I'm not telling you to buy it. If you go back and read my post, I said that if you start to spec up the MBA because you need the additional power for your work, then looking at MBP may be a better option for not much more money and I was just showing you a better price in your locality.
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Who is going to buy MBA 15 inch?
- Thread starter StoneJack
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Regarding the screens, no doubt the current MBP is superior. But the current MBA has basically the same screen that was on the Pro as late as 2020-21. For many, I just don’t think they have caught up yet to what the latest and greatest looks like.
Yeah, it is not like Air’s screen is bad - it is actually very good. If one doesn’t have pro side to side with air, it is really hard to say that pro is better.
Doing my best to rationalize it because the 15 inch Air in Midnight is my dream machine.
Have an M1 Air that I use just for travel or outings.
If I bought a 15 Inch Air it would be to replace the Mid-2012 15" unibody I keep on the desk in my bedroom. Just casual web browsing, watching my favorite YouTubers while eating lunch, etc. Have a 2020 iMac 27 downstairs for real computing. The 2012 with the i7 and SSD is still a beast and pleasure to use, so hard to justify $1800 to replace it with the spec I'd order. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll break soon
Have an M1 Air that I use just for travel or outings.
If I bought a 15 Inch Air it would be to replace the Mid-2012 15" unibody I keep on the desk in my bedroom. Just casual web browsing, watching my favorite YouTubers while eating lunch, etc. Have a 2020 iMac 27 downstairs for real computing. The 2012 with the i7 and SSD is still a beast and pleasure to use, so hard to justify $1800 to replace it with the spec I'd order. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll break soon
Just struggling over whether to go for any RAM/ storage upgrades. At this point I'm starting to lean towards just getting the base 8/256 and put the saved £400 towards an M4 or M5 model, given we seem to be late in the M2 cycle anyway. That means I can give it a go, and if I do find it is an issue I can upgrade again relatively quickly and get the extra RAM and storage, and if it's not a problem I've saved myself £400.
Coming from a 2015 15" I was a little reticent about actually going backwards on RAM, but OTOH it's not like I ever really even get into the yellow with 16GB! And a few years back I'd have insisted on 512GB minimum, but at this point ironically I've got so much media/data to manage even 512 would mean I'd still need to keep much of it on external drives, anyway, so I've even become less worried about that.
Only other thing is what colour, I didn't ever really think about that as I assumed I'd try a Space Grey MacBook next (for the first time!) but actually Silver and Midnight also look really good. Think I'll go have a look in store when they're available and hopefully walk out happy with my decision!
Coming from a 2015 15" I was a little reticent about actually going backwards on RAM, but OTOH it's not like I ever really even get into the yellow with 16GB! And a few years back I'd have insisted on 512GB minimum, but at this point ironically I've got so much media/data to manage even 512 would mean I'd still need to keep much of it on external drives, anyway, so I've even become less worried about that.
Only other thing is what colour, I didn't ever really think about that as I assumed I'd try a Space Grey MacBook next (for the first time!) but actually Silver and Midnight also look really good. Think I'll go have a look in store when they're available and hopefully walk out happy with my decision!
Now that there’s a 15” Air it’s definitely what I’ll be upgrading to once my MacBook Pro dies, but for now it keeps zipping along so I’ve got no need to replace it yet.
Excellent! I stand corrected on the pricing — well, sit! $1749 for the 14” MBP, it is.microcenter
bh
costco
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M2 Pro Chip with 10-Core CPU and 16-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2023)
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M2 Pro Chip with 10-Core CPU and 16-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2023)www.costco.com
However, my main point still stands:
That's still the case! Price matters, but other considerations matter more for many people. The supposedly great value of the 14” MBP vanishes if one cares about those other factors. The lack of PWM in the M2 MBA alone could be the deciding factor for many people. Regardless of price!
As soon as notebookcheck does its testing, we'll find out for sure whether the 15” MBA avoids PWM or not.
——————
Back to pricing:
For those wanting the 16GB-1TB combo, the price jumps for the 14” MBP are major, even at 3rd party sites. $2099 and $2249!! At Apple, the 15” with that combo is only $1899. So, a $200-350 difference, not $50!
