14" MacBook Pro usage vs M2 Air on bed/couch -> dust?

[eco7777]

Just got my MBP14 and im going to use it 80% on my lap on the couch or in bed.
I don't care about ventilation or something at all. The fans never turned on so far, or I never could hear them.
I don't think the MBP14 is a overkill for casual users, the mini led screen makes the difference, specially when watching a lot video content.

Mine is quiet and I have never heard the fans either.

 

[Mark Aznar]

I realize it's a funny title, but I recently bought a 14" MacBook Pro (16 GB/1TB) to replace my aging 2013 MacBook Air. While it has been an excellent computer it is starting to feel its age and really needs to be replaced. However, my question to all you current 14" Pro users are if you can comfortably use the 14" on your bed cover or let it be on the couch without suffocating it? Since the inlets/vents are on the bottom to pull air, I'm concerned that it might be suffocated since I mostly use my current 2013 Air in bed by letting it lie on the bed cover. When traveling, I always prefer to let it lie on the bed when watching Netflix/Youtube and that has never been an issue since the 2013 Air is fairly sealed.

I tried out the new M2 Air and the fanless design would really puts those (absurd) concerns to bed (no pun intended). The 2013 Air has no bottom vents so I've never really been concerned regarding dusting and just the outright accumulation of it.

If anyone else out there is debating this between the M2 Air and the 14" Pro, feel free to let me know. I've pretty much already accounted for all other differences, but this one seems to be flying under the radar and I'm concerned about the dustin/overheating aspect of letting the Pro lie on a surface which can really block the vents.

My usage will primarily be tab-hoarding Safari/Firefox and watching 4K clips on Youtube.

I am in the same situation and so ready to buy the pro model for that beautiful screen and I suppose, as it has more gpu cores, I could more comfortably play games (the very limited mac supported games, that is).
The HUGE predicament I have is that a newer model might come out as early as September, which is just 2 months away! For that much money, I am now confused on whether to jump the gun or just buy the air m2 for the time being.

All said, if I did grab an m2 air, I would still lose money once I sell it online, to buy me the newer pro models. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE PRO LAST YEAR to avoid the pain 🥲

 

[diamond.g]

I am in the same situation and so ready to buy the pro model for that beautiful screen and I suppose, as it has more gpu cores, I could more comfortably play games (the very limited mac supported games, that is).
The HUGE predicament I have is that a newer model might come out as early as September, which is just 2 months away! For that much money, I am now confused on whether to jump the gun or just buy the air m2 for the time being.

All said, if I did grab an m2 air, I would still lose money once I sell it online, to buy me the newer pro models. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE PRO LAST YEAR to avoid the pain 🥲

I went with the M1 Max now because I wasn't sure if Apple was going to raise the price of the M2 Pro/Max when it is released.

 

[Saturn1217]

I use my 14” MBP on the couch most of the time. For the type of use you describe it never heats up so proper ventilation hasn’t been a problem. However, if you have a way to return it and get the MacBook Air without taking a loss, I think that would be the better laptop for your usage.

I personally do some hobby software development and also dock my laptop to multiple monitors so that’s why I went for the pro.

 

[throAU]

However, my question to all you current 14" Pro users are if you can comfortably use the 14" on your bed cover or let it be on the couch without suffocating it?

Unless you're doing extreme workloads/gaming on the bed then chances are the fans are entirely OFF and thus no dust ingress. Functionally it is the same as an Air in that respect, except you do have a fan for improved performance when doing things that might require that performance.

Web browsers, zoom calls, etc. will not spin the fan at all and it is fine to do those things without worrying about dust/etc. ingress or blocking the vents.

 

[Sterkenburg]

You are probably overthinking this. The M1 Pro/Max laptops run extremely silent and cool, in fact I have never seen the fans spin at all on any task that one might want to do on the couch or in the bed.

Just get the machine that best matches your use case.

 

[Stev150]

I have a question regarding the m1pro 14 inch. what's the battery life like for light every day use?

 

[Mark Aznar]

I went with the M1 Max now because I wasn't sure if Apple was going to raise the price of the M2 Pro/Max when it is released.

I am so close to ordering the m1x myself, I am trying my best to find information if a refresh is truly coming September, if next year, I’ll go ahead and jump the gun!!!

 

[ufomism]

I am so close to ordering the m1x myself, I am trying my best to find information if a refresh is truly coming September, if next year, I’ll go ahead and jump the gun!!!

I think it's unlikely they would launch them in September alongside the iPhones/Apple Watch/iPad. October or November would make sense to help sales for Q4, but hard to say when they would be available given supply chain issues.

I'm thinking of buying the M1 Pro 14 inch now because of the $150 gift card promotion and even if they refresh them in 2-3 months might be longer to actually get my hands on one.

 

[Mark Aznar]

I think it's unlikely they would launch them in September alongside the iPhones/Apple Watch/iPad. October or November would make sense to help sales for Q4, but hard to say when they would be available given supply chain issues.

