Torn between Air M2 and Pro 14 - Any news on the horizon?

[Muyfa666]

I guess this have been debated many times before, but here goes...

I really want the Air M2, as it seem to tick most of my boxes, but if I spec it 16/512, the price is not super far from a Pro 14.

Portability and battery life is very important to me, and having a completely silent fanless machine also sounds compelling to me. With Magsafe I also get a "extra" USB-C now, but I'm fine with adapters anyways.

I am well aware that the Pro 14 is good bang for the buck, with plenty of ports, better screen etc, but I never really liked any of my previous Pros like the Airs.

Screen. I never tried the Pro 14, so all I'm used to is 60hz.

What's rumored on the horizon? Wait or splurge? Hard decisions. :-/

 

[Haribokart]

This is gonna be fun!

Nah seriously having had both I prefer the air. Can't go wrong with either though.

 

[maka344]

If portability/battery life is very important to you, you’ve never really liked the Pro’s over the Air’s and you’re already used to the Air screen tech then by all means get the M2 - you’ll have zero regrets.

The Air is far better portability and battery wise. Also depends on your use case but you sound like a typically Air user.

 

[jdb8167]

I guess this have been debated many times before, but here goes...

I really want the Air M2, as it seem to tick most of my boxes, but if I spec it 16/512, the price is not super far from a Pro 14.

Portability and battery life is very important to me, and having a completely silent fanless machine also sounds compelling to me. With Magsafe I also get a "extra" USB-C now, but I'm fine with adapters anyways.

I am well aware that the Pro 14 is good bang for the buck, with plenty of ports, better screen etc, but I never really liked any of my previous Pros like the Airs.

Screen. I never tried the Pro 14, so all I'm used to is 60hz.

What's rumored on the horizon? Wait or splurge? Hard decisions. :-/

I’m starting to see discounts on the M2 MacBook Air. That means that the price gap is likely to widen between the 14” MacBook Pro and the M2 MacBook Air again over the next few months. If you can wait you are likely to find some deals nearer the Christmas shopping season.

 

[IJBrekke]

It sounds like you want the Air, so you should get the Air.

 

[Student of Life]

I guess this have been debated many times before, but here goes...

I really want the Air M2, as it seem to tick most of my boxes, but if I spec it 16/512, the price is not super far from a Pro 14.

Portability and battery life is very important to me, and having a completely silent fanless machine also sounds compelling to me. With Magsafe I also get a "extra" USB-C now, but I'm fine with adapters anyways.

I am well aware that the Pro 14 is good bang for the buck, with plenty of ports, better screen etc, but I never really liked any of my previous Pros like the Airs.

Screen. I never tried the Pro 14, so all I'm used to is 60hz.

What's rumored on the horizon? Wait or splurge? Hard decisions. :-/

The first thing to remember is that an Air 16/512 is a custom order build so it’s way harder to get discounts on that configuration. Your best bet if you want the air is to wait for them to hit the Apple refurbished store, not really sure when that typically happens.

Ideally just go to the Apple Store or Best Buy and play with both, value wise it seems you get more for the Pro but if you dont value those upgrades its a moot point. It seems you want the Air which is a very attractive laptop and might fit your needs better.

 

[TSE]

I went from a 14" MacBook Pro to an M1 MacBook Air. I am a professional UX Designer who has pretty intense workloads. Nothing crazy, but more than the average person and I was worried that the Air would have issues. I purchased the base model with 16 GBs of RAM.

No performance issues whatsoever. What I did notice were the intangibles the Air line gives that can't be described on a tech spec sheet... fanless engineering is way underrated. Battery Life improvements. Ultraportability allowing me to work remotely out of the home easier (I didnt think a .7 pound and a little bit thinner chassis would be all that noticeable, but I can't go back ever again). The ONLY thing I miss at times with the Pro is that gorgeous screen.

My wife is now going to school and took my M1 Air, and I just purchased an M2 Air with 16 GBs of RAM and a 512GB SSD. I could have gotten the 14" Pro for $1599, about $100 less, but the better battery life, thinness, and fanless experience are well worth the slight cost in performance, worse screen, and lack of ports.

 

[ascender]

I guess this have been debated many times before, but here goes...

I really want the Air M2, as it seem to tick most of my boxes, but if I spec it 16/512, the price is not super far from a Pro 14.

