MacBook Air or PRO?

[deeddawg]

Thanks. The answer to your question is not a sensible one: it's because I love Apple products, I tend to be an early adopter, I'm excited about the M1, and at this point in my life I can afford to upgrade frequently (especially since Apple is giving me $900 for my 2018 MBP). The other reason is that I've had to replace the keyboard twice on my 2018 and some keys are already starting to stick again. I don't want to replace it a third time and I don't think I can hold out for another 6-12 months.

Reasons needn't be "sensible"... My intent is merely to help folks figure out their personal "why" - as that helps them to make the decision most suitable to their situation.

I heard you regarding keyboards. I'm leaning heavily to making an upgrade and selling my 2018 MBP15 since I rarely use the big display (clamshell mostly) - it still has decent resale value right now, which may not be true in the spring if/when Apple transitions the four-port models from Intel to ARM.

I am wondering if I should stop my order for the air and go with a pro with less storage and just rely on my external SSD's for storing my photos.

Unless you're talking about archives you don't touch but once a month or less, don't skimp on internal storage. Being tied to an external drive gets really old really quick.

(also make sure you have a well thought out, multi-tiered backup strategy including offsite copies. Preferably with versioning)

 

[nill1234]

I did get a ps4 for this reason but you raise a good point. Any 'real' gaming I do is on a ps4.

If i remember so exclusive titles Ghost of Tsushima, Last of us 1 and 2, Red Dead i think no ios game can ever reach those story games. Because of that i think 7 vs 8 GPU cores is negligible.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I heard you regarding keyboards. I'm leaning heavily to making an upgrade and selling my 2018 MBP15 since I rarely use the big display (clamshell mostly) - it still has decent resale value right now, which may not be true in the spring if/when Apple transitions the four-port models from Intel to ARM.

Yup - I'm getting off my 2016 rMBP before it's too late; the trade-in value may drop significantly, there's some weird stuff going on with my LCD backlighting, keyboard issues etc. I'll be getting the 13" M1 Pro (or maybe the Air ugh I don't know) and selling it next year when the redesigned 16" comes out.

 

[Norre8]

Ordered the Air and Pro and would cancel one after reviews came out, however Apple decided to ship it 10 days earlier than expected. Guess I'll be doing my own review.

 

[deeddawg]

Yup - I'm getting off my 2016 rMBP before it's too late; the trade-in value may drop significantly, there's some weird stuff going on with my LCD backlighting, keyboard issues etc. I'll be getting the 13" M1 Pro (or maybe the Air ugh I don't know) and selling it next year when the redesigned 16" comes out.

Food for thought:

For equivalent RAM/SSD/GPU the Air runs about $250 less than the Pro. Unless you know you need to do sustained substantial CPU loads or you're in love with Touchbar, I'd suggest the Air as the better transition system.

Plus, I'd give a higher chance of some sort of tweak/change to the two-port M1 MBPs when the four-port M1 MBPs come out. Or even if there's not a tweak, you may find more two-port MBPs on the resale market as folks shift to four-port models, potentially depressing resale values for a bit.

Ordered the Air and Pro and would cancel one after reviews came out, however Apple decided to ship it 10 days earlier than expected. Guess I'll be doing my own review.

Wow. What was your original projected ship date?

 

[Norre8]

Food for thought:

For equivalent RAM/SSD/GPU the Air runs about $250 less than the Pro. Unless you know you need to do sustained substantial CPU loads or you're in love with Touchbar, I'd suggest the Air as the better transition system.

Plus, I'd give a higher chance of some sort of tweak/change to the two-port M1 MBPs when the four-port M1 MBPs come out. Or even if there's not a tweak, you may find more two-port MBPs on the resale market as folks shift to four-port models, potentially depressing resale values for a bit.


Wow. What was your original projected ship date?

27-Nov - 04-Dec

 

[deeddawg]

27-Nov - 04-Dec

Thanks - order I placed last night estimates three days later, Nov 30 - Dec 07. Should be interesting.

 

[Norre8]

Thanks - order I placed last night estimates three days later, Nov 30 - Dec 07. Should be interesting.

My Air is also 30-Dec07, so maybe it'll ship within the next couple days.

 

[santa]

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

In my opinion the significant difference is the separate graphics processor on a pro. I do final cut pro work and want that graphics processor. I think that will be one of the challenges for the pro line is integrating a graphics processor beyond the simple M1 chip. Get the Air

 

[smoking monkey]

now I am wondering if I should stop my order for the air and go with a pro with less storage and just rely on my external SSD's for storing my photos.

Unless you're a pro photographer, I'd def recommend trying to keep your photos on your computer for easy access.

Or just find the extra money for the extra storage on the Pro. Worst thing in the world to constantly be worried about storage capacity.

 

[welshboyuk]

I’m torn
Half of me is like base model air would actually do everything I need
But always wanted a pro , think they look nicer (more presentable)

 

[Sasha-1]

I went ahead and ordered the Air. I have a 15.4 6 core i7 with vega 20 graphics. But I think the air will be great. Mine says preparing to ship. Can't wait to see it.

