M1 Air or M2 Pro 13"?

[lepidotós]

On the one hand, the M2's 20-30% performance advantage is notable. On the other... the same configuration (16/1TB) in an M1 Air is $320 less, and I'm not operating on infinite budget as someone about to go into college. I wouldn't be considering either normally, my PowerBook G4 does what I want it to do and nothing else and is more than enough for notetaking and classwork, but the Series of Unfortunate Events means I'll probably need something capable of livestreaming my ugly mug, and as capable as a 7447A is, I imagine even a 7448 with a 200MHz bus would struggle. And while I'm at it, might as well have something to edit A/V with, and throw Linux on.
So I decided to ask the opinions of those here.
Thanks if you end up responding.​

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Please don’t give Apple money for the M2 Pro 13” ha. Buy a refurbished model from Apple or get a MBA. I highly doubt you’ll notice a difference between the two chipsets so don’t feel you need to buy the M2, if anything get more memory or storage.

 

[lepidotós]

You do have a point on refurbished, M1A/16/2TB refurbished is $20 less than M2P/16/1TB and $380 less than 2TB, and $170 less than that nets me better battery life (which matters even if I don't need an 18 hour battery life because it means it'll last an acceptable time for longer without needing a replacement) and the potentially useful Touch Bar...​

 

[JW5566]

Personally on a budget I would lean towards an upgraded M1 because I feel the extra RAM and storage offers more benefits than a slightly boosted CPU. However aside from costs you need to consider the form factor - the Air feels quite a bit slimmer and lighter than a Pro, though you tend to notice this more if you work regularly on both machines.

If you want to keep costs low then an M1 Air is a good purchase IMHO.

 

[lepidotós]

I feel like if size and weight were that important to me, I wouldn't be daily driving a 16 year old, 15" laptop right now. Not that it isn't -- I have a MacBook2,1 and I like how it's small enough I can use it at restaurants (and don't like that it's Intel, I only have it to talk about libreboot). But it's not really a deal breaker in any stretch of the word, either. If either model had a 3:2 (ideally notchless) display, I'd have picked that nothing else considered, but they don't.​

 

[DHagan4755]

Wow, you're getting by with a 16-year-old PowerBook G4? That's amazing! Get the MacBook Air M1 w/upgraded specs & save the difference in price between it & the M2 MacBook Pro for other things. My 2¢.

 

[smoking monkey]

Sounds like you don't need an M2 machine. Get the M1 and save the cash. The M1 Air is a great piece of kit. I really liked the design and found it comfortable to use. Sure the screen, speakers, cam etc are all just solid, but it is a battery beast and it's also silent, cool to the touch and highly portable and light.

 

[jav6454]

On the one hand, the M2's 20-30% performance advantage is notable. On the other... the same configuration (16/1TB) in an M1 Air is $320 less, and I'm not operating on infinite budget as someone about to go into college. I wouldn't be considering either normally, my PowerBook G4 does what I want it to do and nothing else and is more than enough for notetaking and classwork, but the Series of Unfortunate Events means I'll probably need something capable of livestreaming my ugly mug, and as capable as a 7447A is, I imagine even a 7448 with a 200MHz bus would struggle. And while I'm at it, might as well have something to edit A/V with, and throw Linux on.
So I decided to ask the opinions of those here.
Thanks if you end up responding.​

A PowerBook? Wow, anything you choose between the machines mentioned will definitely do. Although, it comes down to choice. Which form factor do you want? Please don't listen to nay-sayers on the 13" MBP.

 

[lepidotós]

Yeah, here's a photo (screenshot?) of it compiling I think Python 3 on FreeBSD. Granted, I have both 2GB DDR2 and am SSD in there, the only upgrade I have left to do is a 7448 and bus OC.

And hey, since it's now show and tell hour, here's an extra image of it with me in a hotel room a few months ago.

As for form factor, I don't really know, never really had my hands on either. I'd probably be best to go to an Apple Store and physically compare the two before answering that question, but I imagine the difference will likely be negligible coming from a half inch thick laptop.​

Wow, you're getting by with a 16-year-old PowerBook G4? That's amazing!

Hey, if you think that's a long time, if you'd have asked me a year ago, I was on Cloud Nine, my iBook G3. I've pretty much my entire life used roughly ten year old computers, and low end ones at that, so this is nothing out of the ordinary for me really. Reason one being being able to get a $2000 laptop that meets all my needs for sub-$50.​

 

[jav6454]

Coming from a PowerBook, both form factors will be surprising. My opinion is test out both the M1 MBA and the M2 MBP. Which ever option you do get, try to get as much memory you can afford and on the M2 MBP, do get the 512GB model.