Portability and battery life is very important to me, and having a completely silent fanless machine also sounds compelling to me. With Magsafe I also get a "extra" USB-C now, but I'm fine with adapters anyways.

I am well aware that the Pro 14 is good bang for the buck, with plenty of ports, better screen etc, but I never really liked any of my previous Pros like the Airs.

Screen. I never tried the Pro 14, so all I'm used to is 60hz.

What's rumored on the horizon? Wait or splurge? Hard decisions. :-/

What's on the horizon is a refreshed MBP with M2 versions of the chips but not sure if anything else will change?

So the decision is still likely to come down to whether there's something you need that only the MBP can do (HDR screen, ports, sustained multicore performance) or if you prefer a more portable device.

 

[ilikewhey]

depend if you live in the us. 16gb 512gb air is about same price as base 14inch pro from costco, bestbuy, walmart.

the m2 pro/max is still going to be 5nm if they are releasing it this year. you might get some core bumps so don't expect the same level of jump going from intel to m1. even more so with m2 being only 10-15% better than m1 and reaches thermal throttle faster.

 

[0906742]

I guess this have been debated many times before, but here goes...

I really want the Air M2, as it seem to tick most of my boxes, but if I spec it 16/512, the price is not super far from a Pro 14.

You forgot one crucial thing from your equation. The price of possible MBP 14" M2 Pro or what ever the next CPU will be when it is released, is not going to be on sale right away! So when you now can get MBP 14" base at sale price for the same as MBA M2, it isn't to going to be the same for next MBP 14" base with updated CPU unless you are willing to wait again for several months for a sale, and then you face the same situation as now, it is already old model and the next MBP 14" base is just around the corner. Just jump in if you need a machine and select one of the models are being sold right now.

 

[Muyfa666]

Sorry, forgot to mention, I don't live in the US, and Apple pretty much doesn't give any discounts whatsoever where I live. The price difference will be 2090 USD for the Pro versus 1820 USD for the Air.

Not really any heavy workloads. Some light gaming (ScummVM adventures, emulators etc), mostly office and media consumption. I have gaming PC for the heavy lifting.

 

[maka344]

Sorry, forgot to mention, I don't live in the US, and Apple pretty much doesn't give any discounts whatsoever where I live. The price difference will be 2090 USD for the Pro versus 1820 USD for the Air.

Not really any heavy workloads. Some light gaming (ScummVM adventures, emulators etc), mostly office and media consumption. I have gaming PC for the heavy lifting.

Sounds like the Air wins in that case.

 

[ilikewhey]

Sorry, forgot to mention, I don't live in the US, and Apple pretty much doesn't give any discounts whatsoever where I live. The price difference will be 2090 USD for the Pro versus 1820 USD for the Air.

Not really any heavy workloads. Some light gaming (ScummVM adventures, emulators etc), mostly office and media consumption. I have gaming PC for the heavy lifting.

then you gotta ask yourself if 200 usd is worth the difference for better sound, better screen, more ports, and active fan cooling. for me the mini led alone is worth it, if you look at mini led monitors you be hard pressed to find one for under 1k usd.

 

[0906742]

Sorry, forgot to mention, I don't live in the US, and Apple pretty much doesn't give any discounts whatsoever where I live. The price difference will be 2090 USD for the Pro versus 1820 USD for the Air.

Not really any heavy workloads. Some light gaming (ScummVM adventures, emulators etc), mostly office and media consumption. I have gaming PC for the heavy lifting.

If you live outside USA like in Euro zone, it is likely that next MBP 14" model will see hefty price increase as every new product and even some older already here to compensate Euro value in a free fall dropping like a rock against USD.
So in take case forget about the possibility for getting next MBP 14" model with just that little price difference against current MBA M2.

EDIT. just noticed from your sign that you are from Sweden, so I think the same as with Euro apply there too. Or was there no price increases recently for new Apple products?

 

[1BadManVan]

Sounds like the features that make the air what it is fit your needs the best. I know people like to try and trash the screen of the airs compared to the pro 14 but the air still has a fantastic screen.

Before the mini led, MacBooks were already considered to have some of the best laptop displays. They aren’t just suddenly considered bad because they move to a different tech. It’s still a bright and colour accurate QHD display that beats 90% of other laptop displays out there.

