For this generation, MacBook pro with m3 chip is still available for 1 external display. When you add memory to a similar level as the pro model, the price difference is very small. You are forced to choose the Pro model, and the Pro chip in this generation is downgraded. Then you need to think about the Max model. What a marketing strategy clever for Apple and terrible for customers.
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Buying advice: 15" MacBook Air M2 vs 14" Macbook Pro M3
- Thread starter expansiveclock965
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Hence my dilemma. Still in my return window with Sky, but I absolutely love the 15 size (having aged and moved up from a 2016 MBP). I’m not bothered about the ports - the only difference I would be interested in is the better screen and M3 chip (it would be the base Pro). But then I’m back to a smaller screen which I was struggling with the last couple of years.
[Long and Boring]
This turns out to be a much more difficult decision than I had anticipated. Seems to me that a lot of it hinges on want vs need. I know what I want, but what do I really need?
As I mentioned previously, I bought the base model (8/256) M1 MBA mainly as an experiment to see if I could alleviate the back pain that I get sitting at a desk by moving to the floor with a laptop. It worked. No more back pain until I need to do something on the desk-based Intel iMac.
With a couple of exceptions, the MBA meets my daily needs without choking.
For the last few days I've been running top in a terminal session to see how the MBA responds to various tasks. For example, I reinstalled all my ports from MacPorts to see if those needing compiling challenged the MBA. And, they did. I have only 13 requested ports. Reinstalling them (and their numerous dependencies) took a very long time. At least six hours - I went to bed before it finished. The number of in and out swaps increased quite a bit.
Then I decided to transcode a 2.5 hour 14 GB 720p video using iMovie. That took just under an hour and nearly ran out of disk space toward the end. Here's a top sample midway:
And here's the swaps, before and after:
I realize that these are in no way scientific benchmark tests; just an attempt to see if stuff I'm likely to do demands a more capable machine than the base model M1 MBA.
The MBA screen is another story. I can easily do without reading glasses when using my iPhone 14 Pro and my iPad mini 6. But with the MBA I'm constantly fiddling with the display resolution, brightness and contrast. I'm not sure why this is.
So, what do I actually need beyond what the M1 MBA has? Definitely more RAM and disk space, but that's a no brainer. A faster processor would be nice, but not essential. And, absolutely, a display that's as good as the one on my iPhone 14 Pro.
After all that? Still undecided.
[Edit] I also tried transcoding the same video using Handbrake. After half an hour the machine got so hot that I stopped it:
This turns out to be a much more difficult decision than I had anticipated. Seems to me that a lot of it hinges on want vs need. I know what I want, but what do I really need?
As I mentioned previously, I bought the base model (8/256) M1 MBA mainly as an experiment to see if I could alleviate the back pain that I get sitting at a desk by moving to the floor with a laptop. It worked. No more back pain until I need to do something on the desk-based Intel iMac.
With a couple of exceptions, the MBA meets my daily needs without choking.
For the last few days I've been running top in a terminal session to see how the MBA responds to various tasks. For example, I reinstalled all my ports from MacPorts to see if those needing compiling challenged the MBA. And, they did. I have only 13 requested ports. Reinstalling them (and their numerous dependencies) took a very long time. At least six hours - I went to bed before it finished. The number of in and out swaps increased quite a bit.
Then I decided to transcode a 2.5 hour 14 GB 720p video using iMovie. That took just under an hour and nearly ran out of disk space toward the end. Here's a top sample midway:
Code:
PID COMMAND %CPU TIME #TH #WQ #PORT MEM PURG CMPRS
47259 iMovie 224.7 31:35.54 52/6 19/3 2118- 755M+ 0B 526M-
47575 ProTranscode 144.5 17:55.05 41/1 15/4 282+ 166M- 0B 49M-And here's the swaps, before and after:
Code:
VM: 180T vsize, 0B framework vsize, 155163(40) swapins, 284304(0) swapouts.
VM: 185T vsize, 0B framework vsize, 170511(4) swapins, 301340(0) swapouts.I realize that these are in no way scientific benchmark tests; just an attempt to see if stuff I'm likely to do demands a more capable machine than the base model M1 MBA.
The MBA screen is another story. I can easily do without reading glasses when using my iPhone 14 Pro and my iPad mini 6. But with the MBA I'm constantly fiddling with the display resolution, brightness and contrast. I'm not sure why this is.
So, what do I actually need beyond what the M1 MBA has? Definitely more RAM and disk space, but that's a no brainer. A faster processor would be nice, but not essential. And, absolutely, a display that's as good as the one on my iPhone 14 Pro.
After all that? Still undecided.
[Edit] I also tried transcoding the same video using Handbrake. After half an hour the machine got so hot that I stopped it:
Code:
VM: 184T vsize, 0B framework vsize, 181687(0) swapins, 301340(0) swapouts.
VM: 165T vsize, 0B framework vsize, 185784(0) swapins, 304204(0) swapouts.
PID COMMAND %CPU TIME #TH #WQ #PORT MEM PURG CMPRS
8399 HandBrakeXPC 735.8 03:30.53 88/12 3 167 455M+ 0B 14M-
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Can you say more about the difference in keyboards? I assumed they were the same on the MBA and MBP. Perhaps it feels different to type on the higher base of the MBP, but is the actual keyboard different?
For me, the MBA keyboard sounds/feels more solid and substantial (e.g., thud, thud, thud) while the MBP keyboard sounds/feels more cheap and loose (e.g., clickety-ckack-clack).
I feel exactly the same thing. We seem to be in the minority though lol.
The one significant difference between the M2 Pro and the M3 is the battery life. When I got my 15 MBA I saw a battery life improvement of 4 hours over the Pro. From what Apple says the M3 has comparable battery life to the 15 MBA. That's a deal breaker for me, which is why I'm not interested in the M2 MBP.
With the M3 Air VERY LIKELY coming in March I'd personally wait if you really want the Air form factor or just go for the 14". I'm still using an M1 Pro 14" and have no desire to upgrade yet, so you really can't go wrong!