 

[Sweetsugar]

So I would like to buy my first MacBook and de specs look great. I'm wondering if I need the pro or I can buy the air. I take exams with webcam, I would like to play sims 4 and I do some photoshop. What shall I buy? 13 inch looks small so maybe I need a separate monitor.

 

[Shaggymax]

Ordered a maxed out Air purely due a big thumbs-down of the Touchbar ?

 

[nill1234]

So I would like to buy my first MacBook and de specs look great. I'm wondering if I need the pro or I can buy the air. I take exams with webcam, I would like to play sims 4 and I do some photoshop. What shall I buy? 13 inch looks small so maybe I need a separate monitor.

Nothing, Sims won't run very good on the new M1 chip, if it will run at all in Rosetta 2.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Thanks, all. I decided to go with the 512/16/1TB Air. Since I have an iMac Pro to do stuff that requires heavy lifting, I thought I'd maximize the portability of my laptop. I was able to get this configuration for just over $1k with the trade-in value of my 2018 13" MBP. And I imagine I'll be able to trade in this M1 Air for a good price when the 14.1 M1 comes out in a year or so.

I won't get it until 12/1-12/8 because it's a custom config. Early Christmas present!

 

[Sweetsugar]

Nothing, Sims won't run very good on the new M1 chip, if it will run at all in Rosetta 2.

Oh that sounds not good

 

[spindude]

I ordered a MacBook Air base to replace my 2019 air and debating if I should have ordered the pro... I use Microsoft Teams video chat daily and it tends to run my fan full blast in my current Air. Anyone have a thought on MS Teams running on these new M1 laptops?

 

[deeddawg]

I ordered a MacBook Air base to replace my 2019 air and debating if I should have ordered the pro... I use Microsoft Teams video chat daily and it tends to run my fan full blast in my current Air. Anyone have a thought on MS Teams running on these new M1 laptops?

I can guarantee you that Teams won't cause a fan to run full blast on the M1 Air.

Rest of it is speculation until these are in people's hands this week.

 

[Sasha-1]

I already got a ship notification and the ETA from apple is the 19th, but UPS says it is more like Monday the 16th. That was fast!

 

[spindude]

I can guarantee you that Teams won't cause a fan to run full blast on the M1 Air.

Rest of it is speculation until these are in people's hands this week.

You think this because the m1 air doesn’t have a fan? Lol

The fan on my air made me pause and think that maybe the fan-less m1 air will get too hot running teams video. Seems like it’s been a Microsoft issue for about a year after researching hi cpu usage for teams on Mac.

 

[spindude]

I already got a ship notification and the ETA from apple is the 19th, but UPS says it is more like Monday the 16th. That was fast!

Yes! My expedited arrival date was dec 2nd-8th and now fedex says nov 22nd.

 

[Sasha-1]

Yes! My expedited arrival date was dec 2nd-8th and now fedex says nov 22nd.

Wow, even later than mine. I thought mine would be the last since I have a different language keyboard BTO. I always get mine later than everyone else. Surprised to see this. It's still in Shanghai. Once I see it hit Alaska or one of the distribution centers I'll have a better idea of the actual date.

I can't believe how excited I am over this. One thing I am very excited about is to be able to run iOS apps. I use the iPad Pro more than the Mac by far. Of the apps I use, I prefer iOS apps to use of a browserI'd rather use YouTube on iOS for example vs YouTube on a browser. I'd rather use Linquee a kind of dictionary on iOS vs the web page on a browser. And on and on. I just like iOS much better than where the computer world is still stuck. The computer is great because of the general purpose-ness of it. I have always liked the way the iPad does things. But when it comes to something like Excel, the computer is better. When it comes to using Photoshop or Illustrator, I'd far rather use the Mac, unless we're talking about DRAWING. Then the iPad Pro. I believe I will get much more from the Mac with an M1 processor and Big Sur than I could ever get from an Intel-based Mac and a browser.

 

[deeddawg]

You think this because the m1 air doesn’t have a fan? Lol

The fan on my air made me pause and think that maybe the fan-less m1 air will get too hot running teams video. Seems like it’s been a Microsoft issue for about a year after researching hi cpu usage for teams on Mac.

Hey, I'll take a sure-thing prediction where I can!

I don't run Teams on my personal system, so I haven't any experience using it with my i5 MBA. I do know that Zoom calls never made my fanless 2015 rMB12 seem to run hot. I was also using on a table at the time too so...

Put it this way -- Macbooks purchased now are returnable until January 8th. At least in the US if not elsewhere. And that's when you need to initiate the mail-in return, giving another few days leeway to actually send it. Plenty of time to make youre best estimate of which system is suitable, put it through its paces, and see if it will work out or if you need to swap.

 

[TokMok3]

Definitely choose an Air unless you do the following often: Video Editing, 3D Modeling, or Development (or if you have a whole lot of tracks in Logic, but the Air will be able to handle most sub 30 or so tracks nicely)

Congratulations on your purchase. I did a lot of development 7 years ago on a MacBook Air 2010 with 4GB Ram connected to an external monitor, that machine never complained, great machine. I'm planning to get a M1 MacBook Air or a M1 Mac mini... Just waiting for the reviews, but probably I will go for the Mac mini with a 4k 32 monitor.