I understand it's a developer choice to opt-out of allowing iOS functionality on Apple Silicon. I assume these devs want the the opportunity monetize their iOS app on a different platform.
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$1849 Macbook Pro M1pro or $1759 M2 Macbook Air. Please uncloud my thinking.
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Normally, if this would be your only laptop, I'd say get the 14".
But it sounds like your main laptop is the 16" 2019 MBP, and you want this just for added portability, which suggests the M2 Air would make sense.
Except: The 14" M1 Pro/Max MBP should be significantly more performant than your 16" 2019 MBP. Given this, you might want to sell your 16", and put the money towards a 14" Pro/Max, which you could use for both desktop and mobile. (if you need to drive three external monitors, you'll need to get the Max, but that's just $200 extra)
Then it comes down to whether you like the simplification of having just a single machine, or are more comfortable having a 2nd machine as a backup. [And whether you need a large-screen portable, and/or a Bootcamp-capable portable, in which case you'd need to keep the 16".]
But it sounds like your main laptop is the 16" 2019 MBP, and you want this just for added portability, which suggests the M2 Air would make sense.
Except: The 14" M1 Pro/Max MBP should be significantly more performant than your 16" 2019 MBP. Given this, you might want to sell your 16", and put the money towards a 14" Pro/Max, which you could use for both desktop and mobile. (if you need to drive three external monitors, you'll need to get the Max, but that's just $200 extra)
Then it comes down to whether you like the simplification of having just a single machine, or are more comfortable having a 2nd machine as a backup. [And whether you need a large-screen portable, and/or a Bootcamp-capable portable, in which case you'd need to keep the 16".]
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yes monetization or lazyness were driving factors
apple should have been more clear with the devs and the users in the beginning. I was running 10+ iOS at the beginning, then they were slowly whittled down to 2 or 3 now..
yes, thats my thinking as well.
this would make sense except that I am not ready to give up boot camp yet.
Yes I like the simplification of one machine but I picked up an iMac 5k while locked down so the 16" is strictly mobile and boot camp'd but not as easy to tote as my Air. I love it and thats why I prefer the Air as a light use machine over the much more capable 14" for now. However the technolust of spending a little extra $$ for the 14" is what is giving me doubts.
I've seen a few youtubers complain about crashes on the M1, especially when resuming from sleep when docked with an external monitor. I was wondering if you'd had any instability/crashes, and also if you noticed that switching between spaces on the M1 was smoother than on Intel?
Then I'd say think of what would make your life easier in instances when you wouldn't be taking the 16", and instead would be grabbing your smaller laptop. Would it be nicer to have a machine with a better and slightly larger display, better multicore performance, and somewhat better battery life—or a machine that is smaller, lighter, and quieter, and has somewhat better (about 10%) single-core performance?
[The 14" also has better connectivity, but I don't think that would make a difference for how you'd be using it.]
Even though both devices advertise an "8-core" processor, keep in mind that the M1 Pro has 6 of them as performance cores vs. only 4 on the M2. That's a sizable difference not made up by the M2's modest speed bump.
Other creature comforts involve a larger screen, larger battery, USB-C ports on both sides...not to mention the convenience of HDMI and SD reader without the need for adapters.
Sure, the Pro has half the storage space, but with modern cloud-based workflows, ample local storage isn't as critical as it used to be. 256GB doesn't go very far at all after OS and applications. 512GB can arguably be "triple" the usable storage.
Other creature comforts involve a larger screen, larger battery, USB-C ports on both sides...not to mention the convenience of HDMI and SD reader without the need for adapters.
Sure, the Pro has half the storage space, but with modern cloud-based workflows, ample local storage isn't as critical as it used to be. 256GB doesn't go very far at all after OS and applications. 512GB can arguably be "triple" the usable storage.
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I still don't know why it's Apple's fault. If they would have "forced" developers to let all iOS apps be available, then most devs would have cried foul.yes monetization or lazyness were driving factors
apple should have been more clear with the devs and the users in the beginning. I was running 10+ iOS at the beginning, then they were slowly whittled down to 2 or 3 now..
Thats a great contrast. It will give me something to chew on until the M2 goes on sale..
Save for the screen real estate, the m1 pro would be more a replacement for the intel machine than the outgoing air, in my opinion. But if you really want a secondary lightweight machine you probably want to go for the air?
That said I have the 16” m1 max and I don’t bat an eye at the size so I might not be the best judge.
That said I have the 16” m1 max and I don’t bat an eye at the size so I might not be the best judge.
It's quite simple - if $100 makes a big difference, or if you value maximum portability or you really like the new colors - then Air.
If $100 is not a big deal and you don't mind a slightly heavier notebook, the M1 Pro MBP is better in every way (better performance, bigger and much better screen, better speakers, more ports, faster SSD, etc.) Sure, you also get a smaller drive in the configuration you mention, but you can always buy an external SSD for storage.
