Who is going to buy MBA 15 inch?

[Dave245]

People always think you can't get used to an 'inferior' screen. In my experience, you forget about it after two days. Went from a 5K iMac to a MacBook Air connected to a 4K Dell monitor. It's completely fine.

Personally I don’t think it’s an “inferior“ screen, is the MacBook Pro screen better, yes but that doesn’t make the Air screen inferior it’s simply a different screen for a different use. There is no point Apple putting a 120HZ Mini LED screen into the Air, it would cost more and most people who use the Air would probably not notice or even care.

Pro’s need that kind of technology for video editing and photo editing, the general consumer, students and the semi-Pro who just wants to edit a few personal photos and maybe edit a couple of holiday videos using iMovie don’t.

 

[ilikewhey]

I suppose it depends on use case and other requirements such as portability. It makes sense to get a base model if someone needs the portability, larger screen for "general" use. Anything more where you need the power and suddenly it becomes less appealing for the price.

Case in point vs a $1750 (currently) MBP 14 with M2 Pro, 16GB/512GB config. Similar config MBA Air puts it in the similar price range ($1699) so basically, you'll give up a few things like processing power and display for a more portable laptop.

$1699 - MBA 16/512 Config
$1749 - MBP 16/512 Config

I can't believe I'm discussing value for an Apple product but comparatively, to me, the value just isn't there and me personally would pick the MBP. Again, could be different for those who have other requirements.

The only MBA device that makes sense to me are the lower priced base models. Currently the MBA 13 M2 is $999 with $150 gift card. For an effective price of $850, it's a great little general use device. You start to spec it up and I don't think I can justify it for MBA.

agreed, i came to the same conclusion awhile back and been trying to explain it on this forum, but alot of mba die hards argue like the MBA was the greatest since sliced bread 😂

and no matter how specced up and out of value the MBA is, many would still argue its a better value than a MBP.

 

[ilikewhey]

Wow, that 14" M1 is a great option right now. It's actually the 16" M2 Pro that's $1000 more than the 15" MBA. Still, I'm happy with what I ordered. I've been using an Intel MacBook Pro. The MBA's 500-nits display with P3 gamut will be a huge upgrade. Fans and bulk, I'd rather be without. 64 GB sounds great but I don't think I actually need it.

i don't think i never had the fan kicked up to a audible level with my 14inch m1 max. as for bulk, its about 3.3lb vs 3.5lb, you basically splitting hair at this point.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Personally I don’t think it’s an “inferior“ screen, is the MacBook Pro screen better, yes but that doesn’t make the Air screen inferior

Yes, the MBP screen is better ...
By extension, the MBA screen is inferior

There's no harm in not minding the MBA screen quality, brightness, 60hz refresh rate, lack of HDR capability -- in comparison to the better MBP screens.

But let's not pretend one isn't better than in the other, in objective measurable specifications.

It's ok to not be as good -- it costs less -- it makes sense

 

[Dave245]

Yes, the MBP screen is better ...
By extension, the MBA screen is inferior

There's no harm in not minding the MBA screen quality, brightness, 60hz refresh rate, lack of HDR capability -- in comparison to the better MBP screens.

But let's not pretend one isn't better than in the other, in objective measurable specifications.

It's ok to not be as good -- it costs less -- it makes sense

I get your point, I was just saying that most people won't notice the difference. The new 15" MacBook Air is good value for anyone who wants a bigger screen, but doesn't need the power of the pro. Students and general consumers who prefer bigger screens are going to love it I think. The Air already a great seller, now with a 15" option I think it will sell even better.

