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Who’s feeling better about their m2 15 MBA after that spooky announcement ?

thadoggfather

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
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Raises hand !

I prefer a bigger screen to less screen and more chonk. I can forego m3 and pro motion and a third port all pretty easily

edit- really same two ports, unless ponying up for the 2k 14" MBP model with m3 pro.
 
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I wonder if the 15" MBA sales will fall off a cliff now. For an extra £100 (UK) over a 512 GB 15 " MBA you get a newer generation SoC (M3 vs M2) that can sustain performance for longer (fan vs no fan), a brighter, promotion miniLED display and better connectivity (3 TB4 ports, SD slot, HDMI 2.1, dual monitor support vs 2 TB3 ports and single monitor support) at the cost of 1" screen size, 4 mm extra thickness and 40 g extra wight.
 
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I wonder how many people opt for base models though. But yeah fair point of considering an upgraded sku. The value was already dubious now even more so when you put it like that

Though is still only 1 monitor support for base m3 chip

I also got my base 15 m2 for like $840 open box mint so it’d be nearly double for the base 14 pro m3 but I realize I’m not the average consumer :p
 
I'm returning my 15" Air for a M3 Pro w/ 36gb of Ram. I'm within my return window. I like the Air a lot, but I'll appreciate the performance boosts in all other aspects more... Just too hard to pass up. I'll lose a little screen size but the better screen compensates. Anyway, hope I'm making the right choice lol.
 
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Still pretty happy about my 15" Air: it's still thin, lightweight, very performant, portable, and does exactly what I need for work. No new machines changes those facts :-D.

A M3 upgrade over the M2 - for what I do - is entirely without effect.

Spending even another $100 on going to the entry level M3 MBP wouldn't gain me any meaningful benefits.

That said - a 14" MBP in space black ... OMG that would be sweet :-D
 
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kiranmk2 said:
I wonder if the 15" MBA sales will fall off a cliff now. For an extra £100 (UK) over a 512 GB 15 " MBA you get a newer generation SoC (M3 vs M2) that can sustain performance for longer (fan vs no fan), a brighter, promotion miniLED display and better connectivity (3 TB4 ports, SD slot, HDMI 2.1, dual monitor support vs 2 TB3 ports and single monitor support) at the cost of 1" screen size, 4 mm extra thickness and 40 g extra wight.
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The new 14” MBP with M3 having only 2 TB3/USB C (or is it TB4?) and support single monitor.
 
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geta said:
The new 14” MBP with M3 having only 2 TB3/USB C (or is it TB4?) and support single monitor.
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Oops, you're right, it is only 2 TB3 ports and single monitor support on the M3 MBP. How tight is that!? Obviously some bean counter has determined it's cheaper to do all the engineering/tooling and produce an additional case shell with 1 less port cutout compared to the extra silicon to allow 3 ports on the M3 MBP!
 
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kiranmk2 said:
Oops, you're right, it is only 2 TB3 ports and single monitor support on the M3 MBP. How tight is that!? Obviously some bean counter has determined it's cheaper to do all the engineering/tooling and produce an additional case shell with 1 less port cutout compared to the extra silicon to allow 3 ports on the M3 MBP!
Click to expand...

yeah I made the same mistake, had to do a double take and edit original post lol. Goes to show how confusing and muddied the laptop lineup is. Need to essentially work for Apple or give it some real thought and digestion to understand all the subtle distinctions.

..Offering one less port than before (3 on top end vs 4 standard previously) was bad enough but same 2 ports on a minimum $1599 machine and 8gb of ram is straight up unacceptable in my opinion.

I am fine with 8gb on my base 15 MBA, begrudgingly since it is 2023, but dear lord.

How much could an extra port cost, even if they didn't make it have thunderbolt throughput?

Very baffling decisions made recently that can all be chalked up to bean counting at its finest.

And oddly, I think from the x-ray photos looks like the 512gb will have two NANDs again. But afaik, the M2 Pro MBP models that come with 512gb are single and.

'All treat, no tricks' - certainly doesn't seem that way to my eyes, lot of musical chair games with specs IMO

And they compared M3 to M1 in charts and stuff... I don't care if 'most' people are upgrading from a base M1 or whatever, HOW MUCH BETTER is this device than its predecessor? Not several gens behind, and not Intel levels behind - we get it Apple Silicon is a superior architecture.
 
