Why do people still say that MacBook Air is not good for serious work?

[FHoff]

I don’t mean any of this rudely just truthfully.
The bigger question is why do you really care what others think. I use what I want and like. I don’t care if others don’t think it’s good enough.

 

[Technerd108]

I don’t mean any of this rudely just truthfully.
The bigger question is why do you really care what others think. I use what I want and like. I don’t care if others don’t think it’s good enough.

Good point. Use what you like. No need to justify it.

Personally in my opinion it is not caring what others think but I get tired of the same narrative used over and over again to make some people look and feel stupid for choosing anything other than a pro device, specially when one is such a great value.

I also get tired of arrogance assuming that a particular opinion is by default always correct.

Maybe I do care but it is more annoying than anything else.

 

[throAU]

MacBook Pro is not ideal neither. It's bulky and battery life is worse. Why are you "probably better off with more powerful machines"? If today's Airs are not ideal, then Pros from 4 years ago never were neither. Not sure if you get what I mean. Why would existence of something more powerful make what we have weaker?

If you get paid for generating work the pro machines work faster

They are portable. The have actual hdr displays which if you’re working with hdr content rules the air out straight away.

Time and workloads move on. If you are paid to produce work you are competing against others for work.

Getting work turned over faster is a competitive advantage. Or rather, using slower hardware to do the job is handicapping yourself. You could be spending the saved time on iterating through more creative options.

I’m talking actual pro workloads for money. If you’re a hobbyist you aren’t what I’m referring to.

Is the air faster than old pro machines? Yes. It doesn’t matter. Your strongest competitors aren’t using machines from 5-10 years go.

You need to compete with others for work and doing so with slower hardware puts you at a disadvantage.

Again I’m not saying an air isn’t capable or is a bad machine. But people reviewing hardware in the context of what it is used for more often than not suggest the pros for actual professionals doing heavy workload because of the above.

The cost difference is not an issue and the weight is negligible in that use case.

If you’re not in that circumstance the air is a great machine.

 

[throAU]

Oh also the battery life… run an air and a pro through actual heavy duty workloads and the difference will likely sway in favour of pro.

Apples metrics of video playback over wifi are irrelevant in heavy work scenarios. Plus, power can be plugged in.

 

[Shirasaki]

Oh also the battery life… run an air and a pro through actual heavy duty workloads and the difference will likely sway in favour of pro.

Apples metrics of video playback over wifi are irrelevant in heavy work scenarios. Plus, power can be plugged in.

It’s baffling that Apple never specify any sort of “video rendering battery life” or “simulation battery life” despite calling anything and everything Pro possible. Most Pro users won’t watch video 20+ hours on battery just for the sake of it.

 

[throAU]

It’s an outdated metric from a decade ago. Any modern SOC can play h.265 video literally 99.5% asleep.

But I guess for some people that’s a large part of what they use a machine for.

 

[Technerd108]

It’s an outdated metric from a decade ago. Any modern SOC can play h.265 video literally 99.5% asleep.

But I guess for some people that’s a large part of what they use a machine for.

Sure but only have two efficiency cores means even doing menial tasks the power cores are engaged using a lot more battery life comparably to the M2 MBA with four efficiency cores and the cores in the M2 are more efficient and powerful at the same time meaning more tasks can be completed using them instead of the performance cores extending battery life further.

So if battery life is important like when on a long flight for example it can make a big difference. Sometimes a power outlet is not available.

 

[throAU]

Playing back video uses a fraction of the two efficiency cores. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Technerd108]

Playing back video uses a fraction of the two efficiency cores. 🤷‍♂️

That was not my experience with an M1 Max 16" and if it was only using a fraction of the two efficiency cores it had significantly worse battery life than my prior 13 M1 MBP. It also was warm to the touch just streaming video and doing nothing else.

If the two efficiency cores were all that was being used it should have similar battery life to the 13" M1 MBP with its much larger battery capacity on the 16" even considering the larger screen?

 

[Technerd108]

The efficiency cores on the regular M1 and M1 Max are same?? Considering it only has two efficiency cores vs the 4 in the regular M1 it should have better battery life of that is all that it is using?

