GO FULL or GO MIN - I have returned 16” M1 Max/Pro and went with base M1 Macbook Air 2020

[Jára Tyky]

Hey guys,
I sold my M1 Max 32/32/1. Then got again M1 Max. It had some defects so I returned it and bought 16” M1 Pro base. But base 16” Pro was actually not so good as Max and lagged, so I returned it and order 16” 24 GPU M1Max but it will be delivered for two month, so I needed a computer and today I bought M1 Macbook Air 2020 unboxed and brand new from some Russian guy for very good price (discount 1/3 of price). And I think I like it. I do not have to worry if the macbook fall from the table (once I was charging M1Max, I kicked to the charging cable and magsafe did not help. So I was lucky that time. I was so much cautious everytime for M1Max that I almost damage it because of these worries.)
And as for Macbook M1 Air I am actually surprised that I like it and I start to believe that Air is one of the best Apple product ever.
I still can not explain to myself the price tag of 16” M1Pro/Max. There were everytime some sort of issues - sometimes M1Pro stucked or lagged or I was having another issue that told me it is product in early stages and not complete package which deserve such a high price tag.
16 GB RAM was not enough even for basic task, so I was thinking “go full” or “go minimum”. Now I am on the minium side and have better feeling that I could spend my money much better.
So now I have Macbook Air M1 2020 for great price and when the new model 2022 comes out, I can still sél it and upgrade.
And I am thinking to cancel the M1Max 24GPU order and see how much price of M1Max depreciate in 1 year. Because now I see It is easy to get new Macbooks for much better prices.
So I think, it is thanks to you guys, because I still read everywhere that Macbook Air M1 is the best product ever and “you do not need M1Pro/Max”.. I do not like that I bought 2 years old product but lets see how it will work

 

[DHagan4755]

Wow, bravo! This sounds like a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde moment.

 

[Jára Tyky]

Ohh you are so funny! How you do that?

 

[Buck987]

So 16 GB M1 Pro lagged but base M1 Air does not lag because it was a good buy? I guess its all relative.

 

[Lucas Curious]

So 16 GB M1 Pro lagged but base M1 Air does not lag because it was a good buy? I guess its all relative.

I was going to ask the same question. WTF? My M1 Pro 16 was perfect out of the box so im amazed you had to go through several of them. What is this? Tesla assembly line? The Air is a decent laptop but come on... Lets not compare it to the 16" screen.

 

[ChronicLynx]

This makes no sense. Base M1 Pro not good enough for you, but the Air is now?

 

[DMG35]

This post makes little sense. For starters, 16GB of RAM is WAY MORE than enough to do basic tasks. Secondly, if you are able to use the M1 Air and are happy with it, there is no way you saw lag on the base 16" model becuase it blows the Air away. The M1 Air is a good product but even the base 16" MBP far better than it in every single possible way.

 

[Jára Tyky]

For starter? What or who is starter wtf? What is this answer??

Yes. The true is that I was pushing 16” M1Pro much more than Air. I had two month M1Max in base config (32/32/1) and it was all fluid so I tried the same tasks with 16 GB and I found out that 16 GB was not enough for me especially if I want to keep it for 5-7 years. In Activity Monitor I was already in yellow-red section. So after 2-3 years I would need another Macbook for 3k ??‍♂️
In general, 16” M1 Pro was not so good as Max. There were some small issues for example I recorded some school lectures and the quality of audio of this lecture was much worse than the same recorded from M1Max. I do not know why because it should be the same and settings were the same.
I had issues with sidecar (even with Max) that sometimes randomly disconnected my iPad Pro M1 and it happened few times. Sometimes the screen just frozen and there were everytime small issues that told me that the Apple Silicon is really in early stage and it does not deserve 3-4k dollars price tag. And for this product I expect no issues and completely balanced device.
As for Macbook Air there is no promotion, there is no big screen miniled, so maybe the computer just use less hw resources but It seems to me little bit faster and more optimized than 16” M1Pro. I do not expect from 8 GB so much, so I do not open so many tabs and so on. I think the built quality is much better on Air. The 16” Macbook has thin cover and if my cat sit on it I would be afraid that it breaks. I read in this forum that some guys start to have built quality issues and now I am not persuade that it will last 5-7 years.
For the price M1Max I can buy 5xMacbook Air and Max´s processor has the same power for one core as M1 Air and this year should come out new Macbook Air 2022 with M2 which probably will be more powerful than M1Max (for one core probably). And I do not like the idea that M1Max will be outdated quite soon.
I think we will see quite big improvements in M2 or M3 and I would be disappointed that I bought first gen for this price. Because this M1 architecture supports only old technology (no HDMI 2.1, old WiFi standard etc.). They add ports back, I love magsafe and was happy for it, but I have satachi dongle so I do not care of ports. Only one port I would appreciate is USB and it has all ports I do not need but not USB which I want ??‍♂️
So probably I will wait for M2 to see how much it will be powerful in comparison with M1. How much the price of M1Max comes down, if it has sense pay so much for such device and maybe then I will buy new model for so much money. And now I will stay for a while with low config Air to be prepaired for possible exchange. But now I am quite surprised. It is the same look as my previous Macbook Pro 2018 but it feels so much better. And I can not explain it I read everywhere that Macbook Air M1 2020 is best laptop created, so I think it is good to jave it home. So after a while I think I will give it to my girlfriend who has ****** computer.

 

[geta]

Out of curiosity, how much money you lost in this process..?

 

[chongsen]

A minor issue I experienced on M1 Pro 16 but not on my air. I usually move task bar to left and set it to auto hide for more screen estate. I works perfectly on my 2020 air. But once a couple of days, it stops appearing on M1 Pro 16 and I have to reboot to recovery it.

 

[Jára Tyky]

Out of curiosity, how much money you lost in this process..?

Sold Macbook Pro 2018 for 960$
Bought Macbook M1Max for 4350$ and sold for 4560$
Bought Macbook Air for 1050$

So I did not lost but earn

 

[Lucas Curious]

A minor issue I experienced on M1 Pro 16 but not on my air. I usually move task bar to left and set it to auto hide for more screen estate. I works perfectly on my 2020 air. But once a couple of days, it stops appearing on M1 Pro 16 and I have to reboot to recovery it.

does your window fill the notch area? I tried doing this and it just leaves blank spaces on each side of the notch. can you provide instructions please?

 

[Chris60549]

And as for Macbook M1 Air I am actually surprised that I like it and I start to believe that Air is one of the best Apple product ever.

You are right in every way. Thank you. Air is the *far* better deal for 99 % of the people.

 

[ChronicLynx]

This post makes more sense with the further explanation, they're basically saying that for the money and what they do the M1 Pro / M1 Max is not really worth the money, especially given it's kind of "beta" first gen. For me the M1 Pro / M1 Max computers can save me so much time in a day they pay for themselves.