Can't Decide Between 14" and 16"

[Mitchdoc]

The trouble with betting on future Apple releases is that we don't (in general) know when (or even if) they will happen, so it's a risky proposition to plan your hardware purchased based literally on rumours.

I have the MBP14 and while I don't use it in clamshell mode, I don't use the screen when plugged into external monitors because I have to place it on a second disk due to space limitations, where I can't see it.

The reasons for getting the a new MBP instead of a future Mini are:
(1) It can be bought *now* rather than at some unknown point in the future
(2) I want the same powerful machine when mobile as well as at my desk.
(3) Not having the hassle of maintaining 2 machines and ensuring that they are in sync with the same software and data (although with cloud storage, this is a minor task these days)
(4) A future Mac Mini with M1 Pro/Max will probably only be $400-600 less than the equivalent MacBook Pro, based on the current price differentials between M1 Mini and MacBook Air/Pro. You won't get an M2 Air for that difference, so a 2 computer solution will be more expensive.

If you never travel with a laptop, or have no need for a powerful mobile machine, then a future M1 Pro/Max mini plus an iPad could be a good solution, that works out about the same price, and gets you two devices for different uses.

I also have an iPad Pro 11, and think there is a big difference between and 11" and 14.2" screen in terms of real-estate, particularly if you put both screens at the same distance. But I agree that you generally use an iPad much closer to your eyes than a laptop, so it probably fills the same visual field. The ergonomics are completely different though, which is where the iPad shines. As for using the iPad as a stand-alone computer? Remember the original small 11" MacBook Air? It has tiny screen real-estate..very cute, but a bit impractical for large documents, spreadsheets, code etc.

Well thought out post.
The resolution on the ipp 11 is higher than the 11 inch air was.
For me if it is emailing ,notes, basics simple productivity then it would be easily done on my iPad pro 11 with MK.

Given the overall size is smaller it suits closer to me then the 14 and so the size differential as your said is not so different.

The 16 is a big beautiful beast. I don't mind the extra weight at all and that screen and speakers make watching anything better.

The extra real estate is not so useful in single track things like email or web browsing however.

But for video watching our photo/video work the extra screen helps.

I find it somewhat hard to clearly describe but when I watch something on the 14-in I feel like I'm watching somethingj on a laptop. However when I watch something on the 16-in I definitely feel more immersed in what I am watching. I see less of the surrounding environment. I guess it is akin to sitting closer to the front third at a movie theater versus the back third. Overall you still see the same content but one is much more immersive.

Because I can take the iPad off of it's keyboard case, I can get a similar immersion just by holding it closer to me then I could with the 14 inch MacBook Pro.

If I only could choose one device from the three then the 14-in would be the best overall compromise as it is not much bigger in footprint than the 11 inch iPad Pro and keyboard and is this very transportable. It also provides similar power as the 16 inch and similar battery life to the 11 inch iPad Pro.

I just feel that for many people who own multiple Apple devices, that it is better to have larger degrees in size difference between them so that their use cases don't overlap so much.

That is why to me owning a 12.9 inch iPad Pro and owning a Mac laptop that is under 16 in makes no sense as the screen real estate is near identical. The weight in fact is heavier on the iPad when combined with magic keyboard.

If owning a MacBook Pro of 14 or less inches or the MacBook Air for that matter, then a better companion device might be the iPad Mini.

I also see your point on just having one device rather than having to deal with the sync issues of both. However, when I talk about the M2 MacBook Air and the M1 Pro Mac Mini models these are not things that are maybe coming down the pipeline at a later date but are quite likely going to be available within the next month or two.

If you factor in the average price typically of a MacBook Air and then add in the price of a typical Mac Mini I could see the combination not being more than 2,500 us. That is almost identical in price of to what a 14 inch MacBook Pro with 10 core CPU 16 chord GPU and 1 TB of ram would have.

 

[Macrumorsss]

I could not decide either and had to try both. I had the 14 inch and while it was a nice machine I just could not justify the price coming from a 13 inch MacBook Air. The 16 inch, however, feels like a power house. Loving my new 16 inch and hoping to enjoy it for many years to come.

 

[cyclingplatypus]

I originally purchased the 14" and returned it for the 16" - I replaced a 27" iMac with it, the 14" was nice but I missed the extra screen real estate.

 

[Fomalhaut]

If you factor in the average price typically of a MacBook Air and then add in the price of a typical Mac Mini I could see the combination not being more than 2,500 us. That is almost identical in price of to what a 14 inch MacBook Pro with 10 core CPU 16 chord GPU and 1 TB of ram would have.

