M1 Air vs Pro. Difference worth it?

[Rydawg96]

So I see that Apple today announced the new M1 line of Macs, and I have to say, is there really enough difference between the Air and the Pro? While I can see things like the fan helping slightly with performance and theres slightly better battery life, too much is the same between models and im not sure if its worth the extra cost to go with the pro over the air.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

Touchbar?

I went with base MBA. Seems the optimal pricepoint.

 

[jav6454]

Think of it as Air is for day to day users, and Pro is for sustained peak performance. In the end, thermals will mark the difference for both of these product categories.

 

[ADGrant]

Pro gets you active cooling, a Touch Bar and a better Screen for a small price increase. Probably worth it.

 

[predation]

Fwiw. Buddy of mine is an engineer at apple. Worth the price diff.

 

[happy orchard]

Fwiw. Buddy of mine is an engineer at apple. Worth the price diff.

It’s cool if you want to elaborate...

 

[jashsayani]

From the looks of it, Fan is the main plus point in Pro. Even if you have the same chip, thermal output (heat) can make M1 perform slower. Fan = cooling system that allows longer+sustained peak performance.

 

[raftman]

Most people are saying, it’s the same CPU, how much performance difference can there be? It’s just a fan!

It’s not just a fan, the cpu is connected to a heat pipe, which is a copper pipe filled with a conductive fluid that travels to the fan to dissipate heat. This is a major performance feature that will allow for much higher continuous clock speeds. I’d bet double the gaming and sustained workload performance from the Pro.

 

[aednichols]

There is no doubt in my mind that the Air's thermal solution will be good enough for the everyday tasks I plan to use it for.

If I do push it I'm actually content waiting a little longer instead of listening to a fan.

Thinking of long Zoom or Google Meet sessions, I'd rather have the machine heat up than get loud. I am willing to trade off the computer "suffering" for my quiet enjoyment ?

 

[machinesworking]

I think it's one of the reasons the actual speed of the chips isn't talked about much.
From what I understand most types of chip (say i7 Westlake etc.), are essentially the same chip, just the die process itself dictates that some chips are not as good as others, more issues etc. Those chips are then clocked down for budget devices. So Apple is probably not breaking any precedents here, just not elaborating on the actual speed differences between the Air and Pro.

 

[jashsayani]

I think it's one of the reasons the actual speed of the chips isn't talked about much.
From what I understand most types of chip (say i7 Westlake etc.), are essentially the same chip, just the die process itself dictates that some chips are not as good as others, more issues etc. Those chips are then clocked down for budget devices. So Apple is probably not breaking any precedents here, just not elaborating on the actual speed differences between the Air and Pro.

Interesting. So all the chips cut from 1 wafer are not same performance chips due to minor defects?

 

[aednichols]

I think it's one of the reasons the actual speed of the chips isn't talked about much.
From what I understand most types of chip (say i7 Westlake etc.), are essentially the same chip, just the die process itself dictates that some chips are not as good as others, more issues etc. Those chips are then clocked down for budget devices. So Apple is probably not breaking any precedents here, just not elaborating on the actual speed differences between the Air and Pro.

I think it's too early to say.

Apple refers to the chips uniformly as the M1, leading consumers to believe they are identical. This is probably approximately the case.

In the iPhone 12 lineup, it looks like the A14 benchmarks the same all the way from the Mini to the Pro Max. On the other hand, I remember some chips - like maybe the A7 - were something like 200 MHz different between products.

 

[kucharsk]

Chip "speeds" mean little any more as for most modern processors the idea is to overclock the CPU much higher than the rated speed until it needs to be throttled for thermal reasons.

That's how Intel "turbo boost" works as well as the M1.

The fan in the MBP will allow it to run at higher speeds longer.

 

[Leon1das]

Owning both M1 MBA and M1 MBP, here is my 2c on the differences:

- MBA is 110g lighter - but feels much more lighter and compact, probably due design.

- MBP has a better screen (no reddish hue on the right side, slightly brighter and has better contrast)

- MBP keyboard is slightly better (users describe it as less mushy - I would say better tightened). Same applies to touchpad - its more firm on MBP, and is physically bigger (wider) than on MBA.

- (T)OuchBar on MBP can be nightmare unless you configure it - then it can be very, very positive experience... saying this as a fresh Mac user.

- Screen hinges on MBA are designed for easy use everywhere, while on MBP, browsing in bed can easily lead to blocking vents which are behind... However, in normal use - MBP does not trigger fan at all. TG Pro on default reports fan is off until 70 C reached - and then only goes to 1200rpm which is inaudible.

One thing about the thermals - in line with MBA and MBP internal design I on iFixit.

In MBA - SSD is further from M1 chip, and when I stressed the system (Witcher 3 via Crossover) - highest CPU temp would go to 98, while SSD goes to 42-43.

In MBP, same Witcher 3 setup- SSD is closer, and without fan working - raises quickly to 50 C. However activating fan that works below 3000rpm - stabilizes CPU at 75 C, and SSD at 40+.

Overall - very happy with this internal design of MBP and user configurability (with TG Pro you can set it to max to cool down internals faster)