With the new 13” Air M1 capable of thinner/lighter/fanless with same performance and same RAM/SSD options, why does the MBP exist now? Longer battery life and touchbar (if you can even consider that an upgrade) are the only two differences I’m seeing. Considering the Air M1 is already going to get as much or more battery life as any other 13” on the market, I don’t see the appeal of the MBP now.
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Why does 13” MBP exist?
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Sustained performance in the MacBook Pro will probably be much better than in the Air. While this is an efficient CPU, it still presumably generates enough heat to throttle in a fanless design.
I have always been disappointed in the Airs. Screaming fans and tired performance. I am betting that the throttling will be fairly severe with no fan. Cool form factor, but really the difference in size is negligible. I am going with the MBP. Every MBP I have ever owned has been a champ.
I think that's one of the big questions we all have and things will hopefully become clearer once we see reviews popping up with benchmarks and the like.
I had a few questions from friends and families last night about which one to buy and what the difference was and I'll be honest, for them, I'd just say to buy the Air.
The more I think about it, the more confusing it is and I'm not sure who the MBP is for given it tops out at 16GB RAM and only has two ports. I've cancelled my order for the time being.
The more I think about it, the more confusing it is and I'm not sure who the MBP is for given it tops out at 16GB RAM and only has two ports. I've cancelled my order for the time being.
It's a confusing lineup in my mind. Looking at the MacBook Pro alone, surely the current top tier 2.0GHz 10th Gen Intel isn't 3x faster with 5x graphics than the base spec 9th Gen 1.4GHz version. So does it stand now that the 2.0GHz MBP is many times slower than the new entry-level AS machine, yet it retails for £500 more! The only 'premium feature' I see worth buying that top tier machine for is two extra ports. I know it can be upgraded to 32GB but then that adds another £200 to the price! Am I missing something?
Yeah, you can add 4 x eGPUs to the higher end Intel MBP13. Not that you'd want 4. But say a TB3 Monitor, two eGPUs and a Thunderbolt dock for external storage was a common setup for the MBP13. Same for the Mac mini.
Now with eGPUs dropped. I hope it's just a software / driver issue but it is a little worrying none the less as having eGPU support even in the now gone MacBook Air 2020 (Intel) was a really nice feature to have.
This may be why they only "replaced" the "low end" MBP13 - the two port model.
There'll be another MBP14 along next year with 4 TB3 ports perhaps?
I can only hope the 16GB RAM maximum is just not going to be as noticeable a problem as we think. The M1 may be so efficient that it can shuffle memory about very quickly and overall system performance might not be affected.
With the GPU and CPU sharing the same memory on chip it may well scream.
I know I wanted a 64GB RAM Mac next as I'm running out of 32GB (the maximum available at the time) in my 2019 MBP i9 all the time.
However, if I go to work on my lap with my i9 it really needs a "low power" mode because it overheats my lap very quickly.
So having almost or very nearly that kind of performance in something that isn't going to heat up so much seems like the big selling point and they never intended to replace the High End MBP15/16 with this initial launch.
I guess you just can't have it all ways - not yet anyway.
Not having eGPU support in the MBP13 is killer though and two ports isn't very "Pro" either.
Waiting for benchmarks first before making my mind up.
It is very exciting though. If it is really only a 10W M1 in them all. I wonder if the 10W is the Air, then the other two have higher TDP?
Think what they can do at higher wattages and more CPU and GPU cores. Krikey. We won't need eGPUs!
I have to just think... this was for ultra portable. Not the high end.
With the GPU and CPU sharing the same memory on chip it may well scream.
I know I wanted a 64GB RAM Mac next as I'm running out of 32GB (the maximum available at the time) in my 2019 MBP i9 all the time.
However, if I go to work on my lap with my i9 it really needs a "low power" mode because it overheats my lap very quickly.
So having almost or very nearly that kind of performance in something that isn't going to heat up so much seems like the big selling point and they never intended to replace the High End MBP15/16 with this initial launch.
