Urgent! MBP base model or MBA 16GB RAM?

[GradSchool2021]

Dear community,

I need an urgent answer since the discount will run out in 5 hours. Essentially, MBP base model or MBA 16GB RAM is better (same price)?

Some facts about me:
- Will mostly use it for graduate school, i.e. Office (especially Excel), PDF reading, and occasional iOS gaming. I already have a gaming desktop PC at home so whatever heavier tasks are handled by that beast. I'm not sure if a fan is even needed, but I hope that iOS gaming is not going to stress the machine.
- I will use it until 2025-6 (4-5 years), so nothing too crazy in terms of future-proofing.
- I personally don't like the Touchbar since it interferes with Excel but I think I can live with it. However, I like the slightly larger battery size and brighter screen. I also just tried out MBA and MBP in store and (I think?) I prefer the MBP keyboard, but the difference is not huge. The MBA will be upgraded with 16GB RAM which is a definitely plus.

Thank you very much!

 

[Tenkaykev]

Dear community,

I need an urgent answer since the discount will run out in 5 hours. Essentially, MBP base model or MBA 16GB RAM is better (same price)?

Some facts about me:
- Will mostly use it for graduate school, i.e. Office (especially Excel), PDF reading, and occasional iOS gaming. I already have a gaming desktop PC at home so whatever heavier tasks are handled by that beast. I'm not sure if a fan is even needed, but I hope that iOS gaming is not going to stress the machine.
- I will use it until 2025-6 (4-5 years), so nothing too crazy in terms of future-proofing.
- I personally don't like the Touchbar since it interferes with Excel but I think I can live with it. However, I like the slightly larger battery size and brighter screen. I also just tried out MBA and MBP in store and (I think?) I prefer the MBP keyboard, but the difference is not huge. The MBA will be upgraded with 16GB RAM which is a definitely plus.

Thank you very much!

Go with 16GB

 

[senttoschool]

16GB Air.

15 hours of battery life is basically all-day. Never had an issue with my Air's battery life.

And I'm pretty sure that the touchbar is going away on all models soon so you're going to be using a laptop with a mostly deadend feature.

 

[Martin29]

IOS games were designed for devices without cooling fans. You do not need to worry about overheating.

16GB is never going to be too much.

Go with the Air.

 

[alien3dx]

macos - not gaming.
no bootcamp
not all ios games in macos

 

[deeddawg]

Get the system that fits your needs, particularly for RAM and SSD capacity.

I'm unsure what touchbar has to do with excel though? If you need F1-F12 keys then set up the touchbar to display those, it's under SystemPrefs->Keyboard. What am I missing?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Buy the product that meets your needs. Problem solved.

 

[bsamcash]

Which did you end up buying?

 

[GuilleA]

get the 16GB Air. I don't see the point in the Pro really.

 

[svish]

Get the Air. 16 GB is good. More RAM is good.

 

[profcutter]

16 GB Air. My wife has one and loves it. For big PDFs, you’ll want the RAM.

 

[vs40]

+1 for 16GB Air.
Even now users with M1 8GB often getting cashing on SSD, and after few years it will be even heavier, because apps and web pages getting more demanding every year.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Dear community,

I need an urgent answer since the discount will run out in 5 hours. Essentially, MBP base model or MBA 16GB RAM is better (same price)?

Some facts about me:
- Will mostly use it for graduate school, i.e. Office (especially Excel), PDF reading, and occasional iOS gaming. I already have a gaming desktop PC at home so whatever heavier tasks are handled by that beast. I'm not sure if a fan is even needed, but I hope that iOS gaming is not going to stress the machine.
- I will use it until 2025-6 (4-5 years), so nothing too crazy in terms of future-proofing.
- I personally don't like the Touchbar since it interferes with Excel but I think I can live with it. However, I like the slightly larger battery size and brighter screen. I also just tried out MBA and MBP in store and (I think?) I prefer the MBP keyboard, but the difference is not huge. The MBA will be upgraded with 16GB RAM which is a definitely plus.

Thank you very much!

You pretty much answer your question. You dislike the Touch Bar and don't do any of the workloads that would necessitate the fan of the MBP. Also, 16GB of RAM when you can't really upgrade the RAM after the fact, is a good call. Go with the Air with 16GB of RAM.