Can't Decide Between 14" and 16"

[Fomalhaut]

Haha, that is what I consider right now... Do I need a TB hub, 27" monitor, external webcam, speakers, keyboard... or would just having the MBP 16" be enough? (have a small apartment and could save some space by having just a laptop...)

Sitting on the sofa and having 16" on my lap is amazing, going back to 13.3" air feels ridiculous now... Was never a fan of working like this but can definitely consider it with the bigger one, that display is great. But it also feels like a brick in the backpack

Please please apple, 15" macbook air...

You might want to consider that the ergonomics of a laptop are generally much worse than a well set-up external monitor with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad.

When I have to use my laptop for an extended period (hours or days), I use a foldable raiser and Apple Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. It's much easier on your neck and shoulders and encourages a better working posture. You will thank me when you're older

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

You might want to consider that the ergonomics of a laptop are generally much worse than a well set-up external monitor with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad.

When I have to use my laptop for an extended period (hours or days), I use a foldable raiser and Apple Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. It's much easier on your neck and shoulders and encourages a better working posture. You will thank me when you're older

Currently i use my MacBook keyboard and trackpad ,as well as a mouse,and i stare at my monitor in front of me.do u think that looking at the internal display will change a lot ? I mean it's just my neck leaning down slightly isn't it ? How bad is that (genuinely asking )

 

[ice29]

Isn't it too big to be on your lap ?
Ofc it's ridiculous compared to the 13.3,but I'm wondering how it compares to the 14.2"....
It's also a matter of cost,but if i return the monitor and stuff it's the same actually

It's actually very comfortable, the big screen helps tremendously... with the Air I have to bend my neck to see the screen better (I have good eyesight, but I use higher scaling to fit more content on the air screen), with the 16" it's easy to have relaxed neck. The weight is no issue for me, though when watching 4k HDR youtube videos the 16 got a bit warm, but not hot

 

[fa8362]

So I've tried both today. The 16" is HUGE! I mean proper behemoth, I can't imagine anyone carrying that stuff around.

My laptop is mostly at home and even so I prefer the 14". The 16" is so heavy and hard to handle

Bear in mind I come from a 15" one and I just can't go with the 16". Reminds me more of the old school 17" one

I carry it every day, just like I carried the previous 16" Intel every day. I don't consider it hard to handle in the least.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Isn't it too big to be on your lap ?

This is the issue I ran into with the previous 16 inch, it wasn't a great machine on my lap due to the size. I can only imagine it'd be an even bigger issue with this model. Of course, this is one of those personal things that would differ from person to person.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

This is the issue I ran into with the previous 16 inch, it wasn't a great machine on my lap due to the size. I can only imagine it'd be an even bigger issue with this model. Of course, this is one of those personal things that would differ from person to person.

I think the footprint on the new one is pretty similar tho🤣🦖 ,why would it be worse ?

I'm keeping those emojis after edit ,because if my kb chose to put these in there must be a mystical reason

 

[Mikael H]

I've been using 15" MacBook Pros since 2010, and the new 16" laptop will actually be about half-way between my first one and my current one in weight.

I too am slightly questioning my own choice, but my reasoning goes like this:
- At this point, there is no $1000-$1500 external Apple display, and there's no ~5k display from other brands I would want to spend my own money on. This means I will be using the laptop's own screen for pretty much everything for the foreseeable future.
- When I do travel I mostly do it by car - I live in a rural area - so the weight of my laptop bag or backpack doesn't matter a lot.
- As someone mentioned it looks likely that for day trips I may not even need to pack a charger, and even for longer trips I can probably do with a smaller USB-C charger for topping up between sessions or overnight. (Does anybody know whether the new MagSafe 3 cable can be used with any USB-C power source?)

If or when Apple does release a new screen I may decide to try the 14" lifestyle - or go for a "Mac Mini Pro" for concentrated work at home, plus a less capable laptop for when I'm on the go.

 

[FNH15]

Another thing to consider & put into perspective: the 12” PowerBook G4, remembered fondly for its portability, weighed just as much as the 16”. Given it was a smaller package, it made it more dense.

 

[ducati1212]

I find the 16 is a good size for sitting on a couch and working. I do not carry mine around much. I also do not use my Mac with a monitor so I like 16. It felt huge for the first few hours but now I’m just really enjoying it.

 

[ducati1212]

Good question, if it was cheaper I think I would take the 14. But given the price, I think it will be 16. I also can't decide on a color. But both are pretty great. I asked a lot of questions and really there are 3 differences:

- Screen Size
- 3 hr in battery life
- $200 diff in price

There is not diff in performance. Speakers. Screen. Or anything else.

Well the 16 has better cooling and the performance mode.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Good question, if it was cheaper I think I would take the 14. But given the price, I think it will be 16. I also can't decide on a color. But both are pretty great. I asked a lot of questions and really there are 3 differences:

- Screen Size
- 3 hr in battery life
- $200 diff in price

There is not diff in performance. Speakers. Screen. Or anything else.

Speakers are better (a little louder and a little more low-end) on the 16".

 

[ice29]

- As someone mentioned it looks likely that for day trips I may not even need to pack a charger, and even for longer trips I can probably do with a smaller USB-C charger for topping up between sessions or overnight. (Does anybody know whether the new MagSafe 3 cable can be used with any USB-C power source?)

