The MI in the Air has a lower TDP than the M1 in the Pro or Mini. It will be slower by design.
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MacBook Air or PRO?
- Thread starter Sara Karlsson
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Posted earlier here that I was torn between the Air and the Pro. I've come back to tell you I ordered the Pro in a 16/512 config. Here's how I landed on my decision:
More power -- yeah they're the same chip, but clearly that fan lives inside the Pro for a reason, and I'd rather hear the fan kick in when it's needed than feel my legs burning or have to wait longer for the occasional video export to complete.
New technology -- I've never used the Touch Bar, and I realize it's not everyone here's cuppa, but I decided to embrace this change and see where it goes rather than avoid it and never know what I'm missing.
Slightly better this and that -- the Pro has better battery life, a brighter screen, better mic... hard to say how much I'll ever actually appreciate these slight improvements, but they're there and as the device ages and performance wanes I may benefit from the additional headroom.
Two things tugged at me in the other direction, but I got over them. They were:
More fail points -- fan + Touch Bar = two more ways for the device to run into trouble, but the added value from having these components outweighed the concern around them failing in the end.
Less storage bang for buck -- for about the same price you can get the Air in 16/1TB, so same ram and double the storage, but since I already have the Premier Apple One sub the majority of my long term storage needs are already offloaded. I have a 256GB 11 Pro with barely a dent in it after 1 year. 1TB sounds better but would most likely just wind up being a lot of wasted space.
So that's where things landed for me. Hopefully this helps with anyone else out there still trying to decide.
More power -- yeah they're the same chip, but clearly that fan lives inside the Pro for a reason, and I'd rather hear the fan kick in when it's needed than feel my legs burning or have to wait longer for the occasional video export to complete.
New technology -- I've never used the Touch Bar, and I realize it's not everyone here's cuppa, but I decided to embrace this change and see where it goes rather than avoid it and never know what I'm missing.
Slightly better this and that -- the Pro has better battery life, a brighter screen, better mic... hard to say how much I'll ever actually appreciate these slight improvements, but they're there and as the device ages and performance wanes I may benefit from the additional headroom.
Two things tugged at me in the other direction, but I got over them. They were:
More fail points -- fan + Touch Bar = two more ways for the device to run into trouble, but the added value from having these components outweighed the concern around them failing in the end.
Less storage bang for buck -- for about the same price you can get the Air in 16/1TB, so same ram and double the storage, but since I already have the Premier Apple One sub the majority of my long term storage needs are already offloaded. I have a 256GB 11 Pro with barely a dent in it after 1 year. 1TB sounds better but would most likely just wind up being a lot of wasted space.
So that's where things landed for me. Hopefully this helps with anyone else out there still trying to decide.
Had a MBP in 2018, but sold and moved largely to using 12.9" ipad pro plus my windows desktop for most of my computing needs. I realized after time that my iPP lacks as a laptop replacement for some use cases that I always worked around (like external display support), and also the price point when you add on all the necessary accessories really ballooned the cost (magic trackpad, magic keyboard, pencil, etc).
So I've asked myself - why don't I just buy that ultrabook? So I recently, in the last two weeks, picked up a Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 for about 870 bucks (black friday sale). So far I love this little thing - good keyboard, solid performance, decent battery life, bright display (if response times are really terrible though); however, with this new M1 MBA coming - I'm wondering if I would be better served by it. I'm pretty deep in the "Apple Ecosystem" and love the idea of selling the ipad pro I have, but still being able to utilize all the purchased apps on the MBA.
Does anyone have an inkling about what kind of performance I could expect for App Store games I play on my 2018 ipad pro on this? I'm assuming the move to Arm should be near native level performance for ipad pro apps? I have a decent number of purchased games that I would be more than happy with if they work just as well, or hopefully, better than the 2018 iPP I own.
So I've asked myself - why don't I just buy that ultrabook? So I recently, in the last two weeks, picked up a Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 for about 870 bucks (black friday sale). So far I love this little thing - good keyboard, solid performance, decent battery life, bright display (if response times are really terrible though); however, with this new M1 MBA coming - I'm wondering if I would be better served by it. I'm pretty deep in the "Apple Ecosystem" and love the idea of selling the ipad pro I have, but still being able to utilize all the purchased apps on the MBA.
Does anyone have an inkling about what kind of performance I could expect for App Store games I play on my 2018 ipad pro on this? I'm assuming the move to Arm should be near native level performance for ipad pro apps? I have a decent number of purchased games that I would be more than happy with if they work just as well, or hopefully, better than the 2018 iPP I own.
I’m starting a masters in January so will be getting the air. I plan to use Adobe Creative cloud to start building up experience to move into a content marketing role. Can’t imagine it’ll be anywhere near professional-grade workflows as I don’t plan on being a graphic designer.
