Planning on downsizing from 16" to 14"

[Beau10]

Teams is dreadful and often causes my 2019 i9 MBP to grind to a halt by sucking up like half of my threads in some weird way, causing it to throttle down to 1Ghz.

I'm not expecting much change when I go to Apple Silicon tbh, it's just bad software.

Earlier linked complaints are prior to the native launch last August, which initially wasn't great, but has improved to the point where resource utilization on an M1 is now an non-issue. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm on Teams calls most of the day switching between my 14" and 16" pros and have nearly my full machine available to me, totally cool/quiet. Right now it's in the background and iStats says is only taking up 3%. On meetings it typically is around 30% on a core, with video maybe up to 50%.

Complete night and day difference from the prior 2 years where I had a similar experience to you on a 16" i9, constantly in a stranglehold and had to be restarted 4-5 times a day, battery sucked dry in 2 hours. Now it's restarted every other day due to some weird functional bug.

 

[wildaman]

My 16" base model M1p is more than enough for my needs. In fact M2 MBA would fill my requirements. But when I got my 16" for almost the same price as a M2 MBA with 16/512GB, I didn't hesitate.
16" is wonderful machine but sometimes I wish if it was a lighter. I love the screen's real estate and picture quality so I wonder what do you think about 14" MBP. Is the weight difference of 1.3 pounds a lot? I didn't like the screen of M2 MBA so, I removed it from my list.

I went from a 2014 13" MBP to a 2021 16" MBP and have been very happy with the larger size. The bigger screen and trackpad are absolutely amazing to use, and since I bought the device that's how I've used it basically 100%, totally undocked, just around the house. Who knows how that usage pattern may change in the future, but even if it does it's great to know that when I use the laptop as a laptop it has this ginormous beautiful screen and is generally a pleasure to use.

I have kept around my 13" to use as backup/spare/FaceTime device and it is very jarring to go back to that in multiple ways. Screen real estate wise it does feel a bit cramped now, but it also does feel almost comically light. I was worried the 16" would be too heavy to use as a laptop for extended periods of time, and it is heavier for sure, but totally manageable for me as an average height guy.

So TL;DR: yes the weight difference of 1.3 pounds is a lot. For me not TOO much

 

[ascender]

For me, it's not the weight but the footprint which is the key thing to consider. If you're able-bodied, you can put the 16" in a laptop bag and it's fine. It does feel heavier than the 14", but to be honest, they both feel like a solid piece of metal - its only things like iPads and Airs which really feel a lot lighter.

if you're working on the move, the thing about the 16" which is limiting is the footprint. It's just too big to use in a small space (train, plane, coffee shop) unless you have a lot of room. And even then, it might not leave much room for anything else like a cup of coffee, notebook etc.

But that big screen is amazing compared to any other Mac laptop.

I have to use Teams every day on my MBP and Mac Studio and it's fine. I've not had any issues with it hogging resources or crashing, but it's just not a great piece of software to use and the UI is a confusing mess.

 

[xraydoc]

I had a 15" MacBook Pro (2016). Great machine, but just a bit too big and heavy to conveniently carry so I often left it behind. And when I was home, it was connected to a full-sized desktop display anyway, so the 15" display (and the extra weight it brought with it) went to waste. I just wasn't enough of a road warrior to justify the extra heft.

When it came time to replace it, I went with a 13" machine, then subsequently to the 14" MBP M1 Pro. It's the best balance between usability and portability, and didn't find myself leaving it behind because I didn't feel like lugging it someplace. And I still connect it to a desktop display (two, actually) when I'm home.

 

[wingennis]

I went the other way. Bought the 14" on launch day. It was beautiful and probably the best laptop I had owned until then. I still found myself wishing I had gone with the 16". I've found-tech specs being equal-that I've benefitted from the bigger screen and improved cooling. I do have an iPP for small travel environments. I'm very happy with the 16". The 14" was a fantastic machine as well so I don't think you can go wrong.

 

[MBAir2010]

I think the larger screen would be better for my feeble eyes

feeble eyes, you don't miss a thing here, mr Hawkeye!
personally I might get glasses soon, I had them in 2006 but my eyesight got better!
and I think I use my MBP 2012 13" more this year than the MBA'22 13" for the same "feeble" reason!
or that could be Monterey is friendlier.

 

[Kottu]

To be true, I do love the extra screen real estate I get from my 16". At home it's great and at work it's fine, as I feel it's chunky when I need to carry around it sometimes at my work place. And I do need to connect certain devices which has USB-A. To avoid these troubles and to make it easier for me at work, I'm planning to get an old MBA. So, I can use it only when I need to be mobile. Which is around 60-90 minutes per week. Other times, I can continue enjoying planning my 16".

 

[MrGunny94]

Yeah, Teams is much better w/ Apple silicon. It turned my 16" i9 into a lap toaster/jet plane on the regular.

I just had a call with a co-worker with cameras on and was consuming 20% CPU and 2.5GB of RAM, I'm running the latest native Electron build....

It's a crap app.

 

[Beau10]

I just had a call with a co-worker with cameras on and was consuming 20% CPU and 2.5GB of RAM, I'm running the latest native Electron build....

It's a crap app.

I'm not saying it's great software... MS doesn't really have competition as it's part of an enterprise package purchase. It's super buggy (in an often hilarious way) and a relative resource hog because of electron.