I'm thinking of buying the M1 Pro 14 inch now because of the $150 gift card promotion and even if they refresh them in 2-3 months might be longer to actually get my hands on one.

Makes sense. I’m thinking hard and long. Thank you

 

[lazygolfer]

I am in the same situation and so ready to buy the pro model for that beautiful screen and I suppose, as it has more gpu cores, I could more comfortably play games (the very limited mac supported games, that is).
The HUGE predicament I have is that a newer model might come out as early as September, which is just 2 months away! For that much money, I am now confused on whether to jump the gun or just buy the air m2 for the time being.

All said, if I did grab an m2 air, I would still lose money once I sell it online, to buy me the newer pro models. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE PRO LAST YEAR to avoid the pain 🥲

Same here, I do play on a windows pc but thinking in the Pro for future as Windows becomes available in bootcamp / VMware / parallels . Would need a better processor. £1649 is the M2 Air with 16/512 while the M1 Pro is £1739. RPP is £1999 plus the new one will be more expensive for sure.. Pretty sure Im returning my Air for a Pro

 

[throAU]

I have a question regarding the m1pro 14 inch. what's the battery life like for light every day use?

I've yet to run mine out during a single day of use when doing typical desktop work. My battery life generally ranges from somewhere between 8 and 16 hours depending on workload when I'm on battery, but I don't work on battery a heap.

Generally unless you're doing high end Cpu/GPU heavy stuff the 14"s battery will probably outlast yours.

 

[xraydoc]

I have a question regarding the m1pro 14 inch. what's the battery life like for light every day use?

It's great, though the more graphics cores you buy, the less efficient the processor is. The M1 Max versions, so I've read, are not exactly super easy on the power requirements, but clearly the M1 Max is not designed for ultra battery life. The 8-core/14-core M1 Pro is the best insofar as battery efficiency, though my 10-core/16-core seems to do fine, to be honest.

Tom's Guide got 14hrs, though I'm not sure which chip version they tested.

The main draw is still the display. It's hard to keep the display dim because it just looks so damn good (I just want to keep turning it up!), and the 120Hz refresh draws more power. But there is a low-power mode you can enable that downclocks the CPU and GPU, and limits the display to 60Hz.

 

[owidhh]

All said, if I did grab an m2 air, I would still lose money once I sell it online, to buy me the newer pro models. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE PRO LAST YEAR to avoid the pain 🥲

Just buy it now, use it a few years, and buy an even better one then. That's what I did just 2 days ago

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

24GB isn’t needed in the Air period. If someone needs that kind of power with a large SSD for sustained work, that person should be using a mini or a MBP. Apple offering 24GB is nothing more than marketing bucks.

Hmm…doesnt the ram simply help them do more multitasking? Assuming what they do is not cpu intensive, couldnt 24gb ram could be useful for someone who just likes to keep a LOT of tabs, pdfs, photos, word docs, presentations, etc open at once?

 

[throAU]

Hmm…doesnt the ram simply help them do more multitasking? Assuming what they do is not cpu intensive, couldnt 24gb ram could be useful for someone who just likes to keep a LOT of tabs, pdfs, photos, word docs, presentations, etc open at once?

It does help multitasking but...

1. if the application (or parts of it) is idle it (or the idle parts) can be swapped out (very quickly with modern SSD), thus not needing so much ram if any
2. if the application isn't idle, it will still need CPU, and chances are if its consuming a lot of RAM it will also consume a lot of CPU and/or GPU. Requiring both CPU resources and heat dissipation, which the Air is comparatively short of vs. the Pro.

Putting 24 GB of RAM in an air just simply won't perform anywhere near as well as a pro most of the time, and will likely even be outperformed by a base model Pro due to the much better CPU in it.


24 GB in an air is an extreme niche where you're very RAM heavy and not CPU heavy. Which isn't the norm.

If you think you need 24 GB of RAM, putting it in an air is probably a mistake. Unless you really can't carry a 14-16 inch machine, and its not like they're not portable.

 

[xraydoc]

Hmm…doesnt the ram simply help them do more multitasking? Assuming what they do is not cpu intensive, couldnt 24gb ram could be useful for someone who just likes to keep a LOT of tabs, pdfs, photos, word docs, presentations, etc open at once?

Having a ton of browser tabs and documents sitting in the background isn't really multitasking. If they're just stilling idle, the RAM they're using will be automatically swapped out to SSD by macOS. The delay in reopening will be negligible.

Yes, more RAM results in less swap, but unless you're massively low on SSD space with insufficient room for swap, you'll likely never notice the difference between 16GB and 24GB of RAM.

If you're the kind of person who keeps multiple apps open and processing, like for example working in a VM while a big x-code project compiles in the background, or a 4K video edit renders multiple effects and saves in the background while you're manipulating LightRoom images in the foreground, then you'll need both free RAM and more processor cores. In other words, probably not the target audience of a MacBook Air and should be considering a ≥32GB 10-core MacBook Pro with active CPU/GPU cooling.


Edit: not sure what's up with the weird font formatting... sorry.