+1 on using AlDente to reduce the potential for stress on your battery if you're going to leave it plugged in most of the time. Having a battery at 100% all the time is a sure way to distress the battery into an early death.
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Is it wise to buy Macbook Pro M2 Pro and use it as desktop mac?
- Thread starter chonkvandelay
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+1 on using AlDente to reduce the potential for stress on your battery if you're going to leave it plugged in most of the time. Having a battery at 100% all the time is a sure way to distress the battery into an early death.
I’ve found AlDente to be better than the solution that’s built in to macOS. My 14-inch M1 Max MBP is docked six days a week. For the first month macOS kept it at 100%. Then finally it moved it down to 80%. I traveled for two weeks, came back, and macOS always kept it at 100%. For months.
It never went back to moving it down to 80% even though I was docked almost all the time (at one point over six consecutive weeks).
Then I checked the battery health and it was 93% with only 21 cycles. I felt in my case macOS was totally failing at preserving the battery health.
I’ve switched to AlDente and it’s way better. I have complete control over it and my battery health has actually increased since I’ve started using it.
I don’t think the built in solution works well all the time for all use cases. At least in my experience.
I think selling your Mini and MBA and buying a 14" MBP is the way to go for you. You know the advantages of just having the one Mac for both at home connected to a big monitor and also having the very same portable Mac with all your files and software to take with you.
While clamshell mode is one way to do it when at home connected to a monitor you also can keep it open and the MBP screen can be an extended desktop. I find it very useful. For example, I may have my mail and/or something else open on the MBP screen while the big monitor has Lightroom Classic on it.
While clamshell mode is one way to do it when at home connected to a monitor you also can keep it open and the MBP screen can be an extended desktop. I find it very useful. For example, I may have my mail and/or something else open on the MBP screen while the big monitor has Lightroom Classic on it.
I've been using a 14-inch M1 Max 64GB RAM MBP as a desktop-laptop for about a year. It's great.
I had an identically equipped Mac Studio, but the whine was a deal breaker, and I didn't want to bother with attempting repairs right at launch. So, I returned that for the MBP, got to work, and have really enjoyed using it. Having the fans stopped most of the time is nice (coming from a history of iMacs with audible fans at idle), though it spins up to be plainly audible (but not unpleasant) if you really load the GPU for an extended time.
I also have another 14-inch MBP M1 Pro base model that's my laptop-laptop, and it's really nice as a laptop, too. The screen in particular is great and would likely keep me from moving to a MBA as a laptop-laptop.
If I had that decision to make with current products, I'd consider the 16-inch (and try to figure out what the fan sound difference is between it and the 14 under load) and the Mac mini M2 Pro. But, the 14-inch MBP has been great, so that would be in the conversation again.
I had an identically equipped Mac Studio, but the whine was a deal breaker, and I didn't want to bother with attempting repairs right at launch. So, I returned that for the MBP, got to work, and have really enjoyed using it. Having the fans stopped most of the time is nice (coming from a history of iMacs with audible fans at idle), though it spins up to be plainly audible (but not unpleasant) if you really load the GPU for an extended time.
I also have another 14-inch MBP M1 Pro base model that's my laptop-laptop, and it's really nice as a laptop, too. The screen in particular is great and would likely keep me from moving to a MBA as a laptop-laptop.
If I had that decision to make with current products, I'd consider the 16-inch (and try to figure out what the fan sound difference is between it and the 14 under load) and the Mac mini M2 Pro. But, the 14-inch MBP has been great, so that would be in the conversation again.
That would be my advice too. Using a laptop as a clamshell mode desktop all the time really just means you're paying extra for a very nice display you're not using. I'd get a Mini and pocket the savings, if it was me. Also, those M1 Airs are very capable machines for many purposes.
I'm also a big fan of having a desktop + laptop combo becuase it lets you just leave whatever backup and auxiliary storage drives attached to the desktop at all times. When you start docking and undocking all the time, it adds an annoying amount of friction as you have to eject the drives every time you want to use your laptop away from the desk. Having the laptop truly separate means you can casually pop it open on the couch or in bed or throw it in your bag without disturbing your desktop arrangement.
I don't know what your workflow is like, but I find that having a relatively heavy weight desktop frees up my laptop to have minimal specs, cost, and weight becuase it's a satellite to the main machine.
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I have almost the same config as you, except with 32GB of RAM with my 14-inch M1 Max MBP. I always keep my MBP open (not in clamshell) so I can use the screen for while connected to two other monitors. For me, it's nice to only manage one machine. I have some older Macs I keep around as backups and in case I need a minimal computer while traveling, but my 14-inch MBP is the only Mac I use 99% of the time.
If I were to get another Mac for traveling, though, it would be an M1 Air. There are so many great deals on them and they still perform exceptionally well.
Lot of good points here, as clearly quite a few ppl on these forums use the laptop in clamshell mode into external monitor. I'll echo my key take-aways of why I like it with my 2021 14" MBP.
- Ability to keep all my files with me when I want to take my laptop portable (eg. go to client site, or even just work on sofa / bed)
- Ease of "one-cable" solution docking setups
- Apple-silicon MBPs have really made the noise / heat very minimal when docked at desk
The battery life / health issue for MBPs plugged in for extended periods of time is real. Since the 2016 generation (touchbar / butterfly kb), the batteries that Apple uses in their laptops have been such that degrade in health fairly quickly when plugged in 24/7 (compared to the prior 2012 - 2015 generation). Not sure if this was a change in manufacturer or battery-type or what.
As many responses show, ppl are using Al Dente or the built-in MacOS limiter. I personally just disconnect my laptop at end of the work day when not using it. Then plug it back in when I am. And then probably use the laptop portably "like a laptop" ~once a week on weekends to give the battery some usage / stretch. I only use 1 monitor so the loss of monitor positioning isn't an issue for me. And it's a tiny inconvenience to potentially prolong battery health / life.
- Ability to keep all my files with me when I want to take my laptop portable (eg. go to client site, or even just work on sofa / bed)
- Ease of "one-cable" solution docking setups
- Apple-silicon MBPs have really made the noise / heat very minimal when docked at desk
The battery life / health issue for MBPs plugged in for extended periods of time is real. Since the 2016 generation (touchbar / butterfly kb), the batteries that Apple uses in their laptops have been such that degrade in health fairly quickly when plugged in 24/7 (compared to the prior 2012 - 2015 generation). Not sure if this was a change in manufacturer or battery-type or what.
As many responses show, ppl are using Al Dente or the built-in MacOS limiter. I personally just disconnect my laptop at end of the work day when not using it. Then plug it back in when I am. And then probably use the laptop portably "like a laptop" ~once a week on weekends to give the battery some usage / stretch. I only use 1 monitor so the loss of monitor positioning isn't an issue for me. And it's a tiny inconvenience to potentially prolong battery health / life.