 

[ilikewhey]

I get your point, I was just saying that most people won't notice the difference. The new 15" MacBook Air is good value for anyone who wants a bigger screen, but doesn't need the power of the pro. Students and general consumers who prefer bigger screens are going to love it I think. The Air already a great seller, now with a 15" option I think it will sell even better.

the difference is quite noticeable, especially if you view any type of video thats HDR400 +, HDR10 or any of its derivatives. most streaming services such as prime video, netflix, hulu, disney etc. all have the HDR option.

besides the HDR difference. it seems apple is sticking with the traditional backlit ips lcd display for the 15 air, which has major issues with backlit uniformity and bleeding. and the extra 2 inch will simply exacerbate the issue due to being a larger canvas.

the base 13 and 15 value wise is fantastic, but as others pointed out, once you spec up, its value is quickly diminished by the base 14inch.

 

[bill-p]

I am blown away that anybody with a 14 or 16 inch is going to downgrade to the completely inferior screen experience on the MBA

It’s really tough to go backwards on something like screen technology

If you have actually used the 14 or 16 inch, you'll understand why. The Mini LED screen is nice but it's locked to 500 nits (kind of exactly) when viewing SDR content so the display isn't brighter than the new 15" Air.

Refresh rate is higher, up to 120Hz, but the higher refresh rate drains battery life like crazy, and actual screen response time is still very slow so motion blur is still very apparent. If either the 14 or 16 inch is forced into power-saving mode, both do 60Hz anyway and again, look basically indistinguishable from the Air.

Last but not least, you can't calibrate the white point of the XDR display easily without jumping through hoops. Apple has weirdly locked this ability down at the OS level, so there is not much that can be done. Either you win the screen lottery or you don't. For color-critical work, the XDR display is actually a downgrade in that regard.

So what if it does better with HDR? I don't use my MacBook for regular viewing of HDR contents. I have my OLED TVs for that. For the vast majority of apps, the XDR display basically doesn't feel too different from a regular IPS display that just happens to have slightly better contrast (but still not quite as good as OLED). I'd gladly trade all that for a display that I can properly calibrate without dedicated hardware... plus one that has predictable brightness behavior.

P.S.: there are hacks to get around all of the above. I have used them. They freak out when I also try to connect an external display. Trying to work around all of it (being able to output 4K120 via HDMI 2.1 with M1 and still maintain the XDR brightness hack and still maintain HDR compatibility) is really not worth it overall as a setup. It's hacks on top of hacks just to get something that should have been default in the OS to begin with. So I won't try to play this game a second time. I'll wait until Apple figures out how to deal with displays properly in the Pro line.

 

[Dave245]

the difference is quite noticeable, especially if you view any type of video thats HDR400 +, HDR10 or any of its derivatives. most streaming services such as prime video, netflix, hulu, disney etc. all have the HDR option.

besides the HDR difference. it seems apple is sticking with the traditional backlit ips lcd display for the 15 air, which has major issues with backlit uniformity and bleeding. and the extra 2 inch will simply exacerbate the issue due to being a larger canvas.

the base 13 and 15 value wise is fantastic, but as others pointed out, once you spec up, its value is quickly diminished by the base 14inch.

Most people won’t notice or care. Most people are not on forums like this. Students and the general consumer will be happy with the Airs screen.

 

[Mike82]

Most people won’t notice or care. Most people are not on forums like this. Students and the general consumer will be happy with the Airs screen.

This. Up until 2017 the MacBook Air screen was pretty mediocre. The current one is firmly in 'good enough'-territory for the vast majority.

 

[Saturn007]

And then there are quite a few "gotchas" I have had with it over the years, but I won't list them out.

Bill, thanks for listing some of them in your later post.

Most helpful, especially for those of us who are tempted by the 15” MBA, but keep reading comments by those who push the 14” MBPs.

Although I’d love the extra ports (SD slot)and smaller size of the 14”, I would be troubled by the shorter battery life, display issues such as PWM, $300 extra cost, and the sticker shock of spending over $2,000!

 

[ilikewhey]

Most people won’t notice or care. Most people are not on forums like this. Students and the general consumer will be happy with the Airs screen.

i disagree, good HDR is actually very noticeable and not just some differences on a spec sheet. that aside, my brother is not on this forum, but when he upgraded to the 14inch from the mba he immediately noticed how much brighter and more crisp everything got.

