13.3" M2 MacBook Pro 24 GB/1 TB for $1299 or stick with 15" M2 Air 8 GB/256 GB for $999?

[MuckrakerJG]

I purchased the 15 inch M2 MacBook Air at Best Buy for $999 before the M3 announcement. It is the base model with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD. I saved $300 off of Apple's price.

I like the big screen and I mostly use it for web browsing and writing.

But I do like to play video games including World of Warcraft which is native to Apple Silicon. I have noticed a small drop in frame rate when playing the game for a long time on the Air which I assume is throttling. The 256 GB SSD is also a bit annoying because if I want to try other native games like Resident Evil 4 remake in the App Store, I am going to run out of space.

Then today I saw the 13.3" M2 MacBook Pro with excellent specs is on discount at Best Buy. The model with 24 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD is down to $1299 with Best Buy Plus, original Apple price was $2099.

If you were me, is it worth spending the extra $300 for the extra RAM and SSD but downgrading on screen size? I know the 15 inch Air is supposed to be more modern and better than the 13.3" M2 Pro but the almost maxed out specs have me thinking about it.

 

[mmkerc]

I assume you play mainly at home where you can easily get an external display so for the extra ram and larger SSD I would get the newer machine if you have the spare cash. Note you say it is only $300 more, you should check to see if BB will let you return existing MB for the new one, timing of purchase may restrict that so check also what you can resell your MB for.

 

[JonnyMacx86]

The active cooling of the MBP would help with those longer play sessions, and the storage is a bonus. I find once you're into the game you wouldn't even notice the difference in screen size, but that's just my own experience. YMMV. I don't think there's a wrong choice here.

 

[Andrey84]

I assume you play mainly at home where you can easily get an external display so for the extra ram and larger SSD I would get the newer machine if you have the spare cash. Note you say it is only $300 more, you should check to see if BB will let you return existing MB for the new one, timing of purchase may restrict that so check also what you can resell your MB for.

I second that It's clear that MacBook Air is not suitable for your games, so having an MBP with an external display seems like the best of both worlds.