/s.

On a M2 14" Pro with 1TB, I get 6GB/s. I read the 512GB base model gets 3GB/s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kp98077
dizmonk said:
It is way more comfortable to type on.
Click to expand...

This was one of the biggest factors for me. My hands get sore quickly typing on the M2 14" Pro keyboard, I miss a LOT of keystrokes, there's too much tactile feedback, and the arrow keys only work if you hit them dead center (if you hit them on the sides, you get the tactile feedback but the press doesn't register). The Air 15" is so much more comfortable, with lighter and more forgiving keys and less tactile feedback, even though the key travel is a little bit less.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn007 and dizmonk
CloudsNeverDie said:
I'm in the same boat, it's a tough choice...

I'm leaning towards the Pro because it's MUCH faster for heavy multicore workloads (~2x), the trackpad feels better, I love the XDR brightness with TotalXDR, I like the ProMotion, it feels more compact and less unwieldy, I love the deep blacks, the speakers are better, the screen resolution is higher, the SSD is much faster, and it's better overall value for money.

On the other hand the Air has (to my fingers) a better and lighter keyboard, the bigger display, it fits better on my lap and doesn't fall between my legs, the palm rests are bigger and more comfortable and it feels more ergonomic because the bottom half is thinner, I love the midnight color, it's lighter (only 6% though), and the mic sounds better.

Overall I think the M2 Air just isn't a good buy due to the thermal throttling issue. You can't run all 8 cores simultaneously for more than a few seconds without hitting 108C and getting throttled, at which point you are running the equivalent of maybe 6 cores. The M2 Air 15 feels like it was designed around a more power efficient chip, but the M3 wasn't ready in time for the launch so they shipped it with the M2 anyway betting most people wouldn't notice the throttling. It's really pricey for what's effectively a 6-core machine with an old slow lower definition LCD display. The M3 Air 15 will be a better deal.
Click to expand...
Are you sure, both machines are in the same league?
 
I’m going back and forth too. Most recent two visits to a store have spent a lot of time comparing and playing around with the 14, 15, 16. I keep coming away feeling the best about the 15 Air. Form factor, weight, minimal, price. The only thing that’s holding me back now is the lack of ports, which I may just have to compromise on. I love the 16 inch’s screen but this is almost entirely a computer (for my use case) to travel with as I have a Mac Studio at home. This feels like the right balance. Who knows if I feel the same tomorrow though…
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn007 and kp98077
kp98077 said:
I’d say they are -

yes the 14" 512gb - what do you mean "its gimped"?
Click to expand...
most likely in reference to Apple going to single NAND chips instead of two in the M2-series Macbooks and Mini. Single channel instead of dual-channel means half the transfer speed of the M1 generation.

3000 MB/sec transfers is still plenty fast though, but apparently you have to go at least 1TB to reap dual-channel speeds and 6000-7000 MB/sec transfer speeds on M2 devices. I wouldn't really worry about it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FriendlyMackle, Tagbert and kp98077
NeonNights said:
most likely in reference to Apple going to single NAND chips instead of two in the M2-series Macbooks and Mini. Single channel instead of dual-channel means half the transfer speed of the M1 generation.

3000 MB/sec transfers is still plenty fast though, but apparently you have to go at least 1TB to reap dual-channel speeds and 6000-7000 MB/sec transfer speeds on M2 devices. I wouldn't really worry about it.
Click to expand...
thanks for the info, just trying to decide which one to keep only thing I've noticed between the two (m2 14) vs 15" air, is the the air is slower to get text messages and load emails (even though its 16gb)
 
I found the 15in MBA screen a bit yellow compared to my M1 MBA. All screen settings are the same. Anyone notice this too?

IMG_5192.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back