 

[nfl46]

I'm considering giving up my 16 inch MBP Silicon for the 15 inch MBA. I'm over the weight of the 16 inch MBP. I tried the 14 MBP which felt similar to my 13 inch MBP. I want a bigger screen and light device which the 15 Air seems perfect.

 

[Dave245]

i disagree, good HDR is actually very noticeable and not just some differences on a spec sheet. that aside, my brother is not on this forum, but when he upgraded to the 14inch from the mba he immediately noticed how much brighter and more crisp everything got.

I disagree in the sense that most people won't care, The MacBook Air is the most popular Mac, It is the best selling Mac. Most people will struggle to notice the difference when browsing the web, typing a report, or watching a Youtube video. HDR content really isn't something that the average consumer buys a MacBook for.

 

[ilikewhey]

I disagree in the sense that most people won't care, The MacBook Air is the most popular Mac, It is the best selling Mac. Most people will struggle to notice the difference when browsing the web, typing a report, or watching a Youtube video. HDR content really isn't something that the average consumer buys a MacBook for.

if you meant by best selling mac, you are referring to the base model with 8gb 256gb combo, then yes, there is no point comparing it to the 14inch mbp since the price difference is huge, however for these BTO to the 16gb/512gb spec, the extra bells and whistles of the 14inch becomes much more relevant since the price gap is literally 50-100 bucks.

 

[bill-p]

Bill, thanks for listing some of them in your later post.

Most helpful, especially for those of us who are tempted by the 15” MBA, but keep reading comments by those who push the 14” MBPs.

Although I’d love the extra ports (SD slot)and smaller size of the 14”, I would be troubled by the shorter battery life, display issues such as PWM, $300 extra cost, and the sticker shock of spending over $2,000!

Yeah, I'm actually spending over $2000 for my 15" Air. It's never been about the price for me but I was always looking forward to a fanless thin and light 15" (or bigger) device from Apple with the cooler chip. I actually didn't expect them to release the 15" but now that they have, I'm going all in.

It's cool to consider the 14" but most people don't notice that it's completely overkill for most usage, and it's still ultimately a 14" screen. No amount of extra brightness or super XDR will be able to expand the screen real estate, nor will they make texts easier to read for my aging eyes. The lower PPI helps in that regard because I can now do 1440x900 equivalence without texts looking blurry. This is another issue I had with the 14" display's higher PPI. MacOS doesn't support anything other than 2x scaling, so unless it's exactly 2x, the drop in text sharpness is very noticeable.

I think it comes down to: do you need the extra performance? Or do you need more screen real estate? For me, it's clearly the latter.

 

[n19htmare]

I disagree in the sense that most people won't care, The MacBook Air is the most popular Mac, It is the best selling Mac. Most people will struggle to notice the difference when browsing the web, typing a report, or watching a Youtube video. HDR content really isn't something that the average consumer buys a MacBook for.

The best selling is the base model because it's the cheapest. Majority of users won't do much past web browsing/emails and general use.

It's why I believe the best model to get for the MBA IS the base model for such use. There's no need to spec up a MBA for that kind of use, which fits majority of people. If you're going to spec a MBA to 16/512 because you need the power for your workload requirements, you might as well head towards the MBP 14.

That's just my opinion though, to all their own.

 

[bill-p]

The best selling is the base model because it's the cheapest. Majority of users won't do much past web browsing/emails and general use.

It's why I believe the best model to get for the MBA IS the base model for such use. There's no need to spec up a MBA for that kind of use, which fits majority of people. If you're going to spec a MBA to 16/512 because you need the power for your workload requirements, you might as well head towards the MBP 14.

That's just my opinion though, to all their own.

More storage and RAM might be for use cases that don't need "power" per se.

For instance, I do photo editing a lot and ultimately, that's why more storage helps. Photo editing won't really need "power" per se since 90% of the time, I'm just staring and making some small adjustments here and there. But incidentally, the same task will also need a lot of RAM, especially when I proceed to merge multiple photos together for a panorama.