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My contemplated 15” MBA became slower, heavier, and more cumbersome to use, and the screen deteriorated right after the announcement! 😁

LOL!

In fact, the M2 15” MBA looks even better this morning than it did yesterday morning…

The marginal gains with the 14” M3 for regular use— and the very same battery life when web browsing — means any FOMO relating to a future M3 15” have gone by the board.

The fact they dropped a USB port, so the base 14” M3 doesn't even have one on both sides, suggests the M3 MBA won't either. No fear of missing out on both sides now.

Besides, we can be almost certain that the new MBPs will suffer from PWM, which the 15” does not.

The 15” also has a noticeably larger display — which makes a real difference in use. Another plus, albeit a minor or negligible one to many, is that the 15” also feels lighter in the hands — the 14” is denser and creates the sensation of “heft”.

Black Friday sales, there I’ll be!

——————————

P.S. For sure, those who need the power, ray tracing, cores, etc. of the 14”, have a great choice with the different M3 CPUs — and a better choice than the 15” MBA.
 
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Saturn007 said:
In fact, the M2 15” MBA looks even better this morning than it did yesterday morning…
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For people who only buy base models, couldn't agree anymore.

I suppose if you get an upgraded SKU then it erodes 15 MBA value even quicker. But that was the case when pitting it against the 14" M2 Pro MBPs
 
thadoggfather said:
For people who only buy base models, couldn't agree anymore.

I suppose if you get an upgraded SKU then it erodes 15 MBA value even quicker. But that was the case when pitting it against the 14" M2 Pro MBPs
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Totally true, Apple knows what it's doing 🤣

That said, a quick browse found me retail prices for new 15" Airs 16GB/512GB at USD 200 (equivalents) cheaper than the same configured 14" base M3 MBP.
 
M3 14'' is certainly appealing to me. For $100 more, I get the speakers, the fan, the ProMotion - there's appeal for there for sure. If I'd had that option when the 15'' Air came out, I probably would have gone with the 14'' Pro

But of course all I really use my computer for is office work, so the fanless design is fine, the extra inch of screen is useful to me, and I really like the starlight color over boring old silver and space grey. Kind of lol that the new black color is only available on the more expensive unit.
 
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Algus said:
M3 14'' is certainly appealing to me. For $100 more, I get the speakers, the fan, the ProMotion - there's appeal for there for sure. If I'd had that option when the 15'' Air came out, I probably would have gone with the 14'' Pro

But of course all I really use my computer for is office work, so the fanless design is fine, the extra inch of screen is useful to me, and I really like the starlight color over boring old silver and space grey. Kind of lol that the new black color is only available on the more expensive unit.
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its so strange they are relegating the space black to higher end models, to supposedly fix how horrible a finger print and smudge magnet the black has been on Airs. Paying a premium to fix problems THEY created in the first place.

(I'll believe it when I see it too, how effective this smudge proof color is. I always go silver as of late anyways)

--

I get it, Mac sales are down and all and they gotta spin up the money printing machine but it seems like they're tarnishing the good will of die hard Mac users, which long preceded die hard iPhone users.

..Do they care is the question / how much are these 'weirdos' who hold onto their Macs for a decade + actually hurting Apple's bottom line if they feel suddenly rubbed the wrong way and nickeled and dimed? Probably not whatsoever.
 
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Jared G.K. said:
I don't feel better, but equally good with my 15" M2 Air.
Nothing attracts me to a smaller screen and/or a much heavier & bulkier device.
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card-drop-bateman.gif


I was worried this feeling was going to occur.

Not really though, since the MBP's are in an entirely different price tier, especially compared to an on sale open box item and M2 15 MBA just came out 4 months ago, and I'm still technically within the return policy if I had that bad of FOMO or an M3 Air came out.. for another few more days still lol

But M3 basic doesn't seem that much better other than 3nm bragging rights I guess?
 