Plus, if one is eligible for the education discount, the price differential is even greater! A 15” 16GB/1TB is only $1,759! And, you get a $150 Apple gift card. $340-490 less than the 14” — or with gift card considered (one could add Apple Care with it later on), $490-640 less! That’s a HUGE price difference, one greatly favoring the 15” MBA!
Furthermore, the 16/512 is only $1599, with that gift card.
Besides, no matter which combo you buy, at Apple, you can also choose, for free, the 70 watt power adapter!
Hence, pricing actually favors the 15” in many cases and for many buyers, along with the other factors!
you had so many main points i lost count, before it was the 200 bucks difference, now its the pwm, but sure why not, yeah if you are one of these individuals who are sensitive to pwm, stick with traditional backlit lcd panels, however that technology is quickly being phased out just like the iphone made the switch to oled.
i don't recall ever mentioning that the 14inch is a better buy at other specced up options, but sure you keep moving the goal post lol.
Apple will still give me over $100 for a 2015 Macbook Pro I haven't used in a long time. I may just trade that in for a base 15". All the reviewers seem to have gotten base models, and those seem to be performing fine.
I sold 9 year MBP 13 back in the day for 220 off of fb marketplace, which would be equal to 2024 in your case. I think 100 is a lowball offer. Given mine was not pristine and had some bt issues.
I wouldn't be so fast to give up the 2015 MBP. I'm still rocking mine (I'm on it right now). However, I am really interested in the 15" MBA.. it's what I was waiting for. The 2015 MBP was the last "good" intel MBP and it still suits my needs. However, I don't travel for business as much as I used to so it primarily functions as a portable desktop. My plan right now is to hang onto this one until Apple drops security updates, then I'll move on that. My 2014 Mini is a different story... even maxed out (at the time) it tends to dog.. so I'll be replacing that sooner... hopefully this year. I'm pissed - Costco just had a $500 off sale on a Studio with 24G of RAM and 512G of storage and I missed it. I would've bought that in a heartbeat. If I traveled a lot, I'd have to look at the weight difference and then make the call.
There was only one, as I highlighted. 1 is pretty easy to count to! 😎
“However, my main point still stands:
That's the point, and a crucial one when people focus or fixate on the price differential.
Nice try, but no cigar! [No goal post moving at all or needed.] I graciously acknowledged that you all had found good 3rd party price deals on the 14” MBP — that, for the 16/512 combo, the difference could be as low as $50. That's good to know and I'm sure the links (not just the prices) will help many.
I returned to the pricing to note that things aren't always so clear-cut, after all, when considering the 15” vs. 14”.
N.B. Not every post is a rebuttal — rather, it's to advance the discussion — and, in this case, to prevent a takeaway by others that the price difference is so small you may as well go with the 14”.
That'd be a particularly unwarranted generalization, especially when you consider other RAM/HD combos and the education discount (plus gift card) — which makes the 15” substantially cheaper in many cases — and, crucially, when you consider people's needs.
So, not singling you out and certainly not trying to get into a dust-up! There are several ongoing threads on MR on this topic and I figured extra data points on pricing and reminders of what matters could help other readers!
I'll accept that. I'm just starting to look into replacing my MBP with an MBA and I was mostly basing it on form factor... I passed my 13" MBP to my daughter because I have pretty big hands (not entirely a surprise considering I'm 6'6") and I tried my friends 13" MBA and it just wasn't comfortable. I have a hard time using my wife's phone (SE2) vs my iPhone 13 Max Pro (before they came out the plus line again). Now, reading everything I'm reading about the MBA, I'm not so sure about it. My primary driver is value: cost for what I consider important. I'd rather not lay down another $3k for an MBP that has more than enough power for my current use case when a $1500 MBA will accomplish the same thing. To me, the next big issue is that MBA's have a horrible record for quality when compared to an MBP. I watch a lot of board repair videos and I see a lot of MBA's being repaired. It could just be that there are more of them out there and/or people with MBP's are more likely to take better care of them. Regardless, it exists and is somewhat based in my anecdotal experience - you ever buy a low end Inspiron vs a Latitude. Latitude is going to be better built than an Inspiron. I've done simple repairs on both and you can see the difference in build quality.
you highlighted for that post, i was referring to your posts from before.
fair enough, however the majority of the discussion point has been heavily revolve around 512/16gb spec. ofcourse if someone spec their mba to 512/8gb or 256/16gb, at no point would i recommend them to make a big leap to the base 14.
