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There is NO justifiable reason now to buy a 13” MacBook Pro

T

TheRealAlex

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 2, 2015
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The new M1 chip is amazing. The MacBook Air has a Wide P3 color gamut 10-bit. I can’t see why anyone would need a bulkier 13” MacBook Pro.

unless anyone would like to share why they would pay $500+ more
 
I assume the Air will throttle much quicker though without the fan. That is the only difference I can see, other than the Touch Bar.

Edit: The entry-level Air has a 7-core GPU and the entry-level Pro has an 8-core GPU.
 
I made a similar deduction and ordered a nicely spec'ed Air.

The only things better with the Pro is higher performance (they can push the chip much harder with active cooling), and a 500 (to 400) nits brightness, as far as I can see.

Though - on the other hand - a cool, silent, fanless MacBook Air was yet another thing convincing me.

The touch bar was actually one of the reasons AGAINST the Pro, for me, and basically clinched it. :)
 
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TheRealAlex said:
unless anyone would like to share why they would pay $500+ more
Click to expand...
Fan for better sustained performance
Brighter display
Bigger battery, more battery life
Also more powerful GPU (the base MacBook Air only has 7 GPU cores compared to 8 in the Pro)

And the difference between the same MacBook Air config as the Pro is actually only about $200.
 
bill-p said:
Bigger battery, more battery life
Also more powerful GPU (the base MacBook Air only has 7 GPU cores compared to 8 in the Pro)
Click to expand...
Forgot about that one, though I don't really care about battery life...

bill-p said:
Also more powerful GPU (the base MacBook Air only has 7 GPU cores compared to 8 in the Pro)
Click to expand...
Actually, you can choose between 7 and 8 core GPU on the Air.
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Forgot about that one, though I don't really care about battery life...


Actually, you can choose between 7 and 8 core GPU on the Air.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but all the same: the Pro with the fan will still have better overall performance.

And it also has better battery life.

And it also has a brighter screen.

All for actually about $200 more than the Air when both are configured to about the same specs (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD). I didn't just click on "place order" without looking at both sides.

In fact, I'd say... for someone who wants a pro MacBook, it actually makes no sense to give up on the things that the 13" Pro offers over the Air... at just $200 difference.
 
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I have regretted both MacBook Air's I have purchased (first gen and 2018). I have loved every 13" MacBook Pro. I just find the Airs either throttle or the fans go crazy... My current 2018 Air always feels like it is unhappy performing almost any tasks.. It will do it, but it's kind of pissed. The MacBook Pro (13") is only barely bigger and seems happy to do anything thrown at it. I will stick with the Pro.
 
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bill-p said:
Yeah, but all the same: the Pro with the fan will still have better overall performance.

And it also has better battery life.

And it also has a brighter screen.

All for actually about $200 more than the Air when both are configured to about the same specs (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD). I didn't just click on "place order" without looking at both sides.

In fact, I'd say... for someone who wants a pro MacBook, it actually makes no sense to give up on the things that the 13" Pro offers over the Air... at just $200 difference.
Click to expand...
Hehe.

Good thing we have options, I was happy to save those $200 (eq. in my local currency) and would gladly have paid the same for the Air, just to avoid having the touch bar, which have driven me nuts over the last year. :)
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
I made a similar deduction and ordered a nicely spec'ed Air.

The only things better with the Pro is higher performance (they can push the chip much harder with active cooling), and a 500 (to 400) nits brightness, as far as I can see.

Though - on the other hand - a cool, silent, fanless MacBook Air was yet another thing convincing me.

The touch bar was actually one of the reasons AGAINST the Pro, for me, and basically clinched it. :)
Click to expand...
The lack of 'high dynamic range' speakers on the Air vs the Pro are the one thing holding me back... But I sure do like the idea of having physical function keys back.
 
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AceFernalld said:
The lack of 'high dynamic range' speakers on the Air vs the Pro are the one thing holding me back... But I sure do like the idea of having physical function keys back.
Click to expand...
At home I'm using Airplay to my Denon ceol Piccolo for Music, so I never use the speakers for anything "worthwhile".