Presumably you meant 1TB SSD, not 1TB of RAM

If we take 16GB RAM & 1TB SSD as a baseline for someone using these for work or "more than casual" usage, then the current M1 costs US$1649 for the MBA and $1299 for the Mini, so $2948 in total - quite a lot more than the $2199-$2499 for an MBP14 with the same RAM/SSD (with 8/14 & 10/16 cores).

My assumption here is that you won't want to compromise RAM and storage when mobile - However, I can see that you might reduce to 512GB SSDs if you are OK with 1TB total storage, and are prepared shuttle files back and forth between the machine, or use external drives or cloud storage. That would make the MBA+Mini a total of $1449+$1099 = $2548, which *is* a lot closer to the MBP14 and your $2500 estimate.

But bear in mind this is for the current M1 Mini. I would expect an M1 Pro Mini with 16GB/512GB to be close to $1800-2000 on its own, which would raise to total to well over $3000 when you add a MacBook Air.

Maybe the an 16GB M1 Pro Mini will be significantly cheaper than $1800? Perhaps an 8/14 core version for $1400-1500? I'm making the assumption that there would other improvements, not just a new processor. e.g. 3 or 4 full bandwidth TB4 ports, and return of the SD card slot. It all depends how much the MBPs screen & batteries cost in order to understand the price differential we'll see between the Mini and MBP. I'm not setting any expectations of it only costing $2-300 more than the current M1.

Time will tell!

 

[nquinn]

I feel like this computer is going to let me work outside the house more, which I'm really excited about. Tons of battery life and not having to bring along a power adapter and second monitor will be amazing. I also love this massive trackpad and I don't think I'll even bother bringing a mouse along anymore either.

This is a counter-intuitive but important point. While a 14" is easier to lug around, if you truly want to work away from a desk the 16" is actually more usable while you are working.

The 16" is just way nicer if you're working at a kitchen table, couch, patio, coffee shop, etc.

Semi-permanent nomad type where you are moving every 1-2 weeks to new places? Then ya I'd get the 14".

 

[Mitchdoc]

This is a counter-intuitive but important point. While a 14" is easier to lug around, if you truly want to work away from a desk the 16" is actually more usable while you are working.

The 16" is just way nicer if you're working at a kitchen table, couch, patio, coffee shop, etc.

Semi-permanent nomad type where you are moving every 1-2 weeks to new places? Then ya I'd get the 14".

Sitting in a beanbag chair 16 inch in my lap. Definitely not to big to use on lap. Size seems just right.
Learning Davinci Resolve and for fun am exporting a video. Machine is silent no fans. Can feel a bit of warmth on my lap but not hot.
So far am really impressed by this machine.
Will try the 14 in same scenario just to see how it feels but so far am leaning 16 as I feel I can work on it anywhere without need to dock it.

 

[arvinsim]

If I was what I don't get is the need for a laptop with such an incredible display only to dock it.
You could get a new mini next month for likely less than half the price of the 14 inch specced similarly. Still have enough money to then buy an air 2.

I still need to bring the laptop outside around 20% of the time. In that use case, a Mac Mini is simply not an option.

I would have bought an M1 Air or Pro if they supported 32GB RAM. The screen is not one of the reasons why I bought the M1 Pro.

 

[Mitchdoc]

I still need to bring the laptop outside around 20% of the time. In that use case, a Mac Mini is simply not an option.

I would have bought an M1 Air or Pro if they supported 32GB RAM. The screen is not one of the reasons why I bought the M1 Pro.

Perhaps your use case differs but some videos out there shows that 16gb of Ram on these devices are not like typical 16gb.
And well at least for me the screen is the best upgrade on these.
I mean to be honest the keyboard etc has all been this goo before and battery life has been better.
The biggest differentiator is the mini LED screen .
And the fact it can be had at 16 inches with all the better battery thermal speaker and track pad benefits too for 200$ more?

 

[Fomalhaut]

I still need to bring the laptop outside around 20% of the time. In that use case, a Mac Mini is simply not an option.

I would have bought an M1 Air or Pro if they supported 32GB RAM. The screen is not one of the reasons why I bought the M1 Pro.

Same for me. I need to keep the ability to be mobile (I expect I will need to go back to hybrid work of 1-2 days with customers in the future), but don't want to compromise on computing power (including RAM) when I'm mobile.