 

[_Dave_]

I wouldn't go for the M2 MBP 13". If you don't regularly do graphic intensive work, I would save the money and get the M1 air (you can get an educational discount from apples website). You can set aside the savings for a desktop if you needed to do some more requiring work. If you wanted to spend more than the M1 air, I would either go for the M2 air or the 14" MBP. I think the M2 Air is a better machine than the M2 13" MBP in almost every scenario. An exception would be thermal throttling in the event that you do a lot of demanding work on it. If you need more power than the M2 air, I would jump straight to the 14"MBP.

 

[FattKingHugeman]

For you case, the M1 MBA under the Apple refurbished is the way to go.

 

[Isamilis]

On the one hand, the M2's 20-30% performance advantage is notable. On the other... the same configuration (16/1TB) in an M1 Air is $320 less, and I'm not operating on infinite budget as someone about to go into college. I wouldn't be considering either normally, my PowerBook G4 does what I want it to do and nothing else and is more than enough for notetaking and classwork, but the Series of Unfortunate Events means I'll probably need something capable of livestreaming my ugly mug, and as capable as a 7447A is, I imagine even a 7448 with a 200MHz bus would struggle. And while I'm at it, might as well have something to edit A/V with, and throw Linux on.
So I decided to ask the opinions of those here.
Thanks if you end up responding.​

How about MBA M1 16/1TB vs MBP M1/M2 16/512? I mean, do you really need that big storage? Also, you may consider that MBP has fan while the new MBA has thinner cooling tape (compare to M1 MBA) which make it stagnant on heavy load.

 

[lepidotós]

@Isamilis
I'm keeping an eye out regarding SSD wear over time given it's (at least for now) unreplaceable, even if I don't need the storage space. Also, I might end up doing light video editing, and raw video isn't exactly small in filesize. Right now I'm sitting at about 40GB used out of 60 on my Leopard partition and 30 out of 60 on my Tiger partition. Same reason the 13" Pro's bigger battery is compelling for me -- I don't see myself needing more than 8 or 9 hours' worth of battery life, but that battery sure isn't gonna leap into my hand, so it's better if it wears down over time to the Air's capacity than if the Air wears down by that much. But then again, iFixit sells them and it's likely that NewerTech will sell them soon as well, so that's not a huge concern I suppose...
Right now, I think I'm leaning toward a refurb M1 Pro 13", but again I'll have to handle the two in person to decide for 100% sure. Hopefully the one I live near still has the M1 Air on display.​

 

[lepidotós]

Alright, I finally got to try all three laptops out in person at an Apple store, and I decided the 13" Pro is for me. Two features cinched it away from the M1 Air: battery life and the Touch Bar. I thought I wouldn't like the Touch Bar, but after actually using it it's amazing. What wasn't amazing was the keyboard. Better than the PowerBook G4 but worse than the 2007 MacBook, which has more travel and a more pronounced tactile bump. Weird how similar Silver and Space Gray are. This is also why I've decided on the M2 and I'll just save up longer for it, I want to vote with my wallet so to speak in support of it.
And I also learned three things about its competition: The Notch™ really is as annoying as I thought it would be because downscaling the screen keeps the bar at the same height and a dark wallpaper won't actually hide it, 14" is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and ProMotion is extremely compelling... just not quite as compelling as the TB. Love how responsive the ProMotion displays feel though, if the 13" Pro had PM I'd have gone into debt right then and there for it. Hopefully for M3.
Mac Mini and Studio are way bigger than I thought they would be and I am no longer surprised by the form factor at all, More Space is consistently the best option for me, all of the MacBooks were surprisingly heavy for how much people go on and on about how heavy old laptops are, and I detest the new Magic Mouse and Keyboard with a passion.​

 

[Isamilis]

Alright, I finally got to try all three laptops out in person at an Apple store, and I decided the 13" Pro is for me. Two features cinched it away from the M1 Air: battery life and the Touch Bar. I thought I wouldn't like the Touch Bar, but after actually using it it's amazing. What wasn't amazing was the keyboard. Better than the PowerBook G4 but worse than the 2007 MacBook, which has more travel and a more pronounced tactile bump. Weird how similar Silver and Space Gray are. This is also why I've decided on the M2 and I'll just save up longer for it, I want to vote with my wallet so to speak in support of it.
And I also learned three things about its competition: The Notch™ really is as annoying as I thought it would be because downscaling the screen keeps the bar at the same height and a dark wallpaper won't actually hide it, 14" is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and ProMotion is extremely compelling... just not quite as compelling as the TB. Love how responsive the ProMotion displays feel though, if the 13" Pro had PM I'd have gone into debt right then and there for it. Hopefully for M3.
Mac Mini and Studio are way bigger than I thought they would be and I am no longer surprised by the form factor at all, More Space is consistently the best option for me, all of the MacBooks were surprisingly heavy for how much people go on and on about how heavy old laptops are, and I detest the new Magic Mouse and Keyboard with a passion.​

Thanks for the update. In my country, 13” MBP is actually cheaper than M2/MBA. I am kind a take your choice as well.