Sure, the 14" is faster but do I really need to merge panorama within 30 minutes? Or can I wait 45 minutes to an hour for that task to finish? That's the kind of consideration I think you and many others are missing out.

Similarly, the same thing can be applied to coding, video editing, etc...

If my workload needed constant 3D modeling workflow, then yeah, I'd stick with the 14" with its faster GPU. But unfortunately, that's not what I do most of the time, and thus 14" is super overkill still.

Another thing to consider about having more RAM is... I also generally just leave 30+ tabs in Safari opened while I'm doing research. Again, nothing that needs "power" but Safari or Chrome will need all of the RAM the system has for that. Otherwise the browsers start to swap out to storage and slow down when I'm switching between the pages. It's not a big deal when I throw 16GB or now... 24GB at the problem.

So it's not that the extra specs can only be utilized by the M1 Pro/Max in the 14". Any amount of storage or RAM can be useful depending on use case, and it's still all independent of the processor.

Otherwise why even bother going with 32GB or 64GB RAM in some past Intel 15" MBP? Did we forget M2 is actually still faster than many past Intel 15" MBP both in CPU and GPU performance?

 

[Dave245]

The best selling is the base model because it's the cheapest. Majority of users won't do much past web browsing/emails and general use.

It's why I believe the best model to get for the MBA IS the base model for such use. There's no need to spec up a MBA for that kind of use, which fits majority of people. If you're going to spec a MBA to 16/512 because you need the power for your workload requirements, you might as well head towards the MBP 14.

That's just my opinion though, to all their own.

if you meant by best selling mac, you are referring to the base model with 8gb 256gb combo, then yes, there is no point comparing it to the 14inch mbp since the price difference is huge, however for these BTO to the 16gb/512gb spec, the extra bells and whistles of the 14inch becomes much more relevant since the price gap is literally 50-100 bucks.

The 15" MacBook Air 16GB Ram with 512SSD is cheaper than the 14" MacBook Pro by £350 here in the UK.

New 15" MacBook Air with 16GB ram and a 512GB SSD is £1,799 and the 14" MacBook Pro with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD is £2,147

 

[ctjack]

The 15" MacBook Air 16GB Ram with 512SSD is cheaper than the 14" MacBook Pro by £350 here in the UK.

Official price gap is also 350 in us if we add taxes into equation. It is just people citing refurbished or 3rd party deal prices.

 

[Dave245]

Official price gap is also 350 in us if we add taxes into equation. It is just people citing refurbished or 3rd party deal prices.

Ah ok, I was going from the UK Apple Store, where I ordered my 15" Air from. I'm coming from a 13" 2019 MacBook Pro. It will be my first Apple silicone Mac so im guessing it will be a big update for me. I've managed this long with Intel so that speaks volumes in that I don't need the MacBook Pro.

 

[sporadically]

Here's my "I'm so gonna buy the 15" MBA" story. Quick recap: I'm still on a 2012 rMBP 15" (Intel IVB) that's stuck on (I think) Catalina. Frankly I'm kinda afraid to use it since it's an obsolete OS and without recently security patches and updates.

So I've been champing at the bit for the official 15" MBA, and was pretty delirious when it was finally announced on Monday. The base price looked great, and I was so doing the "shut up and take my money!" thing.

Went to the Apple Store and started playing around, yeah I want the 16GB and 512GB build, a bit of future-proofing and all that, $1699 out the door. Was feeling pretty awesome.

But wanted to do a bit more comparison, the 14" MBP was $1949.99 at Costco... AND it's currently on sale with a $200 discount, so $1749.99!

OMG that was a total monkey wrench into my plan. Now I'm so so so tempted to get the 14" MBP for $50 more!

So now I'm thinking things over.

Yeah don't pity me, 1st world problem here.