Perhaps your use case differs but some videos out there shows that 16gb of Ram on these devices are not like typical 16gb.
And well at least for me the screen is the best upgrade on these.
I mean to be honest the keyboard etc has all been this goo before and battery life has been better.
The biggest differentiator is the mini LED screen .
And the fact it can be had at 16 inches with all the better battery thermal speaker and track pad benefits too for 200$ more?

I'm not convinced that Apple Silicon memory behaves any differently to it on my Intel Macs - I use about the same amount of memory on both for my usage. The difference is that the very fast SSD and memory bandwidth mean that heavily using swap memory is far less noticeable than it used to be, and for a lot of people it is good enough. I just dislike running under contant yellow memory pressure because it's telling me that that the machine is not running optimally.

I haven't really looked at the screen on my MBP14 yet, but will have a chance to test this when I go away for a week at the end of the month with no external screens. I'm hoping I don't live to regret choosing the smaller size...

 

[chengengaun]

I'm not convinced that Apple Silicon memory behaves any differently to it on my Intel Macs - I use about the same amount of memory on both for my usage. The difference is that the very fast SSD and memory bandwidth mean that heavily using swap memory is far less noticeable than it used to be, and for a lot of people it is good enough.

Same in my use case too - data loaded in memory requires the same amount of RAM, whether in Intel or Apple Silicon. I just don't see how a database/dataset can somehow become smaller just because of different instruction set/architecture. (Perhaps graphics data may behave differently, but I have no working knowledge on the subject.)

I have to say though, Apple Silicon is still responsive when running out of memory; at least I was given the option to choose which apps to kill, and the Mac would proceed to do so. It can be a matter of luck on Intel Macs.

 

[geta]

14” MBP is the sweet spot between portability and power, special if you also using external screen.

 

[sb in ak]

I was on the fence so went and looked at them in person. Knew in about 5 secs that I wanted the 16. After years of 15" laptops anything smaller just felt cramped. I recognize that not everyone can go and look at them physically, though.

 

[ctjack]

Knew in about 5 secs that I wanted the 16. After years of 15" laptops

I think here we mainly tend to stick with our previous experience: most 15 users will get 16, most 13 users will get 14, because we well got used to what we have.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

I think here we mainly tend to stick with our previous experience: most 15 users will get 16, most 13 users will get 14, because we well got used to what we have.

And that's why the return policy at Apple and other stores is great. Try it out for a couple of weeks and see if it works out.

For me, I've never been able to handle the bigger models because portability is so much more important to me. The last time I had a 4.5 lb laptop was all the way back when the iPhone was first released. And I will never again get a laptop of that size. But, then again, I don't do video editing and don't need all that processing power.

 

[ctjack]

And that's why the return policy at Apple and other stores is great. Try it out for a couple of weeks and see if it works out.

Lately, I have realized that i became an elite member at BestBuy just by buying smth from them for $1500+.
Now they offer 30 days return period to me to try out things. Also a nice place to test your needs and purchase on top of Apple.com if you spent $1500 and received elite member status.
I was thinking about buying from Apple, to have that 2 weeks trial period in case I want to upgrade more.
Right now, think that BB offers better timeframe.

 

[Bmoreguy03]

I think im going with the 14" upgraded model

 

[Fomalhaut]

I think here we mainly tend to stick with our previous experience: most 15 users will get 16, most 13 users will get 14, because we well got used to what we have.

I broke with habit and went from a line of 15.4 & 16" MBPs (and a "travel" MBA13 for a couple of years) to the MBP14.

It looked small when I took it out of the box, and I did have a few moments of doubt. I have yet to use it without external screens, so time will tell whether I like the smaller form factor for stand-alone use. I was finding my MBP16 a tad large when travelling - not while sitting at a desk, but in restricted spaces or when carrying it for hours in a shoulder bag.

 

[Macrumorsss]

So right now I am tying tis on the 14 inch MacBook Pro. I currently have both models at home and have been vacillating back and forth between the 2 models.
The form factor of the 14 is so nice and I am not a huge power user so it has been running cool doing regular tasks.
The size seems enough for productivity and browsing. Battery so far seems good but have only been on my first charge and initially is was draining hard due to OneDrive and spotlight.

They are spec'ed identically.

So far the typing experience is a bit different.
The keys on the 14 feel a bit firmer. I also feel that the palm rests being longer on the 16 feel a bit more comfortable at the wrist as the edges are not at the same spot and seem to be touching a less sensitive part of the skin.

Certainly watching content unless I bring the laptop closer, the bigger screen is more immersive.

14 is space grey and that size an color look amazing.
16 is in the classic silver. Also looks amazing.

