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GooseInTheCaboose

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 2, 2022
326
188
I ordered a 14" M1Pro MBP with 8 core CPU and 10 core GPU, 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. But it is backordered til August.

When I ordered it I was a little skeptical I will need *all* that power, and a little disappointed that they did not make them thinner/lighter and fanless. But I like the narrower bezels and it was the best thing at the time.

Now, however, the M2 MBA exists. It is lighter and thinner, has almost the same size screen with narrow bezels, and also has 8 core CPU and 10 core GPU (iirc). The only flaw I see in it is that it does not have a SD card slot (not a dealbreaker by any means)...tho I'm not sure how much it will underperform compared to the M1Pro MBP.

I don't know if I should cancel my M1Pro MBP order and get the MBA with 24GB RAM and 2TB SSD instead?

further info:

I'm coming from an ancient 2014 15" 2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 MBP with dGPU and 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD. My old mac often jams up when I run too many apps/have too many windows open...I would say it is no longer powerful enough for me, which is no surprise for an 8 y/o computer.

I can't decide now whether the M1Pro MBP 14" (32GB RAM and 2TB SSD) is overkill for me and if I should get the new M2MBA. I'm also unsure how much of a difference there is between the 8/10 cpu/gpu M1Pro MBP and the 8/10 cpu/gpu M2 MBA in terms of performance?

I plan to use the laptop I will get with a 5k Studio Display often, and have dirty habit of keeping a LOT of windows and tabs open at once. I'm getting more into photography for fun and will be importing a lot of new photos (at around 20megapixels, 20mb files), sometimes (tho pretty rarely) doing focus or exposure stacking (for macrophotography of bugs or astro landscapes), sometimes importing 5.3k video from a gopro (and adding music, cutting/shortening it, adding transitions, just for fun not work or anything) or 4k video from a consumer drone (again just for fun).

Can someone help me out? Will the new MBA be enough for me? Is the new M2 chip close enough in performance to the 8/10 M1Pro chip? Will 24GB RAM be enough for me or will I get anything significant out of 32 on the MBP I ordered?

Should I cancel my order and buy the MBA 24GB/2TB?
 

chikorita157

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2019
284
442
Germantown, MD
Nope, I wouldn't, the M2 only supports one display compared to the M1 Pro and Max CPUs. Also, the M1 Pro/Max will still be faster than M2 since it has more performance cores.
 

andeify

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2012
415
74
UK
I have the same ancient MacBook you do and earlier in the year I came close to buying a MacBook Air but decided to hold off. In the past couple of weeks I have found myself looking at the base model 14" Pro. After watching the announcement and looking closely at the specs Im still leaning toward the Pro. To spec the new Air to the same level as the 14" base model the price is not far off.

You probably could get away with the Air, any Apple Silicon will be a massive step up from your current machine. But either way you will be waiting months.
 
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hovscorpion12

macrumors 68040
Sep 12, 2011
3,046
3,128
USA
I would say no. Pre-orders go live next month. While we don’t have a dedicated date, most likely your August date is not too far off.

The 14” has a design advantage with thunderbolt 4, USB-C and HDMI. Whereas the Air only has two USB-C ports.

The M1 Pro will give you two external monitors. The M2 only has 1.
 

Mocha314

macrumors newbie
Sep 26, 2021
10
9
I would stick with the Pro, because if you don’t get an order in the first 5 minutes the Air is out, you might be waiting until September, or even later.
 
Last edited:
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flapflapflap

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2013
768
439
I hope the M2 Pro provides better battery life. I'm still drawn to the 14" M1 Pro due to its portable size, but the battery life is insufficient for me. That's why I went with the 16" M1 Pro. I'll glad trade that in if the 14" M2 Pro battery life improves. The 15" M2 MBA is intriguing but Apple will probably limit multiple external support and higher scaling resolution.
 
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bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Yeah, that will do it. Perhaps the 13" MBP would have worked better considering the fan.
I had a 14" on order for awhile, but then switched to a Mac Studio Max, not portable, but it makes up for it in ability.
 

Dealmans

Suspended
Mar 12, 2022
1,405
1,213
I hope the M2 Pro provides better battery life. I'm still drawn to the 14" M1 Pro due to its portable size, but the battery life is insufficient for me. That's why I went with the 16" M1 Pro. I'll glad trade that in if the 14" M2 Pro battery life improves. The 15" M2 MBA is intriguing but Apple will probably limit multiple external support and higher scaling resolution.
After a week with my 14" I saw a 16" in a retail store next to a 14" yesterday, that thing is huge no way I would want it, not portable at all, if tied to a desk 95% maybe, but I have a 24" iMac for that.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,264
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
I hope the M2 Pro provides better battery life. I'm still drawn to the 14" M1 Pro due to its portable size, but the battery life is insufficient for me. That's why I went with the 16" M1 Pro. I'll glad trade that in if the 14" M2 Pro battery life improves. The 15" M2 MBA is intriguing but Apple will probably limit multiple external support and higher scaling resolution.
Most likely it will not due to the chip already consuming power power at idle versus the M1.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,264
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
I guess I'll be keeping my 16" M1 Pro then. Any chance the M2 MBA 13" or 15" supports multiple external monitors?
Let's use the 13" as an example. At this point, I believe Apple is likely going to keep that type of support to their Pro/Max chip lines, no the vanilla M-series. I believe this for the foreseeable near and medium term.
 
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