M2 Air vs Base 14 inch M1 Pro performance - web browsing

[TorontoSS]

Hello - I recently purchased an M1 Pro 14 inch base model MacBook Pro. I got it because I got it at an amazing price (£1100 at John Lewis in the UK - open box). I have an M2 Air but always felt like I did the wrong thing by not getting 16GB of ram. But I'm selling the air. It is an amazing laptop I should say. but the 14 inch is better.

Here's what is odd though. I always read and heard that the M2 Air is faster for things that are "bursty" rather than "sustained". i.e. web browsing vs say video editing (I think). However, I actually think the M1 Pro is faster for things like web browsing and I'm trying to figure out why.

Is it because the M1 Pro has 16gb? does that mean if the Air had 16GB instead of 8 the performance for those tasks would be better? I didn't think it would make a difference for those things. as my understanding was that it would effect how it performs when multitasking.
Is it because it's a "newer" computer (out of the box).

thanks - I'm just trying to figure it out. I know it's a basic question and it reveals my lack of understanding about this, but just wanted to figure this out.

 

[mouthster]

The M2 chip has faster single-core speeds. This matters for single-threaded tasks like javascript on websites. The 16GB vs 8GB could play a role if you have a lot of tabs open. But technically between the two computers if Safari is the only application open with a single tab the M2 Air should render the website faster. It could also be that the web "feels" faster on your M1 Pro because of the Pro Motion screen.

 

[kbonnel]

I had both of them for a few days (M2 Air 16GB/256 / MBP 14 16GB/512) while I tried to determine which one I wanted to keep. From a web browsing perspective (chrome), I couldn't tell a difference. I opened up all my favorite/typical web sites at the same time, trying to keep everything the same between the two. I did run speedometer, and the MBA reported a better number, like 30 points higher. But again, I couldn't actually see/tell the difference.

The only time I could tell a difference was in Cinebench when doing a single core run. The MBA M2 was a little bit faster. The multi-core run, however, was all the MBP.

In the end, I kept the MBP. The screen and speakers are just so much better. I really wish the MBA M2 had the same screen / speakers, and then I would have kept the MBA. For me the MBA (tried two of them) had too much of a yellow tint to it, so whites never looked white, and while the speakers were good on the MBA, they just didn't sound as good as the MBP.