Magsafe works fine with my 65W small USB-C PSU from Aliexpress

 

[PhoneI]

I went back and forth on this for awhile. Yesterday I got to try out both in the Apple store. I love the size of the 14, but….I’m over 50 now and my eyes are getting worse by the minute. I just couldn’t use the 14 without always being hooked up to a monitor.

I went with the 16 (and was really surprised my store had them in stock). I’m happy with my decision.

 

[ascender]

This is the issue I ran into with the previous 16 inch, it wasn't a great machine on my lap due to the size. I can only imagine it'd be an even bigger issue with this model. Of course, this is one of those personal things that would differ from person to person.

I guess that's a very subjective thing as I prefer the larger laptops for working on my lap as I don't feel like I'm as "hunched" over the laptop. Its one of the reasons I've gone for a 16" this time around tbh.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I guess that's a very subjective thing as I prefer the larger laptops for working on my lap as I don't feel like I'm as "hunched" over the laptop. Its one of the reasons I've gone for a 16" this time around tbh.

For sure subjective, also depends on body type, etc.

 

[flapflapflap]

Just got the 16" delivered, have been using M1 Air since a year... When WFH I have a 27" 4k screen so no difference here, but I work on shared desks a bit more when in the office these days (covid-adapted-offices...) so always wanted a bigger screen. But oh my, this thing is huge I actually don't mind the weight but it really takes a lot of space, also in the backpack... Will have to decide whether it goes back, a pity that the 14" has worse battery life, I like not having to take out the PSU at all with the Air (just charging overnight).
On the other hand 16" definitely looks nicer for cases like working from hotel or a retreat-cottage

Why it's always like this, decisions decisions... went through the same with M1 Air vs Pro...

The 14 could have had better battery but Apple will give us that later making the 14 obsolete.

 

[flapflapflap]

Honestly, unless you aren't able-bodied or you are running/biking to work, the 16" weight is a non-issue, charger or not. Where it is an issue is if you're working in a confined space with little room to put the laptop down!

What the 14" has now done is given you the power of the 16" but in a smaller, lighter package. So everyone wins.

You also have to remember that the laptop is Apple's best-selling macOS device by a long stretch - but not everyone is mobile with their laptop. The biggest distance many of these laptops will move is from one room to another in the same house!

The 14 has inferior battery life

 

[ascender]

The 14 has inferior battery life

Yes, but its a smaller device so you'd expect that due to physical constraints. Battery life will be a tradeoff against other features, but on a device being marketed as "pro" I suspect performance will trump it.

 

[coolbreeze2]

I knew the 16 inch would be huge and heavy to carry around. My first Apple notebook was a 17 inch back in the day and it was so big I rarely carried it anywhere. I am a music composer and producer and I carry my notebook everywhere because the spirit will hit me and I will start composing and/or recording in the blink of an eye. I need a portable notebook with power to handle audio software without any problem. I chose the 14 inch but also need plenty of storage because I cant carry around external drives to connect and disconnect. So, ordered the 1TB storage. This configuration comes with 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, and 16GB Unified Memory. From what I’ve read and seen on YouTube, this configuration is more than adequate for music composing and production.

I currently have the original MBA Air M1 base model but cant fully test it in my studio because nearly all my software is not compatible with Monterey. So, when doing music production I’m using my Intel machines with Catalina and Big Sur. Once my software becomes Monterey friendly I’m hoping my M1 Pro that I ordered will be a beast! If not, I then will be forced to trade in for the more powerful M1 Max. I would just go ahead and buy M1 Max if could afford to. Purchasing the model and configuration I ordered was stretching the budget very far. I even traded in both my current notebooks just to get my hands on the M1 Pro I ordered.

 

[cardfan]

The point is that with the new 16 u may not even have to carry a charger around ,don't u get it ?

Oops it went dead. Why don’t you carry a charger? No room for it. Lol.

 

[ascender]

Have I missed something along the way? The new 16" charger is smaller than the old one and yes, depending what you're doing, its now perfectly possible that you can take your laptop away for a couple of days and not worry about taking a charger. The M1 Air and MBP were like this and it looks like the new Pros are exactly the same in that regard.

 

[Beau10]

issue is that the 14 has inferior battery life compared to the M1 13

But the M1 13 has incredibly good life. So far my 14" is blowing away my 16" i9 by an easy factor of 2, seems like I'm getting a good 9-10 hours with hard usage.

 

[Beau10]

Have I missed something along the way? The new 16" charger is smaller than the old one and yes, depending what you're doing, its now perfectly possible that you can take your laptop away for a couple of days and not worry about taking a charger. The M1 Air and MBP were like this and it looks like the new Pros are exactly the same in that regard.

The new 16" charger (140 watt) is quite a bit physically larger.

 

[ascender]

The new 16" charger (140 watt) is quite a bit physically larger.

Is it?

Its been a while since I had one but the new charger looks taller and a bit narrower, but with the same depth?

 

[Beau10]

Is it?

Its been a while since I had one but the new charger looks taller and a bit narrower, but with the same depth?

Sorry, I stand corrected - it appears to be similar in size, perhaps slightly larger because it's GaN.

Physical dimensions of 140-watt charger?

Its a big one no doubt about that, but does anyone have the physical dimensions of the brick yet?

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