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M2 pro Macbook Pro vs M3 Macbook air
- Thread starter Milly342
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No, it's not flawed. But, at the same time, it's not meant to show everyone exactly how every machine in that category will perform.
Gotcha, makes sense in your opinion is the better screen outweigh the weight difference? For both the I wouldn’t know the difference in speeds
Yeah, you're not gonna notice a difference in speeds.. these M-series chips are amazing. I'm 60 years old and I would lean more toward a better screen, but I'm 60 years old and nearsighted.
It is (ever-so-slightly) faster. The question is, whether you would actually notice the difference, as the M2Pro is already plenty fast to begin with. According to this website it's basically neck-to-neck on average.
Next year (or maybe towards the end of this year) there probably will be M4 MacBooks, which will be faster than the M3 again.
For your intended use case, probably even an M1 would be sufficiently fast.
No, it's not. You won't notice the speed difference of the CPU. The screen of the MBP will be noticeably better. SSD and Ram may both be faster (but again: Not noticeable in real life).
So it basically all boils down to screen and ports.
Go to an electronics store and compare both machines yourself. That may already be enough for you to make a clear decision.
M2 Pro MacBook Pro. Less cut corners. Especially for sustained loads (GeForce Now ...).
Yeah, that's a very good point, I had forgotten that the pro machines have more ports. I would indeed be willing to spend $100 extra for a better screen and more ports.
You can't make a mistake with either machine. In my opinion, the MacBook Pro is the better buy. It's designed for load (e.g. fans vs passive cooling on the Air).
Air is designed for low weight and low(ish) price, so needed to have some corners cut.
MBP is the better machine for comparable specs and similar price.
I’m heading to the Apple Store just to get a feel for both of them
Remember to look at the ports situation between those two machines. Some people hate dongles/attachments and the Pro has better functionality there.
You said you're going to the apple store so that will give you the perspective you need on weight for sure. I don't have that experience to give advice on.
I personally am a computer engineer so from a purely hardware perspective in your two choices, the MBP is a much better buy. It's simply just more/better computer for the money. (display, compute, ports)
But based on your response here, you'd truly be fine with the Air. But depending on how much you use GeForce Now for gaming those fans for extended workloads might worth it. Like if you're playing for a couple hours at a time, fans will be good. Long zoom calls for business classes/meetings? fans will be good.
The weight difference is decently noticeable and it’s also much thicker than I thought, but I will admit I put a hdr you’re video away and the difference was drastic. Also the Apple Store employees they would go with the MacBook Air bc the m3 is more powerful 😭
I actually don’t mind dongles and the only attachment is a wire to charge the computer
I’m not sure why they said the M3 is more powerful. Obviously single thread performance is better on M3, but for multi-core I think it is equivalent to M1 Pro. I would make your choice based off weight vs ports. Both are great options.
I didn’t even know it has more ports like I don’t use any of the ports anyway, the only thing I ever plugged into the MacBook was the charger. It’s weight bs screen for me. Is the single core for the m3 worth it for tasks that I do, and is having a fan worse than no fan?
My two cents:
I always had MBP’s because they were more powerful than the non Pro ones.
I also had a 16” MBP M1 Pro - wonderful machine.
Then the 15” MBA got introduced and I was enamored.
A few months ago I sold my 16” and bought a 15” MBA with 512GB SSD and 24GB RAM from the US Apple Refurbished Store.
Did I notice that the screen pops less? Yes sure, when side by side. Once you start using it by itself, the 15” is great. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.
Do I miss the ports? I do not. I only use USB-C accessories, and for the odd cases I need something else I have a dongle at my disposal.
Do I miss the fans? I do not.
I’m a software implementation consultant and I run multiple browsers with multiple tabs in parallel with the whole Microsoft Office Suite and big Excel files.
Many Teams meetings and a Parallels Desktop instance and then some other programs.
I run it in clamshell mode connected to my Apple Studio Display.
Does it run hot? Actually it doesn’t - do I feel it’s warm? Yes, but nothing out of the ordinary.
To be honest, I was like you but I’m happy I made the switch. It’s such a fantastic device and it covers my needs more than adequately and then some.
Just follow your gut - don’t buy an overpowered machine if you don’t need it. Even if it’s only a bit more expensive. Buy what you need and what you’ll appreciate.
I always had MBP’s because they were more powerful than the non Pro ones.
I also had a 16” MBP M1 Pro - wonderful machine.
Then the 15” MBA got introduced and I was enamored.
A few months ago I sold my 16” and bought a 15” MBA with 512GB SSD and 24GB RAM from the US Apple Refurbished Store.
Did I notice that the screen pops less? Yes sure, when side by side. Once you start using it by itself, the 15” is great. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.
Do I miss the ports? I do not. I only use USB-C accessories, and for the odd cases I need something else I have a dongle at my disposal.
Do I miss the fans? I do not.
I’m a software implementation consultant and I run multiple browsers with multiple tabs in parallel with the whole Microsoft Office Suite and big Excel files.
Many Teams meetings and a Parallels Desktop instance and then some other programs.
I run it in clamshell mode connected to my Apple Studio Display.
Does it run hot? Actually it doesn’t - do I feel it’s warm? Yes, but nothing out of the ordinary.
To be honest, I was like you but I’m happy I made the switch. It’s such a fantastic device and it covers my needs more than adequately and then some.
Just follow your gut - don’t buy an overpowered machine if you don’t need it. Even if it’s only a bit more expensive. Buy what you need and what you’ll appreciate.
For simple tasks am I gonna even notice a difference between the 2 cpus and gpus? And in real world situations is the screens basically the same
Doesn't matter which you get, it trounces your i3. Single core is faster than your old multicore. multicore is like 6x faster.
2020 i3 vs M2 Pro:
2020 i3 vs. M3 (? Mac 15,12)... doesn't matter all M3s are the same:
Single core:
i3 1242
m2 pro 2684
m3 3123
Multi:
i3 2185
m2 pro 14429
m3 12015
2020 i3 vs M2 Pro:
2020 i3 vs. M3 (? Mac 15,12)... doesn't matter all M3s are the same:
Single core:
i3 1242
m2 pro 2684
m3 3123
Multi:
i3 2185
m2 pro 14429
m3 12015
I use a 16 MBP, I am used it to it. I have a 13 M2 MBA base model my family uses. Weight isn’t an issue for me. I travel a lot, my MBp goes in the bag, not a big deal. I personally feel MBP are built more sturdy, and MbA are delicate. If I was a student, I probably get MBP. As a student battery life can be pretty important, check how much battery you need. And screen is much nicer for watching videos on MBP.