 

[ilikewhey]

The 15" MacBook Air 16GB Ram with 512SSD is cheaper than the 14" MacBook Pro by £350 here in the UK.

New 15" MacBook Air with 16GB ram and a 512GB SSD is £1,799 and the 14" MacBook Pro with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD is £2,147

sucks to be uk then lol

 

[ilikewhey]

Here's my "I'm so gonna buy the 15" MBA" story. Quick recap: I'm still on a 2012 rMBP 15" (Intel IVB) that's stuck on (I think) Catalina. Frankly I'm kinda afraid to use it since it's an obsolete OS and without recently security patches and updates.

So I've been champing at the bit for the official 15" MBA, and was pretty delirious when it was finally announced on Monday. The base price looked great, and I was so doing the "shut up and take my money!" thing.

Went to the Apple Store and started playing around, yeah I want the 16GB and 512GB build, a bit of future-proofing and all that, $1699 out the door. Was feeling pretty awesome.

But wanted to do a bit more comparison, the 14" MBP was $1949.99 at Costco... AND it's currently on sale with a $200 discount, so $1749.99!

OMG that was a total monkey wrench into my plan. Now I'm so so so tempted to get the 14" MBP for $50 more!

So now I'm thinking things over.

Yeah don't pity me, 1st world problem here.

this is what i meant by mba losing value once you start speccing it. once you get to the same spec as the base 14 it literally comes down to 50-100 bucks difference, you have to really value that .3lb of weight saving over the screen, ports, performance etc.

 

[bill-p]

this is what i meant by mba losing value once you start speccing it. once you get to the same spec as the base 14 it literally comes down to 50-100 bucks difference, you have to really value that .3lb of weight saving over the screen, ports, performance etc.

Battery life though. The 14" has worse battery life overall because of all of those things. You're getting a brighter screen with higher refresh rate plus a chip that's double the bandwidth and other things so you do pay dearly in battery life for that.

And the screen isn't even brighter when not viewing HDR contents. I think this is what people keep ignoring.

 

[ilikewhey]

If you have actually used the 14 or 16 inch, you'll understand why. The Mini LED screen is nice but it's locked to 500 nits (kind of exactly) when viewing SDR content so the display isn't brighter than the new 15" Air.

Refresh rate is higher, up to 120Hz, but the higher refresh rate drains battery life like crazy, and actual screen response time is still very slow so motion blur is still very apparent. If either the 14 or 16 inch is forced into power-saving mode, both do 60Hz anyway and again, look basically indistinguishable from the Air.

Last but not least, you can't calibrate the white point of the XDR display easily without jumping through hoops. Apple has weirdly locked this ability down at the OS level, so there is not much that can be done. Either you win the screen lottery or you don't. For color-critical work, the XDR display is actually a downgrade in that regard.

So what if it does better with HDR? I don't use my MacBook for regular viewing of HDR contents. I have my OLED TVs for that. For the vast majority of apps, the XDR display basically doesn't feel too different from a regular IPS display that just happens to have slightly better contrast (but still not quite as good as OLED). I'd gladly trade all that for a display that I can properly calibrate without dedicated hardware... plus one that has predictable brightness behavior.

P.S.: there are hacks to get around all of the above. I have used them. They freak out when I also try to connect an external display. Trying to work around all of it (being able to output 4K120 via HDMI 2.1 with M1 and still maintain the XDR brightness hack and still maintain HDR compatibility) is really not worth it overall as a setup. It's hacks on top of hacks just to get something that should have been default in the OS to begin with. So I won't try to play this game a second time. I'll wait until Apple figures out how to deal with displays properly in the Pro line.

i have owned my 14 for a little over a year now, upgraded from a m1 mba, 2 months ago work issued me a m2 mba when my 14 was in the shop due to a cracked display. at no point did i think to myself that a downgrade to the mba was feasible.

as for the nits, i have this app called vivid, which jacks up the brightness up to 1k. its a pretty straight forward app with no hoops to jump through.