M3 Air for 4K Editing in FCP & Music Production in Logic?

[imdog]

Hi

I currently have a M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14" 10core CPU 16core GPU 16GB RAM 1TB SSD and as someone who was drawn to Apple in the first place because of the aesthetics & engineering of their products, I find this heavy bulky laptop to be not very "Apple-like" in the looks department. I've always been someone who strongly prefers miniature tech, and wish they made a 12, or even 11, hell 10" MacBook with modern specs. But my use case is a bit on the heavier side, I do 4K video editing in Final Cut (with plugins & effects like MotionArray/MotionVFX/etc), video editing for TikTok/YT Shorts in CapCut; and music production in Logic. These tasks have been a breeze on my M1 Pro. and the prospect of selling this and then financing an M3 Air, having a more portable laptop & a bunch of cash up front is very tempting.

I would fully spec it aside from storage so it would be an:

M3 MacBook Air 13" 10 core GPU 24GB RAM 1TB SSD

Does anyone here use an M3 Air for these sort of heavier workloads and how does it perform?

Based on benchmarks I see that the single core performance is significantly better on the M3 Air, the multi-core performance is marginally worse, and the graphics performance is significantly worse. My main concern is with the thermal throttling.

M3 MacBook Air
Single: 3,082
Multi: 12,087
Metal: 47,914

M1 MacBook Pro
Single: 2,380
Multi: 12,261
Metal: 66,605

M3 Air 33% Better Core ML CPU
M3 Air 6% Better Core ML GPU
M3 Air 49% Better Core ML Neural Engine

There aren't too many YouTube videos on this but from what I see the Air does seem to have similar performance when scrubbing a 4K timeline, and that the slowdown vs the Pro/Max chips is in export times. I do not care much about export times. But I do care deeply about the smoothness and responsiveness while scrubbing the timeline in Final Cut as well as while producing in Logic.

Thanks

 

[Shirasaki]

Personally speaking, I think you will be better served by an M4 machine, be it pro or air, that is, assuming it is coming soon-ish. Failing that, M5 might be a better jump than M3 imo, assuming Apple keeps the price unchanged.
I like portability too, but I prefer a balance between portability and Performance, not really an extreme of either end. If there were a 10” MacBook Air, the thermal would become a big issue, as well as battery life, noting the smaller iPad Pro is 11” in size. Also text readability will also suffer.
Just my 2 cents on that.

 

[aibloop]

I am a bit worried you might get shot down by the data throughput. If I were you, I would go to an Apple store and test it out. The demo models have software and you can just stress-test it there.


Wait till M4 drop regardless for better price on the m3 models. It is right around the corner supposedly.


Recently tested a M3 Pro 48gb RAM 15 Inch MacBook Pro. M3 Pro is snappy as all heck. However, M4 cores run quite a bit faster. For your scenario of migrating onto a MacBook Air, a M4 Likely will be better and more viable. Perhaps even cheaper due to 16gb entry spec.

 

[aibloop]

Personally, I am waiting for the M4 Mac Mini. A M4 pro 32gb would likely be an incredible performer

 

[DHagan4755]

This is a good example of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The main limitation of the MacBook Air for your tasks is its lack of fans. The MacBook Air can do what you're doing now except when it gets hot it slows down so it doesn't overheat. That's pretty much it. The display on the pro is obviously better. That's not a dealbreaker for some; the speakers aren't as good either, but that's also a not a dealbreaker. Inasmuch as I'd advise against abusing Apple's 14-day return policy, you might fancy yourself a trial run to see if does what you need & proceed from there?

 

[CalMin]

My M2 Air handled 4 x 4k Multicam streams for 30-60 minute long projects just fine - but I dont really use plugins, so YMMV. I also ran logic and it was great, but again, my needs were 15-20 tracks and short 1-2 minutes songs.

It was so good, I became frustrated with it not being able to support my 2x external display setup, so I sold it and will get a M3/M4 in the near future. It will replace my M1 Pro as my main Macbook.

Basically, I reckon you’d be fine with the Air. You will miss the SD card slot though.