If someone gave me either of these devices and said I couldn't swap them I think I would be vey happy. But having both side by side is much tougher.

I have an 11 inch iPad Pro and magic keyboard. Too bad not mini LED. Not sure the size difference between the 2 is so different that I could see using the 14 inch more and iPad less if I go that route. Whereas if keep the 16 inch then I would probably use the iPad a lot more if going out or travelling and even around the house when I feel I don't want to carry the bulkier device.

Crazy thing is if I compare these to my old rMBP 15 inch 2012, even though the screen on the 14 is smaller, the pixel density is higher so even at default settings the real estate on screen is actually a touch bigger even though the screen dimensions are smaller. Now I do have 53 year old eyes and wear multi focal contact lenses. So not sure what to do with that.

That I can also potentially do, is with the money saved going to the 14 inch and the apple care I have about 350$ in savings. Maybe I would invest that towards a good 4 k monitor so if I ever need to do more intense work then I would have the option to dock it. Up until now I have always used my laptop as my only device and so the bigger screen was of more importance. I am not a student and travel more by car than by plane. I do like to use the laptop in bed on couch etc.

So if anyone can tell me what their experience using a 14 or 16 inch for day to day tasks and not just creative content like final cut or premiere or photoshop I would love to hear, as those other workflows will likely represent a smaller part oof my use case.

I do love watching videos on my devices and this miniLED is best in class for that.

I went from a 1

So right now I am tying tis on the 14 inch MacBook Pro. I currently have both models at home and have been vacillating back and forth between the 2 models.
The form factor of the 14 is so nice and I am not a huge power user so it has been running cool doing regular tasks.
The size seems enough for productivity and browsing. Battery so far seems good but have only been on my first charge and initially is was draining hard due to OneDrive and spotlight.

They are spec'ed identically.

So far the typing experience is a bit different.
The keys on the 14 feel a bit firmer. I also feel that the palm rests being longer on the 16 feel a bit more comfortable at the wrist as the edges are not at the same spot and seem to be touching a less sensitive part of the skin.

Certainly watching content unless I bring the laptop closer, the bigger screen is more immersive.

14 is space grey and that size an color look amazing.
16 is in the classic silver. Also looks amazing.

If someone gave me either of these devices and said I couldn't swap them I think I would be vey happy. But having both side by side is much tougher.

I have an 11 inch iPad Pro and magic keyboard. Too bad not mini LED. Not sure the size difference between the 2 is so different that I could see using the 14 inch more and iPad less if I go that route. Whereas if keep the 16 inch then I would probably use the iPad a lot more if going out or travelling and even around the house when I feel I don't want to carry the bulkier device.

Crazy thing is if I compare these to my old rMBP 15 inch 2012, even though the screen on the 14 is smaller, the pixel density is higher so even at default settings the real estate on screen is actually a touch bigger even though the screen dimensions are smaller. Now I do have 53 year old eyes and wear multi focal contact lenses. So not sure what to do with that.

That I can also potentially do, is with the money saved going to the 14 inch and the apple care I have about 350$ in savings. Maybe I would invest that towards a good 4 k monitor so if I ever need to do more intense work then I would have the option to dock it. Up until now I have always used my laptop as my only device and so the bigger screen was of more importance. I am not a student and travel more by car than by plane. I do like to use the laptop in bed on couch etc.

So if anyone can tell me what their experience using a 14 or 16 inch for day to day tasks and not just creative content like final cut or premiere or photoshop I would love to hear, as those other workflows will likely represent a smaller part oof my use case.

I do love watching videos on my devices and this miniLED is best in class for that.

I went from a 13 inch macbook air to the 14 inch MacBook Pro and felt like I did not really have a new computer. I then picked up the 16 inch and I am in love. I never thought a machine of that size would be something I enjoy, because so many people talk about portability and from my perspective this lacks no portability. In fact I would say it’s more portable because of the use that you get from it while traveling or doing anything outside of your usual work space. The weight is there and obvious, but the gain from the screen and performance cannot be compared to portability (IMO).

 

[Mitchdoc]

So tomorrow the 14 inch tires back to the Apple store and I keep the 16 inch.
I have both a fair and even Twitter and the decision was surprisingly tougher then I thought.

For my use case fans and thermals were not an issue. Fans never came in for either though the 14 for a bit warmer underneath upon a video export in DaVinci.

Typing experience was slightly in favor of the 16 inch as I just like how my wrists have a place to rest where they cut in a bit on the edge of the 14.

