except its not really that compact is it, .2-.3lb difference, and have a bigger footprint since its 15inch.
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Why Pick a MBA over a MBP?
- Thread starter Rodneyp
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It's adding the RAM and SSD BIT options to the MBA - whereas the base 14" MBP starts at 16/512 - that cause your issue.
...as I've said in another thread about Mac Mini vs. Studio - its really no surprise that adding options to a lower model rapidly makes it look worse value than the next model up (...and then Apple have whole new tiers of upgrades to tempt you with!)
I'm not going to Godwin this thread by criticising Apple's base specs and prices (I'd love to, but plenty of that elsewhere) but if you just look at Macs and don't try and comparison shop with PCs, 8/256 should be enough for "personal productivity & entertainment" use by anybody who has found the "close tab" button in their web browser. 8/256 is probably not sensible for anybody who wants to do any "heavy lifting" (video/audio production, serious photoshopping, running lots of VMs) - but such people are also likely to value the extra cores, I/O and display support of the MBP.
Conversely, if you're not doing such "heavy lifiting", the extra cores and other features in a Mx Pro/Max will mostly sit around gathering digital dust, and its not worth paying anything - or taking any weight/battery life hit - for them.
Another price comp. This for the lowest cost models — 8/8 cores, 8/10 cores, and 10/16.
13” M2 MBA 16/512 $1499
15” M2 MBA 16/512 $1699
14” M2 MBP 16/512 $1999
So, $200 and $300 jumps. And, a whopping $500 jump from the 13” to the 14”, notwithstanding all the pluses.
Not sure where that $1749 price quoted earlier came from…
Add in tax and Apple Care and it's a bit unsettling to look at a well over $2,000 price for the 14”.
13” M2 MBA 16/512 $1499
15” M2 MBA 16/512 $1699
14” M2 MBP 16/512 $1999
So, $200 and $300 jumps. And, a whopping $500 jump from the 13” to the 14”, notwithstanding all the pluses.
Not sure where that $1749 price quoted earlier came from…
Add in tax and Apple Care and it's a bit unsettling to look at a well over $2,000 price for the 14”.
You can get the 14” M2 MBP 16/512 from BH Photo and Amazon for 1749-1799 depending on color. Factor new not refurbished
The MBA prices were all BH Photo.
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)
Lol I didn't think I'd need to explicitly say compactness relative to screen size but there you go.
I don't get why people are uninterested in an M1 14 which is not only still around, but being sold by Apple in the Certified store... ? Is the 10-20% increase in speed really worth the extra $300 or so? Not to me...but what the heck.. I don't know anything.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
If one person in the market for a new laptop, and they do not utilize multi-core functionality with VMs, video rendering and such, then the most day to day activities are done on a single core.
In other words, everything people do with their laptops will see an immediate 20% speed increase, whereas M1 will be slower in regular browsing.
for me it is mostly web browsing, using office word amd PPT and excel. I am basically like an very old man using the mac so I choose MBA
I had the 13” M2 Air from launch-April, 14” M1 Pro for a short time, and currently am on the 16” M1 Pro. Still within my 90 return window for the 16” Pro and have ordered the 15” Air 16/512 like you are considering to be the one I stick with moving forward.
For the web design work I do in Webflow, the 13” just wasn’t enough screen for on-the-go work. It was perfectly capable though, and I was even on the base 8/256. Some memory swapping when having a couple Adobe apps, Webflow, and several other browser tabs open at once, but the M2 was so efficient at swapping that I really never noticed a slowdown. Even Final Cut was able to breeze through 4K video editing (not many layers). Only when messing around in After Effects did I start to hit the top-end of usability.
Loved the Air form factor and have missed it ever since switching. I first tried to see if the 14” Pro would give me enough extra screen, but it really wasn’t much of a gain when considering the M2 Air is 13.6 and the 14” is 14.2. Thus, had to go with the 16” Pro.
Can’t reiterate how clunky the new Pros feel to me after spending so much time with the M2 Air. Sure, weight differences aren’t that drastic, but the spec sheets don’t tell the whole story. The extra thickness and density of the Pro is noticeable every time I use it, in a negative way.
For your use, I’d recommend going refurb/used M2 Air if you can manage with the 13.6, or use the education store discount (no, you don’t need to verify you’re a student - few realize this!) to grab the 15” Air. I couldn’t be more excited for this machine, truly a sweet spot for so many imo.
For the web design work I do in Webflow, the 13” just wasn’t enough screen for on-the-go work. It was perfectly capable though, and I was even on the base 8/256. Some memory swapping when having a couple Adobe apps, Webflow, and several other browser tabs open at once, but the M2 was so efficient at swapping that I really never noticed a slowdown. Even Final Cut was able to breeze through 4K video editing (not many layers). Only when messing around in After Effects did I start to hit the top-end of usability.
Loved the Air form factor and have missed it ever since switching. I first tried to see if the 14” Pro would give me enough extra screen, but it really wasn’t much of a gain when considering the M2 Air is 13.6 and the 14” is 14.2. Thus, had to go with the 16” Pro.
Can’t reiterate how clunky the new Pros feel to me after spending so much time with the M2 Air. Sure, weight differences aren’t that drastic, but the spec sheets don’t tell the whole story. The extra thickness and density of the Pro is noticeable every time I use it, in a negative way.
For your use, I’d recommend going refurb/used M2 Air if you can manage with the 13.6, or use the education store discount (no, you don’t need to verify you’re a student - few realize this!) to grab the 15” Air. I couldn’t be more excited for this machine, truly a sweet spot for so many imo.
When you have to lug along a billion other things, trust me... every ounce saved is instantly noticeable.