 

[Shirasaki]

The efficiency cores on the regular M1 and M1 Max are same?? Considering it only has two efficiency cores vs the 4 in the regular M1 it should have better battery life of that is all that it is using?

This (among other reasons), is why I don’t think M1/M2 live up to what YouTuber or Apple would want you to believe unless your workflow can benefit the hardware. Yes, they are much faster than Intel stuff, but no, you can’t just say they can do anything and everything equally fast, cause some tasks will perform faster than others.

Also battery life, I did achieve 5 hours of battery life just using it normally, but most common ones are 3-4 hours, far short of what Apple claims. My M1 iPad Pro can play intensive games for 2 hours. I dunno if M1/M2 MacBook Pro can do the same.

 

[Technerd108]

This (among other reasons), is why I don’t think M1/M2 live up to what YouTuber or Apple would want you to believe unless your workflow can benefit the hardware. Yes, they are much faster than Intel stuff, but no, you can’t just say they can do anything and everything equally fast, cause some tasks will perform faster than others.

Also battery life, I did achieve 5 hours of battery life just using it normally, but most common ones are 3-4 hours, far short of what Apple claims. My M1 iPad Pro can play intensive games for 2 hours. I dunno if M1/M2 MacBook Pro can do the same.

On average I get almost 3 days of several hours a day using the M2 MBA. I don’t do anything very intensive on it mainly editing documents, photo editing-light, web browsing and streaming.

But screen on time is probably close to 14 hours or so. And that is a conservative estimate.

 

[Shirasaki]

On average I get almost 3 days of several hours a day using the M2 MBA. I don’t do anything very intensive on it mainly editing documents, photo editing-light, web browsing and streaming.

But screen on time is probably close to 14 hours or so. And that is a conservative estimate.

At one day when I was doing stocktake, the same MacBook Pro using Excel last almost 6 hours with screen on with battery only. Far better than my old 11” MacBook Air. It’s kind of sad I can never get the same battery life everyone else seems to be able to get. Maybe I am using electron app a bit too often? -_-

 

[Technerd108]

At one day when I was doing stocktake, the same MacBook Pro using Excel last almost 6 hours with screen on with battery only. Far better than my old 11” MacBook Air. It’s kind of sad I can never get the same battery life everyone else seems to be able to get. Maybe I am using electron app a bit too often? -_-

Compared to the days of Intel every M series Mac is a battery champ!

Every device OEM over states battery life but honestly the M1 Pro and Max just aren't designed around max battery life. But considering the power they offer and compared to other workstation type laptops they do really well.

That is why if you don't need the extra ram bandwidth, ram, and gpu the regular m chips are better just speaking in terms of battery life.

Just the idea that you get the same performance plugged in or not is pretty amazing to me.

 

[Mainsail]

If you get paid for generating work the pro machines work faster

Not sure I understand this statement. For example, many of the folks working in an office environment that are getting paid for generating work in sales, contracts, legal, finance, accounting, management, operations, supply chain, etc.. would never notice a measurable difference in speed and productivity between the Pro machines and an Air. I think you are making a generalization that only applies to specific types of work.

 

[Shirasaki]

sales, contracts, legal, finance, accounting, management, operations, supply chain, etc

All of them have one thing in common: they Dont use specialised software that either has no macOS equivalent or can only be accessed locally (aka device specific). Web browser and RDP connection (or third party solutions) are the two most common tools working for those jobs, and M1 MacBook Air can do those just fine, assuming Safari/Chrome or remote connection software don’t eat up CPU cycle for no apparent reason.

Granted, if those are attached to a company that produces specialised documents (CAD drawing, 3D modeling), things could change, but that’s not super common.

 

[Mainsail]

All of them have one thing in common: they Dont use specialised software that either has no macOS equivalent or can only be accessed locally (aka device specific). Web browser and RDP connection (or third party solutions) are the two most common tools working for those jobs, and M1 MacBook Air can do those just fine, assuming Safari/Chrome or remote connection software don’t eat up CPU cycle for no apparent reason.