Would I need 16GB for this?
Would I need 16GB for this?
I would suggest you stick with an Intel Mac for now. The Adobe Creative cloud apps are not AS native yet.
I realize this device isn't out on the street, but I'm not sure if Apple said App Store apps will run on the M1 as if native - or if conversely they indicated that there is an expected loss as code goes through some emulation layer despite being an ARM architecture. If the latter it probs largely overcome because the M1 is...what, 2-3x more powerful than the A12X in my 2018 iPP?
I'm assuming no emulation layer, or only minor deviation between the hypothetical A14X that will be in the 2021 ipad pro and this M1 - or that even the M1 will be faster because the MBA chassis allows for a heatsink, whereas the ipad pro relies on that thermal dissipation through the metal of the shell itself. And I'll add after thinking - the 2018 ipad pro's storage subsystem is pretty slow, I realized this when I had a more modern Samsung Galaxy s20 FE, and I loaded Civ VI apps on both of them, only to see the Samsung Galaxy phone was literally orders of magnitude faster than the 2018 iPP I had in loading into a game save! SO the MBA should be using a high end SSD/storage subsystem which should be a huge uplift as well (with faster memory too).
My Dell XPS 13 can run some old games pretty well, but all the devs bringing App Store versions of old games means the ipad pro is the more interesting place for games on mobile devices without any fan noise at all. I have my high end desktop for high refresh rate gaming, and I use an app called Moonlight to stream across the house.
One other question for anyone in the know - will this M1 powered MBA be able to drive an external 144hz display? Right now, I can stream my PC games library at 120FPS/hz across my household to an external display when I want to use it that way. My Dell 7390 2-in-1 can easily accomplish this, but the specs for the MBA only talks about 6K external displays at 60hz.
The M1 Macs run iOS apps natively. The M1 is faster than the A12X in your iPad.
I'm waiting for all the YouTube reviews next week to make my decision between the Air and Pro and how much RAM to get. It may be that 8 GB RAM is totally fine. I am using my iPad Pro 12.9" with only 4 GB RAM and it is still a workhorse.
I am super excited to be using iPad/iPhone apps on the MacBook, especially with a built in keyboard and trackpad.
I am super excited to be using iPad/iPhone apps on the MacBook, especially with a built in keyboard and trackpad.
While I do agree with your thinking, the bulk of my use for it will be for college and I want the higher quality of life improvements like battery and silent use over the perfectly native apps. I'm ok with using Rosetta 2 to suboptimally run creative cloud in the short term
Just be very selective in your choice of youtube reviews. Some of the folks there are far more concerned with generating traffic to their videos with hype & hyperbole than they're concerned with providing accurate useful information.
I'd personally look to written reviews from known quantities such a Toms Hardware and/or Anandtech first.
Adobe is not exactly known for "efficiency", so if you're planning to spend a lot of time in ACC you'll likely want the 16GB RAM option.
The biggest difference between the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is a fan
And the Air is still thicker
Supposedly a fam makes some difference.
I'm curious to see how the iPad alternatives will fair, it might be some glimmer of how the Mac will pan out. 16GB does seem like what I need to go for though
I get the impression that the new M1 Air will easily handle FCP X - wouldn't it?
Really missing the non virtual apple store right now....
Really missing the non virtual apple store right now....
I have had the MacBook 2017 model with 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD for the past three years. Since my keyboard has been acting up lately and I need to send the laptop in for service I'm considering getting the new Pro or Air. I want 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD. My main use is photography. Lightroom, to be more specific. Image files are getting bigger and the machine slower.
So, I know no one has tested the new laptops yet, but wouldn't the Pro be slightly(?) better for photography? I don't edit video, but quite a bit of image RAW files up to 50 MB. As I said Lightroom is getting slow on my three year old MacBook.
Btw, I plan on keeping the MacBook for travel so the extra weight doesn't mean much to me.
-iau
So, I know no one has tested the new laptops yet, but wouldn't the Pro be slightly(?) better for photography? I don't edit video, but quite a bit of image RAW files up to 50 MB. As I said Lightroom is getting slow on my three year old MacBook.
Btw, I plan on keeping the MacBook for travel so the extra weight doesn't mean much to me.
-iau
Honestly, unless you intend on doing extensive gaming (kinda hard on mac), memory intensive applications such as CAD programs, etc.. 8gb is MORE then enough. With it being unified memory as well, system level tasks should take up less RAM.
The main question in regards to RAM is how long you intend on keeping it... I went with 8gb because I intend on upgrading to the MBP 14 next year (if its worth anything...). The Air would become the wife's machine to replace her 6 year old MBP.
You can answer your own question with your existing system.
Crack open Activity Monitor, CPU tab, and get going on your usual workflows in LightRoomClassic. Watch what the CPU loading looks like.
