Hello, it's me. Try once forgetting your dongle at home before giving a presentation and anxiously asking around people with pc laptops if they happen to have a usb-c-to-hdmi adapter, and you'll understand. It's a shame that the Air doesn't have one.
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Video Comparison: M3 MacBook Air vs. M3 MacBook Pro
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Or, Apple should make a 14" with the display of the Air and the performance of the M3 Max, with an HDMI
My Air is in a clamshell mod 95% of the time, and for the rest, I don't really care. If other companies can let you configure the panel, Apple could too, if they'd care about their customers.
Can you point me to the code where the MBA has throttled during its compilation? I hear about this a lot but, like Nessie and the Yeti, evidence is scarce.
I haven't seen any of those other companies allow the option to downgrade the panel, only upgrade. Even Dell and Lenovo don't let you mix and match across model lineups.Or, Apple should make a 14" with the display of the Air and the performance of the M3 Max, with an HDMI
I also think a big reason is Apple wants to give a cheaper entry point for those people who probably could (performance-wise) get away with an MBA, but also "want the Pro". Whether it's as a "lifestyle / professional accessory", or to some small degree a "status symbol", Apple has always had some part of that as a part of its brand. They've historically been a more premium, luxury product brand, although that has waned a bit as Apple has grown to the mega behemoth it is today.
I could easily see someone who could otherwise be fine performance-wise with an MBA, but thinks "hey, for just a few hundred $ more, I can get the ProMotion screen, an HDMI/SD card port, AND get the slight coolness of having the Pro? I'll do it."
Apple did the same thing with the previous generation MBPs that came out in 2016 w/ Touch Bar. After a year of the new model, they came out in 2017 with a cheaper entry-level version that had no Touch Bar and only 2 TB3 ports. It was the same thing - a cheaper entry level way to get "the Pro" without the full fat.
None of this feels that different than purchasing a car to me... or many things, for that matter... even my local pizza place has taken to selling pizza with no toppings and an additional price per topping on top. I cannot say I've ever ordered the pizza with no toppings, and though it might meet my needs for sustenance, I doubt it would meet my wants.
8GB is mostly okay especially if you tend to use fewer but more CPU intensive applications. It should work decently well for engineering students for example who are using it to take notes and run code/simulations. These tasks are more likely to be CPU bottlenecked so a fan is often more useful than more ram. I made it through my degree with only 4GB of ram on my old MBA without much issues just a few years ago.
The base M3 Pro has much better IO with an hdmi port and SD card slot. It also has an around 20% better battery life than either of the Airs. The display is brighter and it has better speakers/mics. This makes it more appealing for example to people like photographers who do quick media management/edits outdoors and need a secondary machine on the go.
If we match the base 14” MBP and the 15” MBA with the same storage the extra is only $100. For many people it’s probably worth it for the better hardware and the convenience of not needing dongles.
For "basic tasks," any MacBook—or really any laptop with an SSD—from the last 10-15 years should suffice for almost anyone. I wouldn't recommend splurging on a brand-new MacBook for such mundane tasks unless someone just loves spending money or if I had a significant stake in AAPL.
I guess perhaps they start lower, but usually their upscale notebooks have a more upscale base screen, too, not unlike Apple.
I agree that basic tasks, which really include college and office work, can and have been done on most any type of laptop for years and years. And yet, people have been buying new MacBooks for years to take to university or run their businesses.
Why? Because they need a good reliable computer for their heavy workload. These may be basic tasks (i.e. MS Office, Safari, Mail, Messages, etc..), but the workload is heavy.....large quantities of research papers, corporate spreadsheets, presentations, web research, business messages, mail, etc.. They want at least the one year Apple warrantee and maybe Apple Care. They want the 18 hours of battery life so they can keep working whilst on the go around campus or visiting customer sites. They want the silent fanless operation, so the computer isn't screaming while the roommate is trying to sleep or the sales pitch is going on. They want MagSafe so their computer isn't accidentally destroyed, and they aren't taken out of the game for a week during repair or replacement. These are busy people that need to stay productive. Yeah, it might cost a few hundred bucks more, but their laptop is the bread and butter for productivity. Heck, the college student is likely dropping at least $50K on just Tuition for their 4 year degree....and this is at a State school. The laptop is the most important device to leverage this investment. A few hundred bucks difference is minor in this context.
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I'm not a display experts, but I'd say they end where the Air starts. Or even lower.
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Funny, that was the exact one I looked at when I said I guess they start lower. I do get what you are saying, but the ThinkPad E14 has a slightly lower end screen than that one, with 45% NTSC and 300 nits, and you cannot substitute that in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon even though they are the same 14", unlike the MacBooks which have different size screens.
