MacBook Air or PRO?

[Sara Karlsson]

Okay so, before the event when I could only choose between the air that constantly overheats I was going for the pro even though I’m “only a student” and not using any demanding programs so I do have the money put away for the pro. But now after this event (finally ?) with the new air being announced, not having a fan and also 18hrs of battery, which one should I choose??
Like I said the pro is still within my budget but do I need it? I guess I would get a computer that is capable of doing more if I suddenly need it to, but it does have a fan, will I be annoyed ? Ugh.. thought the choice would be simple

 

[Serban55]

Remember, this PRO is to replace the base 2 ports intel 13" MBP
The 4 ports will have M2 or something with 2 fans, 4 ports etc

 

[Zwhaler]

At this point they're both more than capable for prosumer workflows so it comes down to whether you want the touch bar or not. The 13" Pro screen gets slightly brighter, has slightly better speakers and microphones, and it weighs 0.2lbs more.

 

[Glmnet1]

The fan will most likely be completely silent most of the time. You'll need to wait for benchmarks to know for sure but I think the Pro might be better for sustained and demanding work. Other than that Air would be a better choice.

 

[KPOM]

I went with the 512GB Air since it's only the lower-end Pro being updated today.

 

[Serban55]

At this point they're both more than capable for prosumer workflows so it comes down to whether you want the touch bar or not. The 13" Pro screen gets slightly brighter, has slightly better speakers and microphones, and it weighs 0.2lbs more.

again the pro should be boought buy those whos work is about loading time...the macbook air will burst and lower the clock speed while the pro will sustain
So if your work is hard loading for minutes or hours take the pro

 

[Sara Karlsson]

At this point they're both more than capable for prosumer workflows so it comes down to whether you want the touch bar or not. The 13" Pro screen gets slightly brighter, has slightly better speakers and microphones, and it weighs 0.2lbs more.

Well I haven’t had the Touch Bar before , I’ve heard it’s kind of a hate or love thing - would you say it’s something worth paying extra for?

 

[EmMavro]

Is there any speculation for the M1 16" Macbook Pro?

 

[Sara Karlsson]

I went with the 512GB Air since it's only the lower-end Pro being updated today.

Okay! Did you upgrade it to 512GB because it will now support apps? Or just because you prefer being sure of not running out of storage

 

[Strangedream]

Still waiting for a 16" pro with an Apple silicon (M1X?). A redesign would be welcome too.

 

[Serban55]

Well I haven’t had the Touch Bar before , I’ve heard it’s kind of a hate or love thing - would you say it’s something worth paying extra for?

yes, people who use the touchbar they install bettertouchtool

 

[Zwhaler]

Well I haven’t had the Touch Bar before , I’ve heard it’s kind of a hate or love thing - would you say it’s something worth paying extra for?

If I was on a budget I wouldn't miss it. But if you can afford it, it's generally pretty cool and a nice, but unnecessary, luxury for casual use. It has gotten better over time within pro apps if you use any. If I was shopping for a machine today with a $2000 budget honestly I could take it or leave it. I wouldn't mind getting a mid-specced air; in fact I'm a really big fan of it especially now (no pun intended). Maybe try them out at an Apple store or best buy if you have one nearby. Touch bar has been around for years so it should be ready to test today.

 

[Serban55]

Still waiting for a 16" pro with an Apple silicone (M1X?). A redesign would be welcome too.

next year will be for the big boys, the imacs, the 16" mbp and the 14" mbp that will replace the current 13" MBP 4 ports

 

[LonestarOne]

Good question. The MacBook Pro has a better display, bigger battery, and bigger charging brick.

But it uses the same processor. Does it run at the same speed? The specifications don’t say.

Does the Pro have a fan? It was not described as fanless, so I presume so. Will that allow the M1 to run at full speed for a longer time? If so, how often will you run into that limit in the real world?

 

[JDGwf]

I purchased a 16/512Gb Pro - if we're taking a poll

 

[JDGwf]

Good question. The MacBook Pro has a better display, bigger battery, and bigger charging brick.

But it uses the same processor. Does it run at the same speed? The specifications don’t say.

Does the Pro have a fan? It was not described as fanless, so I presume so. Will that allow the M1 to run at full speed for a longer time? If so, how often will you run into that limit in the real world?

Yes, the Pro has an active cooling system (fan).

 

[rforno]

Neither of the new 13" A/S machines has 4 ports, so I'll stick with the 2020 MBPro (Intel) I just bought the other day.

 

[darkmatter343]

Do we know if the Air and the Pro have the exact same M1 chip (minus the Air only have 7 GPU cores), but Frequency, Cache, etc... everything else is the exact same?

 

[AndrewR23]

so questions.

whats the advantage of having a fan in the pro and no fan in the air?

is Touch Bar worth the extra over the air? im still using a 2013 mac that is literally dead

 

[lie2me]

Okay so, before the event when I could only choose between the air that constantly overheats I was going for the pro even though I’m “only a student” and not using any demanding programs so I do have the money put away for the pro. But now after this event (finally ?) with the new air being announced, not having a fan and also 18hrs of battery, which one should I choose??
Like I said the pro is still within my budget but do I need it? I guess I would get a computer that is capable of doing more if I suddenly need it to, but it does have a fan, will I be annoyed ? Ugh.. thought the choice would be simple

Get a laptop with a fan so the heat in the case is removed. The laptop will live a longer life with a fan.

 

[yanksrock100]

I went with a 1TB/16GB Pro. With BetterTouchTool, the touch bar is actually good.

 

[ascender]

so questions.

whats the advantage of having a fan in the pro and no fan in the air?

is Touch Bar worth the extra over the air? im still using a 2013 mac that is literally dead

The Air will be utterly silent in all scenarios.

The Pro will use its fan when under sustained load to aid with cooling. But there’s new cooling systems in the laptops so we don’t know how loud it is or when it will kick in.

TouchBar is personal preference. I quite like it, but you really need to try it.

Pro will be faster and has longer battery life than the Air.

 

[JDGwf]

I went with a 1TB/16GB Pro. With BetterTouchTool, the touch bar is actually good.

I thought about it, but since most of my music is streaming and iCloud, I honestly don't actively use near 256gb. I went with the same RAM and 512GB

 

[UltimateSyn]

Well I haven’t had the Touch Bar before , I’ve heard it’s kind of a hate or love thing - would you say it’s something worth paying extra for?

I would personally pay extra to remove the Touch Bar, not add it.

 

[AndrewR23]

The Air will be utterly silent in all scenarios.

The Pro will use its fan when under sustained load to aid with cooling. But there’s new cooling systems in the laptops so we don’t know how loud it is or when it will kick in.

TouchBar is personal preference. I quite like it, but you really need to try it.

Pro will be faster and has longer battery life than the Air.

Maybe you can help me. Im using an older mac with 8GB ram. Whenever I play games on Facebook (Mostly bingo blitz) The comp gets super super loud and laggy. Is this an issue with Ram?