Honestly, except for when you're creating new previews for a few hundred images or developing a few dozen RAW images, LightRoom's CPU usage is pretty bursty and not sustained. I never hear the fan on my 2020 i5 MBA unless I'm doing one of the above batch functions, and the same is true when doing the same work on my 2018 i7 MBP15.
IMHO you'd be fine with either system - the difference will likely only be discernible in the sustained batch processing work - a time most of us go grab a cup of coffee or something else anyway so whether it takes 4 minutes or 6 minutes tends to be immaterial. (obviously if you're a working pro photog this will all be a bit different)
I'm a medium-level user (biochem/microbio prof) who spends 10 to 12 hours a day behind a screen (usually about 6 to 10 different screens a day.)
I don't really see anything appealing about the MBP over the MBA and find that just about every user overestimates their requirements.
As someone at a university, I do find the people commenting about Master-level coursework particularly humourous as it's hardly different than Bachelor-level work and not as committed as Doctoral-level work.
Just my two cents, but the MBA should be more than adequate for 95% of users deciding between a MBA and a MBP.
There's nothing wrong with simply wanting it, but the there justifications in this thread are odoriferous.
I don't really see anything appealing about the MBP over the MBA and find that just about every user overestimates their requirements.
As someone at a university, I do find the people commenting about Master-level coursework particularly humourous as it's hardly different than Bachelor-level work and not as committed as Doctoral-level work.
Just my two cents, but the MBA should be more than adequate for 95% of users deciding between a MBA and a MBP.
There's nothing wrong with simply wanting it, but the there justifications in this thread are odoriferous.
I was tempted by the pro because I like, and used the touchbar in several MacBooks previously. But, the edge of the pro on my hands/wrists, along with the fan noise & heat (which as some have pointed out, could cook my breakfast) made the new Air an easier choice. After all, my IPad Pro 12.9, load-wise, handles everything I throw at at from 4K video editing to all other every day chores very well. I almost feel that Apple in all it’s wisdom, by giving me a Magic Trackpad keyboard, made me realize how much I missed a 13” laptop with the “real” Mac OS (Hello M1 Air) and I see how little I use my IPP as a pad now. I feel that some us are just hopeless tweakers!
Yep, I normally upgrade every 2 to 3 years.
8gb should be totally fine for my needs and I'm assuming that the next iteration of these machines may involve a form factor design, so I'm not going crazy and maxing out the specs this time.
me too lol
im going base air , everything i do is either light or offloaded to something made for the task.
8gb will be plenty for me. ill probably buy base air's every 2 years , like my phone and ipad....sigh
I’m coming from a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, although I did stick 16gb of RAM into it and upgraded to a 500gb SSD.
I briefly considered the the Pro vs Air, but quickly decided on the Air as I don’t see much added value in the lower tier (for lack of a better term) Pro.
Once I firmly decided on the Air, I vacillated back and forth whether or not to spend the extra money and upgrade the RAM to 16gb and/or the SSD to 512gb.
In the end, I went with the base model and I think I made a good decision. I think even at base specs, this thing is going to blow the doors off my 2012 MacBook Pro in performance and how fast/snappy it feels. I’ve got cloud storage for photos/videos, so I can make base storage work, and I don’t think 8gb of RAM will limit me in any way as I don’t do anything intensive such as video or photo editing.
Lastly, being a gen 1 model, I’m guessing I’ll get the itch to upgrade sooner than I normally might (say 2-3 years), and think I’ll get my best bang for my buck at the lowest base price.
All in all, really excited to get my hands on this thing and put it through it’s paces.
I briefly considered the the Pro vs Air, but quickly decided on the Air as I don’t see much added value in the lower tier (for lack of a better term) Pro.
Once I firmly decided on the Air, I vacillated back and forth whether or not to spend the extra money and upgrade the RAM to 16gb and/or the SSD to 512gb.
In the end, I went with the base model and I think I made a good decision. I think even at base specs, this thing is going to blow the doors off my 2012 MacBook Pro in performance and how fast/snappy it feels. I’ve got cloud storage for photos/videos, so I can make base storage work, and I don’t think 8gb of RAM will limit me in any way as I don’t do anything intensive such as video or photo editing.
Lastly, being a gen 1 model, I’m guessing I’ll get the itch to upgrade sooner than I normally might (say 2-3 years), and think I’ll get my best bang for my buck at the lowest base price.
All in all, really excited to get my hands on this thing and put it through it’s paces.
I would have gone base air as well if it were not for the storage.... The wife's MBP is 99% full with its 256gb drive so the 512 will serve her better down the road.
yea , i hear ya.
i can work with 256 , its not ideal. but i try to push everything i dont need to cloud. the photos are the killer....take up so much space...