Apple could certainly just start the MacBook Pro with the basic Air level screen and make users pay extra for the Pro screen, but that would remove one of the defining features of the MacBook Pro ...and considering all the complaints here about having to add features that some think should be standard, yeah, I can imagine how well that would be received. And just like those current upgrades that cause the complaints, you likely wouldn't save much cash in the change to the lower screen as base, as you would just pay the same and everyone else would pay more for the upgrade.
Edit: typo... I do know they do not have a 14 foot screen!
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He can get it from Apple literally tomorrow for $100 cheaper than that.
I'm wading into a convo I didn't start, but I have an XPS 13 from a couple years ago. Quite honestly, the screen is almost as good as our (base) M1 MBA. The (terrible) battery life on the Dell, the fan noise, and the so-so speakers are much bigger negatives for this laptop (to me) than the screen.
I've considered starting a YouTube channel where all I do is give long-term reviews of Apple's base-level products: cheapest version of whatever product. I'm rocking a (base) iPhone 13 Pro, an OG Watch SE, a (based) M1 MBA. I'm still deciding between a base 13" or 15" MBA, or a (refurb) base 14" M3 Pro MBP. If only I could find time between work, family, and other hobbies...
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I was at this crossroads when the M2 MBA came out.
Given that I use a PC for work, the MBP was and still is overkill for me.
And the screen of the MBA is so good, I really do not miss the superior screen on my iPad Pro 12.9".
The weight, volume, and cost savings were well worth it, so I went with the MBA and have no regrets.
Given that I use a PC for work, the MBP was and still is overkill for me.
And the screen of the MBA is so good, I really do not miss the superior screen on my iPad Pro 12.9".
The weight, volume, and cost savings were well worth it, so I went with the MBA and have no regrets.
A lot has changed in the last 10 years. Local storage and backup were the only game in town. At least, 10 years ago, few people used Cloud storage as their primary backup and secondary storage. Now, you can optimize local storage for documents/photos by taking advantage of Cloud storage. We bought Apple's 2TB iCloud plan that is shared by 5 family members.....very reasonable. As a result, everyone gets by just fine with 256GB local storage. The exception is my son doing his Phd in Economics. He needs to run some very large algorithms and needs a fair amount of local storage.
exactly! LOL this drives me nuts! Trust me, doctors, scientist, lawyers etc. push their machines just as hard! I do a lot of writing and can tell a difference in screen quality on Air vs. Pro easily! Although I have the m3 Pro (I like larger screen) its fine not perfect!
So I love the size and portabilty of MacBook Air M3 - but if I’m working with Logic and 20 to 40 tracks with Snyths,
EZ Drummer and Plugins - do i need the MacBook Pro M3? Both would be configured with 16gb ram and 1 tb storage.
EZ Drummer and Plugins - do i need the MacBook Pro M3? Both would be configured with 16gb ram and 1 tb storage.
Yes, and often they use their machines in different ways. I was mainly responding to this nutty idea that the only people doing real work on their computers are people compiling code or complex video editing. There are plenty of professions that can be performed competently with a base configuration MBA.
I find this a quite difficult choice.
I'd like to get the air with 15", 16GB RAM and 1TB drive. But that spec makes it around 3 times more expensive than the machine it will replace was (Air 2017). Despite paying 3x what I did last time I still would lose one SDXC port which I find very nice to have on the road.
I don't need the screen quality of the 14" pro or the performance, but I would get my beloved SDXC slot. The better screen brightness could be nice to have when outside. But I will lose screen estate and I'm worried I will feel 14" is too limited.
In the end, it seems insane to pay 2600+ USD for any air-class machine and this makes me wonder if I should't try to make the MBAir 2017 last another year or two. Sure, I could spec the 14" pro to 16GB 512GB and I'd get a much better machine than the 15" 16GB/1TB for the same money. But I would be paying for performance I don't really need and probably getting irked by screen being slightly too small.
I'd like to get the air with 15", 16GB RAM and 1TB drive. But that spec makes it around 3 times more expensive than the machine it will replace was (Air 2017). Despite paying 3x what I did last time I still would lose one SDXC port which I find very nice to have on the road.
I don't need the screen quality of the 14" pro or the performance, but I would get my beloved SDXC slot. The better screen brightness could be nice to have when outside. But I will lose screen estate and I'm worried I will feel 14" is too limited.
In the end, it seems insane to pay 2600+ USD for any air-class machine and this makes me wonder if I should't try to make the MBAir 2017 last another year or two. Sure, I could spec the 14" pro to 16GB 512GB and I'd get a much better machine than the 15" 16GB/1TB for the same money. But I would be paying for performance I don't really need and probably getting irked by screen being slightly too small.
I agree, it is insane to overpay for the air, the air will never hold its value like a pro. I DO think the nicer 14" screen makes a difference... I can tell a difference between the air and pro, easily...