So if portability, battery life and fanless are a big plus for you, the air wins that hands down. Plus it’s still a very fast machine

 

[Muyfa666]

Yes, we had the increase, sorry to say.

 

[Muyfa666]

Thanks everyone. I pretty much settled on the Air M2 now.

I have no problem with a 60hz screen as long as it's good and I have a really good dongle that will sort any port shortage issues.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Other than drawing with a stylus, there's basically nothing the iPad can do that a Macbook can't do. But there are A LOT of things that Macbook can do and iPad cannot do.

 

[Technerd108]

Thanks everyone. I pretty much settled on the Air M2 now.

I have no problem with a 60hz screen as long as it's good and I have a really good dongle that will sort any port shortage issues.

I think you made the right choice. It really comes down to use case. Considering your use case and prior history with the air line of laptops this will be a nice upgrade from the previous generations.

I really like the fan less design. It is amazing what a difference it makes and unlike models in the past with Intel this one lasts much longer on the battery and has pretty stellar performance.

Considering all the different laptops out right now I would say the M2 MBA has a really great screen. The contrast is very good for an IPS display. It has great color accuracy and gets very bright.

The keyboard on the M2 MBA has to be my favorite of any MacBook I have had. I don't know what it is but I can type really easily with it. The keys have decent travel and it just feels really good. The trackpad is not as big as other Apple laptops but not small either. I find the trackpad is very accurate and I like the size better on the M2 Air.

The MagSafe connection is great and I am so happy Apple is bring in back to their laptops!

I like the speakers as well. They get pretty loud and are crisp and clear. They have a decent amount of bass for such a thin and light laptop.

Overall this is one of the best Apple Laptops I have had in a while. It is my first MBA. I have always had Pro line of laptops from Apple in the past because I wanted that extra power. Being used to the Intel Macs usually the airs had dual core chips and they were pretty pathetic in terms of performance. Now with the m series chips you get a lot of performance, a lot of battery life, and all of that without a fan. It is really amazing what Apple has done.

This is the first time I don't feel compelled to get a Pro model.

I had both the M1 MBP 14" and 16" in the past and ended up with an M1 Max 16" and while it was a great laptop it just wasn't for me. I sold it at a small loss and bought the M2 MBA and I have been very happy with my choice every since I got the M2 MBA. Everyone has different needs and uses so for some I would say go get the M1 MBP and for others I will say get the M2 MBA but before I would never have even considered the MBA.

The size and weight of the M2 MBA along with the redesign and new colors really make this a fun and usable laptop.

I hope you enjoy your Mac when you get it!!

 

[JPS127]

After a number of Pros, the last being the dreaded 2017 model with the lousy keyboard, I bought the M2 and haven't regretted it for a moment. The battery life is incredible (I had to plug in the Pro after a few hours of work a few times a day; now I only charge my M2 overnight), the keyboard a huge improvement, and the screen (and camera) is excellent. It's also a lot lighter than the Pro.

 

[ignatius345]

I went from a 14" MacBook Pro to an M1 MacBook Air. I am a professional UX Designer who has pretty intense workloads. Nothing crazy, but more than the average person and I was worried that the Air would have issues. I purchased the base model with 16 GBs of RAM.

Curious, why did you switch?

 

[TSE]

Curious, why did you switch?

Switched jobs - the 14" MacBook Pro was a company computer.

 

[glhiii]

I don't understand why someone would get a 14" MBP instead of the 16". The extra screen area makes a huge difference. If it's between the 14" MBP and the M2 MBA, the MBA wins hands down in my opinion, because it's so easily portable. If you need the extra power of the MBP why wouldn't you get the 16"?

 

[kschendel]

I don't understand why someone would get a 14" MBP instead of the 16"....

I generally agree, however I can think of a couple situations where the 14" would be preferred: a) the machine is moved around a LOT, the extra size can be wearing; b) it's used on an airplane a lot, and those extra two inches are just too much for most economy seats.

 

[Dealmans]

I’m starting to see discounts on the M2 MacBook Air. That means that the price gap is likely to widen between the 14” MacBook Pro and the M2 MacBook Air again over the next few months. If you can wait you are likely to find some deals nearer the Christmas shopping season.

Yes here too, Air 2 8/512 is 10% off here now which makes it $580AUD less than the 14" 16/512 with 10% off.
Bit wider apart now.