The MBA is designed to go fanless with a rather clever heat sync part of the case clever, but the MBP isn't. I would suspect a fanless MBP to not work near as well. I personally wish I had gotten the MBP...
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Still torn between Air and Pro
- Thread starter majormike
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's a highly personal decision. For me, the extra thinness and lightness, albeit small, were the critical deciding factors. Adding to that, I prefer physical buttons over the touch-bar and the fanless design. However, IF I regularly ran software that caused the CPU to heat up (I don't), then I would have gotten the Pro.
Also think this is highly personal. How much do you want a fanless design. How much does the case design matter to you. Do you want the best possible screen. Is maximum battery life important.
For me, when I found out that the performance for short bursty work was practically identical, I went with the Air. Because for me the fanless case design of the Air was more important than the others. The only thing that made me hesitant was performance for my normal work. It turns out for what I need, the performance is the same.
For me, when I found out that the performance for short bursty work was practically identical, I went with the Air. Because for me the fanless case design of the Air was more important than the others. The only thing that made me hesitant was performance for my normal work. It turns out for what I need, the performance is the same.
Not really, I mean, during Cinebench, which stresses the CPU 100% realistically, the performance difference is between 7800 and 7200 points which is very reliable.
A fanless design also has advantages, for moisture and dust, since the device is completely closed up.
I'll run it for an hour in Cinebench and see.
I doubt it, I even mentioned in the post that I likely would've been fine with the fanless design. Apple is amazing at passive cooling.
I was just coming from a really bad experience with a passively cooled Surface Pro 7 that would throttle the CPU when using some of Microsoft's own applications. I didn't want to risk going fanless again, just in case, especially since my workflow and plans for the M1 machines were far more intensive than what I had originally planned on the SP.
As it stands, the MBA probably would've been fine for me but I don't regret the MBP.
Okay gotcha, because as it seems you're trading in a performance difference of 10% vs a much slimmer design and physical fn keys.
Then there is the brighter screen and better speakers.
However, I've just tested Cinebench for 1 hour, scores didn't change much, still 7800 and 7200 for the MBA.
I HAVE NO CLUE how the **** they made the M1 Air score 1000 points less (6600) than the Macbook Pro (7800) because when I run Cinebench, it's a completely different score for my Air (Do you think I have a better binning?), going in at 7200 points.
When I saw reviewers score about 6600 with the Air on the 30 Minutes run, it did made me consider the M1 Pro more strongly, losing about 15% Performance.
But running the test myself, I only lose about 8% performance and just as I expected (I ran both in battery mode), the Air had more battery left than the Pro because the Pro runs the CPU at 25 watts, where the Air was at 67% after 1 hour of Cinebench R23 stresstest and the Pro at 62%.
Man, just kill me ?
So basically, running Cinebench is the best 100% CPU pure performance test which you can run.
On the first run, here are the results:
MBP: 7815
MBA: 7212
That's a 8% performance difference after 1 hour of Cinebench.
This was followed 2 Minutes after it had stopped by one another 1 hour run (2 in total then) with the following results.
MBP: 7805
MBA: 7034
That's about 10% and you gotta remember, the MBA is fanless and the Pro runs the fans at 4000 RPM, which is noticably audible.
But I want the 10% ? I guess nobody can help me, personal choice. But I think just based on pure reason, I should go for the Air. On full load 100% CPU usage, the Air has a better battery life.
And since nobody would believe me, here I am, testing them against each other side by side at 3 AM:
They have a key cover on them from EeeCoo, I can eat my Pizza and don't worry about prints. One of them has to leave my house by Tuesday though ?
Reason tells me get the Air and anything else the Pro.
However, I would've chosen the Pro over the Air if I had scored 6600 points versus 7800 but after 2 hours of Cinebench, which is super unrealistic and hefty, the difference is 10% (7034 points versus 7805, maybe I have cought a well binned chip) and during a more reasonable hefty usage of 1 hour, the difference is 8% and the Air has even more battery life than the Pro, given that the Pro uses 25 watts under full load vs the Air max 15 Watts.
On the first run, here are the results:
MBP: 7815
MBA: 7212
That's a 8% performance difference after 1 hour of Cinebench.