I agree I am happy with my 15 MBA. I don't want a pro. I don't like things with fans. I find them loud, hot and annoying. I also don't care about a SD card reader as I don't even use a digital camera anymore or a HDMI port. I find them a distraction. I prefer an extra thunderbolt usb-type c port but no they actually removed it from the latest 14 MBP so it's even more useless now. Also, since it now comes stock with 8 GB of RAM for a pro device you are better off saving money and getting an Air since it has the same stock RAM and it's cheaper.
 
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tonyr6 said:
I agree I am happy with my 15 MBA. I don't want a pro. I don't like things with fans. I find them loud, hot and annoying. I also don't care about a SD card reader as I don't even use a digital camera anymore or a HDMI port. I find them a distraction. I prefer an extra thunderbolt usb-type c port but no they actually removed it from the latest 14 MBP so it's even more useless now. Also, since it now comes stock with 8 GB of RAM for a pro device you are better off saving money and getting an Air since it has the same stock RAM and it's cheaper.
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It's Apple Silicon, the fans will never turn on so you'll never have to hear them anyways.

The 15" Air also doesn't have a 3rd USB C port, so no difference there. You do still give up the HDMI though (how is a port a "distraction" anyways? Distraction from what?).

The equivalent Air is just $100 less, and for that you get a screen that's worse in literally every way except size, less battery life, worse speakers, worse mics, worse Wifi, fewer ports, a worse processor of course... and it weighs only 0.1 lbs less which is negligible. Unless you absolutely MUST have that extra inch of screen real estate, there are zero redeeming qualities of anything but the lowest-end 15" Air anymore. And even for the screen size, since the 14" Pro has such a higher resolution than the 15" Air, if you want more screen real estate on a 14" you can simply upscale and the image should be perfectly readable.

I'm basically the target market for the 15" Air (love large screens, don't need much power (but do want a step up from base RAM+SSD)), but damn, Apple sure did everything they could to make it as uncompetitive as possible just 4 months after release!
 
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lifeinhd said:
It's Apple Silicon, the fans will never turn on so you'll never have to hear them anyways.

The 15" Air also doesn't have a 3rd USB C port, so no difference there. You do still give up the HDMI though (how is a port a "distraction" anyways? Distraction from what?).

The equivalent Air is just $100 less, and for that you get a screen that's worse in literally every way except size, less battery life, worse speakers, worse mics, worse Wifi, fewer ports, a worse processor of course... and it weighs only 0.1 lbs less which is negligible. Unless you absolutely MUST have that extra inch of screen real estate, there are zero redeeming qualities of anything but the lowest-end 15" Air anymore. And even for the screen size, since the 14" Pro has such a higher resolution than the 15" Air, if you want more screen real estate on a 14" you can simply upscale and the image should be perfectly readable.

I'm basically the target market for the 15" Air (love large screens, don't need much power (but do want a step up from base RAM+SSD)), but damn, Apple sure did everything they could to make it as uncompetitive as possible just 4 months after release!
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I agree. Although I really love my 15" Air (1TB/24GB), It is apparently no longer an obvious choice among the new M3s.
In fact, I already sensed that it might happen, especially when I noticed the 15" Air went on sale on a unprecedently frequent basis for a new model.

The 15" Air was released during the Back-to-School promotion, so the price was more appealing at that time, but now it is no longer the case.

Nevertheless, I have no regrets about buying my 15" Air. It is a very nice laptop on its own, anyway.
 
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lifeinhd said:
The equivalent Air is just $100 less, and for that you get a screen that's worse in literally every way except size
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Debatable. I find Apple's mini-LED backlighting system in the Pros to be pretty awful due to the haloing.

OLED (if they get it right) can't come soon enough.
 
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kiranmk2 said:
I wonder if the 15" MBA sales will fall off a cliff now. For an extra £100 (UK) over a 512 GB 15 " MBA you get a newer generation SoC (M3 vs M2) that can sustain performance for longer (fan vs no fan), a brighter, promotion miniLED display and better connectivity (3 TB4 ports, SD slot, HDMI 2.1, dual monitor support vs 2 TB3 ports and single monitor support) at the cost of 1" screen size, 4 mm extra thickness and 40 g extra wight.
Click to expand...
Yes but if you were int he market for a 13 the 14 is substantially heavier and bigger. I tried it and it made a real difference to me when travelling. Their m3 release decisions models and configurations are a real pita
 
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