New MacBook Air M1 16GB 1TB SSD compared to 2016 15” MBP

[James_C]

Going to be comparing to my late 2016 MacBook Pro 15"

Picked up this morning from the Bath Apple Store.

 

[Henk van Ess]

congratulations! This is a 16 Gb model , so would love to see cinebench benchmarks And compare them with 8 Gb model

 

[wyrdness]

Apple UK website is saying no pick-up from any of the London stores. But someone mentioned that the Store app was allowing pick-up. Did you order through web or app?

 

[James_C]

side by side comparison with the 2016 MacBook Pro.

Screen is noticeably brighter on the Air and looking at the screen from the side, the Air is noticeably easier to see.

One of the reasons I am looking to change is I don't like the butterfly keyboard on the MacBook Pro and already I can feel the difference and much prefer the new Air Magic Keyboard.

@Henk van Ess yes will do a Cinebench Benchmark.

 

[James_C]

Apple UK website is saying no pick-up from any of the London stores. But someone mentioned that the Store app was allowing pick-up. Did you order through web or app?

I ordered via iPad App at 6am this morning. They did not have many options for a 16GB M1 local pickup. I originally wanted a 512GB SSD, but the only models that had the 16GB RAM was the 1TB SSD.

 

[wyrdness]

Thanks, I'm now seeing store pick-up on the web site. London stores have only got 256GB and 1TB SSD too, no 512GB.

16GB / 1TB Air ordered for pickup today! The store is 10 minutes away. Thanks for posting this, or else I would have ordered for delivery and it probably wouldn't arrive until next week.

 

[foxs]

Thanks, I'm now seeing store pick-up on the web site. London stores have only got 256GB and 1TB SSD too, no 512GB.

16GB / 1TB Air ordered for pickup today! The store is 10 minutes away. Thanks for posting this, or else I would have ordered for delivery and it probably wouldn't arrive until next week.

That's cool! It's weird though that for the Pro they only have the base version for pickup. For the 16gb and 1tb I have to wait until mid December.

 

[playtech1]

Screen is noticeably brighter on the Air and looking at the screen from the side, the Air is noticeably easier to see.

That's an interesting observation - the MBP is rated at 500 nits, versus 400 for the MBA, so perhaps the MBP's screen has dimmed with age and/or the MBA's brightness has been rated conservatively.

With the store pickup, I believe Apple Stores stock a 'fully loaded' configuration of their machines alongside the standard configurations. Interesting that for the Air 'fully loaded' means 1TB rather than 2TB.

 

[James_C]

With the store pickup, I believe Apple Stores stock a 'fully loaded' configuration of their machines alongside the standard configurations. Interesting that for the Air 'fully loaded' means 1TB rather than 2TB.

I checked the Pro's as well they had stock of 1TB 13" MacBook Pro, but no 2TB

 

[James_C]

congratulations! This is a 16 Gb model , so would love to see cinebench benchmarks And compare them with 8 Gb model

Here is Cinebench on the 2016 MacBook Pro

Will post the Air in a couple of Mins

I will say the Air is much faster. Also while the MacBook Pro stayed silent during the single core test, it got pretty noisy with the Multi Core test. The M1 Air remained silent of course.

 

[cmhsam]

Just checked stores in Dallas and none of them seem to have stock? Shows that all M1 laptops are not available for in store pickup.

EDIT - CORRECTION. IT LOOKS LIKE JUST THE AIR IS AVAILABLE FOR IN STORE PICKUP

 

[TopToffee]

Here is Cinebench on the 2016 MacBook Pro
View attachment 1670621

Will post the Air in a couple of Mins

I will say the Air is much faster. Also while the MacBook Pro stayed silent during the single core test, it got pretty noisy with the Multi Core test. The M1 Air remained silent of course.

*waits with baited breath...*

 

[James_C]

Just checked stores in Dallas and none of them seem to have stock? Shows that all M1 laptops are not available for in store pickup.

Different stores have different availability when I checked. I could not get a 16GB Air or Pro in either of the two Bristol stores (I live in Bristol), but they had stock of 16GB in Bath - 30 min drive.

 

[deeddawg]

Just checked stores in Dallas and none of them seem to have stock? Shows that all M1 laptops are not available for in store pickup.

EDIT - CORRECTION. IT LOOKS LIKE JUST THE AIR IS AVAILABLE FOR IN STORE PICKUP

Appears to have clicked over at ~8am US Eastern - earlier it was showing no availability, now they're showing available for pickup. Including both 8/512 and 16/1T MBA models.

Also showing M1 MBP13's in GA/TN/SC/AL stores in 8/512 & 16/1T configs.

 

[cmhsam]

Appears to have clicked over at ~8am US Eastern - earlier it was showing no availability, now they're showing available for pickup.

Just ordered the 13" Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD for in store pickup today. Feel like a kid on xmas

 

[Chacocliff]

Just checked stores in Dallas and none of them seem to have stock? Shows that all M1 laptops are not available for in store pickup.

EDIT - CORRECTION. IT LOOKS LIKE JUST THE AIR IS AVAILABLE FOR IN STORE PICKUP

The Pro is available for pickup also in Dallas.

 

[cmhsam]

The Pro is available for pickup also in Dallas.

Correct. I just checked and as @deeddawg stated it looks like it just clicked over at 7am CDT. Just ordered the 13" Pro for in store pickup

 

[luckystar101]

I'm waiting for the reviews and benchmark to order the same one to replace my base MBP 13" late 2016

@James_C , Could you please also run a geekbench GPU metal test? I haven't still found one around.

Thank you.

 

[TopToffee]

Just ordered the 13" Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD for in store pickup today. Feel like a kid on xmas

That looks like the sweet spot to me. Is it just me or is it (whisper it quietly) quite reasonably priced for a Mac?

 

[James_C]

Cinebench scores on the 16GB M1 Air

Blows my 15" MacBook Pro 15" late 2016 out of the water, and completely silent, unlike the MacBook Pro when running the multi core test.

Edit Updated Benchmark now Air has finished indexing

 

[cmhsam]

That looks like the sweet spot to me. Is it just me or is it (whisper it quietly) quite reasonably priced for a Mac?

I think its very reasonable for an apple device. I also used the education store so got to save a little money

Hoping that Office 365 works on it since i am enrolled in the beta / early adopter program and they announced beta support for the M1 last week

 

[deeddawg]

That looks like the sweet spot to me. Is it just me or is it (whisper it quietly) quite reasonably priced for a Mac?

I *think* the pricing of the M1 MBP13's remained the same as the Intel models they replaced.

Different folks have different thoughts about "reasonably priced" - but at least it doesn't seem we pay a premium for M1.

 

[TopToffee]

Cinebench scores on the 16GB M1 Air

View attachment 1670633

Blows my 15" MacBook Pro 15" late 2016 out of the water, and completely silent, unlike the MacBook Pro when running the multi core test.

For those of us who are complete idiots when it comes to stuff like this... I assume lower is better?

 

[James_C]

Hoping that Office 365 works on it

Will do some Office 365 tests shortly

 

[deeddawg]

Cinebench scores on the 16GB M1 Air

View attachment 1670633

Blows my 15" MacBook Pro 15" late 2016 out of the water, and completely silent, unlike the MacBook Pro when running the multi core test.

Nice.

You don't perchance have a way to verify that the M1 MBA is unable to drive dual external monitors in clamshell mode, do you?