This was followed 2 Minutes after it had stopped by one another 1 hour run (2 in total then) with the following results.
MBP: 7805
MBA: 7034
That's about 10% and you gotta remember, the MBA is fanless and the Pro runs the fans at 4000 RPM, which is noticably audible.
But I want the 10% ? I guess nobody can help me, personal choice. But I think just based on pure reason, I should go for the Air. On full load 100% CPU usage, the Air has a better battery life.
And since nobody would believe me, here I am, testing them against each other side by side at 3 AM:
They have a key cover on them from EeeCoo, I can eat my Pizza and don't worry about prints. One of them has to leave my house by Tuesday though ?
Reason tells me get the Air and anything else the Pro.
However, I would've chosen the Pro over the Air if I had scored 6600 points versus 7800 but after 2 hours of Cinebench, which is super unrealistic and hefty, the difference is 10% (7034 points versus 7805, maybe I have cought a well binned chip) and during a more reasonable hefty usage of 1 hour, the difference is 8% and the Air has even more battery life than the Pro, given that the Pro uses 25 watts under full load vs the Air max 15 Watts.
Last edited:
Have you found any appreciable difference between the two in screen quality or keyboard quality?
I'd recommend going with whichever one let's you get Apple Care +, tbh. I'm not sure what AP+ is like in your specific region, but it does have some great benefits. Since the speed difference between the machines isn't that great, AppleCare+ might be a bigger incentive than otherwise.
If there was a yawning feature gap between the Air and the Pro, the argument for the Pro would be much stronger.
But there isn't, and the Pro really isn't worth the extra money when the cheaper machine can do 90% of what the Pro can do.
The M1 MacBook Air is PHENOMENAL value for money, and not only has it re-writen the rule book for Windows PC's, but has up ended the value equation for Apple notebooks.
Astonishing.
But there isn't, and the Pro really isn't worth the extra money when the cheaper machine can do 90% of what the Pro can do.
The M1 MacBook Air is PHENOMENAL value for money, and not only has it re-writen the rule book for Windows PC's, but has up ended the value equation for Apple notebooks.
Astonishing.
How if you test again and check their temp with this app.
TG Pro
Maximize your Mac's performance with TG Pro. The ultimate solution for fan control and extensive temperature monitoring: CPU, GPU, SSD, and more.
Screen quality is the same and not a deciding factor for me, the higher brightness is never used. I even turn town the Air's brightness.
I did, during lower loads the Pro is obviously cooler but when they are stressed, they are equal in temps. The Pro is slightly lower, 2-3 degrees on the cores individually but it doesn't affect responsiveness or anything and you can hear the fan running at 4000 rpm.How if you test again and check their temp with this app.
TG Pro
Maximize your Mac's performance with TG Pro. The ultimate solution for fan control and extensive temperature monitoring: CPU, GPU, SSD, and more.www.tunabellysoftware.com
But on the other hand, due to the passive cooling design, the battery is actually cooler on the Air before the fans engage...
There are points on the Air that are generally cooler versus the Pro so there is nothing gained between them on the cooling side.
Yes during heavy load it is about 3 degrees cooler than the Air but you hear it obviously and it doesn't hurt stability.
I've used Seinsai or whatever it is called to monitor the temps and I couldn't see an actual advantage over having a fan run at 4000 rpm.
I feel the Pro is very disproportionate based on the size, meaning that the Air actually fits the laptops size better. Yeah, you have a big trackpad but I feel like it's a 16" trackpad slapped on a 13" body.
Happy with my Air. Had a 16" MBP previously (32 GB, 1 TB) and for many tasks, the M1 Air is faster. And the overall feel is quicker and more responsive. And no fan is nice (and quiet).
The other thing to remember is these are Gen 1 AS systems. The M1x, (and then the M2) ... are coming soon. So no use stressing too much.
The other thing to remember is these are Gen 1 AS systems. The M1x, (and then the M2) ... are coming soon. So no use stressing too much.
Capabilities aren't a problem for me. Any port already works great out of the box. I've encountered many first generation products such as RTX 2080 Ti cards without being used for it's new features at all and the M1 out of the box after half a year is beyond amazing.