That said, the user experience is dramatically better than it was on the intel machine. It turned my i9 into a hot loud stuttering mess that often had to be restarted, as I mentioned in a followup comment. On my M1 Pro machines it's virtually invisible in any apparent way.

If you're on an Intel machine and hate life because of Teams, your life will get better moving to Apple silicon.

 

[MrGunny94]

I'm not saying it's great software... MS doesn't really have competition as it's part of an enterprise package purchase. It's super buggy (in an often hilarious way) and a relative resource hog because of electron.

That said, the user experience is dramatically better than it was on the intel machine. It turned my i9 into a hot loud stuttering mess that often had to be restarted, as I mentioned in a followup comment. On my M1 Pro machines it's virtually invisible in any apparent way.

If you're on an Intel machine and hate life because of Teams, your life will get better moving to Apple silicon.

I'm on the 14" M1 Pro and did change to the M1 when it came out due to MS Teams. I was on the 16" i9 so I completely know what you mean.

Yeah MS Teams is usually free for most of365 packages for companies therefore that's why a lot of companies adopt it.

There's hope that the app will be better once WebView 2 version becomes the default version of the app and Electron is eliminated from the default client downloads.

 

[curnalpanic]

Yeah, Teams is much better w/ Apple silicon. It turned my 16" i9 into a lap toaster/jet plane on the regular.

Everything is better with Si.

 

[petvas]

This thread gave me a lot to think about, especially how I use my laptop. For my usage patterns is the 16" actually the better choice. I almost never travel with my laptop. Maybe once or twice a year. I mostly use the Macbook on the couch and on the bed. I use a Mac Studio as my primary computer so I actually would be ok with the 14" MacBook Pro, but I decided to try the 16" again. I went today to the AppleStore in Munich and got me a 16" M2 Max MacBook Pro. So far I like it, but it's too early to tell. I gave the 16" for a moment to my wife, and she said that it's too big to use every day. She preferred smaller laptops..
I will see how it goes. The difference between the two models is really big. The 16" display is gorgeous.

 

[lambertjohn]

the screen on the 16" is spectacular!! Once you sit down and start using the thing, you'll wonder how you got by with anything else (especially a lowly PC.) But, full disclosure, I do own an M2 MacBook Air, and use that for getting writing jobs done at coffee shops, etc. Both are great machines!!

 

[kp98077]

I love my 16 m2, but the only think I notice is using it as a laptop on the coach it seems so heavy it hurts my legs, does anyone else have this issue? which of course, has me thinking if the 14 would be better for me?

 

[Crispe]

I had a 14in and just returned it for a 16in. I loved the size of it but the screen is too small for my deteriorating eyesight so I had to have the resolution at the default/recommended setting and it was just too low for the sort of apps that I use. Bumping the resolution up to the highest was too squinty. I also didn't like that the 14in felt warm under my palm when using. One of my peeves of my Razor Blade 15 is how toasty it feels under my palm and I live in an already warm climate (Australia) so having a sweaty palm on the computer is gross. I'm hoping the 16in is better in this department.

 

[erkanasu]

don't do it - 14" hurts my wrists and is super uncomfortable. m2 air or 16" are both infinitely more usable from a form factor <> wrist stand point. I returned the 14".

 

[wildaman]

I love my 16 m2, but the only think I notice is using it as a laptop on the coach it seems so heavy it hurts my legs, does anyone else have this issue? which of course, has me thinking if the 14 would be better for me?

the 14 would almost definitely be better for you. I don't have this issue - I went the opposite direction, from 14 to 16

 

[Jorgos]

I had a 2017 15". Bought myself a 14" because I travel all the time for work. Side by side there is surprisingly little physical difference in screen size between the two. Am thrilled with the 14".

 

[McScooby]

Got both, the 14" chassis is slightly smaller that the 13" it replaces & although it looks like the 16" is only an extra £200, there's also an extra £100 on AppleCare.
Sure the battery lasts longer on the 16" & the screen size is larger, but with fast charging it's not really an issue.
Was waiting for the M2 Pro with the 25% extra speed, but for an extra £900 i.e 45%, can whistle!😂

 

[chrismu]

Love the screen on the 16, and since I don't use an external monitor at the moment, I was very tempted. However, as someone that has used the smaller laptops for their entire life, I can't really get used to the bigger size, I don't care about the weight, but the footprint and thickness annoyed my sometimes when typing longer texts. Also, the way I have configured my laptop and the way I use it, spaces, fullscreen, etc., is very much adapted to the smaller display, so when I tried the 16, it felt like I was waisting space sometimes. 14.2" is noticeably more space than the 13.3" of the older laptops, and I feel like it really hits the sweet spot of "minimum real estate needed to get work done". Where before, I always wanted to get a bigger laptop eventually, the 14 feels big enough.

So I feel like with this generation, as long as you aren't super unhappy with the size you're currently using, just stick to the same size, because that is the size you're used to for laptops. Luckily, we can get the same performance in both sizes, it's just a matter of preference. But of course, that only makes it harder to decide. 😂

 

[kp98077]

don't do it - 14" hurts my wrists and is super uncomfortable. m2 air or 16" are both infinitely more usable from a form factor <> wrist stand point. I returned the 14".

dont do what? ? Get the 16?

 

[barkomatic]

If you fly economy like I do, I find that using the 14 is still cramped to the point I don't bother and I'm not a large guy. However, for just about every other remote work scenario, like working from a train, coffee shop etc it's easier to move around so I like it.