And it's not just the device. The charger also doesn't have to be high wattage anymore so anything from around 30W should work. Not having to lug along a massive brick as well as a cable that supports 65/100W charging is a big deal.
Yes, somehow i lost 14 Pros big charger and have no issues charging it with Air's 30W charger. 65W charger is such a chunk while Air's is very lovely size for backpack. Everytime i pack 65W charger it makes me wonder why on earth 14 Pro has such a big charger equal to 15 inchers when the all world shifted to GaN chargers.
No. Because that 10-20% increase in speed is going to cause a 100% increase in power consumption. If you have owned a 14" for a while and really tried to use it, you'd know. Anything slightly intensive kicks the processor up really high and the fans kick in audibly as well.
If all you're after is "more performance, more screen brightness, more..." then sure, the 14" is a good fit. But sometimes enough is really just enough. The M2 fanless is still faster than a 2017-2018 15" MacBook Pro that most folks are still using for their professional tasks, so why is it that the 14" now suddenly makes the M2 "inadequate" and "unworthy" of higher specs?
Is weight-saving, longer battery life, bigger screen real estate, silence, and a more simplified screen calibration situation not good enough reasons to consider a MacBook Air over a Pro? Because they are to me.
Lighter, thinner, more portable, zero noise.
I bought a 14" M1 Pro on sale last fall over the 16/512 13" M2 MacBook Air because everyone kept saying that for the money, getting the 14" on sale made the most sense. Looking back, I feel like I made the wrong choice. I don't have the big screen I typically want(I downgraded from a 16" because it was too bulky and heavy, but man I miss the big screen), but the 14" also isn't really super portable. I technically have more performance, a fancier screen, and more ports, but I never notice or use these features, so what value do I get really?
As said in another thread, I'm totally selling my 14" for the new M2 15" MBA.
As said in another thread, I'm totally selling my 14" for the new M2 15" MBA.
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I'm currently debating this myself. I am running a base 13" MBA M1 that I will pass on to a family member. In terms of how I feel about it, I would like a larger screen (14" or 15" would be fine), and 8GB of RAM + 256GB of storage is starting to feel a tiny bit cramped. I can stay within those RAM confines by just closing out applications more aggressively, but with the storage, it's starting to become difficult with the content and files I'd like to keep locally on my machine.
So I'm looking at 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD configurations, and it seems like my options are:
13" M2 MacBook Air - $1499 (but no increase in screen size)
15" M2 MacBook Air - $1699
14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro - $1749 at a few places at the moment
To me, it's hard to justify anything other than the 14" Pro. Both the 15" Air and the 14" Pro check all of my boxes, but for $50, I get better screen (ProMotion is killer), more powerful CPU/GPU, more ports, etc.
The Air is called "more portable" but the difference is basically negligible weight-wise and footprint wise I think the 15" would actually be larger. At any rate, I don't highly value portability because I work from home and rarely take my machine out of the house. I'd get a 16" if I could afford the expense, frankly.
It seems the real choice for me is whether it's worth giving up the above-mentioned benefits of the 14" Pro and giving up the increased screen size for $250 by going with the 13" Air, and I'm not sure it is, given I would keep the Pro for a number of years if I chose that.
EDIT: I guess I could also consider a refurb 13" Air at $1279 as well, so that's a $470 difference between that and the 14" M2 Pro. Still don't think, over the lifetime of the device, that it's worth the concessions.
So I'm looking at 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD configurations, and it seems like my options are:
13" M2 MacBook Air - $1499 (but no increase in screen size)
15" M2 MacBook Air - $1699
14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro - $1749 at a few places at the moment
To me, it's hard to justify anything other than the 14" Pro. Both the 15" Air and the 14" Pro check all of my boxes, but for $50, I get better screen (ProMotion is killer), more powerful CPU/GPU, more ports, etc.
The Air is called "more portable" but the difference is basically negligible weight-wise and footprint wise I think the 15" would actually be larger. At any rate, I don't highly value portability because I work from home and rarely take my machine out of the house. I'd get a 16" if I could afford the expense, frankly.
It seems the real choice for me is whether it's worth giving up the above-mentioned benefits of the 14" Pro and giving up the increased screen size for $250 by going with the 13" Air, and I'm not sure it is, given I would keep the Pro for a number of years if I chose that.
EDIT: I guess I could also consider a refurb 13" Air at $1279 as well, so that's a $470 difference between that and the 14" M2 Pro. Still don't think, over the lifetime of the device, that it's worth the concessions.
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Yes, but my point is that if I was giving up big screen of 16", I would've much rather have had the optimal portability of the 13" M2 Air and would've been satisfied. As of now, the 14" feels like a crappy in-between for me. I don't have the big screen I want, and for that sacrifice in screen size I don't have optimal portability.
To be clear - the 14" is an incredible laptop if you actually use all of the extra features and performance it packs and want something more compact.
My 14 Pro screen fits more info than my M1 13 Air. If i have one choice, I would have gone 14 Pro. But yeah, packing Air and hauling it is much better in a backpack versus 14 and I have to do it a lot. If not moving a laptop, 14 is a no brainer.
Everybody on here forgets about the eternal problem - the 512 in Air is fast, whereas the 512 in Pro is slow. If you want a fast ssd in Pro, you need to get at least 1TB. So, in my opinion, a more appropriate comparison would be if you compared 1TB configs.
As far as I’m concerned, I use external drive. I lose on convenience of course but then I do not use my computer every day and it’s my home computer. If I were doing professional work on my mac that required processing power, I’d go for any of the pro machines.
Battery life is pretty much the same, but the bigger and better screen and newer design are the reasons I upgraded from my M1 Air pretty quickly (I didn't have it for long before the M2 was announced). Whilst I loved the performance of the M1, the M2 is significantly better IMO.