Display way in favor of the 16. So immersive! The real estate for work or watching videos was debating a big plus. In a vacuum the 14 was the best sub 15 inch but the 16 just bless it away.
The 16 also send about 1.5 notches brighter.

Speakers on the 14 were very good but lack some of the fullness of the 16.

Battery. Just did a YouTube great with brightness at 11 ticks ( 3 above Apple's test) after 2 or do hours the 16 inch was on leave for 15hours screen time. 14 inch 11.5
Heavier work load might have a bigger discrepancy as it might be 6 vs 4.
16 battery life means for an average work day your can lighten your back pack and never the charger at home and thus no weight savings by having 14 plus charger.

Weight. To be honest the only situation where the weight Feng really heavier to me was if holding the laptop in one hand in the open position from a corner. When carrying it closed the weight difference was irrelevant to me.

Footprint. 14 wins here obviously but the 16 if you aren't using it hooked to an external monitor docked, is worth the trade off.

Another advantage of the bigger screen is that for someone like me who is now in the 50+ gang my vision is not what it was 20 years ago. I can zoom web pages, spreadsheets, etc so that they appear bigger than in the 14 while still allowing as much on page.

Final thing that seemed the deal was the 16 I have has no cosmetic or mechanical defects. Am noticing the 14 inch sometimes makes a creak it click when putting my hand down on left palm rest.

I think the only reason anyone should choose the 14 inch is of they are a student or travel alot but plane and the footprint required where they will be using it is too small for the 16.
The weight difference is not a reason.
And I can't imagine anyone not wanting more of that smashing screen for any purpose they use the MBP for.

 

[madat42]

I went from a 13 inch macbook air to the 14 inch MacBook Pro and felt like I did not really have a new computer. I then picked up the 16 inch and I am in love. I never thought a machine of that size would be something I enjoy, because so many people talk about portability and from my perspective this lacks no portability. In fact I would say it’s more portable because of the use that you get from it while traveling or doing anything outside of your usual work space. The weight is there and obvious, but the gain from the screen and performance cannot be compared to portability (IMO).

I almost thought I had typed this. So ditto.

 

[petvas]

I have also thought a lot about which size MacBook Pro to get. I used to have a 16" Intel MacBook Pro and while I enjoyed the large screen, I found the laptop to be too big, especially when going places with it. I also have to say that the MacBook Pro is not my primary computer. I have an iMac for that, so the need for a big screen laptop is not that big for me. I also had the 13,3" M1 MBP and I loved it, apart from the screen. The 14" MBP has a much better display than the 13" MBP and offers more screen estate. I would say that if you don't have a bigger screen Mac, then get the 16". If you do though, then the 14" MBP is the better choice. It has the ideal size and weight. The bigger screen estate of the 16" MBP is not that big of an issue.

 

[petvas]

I almost thought I had typed this. So ditto.

I went from a 1

I went from a 13 inch macbook air to the 14 inch MacBook Pro and felt like I did not really have a new computer. I then picked up the 16 inch and I am in love. I never thought a machine of that size would be something I enjoy, because so many people talk about portability and from my perspective this lacks no portability. In fact I would say it’s more portable because of the use that you get from it while traveling or doing anything outside of your usual work space. The weight is there and obvious, but the gain from the screen and performance cannot be compared to portability (IMO).

I went from the 13" MBP to the 14" MBP and I immediately saw the differences. It felt like a new computer. The display is amazing and the retina 2x scaling makes the difference even bigger, so I do not understand how you could not see the difference. With this kind of thinking, if you had a 16" MBP before and got a new M1 16" laptop, you wouldn't see any difference..
Anyway, I understand the benefits of the bigger laptop and I think it all depends on usage scenario. People that have bigger displays to work with are better off with a 14" MBP. People that don't have bigger display should really be getting the 16" model.

 

[VaruLV]

In case I decide to get one, I will go for 16.2" from current lineup due to better battery life, better thermals and considerably more screen real estate.

Aside above mentioned reasons of mine theres also the fact that 14.2" MBP would be not much bigger than my 12.9 iPP and I like devices to complement each other instead of overlapping too much.

 

[darngooddesign]

Based on all the complaints, I fully expected the 16" to be a boat anchor which I could barely pick up. Needless to say, its all hyperbole and I chose the 16".

 

[ctjack]

Based on all the complaints, I fully expected the 16" to be a boat anchor which I could barely pick up. Needless to say, its all hyperbole and I chose the 16".

Congratulations! Which spec you got?
Yeah 16 looks chunky but it is kind of airy - it looks bigger than it weighs and feels.