I guess you just can't have it all ways - not yet anyway.
Not having eGPU support in the MBP13 is killer though and two ports isn't very "Pro" either.
Waiting for benchmarks first before making my mind up.
It is very exciting though. If it is really only a 10W M1 in them all. I wonder if the 10W is the Air, then the other two have higher TDP?
Think what they can do at higher wattages and more CPU and GPU cores. Krikey. We won't need eGPUs!
I have to just think... this was for ultra portable. Not the high end.
Thay must have a lot of faith in the thermals if a headline claim is that the Air can handle multiple 4k streams without frame drop. If it turns out that the bit of the caveat that reads "for a maximum of five minutes at a time" got left off, it's not such a feat, though.
It exists for the same reason it has always existed - some users actually do need more performance than others. It's not so much a matter of what's needed in terms of peak performance (short bursts of speed), but what's needed for all-day, sustained hard work. Tasks like transcoding video, playing complex music productions, data analysis, compiling software, etc. require sustained "cook" times. That requires more cooling and more battery power. MacBook Pro has always had better cooling and larger batteries than MacBook Air - that's inherent in the size/weight trade-off.
Could fewer people "need" MacBook Pro and be served well by MacBook Air? It seems possible. But people who can afford to buy a more expensive product may buy it anyway, despite little practical reason to do so (Chevrolet vs. Mercedes Benz).
I'm more interested in seeing what the next M-series SOC has to offer - that'll probably be the mid-range "performance" SOC destined for a $2,000+ 16" MacBook Pro and higher-end iMacs. I'd expect a third M1 series for Mac Pro and iMac Pro. M1 is clearly the entry-level processor. M1 Pro, M1 Turbo... whatever comes next will make product differentiation more obvious.
Could fewer people "need" MacBook Pro and be served well by MacBook Air? It seems possible. But people who can afford to buy a more expensive product may buy it anyway, despite little practical reason to do so (Chevrolet vs. Mercedes Benz).
I'm more interested in seeing what the next M-series SOC has to offer - that'll probably be the mid-range "performance" SOC destined for a $2,000+ 16" MacBook Pro and higher-end iMacs. I'd expect a third M1 series for Mac Pro and iMac Pro. M1 is clearly the entry-level processor. M1 Pro, M1 Turbo... whatever comes next will make product differentiation more obvious.
The iPad Pro does it with a 15W TDP chip. So the Macbook Air can do it most likely also as the M1 is only 10W.
Multiple sources are saying it has a 15W TDP, so even more than the M1.
Apple A12X Bionic - GadgetVersus
Apple A12X Bionic processor benchmarks and specs, with the number of cores, threads, cache, max PCIe lanes, the power consumption, the maximum RAM memory capacity, as well as the performances.
Apple A12Z Bionic - Benchmark, Test and Specs
Apple A12Z Bionic - Benchmark, Geekbench 5, Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, Cinebench R15 and FP32 iGPU (GFLOPS) benchmark results
Multiple sources are saying it has a 15W TDP, so even more than the M1.
Apple A12X Bionic - GadgetVersus
Apple A12X Bionic processor benchmarks and specs, with the number of cores, threads, cache, max PCIe lanes, the power consumption, the maximum RAM memory capacity, as well as the performances.gadgetversus.com
Apple A12Z Bionic - Benchmark, Test and Specs
Apple A12Z Bionic - Benchmark, Geekbench 5, Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, Cinebench R15 and FP32 iGPU (GFLOPS) benchmark resultswww.cpu-monkey.com
Random links aren't credible sources. You'd have to ignore common sense to believe 15W.
MacBook Air uses a 9W Intel processor. It has a fan. Do you really believe the A12X in iPad Pro runs hotter than a MacBook Air?
An incandecent bulb from a night light is 7W. Those bulbs easily burn fingers. Do you believe A12X runs twice as hot?