Away from home I usually wear headphones, so same there. :)
 
rorschach said:
I assume the Air will throttle much quicker though without the fan. That is the only difference I can see, other than the Touch Bar.

Edit: The entry-level Air has a 7-core GPU and the entry-level Pro has an 8-core GPU.
Click to expand...
For $50 more you can get the 8-core GPU in the Air (just start with the $1199 model). I'm guessing some people might conclude the extra GPU core isn't worth the extra money.
 
I’ve been using an Air for the last few months and I prefer the more squared-off design of the Pro. And this next one will really win me no fans, but I’ve been missing the Touch Bar 😊
 
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The MBP is better in every aspect, it makes perfect sense if you're willing to pay 200 bucks more.
 
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So I have changed my mind and ordered a 13. inch MBP with M1 chip. I do time lapse photography of the night sky which is very demanding for editing and processing. Apple sales told me that the MBP is about 3 times faster for this type of processing than what the MacBook Air with the M1 chip. I upgraded to the 16FB memory and hope that their information is honest and accurate. I am a little hesitant to believe that the increased clocking of the MBP could make it that much better then the Air. The other factor that tipped my over to the MPB (and the hated Touch Bar) was the increased battery life. That eventually sold me. I still hate the Touch Bar.
 
STxMacUser said:
So I have changed my mind and ordered a 13. inch MBP with M1 chip. I do time lapse photography of the night sky which is very demanding for editing and processing. Apple sales told me that the MBP is about 3 times faster for this type of processing than what the MacBook Air with the M1 chip. I upgraded to the 16FB memory and hope that their information is honest and accurate. I am a little hesitant to believe that the increased clocking of the MBP could make it that much better then the Air. The other factor that tipped my over to the MPB (and the hated Touch Bar) was the increased battery life. That eventually sold me. I still hate the Touch Bar.
Click to expand...
You can always return it if you are not satisfied.
 
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STxMacUser said:
So I have changed my mind and ordered a 13. inch MBP with M1 chip. I do time lapse photography of the night sky which is very demanding for editing and processing. Apple sales told me that the MBP is about 3 times faster for this type of processing than what the MacBook Air with the M1 chip. I upgraded to the 16FB memory and hope that their information is honest and accurate. I am a little hesitant to believe that the increased clocking of the MBP could make it that much better then the Air. The other factor that tipped my over to the MPB (and the hated Touch Bar) was the increased battery life. That eventually sold me. I still hate the Touch Bar.
Click to expand...
Yeah, people diving head first into the MacBook Air probably haven't seen Lightroom throttling performance on the iPad Pro.

I have, and it's not pretty. Use any of the selective edit tools and you'll see the iPad slow to a crawl and heat up a lot.

But beyond that point, the fan is extra insurance when ambient temp gets toasty. During the months of June -> September this year, my 16" was throttling so badly that I ended up using my phone more for emails and web browsing. Granted, ambient temp was ultra high, and the problem went away when I turned on the AC, but... your MacBook Air and iPad Pro should not need to be in AC to perform in tip top condition.

A 5W chip may not need cooling, but 10W? That definitely needs cooling, or it may be performance-throttled to about 5W. If the M1 in the MacBook Pro can sustain 15W thanks to the fan, then yeah, Apple sales telling you that it's 3x faster (15W vs 5W) is not off the mark.
 
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Well for a measly $300 extra you do get a very slick Touch Bar, 2 hours of battery life, and 100 extra nits, how great is that!? (sarcasm)
 
Strangedream said:
Well for a measly $300 extra you do get a very slick Touch Bar, 2 hours of battery life, and 100 extra nits, how great is that!? (sarcasm)
Click to expand...
well it does offer battery life of some of the old business laptops ive had at 1/5 the thickness and weight !!!!
ok but its still half the nits of my old road warrior laptop
 
Will wait for the reviews, before i'll judge the performance difference.

But for me the Air would likely be more than i need.

Would miss the Touch Bar though. I actually like it a lot.
 
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