Granted, if those are attached to a company that produces specialised documents (CAD drawing, 3D modeling), things could change, but that’s not super common.

Agreed. My point is that generalizations like: "MBA is not good for serious work", and "If you get paid for generating work the pro machines work faster", disregard the fact that plenty of highly paid people in serious high consequence jobs simply do not need pro machines.

 

[throAU]

The efficiency cores on the regular M1 and M1 Max are same?? Considering it only has two efficiency cores vs the 4 in the regular M1 it should have better battery life of that is all that it is using?

The efficiency cores on the m1/pro/max are the same but apparently the two cores in pro/max are capable of the same workload as the four efficiency cores in m1. Maybe due to memory bandwidth improvement.


Source: benchmarks at eclectic light

 

[throAU]

Agreed. My point is that generalizations like: "MBA is not good for serious work", and "If you get paid for generating work the pro machines work faster", disregard the fact that plenty of highly paid people in serious high consequence jobs simply do not need pro machines.

No. Not ignoring that.

People suggest pro machines for pro work because they’re aimed at that workflow and are faster at that work.

If an air works for you good for you. Use it. It’s a fine machine.

I’m explaining why pro machines are recommended and when they matter.

You can be a highly paid person doing work that doesn’t require a MacBook Pro and that’s fine. That’s not what they’re aimed at. Use an air. Or maybe even an iPad. For a lot of jobs that’s enough.

It doesn’t mean people should suggest the air for situations where it is not as good. 🤷‍♂️


In case it’s not obvious by pro work I’m referring to creative video/audio/photography. Because that’s what these pro machines are designed for. I figured it was obvious.

 

[Shirasaki]

In case it’s not obvious by pro work I’m referring to creative video/audio/photography. Because that’s what these pro machines are designed for. I figured it was obvious.

Yes. It is. What it is NOT obvious, is the fact MacBook Pro doesn’t suit everyone. Heck, even iPad Pro doesn’t suit everyone. Yet, some YouTube videos give people the impression that MacBook Air can be the literal jack-of-all-trade and MacBook Pro is super niche and maybe should not exist. I tend to always suggest people to judge the machine by the workflow, not by reviews, as those YouTubers can only see what they do daily plus maybe asking here and there.

 

[throAU]

Lol. Not saying it does suit everyone.

 

[hans1972]

If you get paid for generating work the pro machines work faster

They are portable. The have actual hdr displays which if you’re working with hdr content rules the air out straight away.

Time and workloads move on. If you are paid to produce work you are competing against others for work.

Getting work turned over faster is a competitive advantage. Or rather, using slower hardware to do the job is handicapping yourself. You could be spending the saved time on iterating through more creative options

I'm getting paid by the hour as a consultant. If I do my job faster, I get paid less.

What do most professionals in an office environment produce of digital material? Documents!

Documents using applications like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. They read and create emails. They attend meetings using Teams or Zoom. They use web applications for their travel expense an other HR-request.

And maybe they have one or two thick applications for their specific job.

If they work in IT they might use Remote Desktop to handle servers, the browser to administer their Office 365 environment, Powershell scripting environment and small utilities which makes their specific job more simple. Even in IT a lot of people just produce documents in one form or another, let's say a project manager or someone dealing with security on a high level.


Getting paid to produce videos or (collection of) photos at a fixed price, that's a tiny niche to me.

 

[Shirasaki]

Lol. Not saying it does suit everyone.

I bet some do. Saw people in Apple Store thinking as such.

 

[hans1972]

In case it’s not obvious by pro work I’m referring to creative video/audio/photography. Because that’s what these pro machines are designed for. I figured it was obvious.

Professional computer users means people who use their computers as an important tool for their paid work.

What you're referring to is a subset of professional workers. Most professionals generate documents.

The question was also about serious work. Generating a legal contract is by many considered more serious work than creating videos and photos.

 

[hans1972]

People suggest pro machines for pro work because they’re aimed at that workflow and are faster at that work.

No, many people on these forums suggest the 14" M1 MacBook Pro instead of MacBook Air without knowing the use cases at all.

The main argument is: Much better hardware and only $100 more, or something similar.