that being said, moving away from the 512/16gb spec and discussing other spec option, is alot harder to judge, there are already alot of difference between the mbp and mba, to remove elements that makes the two comparable would also introduce alot more other factors to consider. for example bhphoto sells a m1 max 14inch 64gb 2tb spec for 2600, can that value be quantify with the mba which doesn't even have a 32gb option?
sounds like you are very much detail oriented, if thats the case then be prepare to be disappointed by the traditional backlit lcd screen on the mba then lol. from what i seen on here, reddit, and my own personal experience, the m2 mba has more complaints than the m1 when comes to screen uniformity and quality, my work issue m2 mba has light bleed on the lower right and a slight yellowish tint under the sunlight. dunno if the 15inch would be any better but light bleed and screen uniformity is a inherent flaw on led backlit displays, lg/dell/hp all included.
Dell has materials and Quality check based on the model. Ask me how i know it? I owned a lot of dells - xps series served me well for 10 years, while inspiron would break the keyboard in 10 month. Plastic is also cheaper depending on tier you buy - premium dell has premium plastic and maybe some aluminum.
This is also the case with Toyota: camrys plastic is higher quality than corolla.
This is not true for Apple: quality detail wise they are all built equally. Spec wise you get less performing internals with Air (500 nit screen vs 1600 nit xdr screen) but that is something known upfront.
Craftmanship, aluminum and all other items of the same quality across the board unlike Dells where one keyboard/body greatly superior to other.
Ps. Board repairs were common with hot intel cpus that would fry it pre 2020. You can no longer buy them new - M1/2 silicon Airs are bulletproof as it can be.
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Perhaps this has already been said, but does anyone know if there is a difference in the "More Space" display resolution for the 13.6 versus 15.3 MacBook Airs? This will be my main determinant for purchasing! A larger screen size should translate to higher resolution to work with and a better desktop, but it's not always clear that this is the case.
Sorry, I should have said what is the highest supported scaled resolution for the MBA 15 M2 and does it differ from the MBA 13.6 M2?
Sorry, I should have said what is the highest supported scaled resolution for the MBA 15 M2 and does it differ from the MBA 13.6 M2?
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If it's anything like the previous 15" machines it will top out at an equivalent of 1920x1200 (will have slightly different numbers as the screen is a marginally squarer aspect than 16:10) - though I've always found that to be a bit uncomfortably small for prolonged use. This will be more than the 13" can be set to.
Been available all day here in Australia in retail shops not just from Apple stores, havn't seen anyone yet on the forums that has got one. Not like the 13" air 2 release, there was a thread started at 9am.
www.jbhifi.com.au
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch with M2 Chip, 256GB SSD (Midnight)[2023]
Sporting such features as MacBook Air 15". Impressively big. Impossibly thin., APPLE have created another winner. Grab a bargain on one today at JB Hi-Fi
Right now I'm not ready to replace my 2015 MacBook Pro laptops (see sig) as they are all doing what I need to use them for (all running Ventura 13.5) but the writing is on the wall when the day comes where Apple will no longer support any computer with an Intel processor and at that point I will have to either install Linux on my machines or adopt to a silicone processor-based laptop. I like the 15-inch Air and would most likely order a spec'd version of this laptop when the time comes.
Maybe by the time I order mine, it will have the M3 processor available . . . who knows?
Maybe by the time I order mine, it will have the M3 processor available . . . who knows?
First impressions are wow this machine is snappy, I had the 2019 13" MacBook Pro and the fans would turn on when just opening a number of tabs. Pixelmator Pro opens instantly on this new 15" MacBook Air! It flys!!
I'm also loving this Midnight colour, in certain light it looks black and in others it looks blue.
All I need to do now is test out the battery life, it has to be better than my 2019 13" Pro which would only last a couple of hours at most. It would heat up only browsing the web with a few tabs open including Youtube.
I'm also loving this Midnight colour, in certain light it looks black and in others it looks blue.
All I need to do now is test out the battery life, it has to be better than my 2019 13" Pro which would only last a couple of hours at most. It would heat up only browsing the web with a few tabs open including Youtube.
I agree, but it all depends in what you value. I value a lighter bag and transportation device. I don’t need the extra ports, fans, or weight. This is the value that I have found in purchasing a 15” MBA with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB in storage.