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M3 air or is the M4 just worth the wait
- Thread starter roadkill401
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After watching WWDC and seeing that Apple Intelligence even works for M1 chips, looks like Apple is aiming to majorly gatekeep iPhones (iPhone 15 Pros and above) but not really their Macs. For me, this lessens the urgency to upgrade to M4 chips if you already have M2 or M3 since it looks like they’ll have feature parity for the near future.
And M6 a year after, which will be here before we know it! /s
Seriously, waiting for the next generation is a fool’s errand. Buy it now if you need it now.
I had the M1 Pro - I'm not a heavy user. Sounds like a tough spec to give up but the form factor difference is night and day. I probably would have hung off on the trade if I knew M4 would come out only a month later in the iPad Pro but suspect we still have a good wait for the Airs to get the upgrade. Screen quality took a little bit of an adjustment and I toyed with swapping it but I got over that hump. Form factor is so perfect for light travel and still having a workable screen size. 4 efficiency cores vs. the 2 in the M1 Pro is a great upgrade and battery life seems better than my 16" even though that was a champ. Good luck with a decision!
I honestly wouldn't recommend buying anything until AT LEAST the M7.
why not wait until the M16. I hear it kills the competition. Apparently also approved by the NRA for what that is worth
Heck, just hold out for the M80, it will be a big bang.
I've got the M1 Air and the M2 Pro Mini. I'm surprised that with 16g in each the M1 handles memory much better. I will probably upgrade to the M4 Pro MBP and make that my primary with a docking station. I have to use a Dell for Work and it's a POS, constantly have to reboot. I only reboot my Macs when I feel like it. Definitely the M3's are a good deal now and will provide you with what you need. Ensure you get enough memory and at least 512g.
Your Dell is not the problem. It is what is loaded on it. That can mess up any system - Windows.
I mean M3 is solid chip. Got 3 years on it no doubt. But that M4 is a monster. Those 2x additional e-cores and the NPU alone…it’s really hard to recommend the M3 right now. Unless something is broken with your current device, it just doesn’t make sense.
Apple HAS to move to M4 in the Air in November. I can’t see how they would stretch the M3 Air until 2025. If there was no pressure from Qualcomm the plan probably would have been 2025, I think that has changed and we will see the M4 in the Air this year. It’s when that’s the trick.
Apple HAS to move to M4 in the Air in November. I can’t see how they would stretch the M3 Air until 2025. If there was no pressure from Qualcomm the plan probably would have been 2025, I think that has changed and we will see the M4 in the Air this year. It’s when that’s the trick.
I would think the MacBook Pro's will get the M4 upgrade sometime in the fall 2024 and then the MacBook Air's in March 2025. Apple would want people to use their money to purchase MacBook Pro first, then next March another wave of purchases. More profit in that schedule (and quarter) instead of putting out BOTH Pro and Air with M4's in the fall.
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Then something is wrong with your machine, not the platform. I might reboot once a month on a production machine. SQL and Web development.
Every PC I’ve ever used at work was a mess. And we buy them just to run large format printers and plotters and they have a ton of ram and cost way more than they should to be one function machines
I just bought a fully loaded M3 MacBook Air (24GB of RAM and 2TB SSD). I gave my M2 8GB of RAM and 512GB to my wife.
Love it. Fast, It can handle everything I throw at it without difficulties, even moderate Video projects (I use my 16" M1 32GB of RAM with 2 TB SSD) for longer and more taxing projects. I don't notice much slow down since there is no fan (noticed a little with the M2 8 GB of RAM).
People say I should instead get the MacBook Pro 14", due to price similarity...but I needed a light traveling Laptop that can handle moderate Video projects if needed.
Since I already have a 16" M1 MacBook Pro, no need for a 14" MacBook Pro.
Love it. Fast, It can handle everything I throw at it without difficulties, even moderate Video projects (I use my 16" M1 32GB of RAM with 2 TB SSD) for longer and more taxing projects. I don't notice much slow down since there is no fan (noticed a little with the M2 8 GB of RAM).
People say I should instead get the MacBook Pro 14", due to price similarity...but I needed a light traveling Laptop that can handle moderate Video projects if needed.
Since I already have a 16" M1 MacBook Pro, no need for a 14" MacBook Pro.
Today is the 15th August.
If you're waiting for the M4 Air just think...you could have had a brilliant laptop to use for the last 3 months. The M4 Air doesn't look like it will be out for another ~8-9 months.
Performance on my M3 has been great and I have more battery life than I know what to do with. If you don't NEED a laptop right now then wait but even now I'd still recommend the M3 especially if you really need it.
The M4 will have some improvements but I'd jump on the M3 (which I did lol) and wait for the M5-6
If you're waiting for the M4 Air just think...you could have had a brilliant laptop to use for the last 3 months. The M4 Air doesn't look like it will be out for another ~8-9 months.
Performance on my M3 has been great and I have more battery life than I know what to do with. If you don't NEED a laptop right now then wait but even now I'd still recommend the M3 especially if you really need it.
The M4 will have some improvements but I'd jump on the M3 (which I did lol) and wait for the M5-6
I needed a laptop under 3lbs and didn't want to wait. Best Buy has $200CAD off here in Canada and I decided to jump in. Pretty decent savings considering MacBooks rarely have big discounts.