to refurb or not

[roadkill401]

I am replacing a windows laptop and moving over to an MBA 15". I have concluded that i need the bigger screen for application real-estate in the program on a 13" mba doesn't fit on the screen and you are left with needing to constantly scroll the screen up and down to use. This won't work for me.

So that leaves the grand question of is it worth it to spend more for an M3 just to get the newer unit, or buy a refurbished M2. Here in Canada, for the cost of an M3 16gb with 256, I can get an M2 16gb with 1tb drive. I am not going to be doing gaming with the laptop so having hardware raytrace isn't something that I really even care about (and I can play games on my game windows laptop that i am retiring).

Trying to get an honest answer from Apple as to the practical speed performance difference between an M2 vs M3. they love to say its 14x faster than a 2017 intel mba so likely an i3. But that is totally irrelevant. is the M3 going to be that much faster that its worth giving up 4x the storage capacity, or push my budget a bit and buy the M3 with 512gb ?

 

[Saturn007]

Several questions and points arise.

What's your current laptop's display size? Keep in mind that the 13” MBA is actually 13.6”.

Which programs are you having to do so much scrolling on? Keep in mind that the diagonal measure (13.6” vs. 15.3”) doesn't directly reflect the vertical dimension. That’s only about 1” taller or not that many more lines of text or code, or rows in a spreadsheet.

Do you travel? Or, backpack or schlep your laptop? Or, visit coffee shops or study carrels or have a crowded desk where space is a premium? If so, the smaller, lighter 13.6” could be advantageous.

How much more expensive would similar configurations of RAM and storage space be? Oftentimes, it's worth springing for several hundred dollars more to get the newer, similar device. That old adage, “Penny wise, pound foolish” often applies.

Do you really need 16gb or 1TB? Are your programs that demanding that you need that much memory — or are your documents (photos, videos, etc.) so big you need that much storage space? Keep in mind that 8gb is more than enough for many, if not most, users. SSDs are so fast these days that if swapping to drive is needed, there is no noticeable lag.

From all the reading I've done, there's only a marginal difference in speed in real world terms between M2 and M3.

I use both a nearly decade-old 8gb 2015 13” MBA and a modern 8gb 15” M2 MBA. There are only a few use cases where the M2's speed matters for me — faster photo transfer from SD card to laptop and faster backing up to an external hard drive. Otherwise, I'm still using my 2015 model — for book manuscripts, large financial spreadsheets, data analysis and graphing, astronomy simulations, etc.

As to refurbished, I’d only go that route if it's a refurbished Mac being sold by Apple — no third party. That way, you're sure of quality, get a 1-year warranty, and can add Apple Care+, which many of us feel is necessary given how expensive repairs can be.

Hope that helps with your decision-making!

 

[jb310]

is the M3 going to be that much faster that its worth giving up 4x the storage capacity, or push my budget a bit and buy the M3 with 512gb ?

MacRumors did publish a guide on whether it's better to get an M3 versus the M2:

M2 vs. M3 Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M3?

Apple's latest series of custom silicon chips designed for the Mac come just over a year after the introduction of the M2 chip in 2022, so how...

www.macrumors.com

But I would say that realistically, unless you do a lot of things that require heavy processing power, you would be perfectly fine with the M2 chip (also, if processing power was a big concern, you'd be better off with the MacBook Pro).

 

[roadkill401]

Several questions and points arise.

What's your current laptop's display size? Keep in mind that the 13” MBA is actually 13.6”.

Which programs are you having to do so much scrolling on? Keep in mind that the diagonal measure (13.6” vs. 15.3”) doesn't directly reflect the vertical dimension. That’s only about 1” taller or not that many more lines of text or code, or rows in a spreadsheet.

Do you travel? Or, backpack or schlep your laptop? Or, visit coffee shops or study carrels or have a crowded desk where space is a premium? If so, the smaller, lighter 13.6” could be advantageous.

How much more expensive would similar configurations of RAM and storage space be? Oftentimes, it's worth springing for several hundred dollars more to get the newer, similar device. That old adage, “Penny wise, pound foolish” often applies.

Do you really need 16gb or 1TB? Are your programs that demanding that you need that much memory — or are your documents (photos, videos, etc.) so big you need that much storage space? Keep in mind that 8gb is more than enough for many, if not most, users. SSDs are so fast these days that if swapping to drive is needed, there is no noticeable lag.

From all the reading I've done, there's only a marginal difference in speed in real world terms between M2 and M3.

I use both a nearly decade-old 8gb 2015 13” MBA and a modern 8gb 15” M2 MBA. There are only a few use cases where the M2's speed matters for me — faster photo transfer from SD card to laptop and faster backing up to an external hard drive. Otherwise, I'm still using my 2015 model — for book manuscripts, large financial spreadsheets, data analysis and graphing, astronomy simulations, etc.

As to refurbished, I’d only go that route if it's a refurbished Mac being sold by Apple — no third party. That way, you're sure of quality, get a 1-year warranty, and can add Apple Care+, which many of us feel is necessary given how expensive repairs can be.

Hope that helps with your decision-making!

My current windows laptop is a 15" gaming windows, so it's sort of unrealistic to compare one against the other. I have a mac mini with a 27" 4k monitor but it's not all that portable.

I'm a 6'2" big guy, so reality the percentage size difference between the 13.6" and 15.3" mac isn't of large enough proportion to sway me either way and when compared to a 15.7" with an extra bezel around it weighing 4.3lbs that MBA will be a dream lighter and smaller expecially without the need for a 1.8lbs power brick that I need with the windows laptop as well.

I don't travel an awful lot and want it more for being able to go to a coffee shop or go out and sit in the shade outside. I know screens aren't a fan of working well in bright light. i dont know the nits for my current laptop or if it has any (it doesn't do well outside) But to the point of size. Its more likely that i will be if traveling be in a spot with more space due to my size that the size of a laptop will be inconsequential.

I am wanting to get a laptop to be able to write music. I did try out a 13" mba m1 last year and took it back not because it was too slow, but Logic was just too clumbersom to use as the screen real estate was too small and you were fighting with scrolling and expanding/closing screen menus to do anything that are simply just displayed on my 4k monitor fine. Again. I am not using this laptop with a 4k screen or any additional screen hooked up to it, or at least I don't expect or need to as I have a perfectly good M2Pro mac in a studio that can be used. I want a laptop for the times (or most of the time) that I don't want to be stuck inside a sound insulated studio trying to get inspiration

 

[SkweeBop]

You aren't going to necessarily need an M3 for composing--I've seen multiple videos even saying that Logic isn't even the most optimized for the latest chipset (Reaper got that designation, interestingly).

 

[Andrey84]

If it's mostly for writing music, just get the M2 15" 16GB/1TB MBA and enjoy it for the next 10 years!
Try Amazon or any other discount sites, there are good deals going on right now.
Also if you know anyone who works at Apple, they can give you a 17% discount.