I'd go for the M1 Pro, if only for the better screen. The deep blacks are awesome, and brightness is amazing in HDR. But the M2 Air is a beautiful and awesome computer and it's not a bad choice.
My M1 hasn’t crashed once in over a year, so I’ve been fortunate.
I’m selling my Air and getting a 14” M1 Max MBP. It’s been a fantastic computer, but I need the power.
I'd go for the 14' Pro. As for the disk space, you can find external SSDs for cheap these days. Cloud storage is another solution.
Sounds like the Air would be better for you. I get the impression you really use your Air all over the place (you mention coffee shops), so if you find the smaller form factor suits your needs better than get that! Ya it totally sucks that Apple charges too much for RAM and SSD, but if you are going to spend nearly two grand on a computer, get the one that works best for you. Yes the Pro for $100 more might be a better value, but that doesn’t mean it is a better value for you if the Air is better for your use case.
Anyway, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD sounds like the way to go. Don’t let anyone talk you out of that. My only caution would be you might want to wait until the M2 Air reviews come out and we see how thermally limited the device might be.
Anyway, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD sounds like the way to go. Don’t let anyone talk you out of that. My only caution would be you might want to wait until the M2 Air reviews come out and we see how thermally limited the device might be.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but just wanted to mention that the reviews I read found the 14” Pro actually outperformed the 14” Max in a lot of use cases due to thermal throttling with the Max. I think the decoder engines were still one place the Max won out though. But ya, everyone I know who got the 14” Max has now replaced it with either the 16” Max or the 14” Pro.
I can't imagine using a machine with less than 1 TB of storage. My previous MacBook Pro had a 750 GB HD and I replaced it immediately with a 1 TB SSD.
When I bought my refurbished M1 MacBook Air, I bought 1 TB and 16 GB, since there is no way to change things later.
When I bought my refurbished M1 MacBook Air, I bought 1 TB and 16 GB, since there is no way to change things later.
Apple didn’t “disable” any apps themselves. The checkbox to support iOS apps on Apple silicon-based Macs was enabled by default, so Apple played no part in “disabling” the apps aside from providing developers with the option to do so. Many developers, for myriad reasons, did so.
At my work, we opted out before launch. We have one person who works on our iOS apps along with other software projects. We’re only now receiving our first Apple silicon-based Macs (he himself likely won’t get upgraded for another few years with our replacement cycle), so setting aside that one person can only be stretched so thin, we had no Apple silicon-based Macs on which to test the app and ensure that it works as we expect. God forbid someone downloaded it and ran into Mac-specific bugs — they might have been up a creek for a year and a half (and counting!) if we weren't able to opt out.
If you’re mad about Apple blocking the workaround people used for some time to run opted-out iOS apps on M1 anyway, I’m not sure how to help you. Don't expect support for unsupported configurations.
My MacBook Air is attached to a monitor very rarely. My current official work computer is an Intel-based iMac paired with an external display, which obviously isn't the most portable, so the laptop substitutes in for meetings, etc., so I don't have much in the way of experience there. I haven't had much issue in the way of crashes, though — no more than I’ve had with my Intel-based Macs.
Our new M1 Max MacBook Pros should arrive at work next week, actually (and of course we're keeping the external displays), so I might have some more insight soon, unless the issues you speak of are base M1-specific.
I'd say switching between Spaces is a bit smoother on M1 in my experience, but the most recent Intel-based Macs I've had an opportunity to use regularly are late-2014 5K iMacs, so it's possible that it’s very comparable between newer Intel processors and Apple silicon.
There are two possible scenarios.
1. Apple decided to make their computers less appealing by not running iOS apps.
2. Apple made it opt-in and many developers decided to not support MacOS automatically because unless they reworked and tested them to run well they would get negative reviews and low star ratings.
2 seems more likely.
PS. Apple didn't remove that feature, they're just not forcing the developers to comply. Can you imagine the outrage if Apple were telling developer what to do.
You're on track, but small correction, support for iOS apps on Apple silicon-based Macs was/is on an opt-out, not opt-in, basis — if a developer didn't take action in App Store Connect before the first M1 Macs' release date, their iOS app became available on the Mac App Store automatically.
That says even more about how much developers really didn't want to support that configuration, given how many popular apps did opt out.
I had a similar dilemma recently. There are some good discounts in the UK at the moment. Most retailers (except Apple) are selling the base 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro for £1735. That's with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. I had my eyes on the M2 Air but when you spec that up with the same RAM and SSD you get to £1649. A 5.5% saving from my employee discount offer from Currys and I can get the MBP14 down to £1639. It was a no-brainer for me to go with the 14". Vastly superior screen, more ports, better speakers and similar if not possibly better performance?
Except 2 isn't right either. It's opt-out, not in. It's the developers intentionally doing that and they certainly aren't getting any more money from me if that's their choice. I too bought my M1 MBA partially because it was supposed to run my iOS apps.