What MacBook..

[Hallstar]

My partner is self-employed and has been deliberating for some time about purchasing a MacBook to aid her business needs.

She currently has an iMac 27” (4K i5 2012) and a Mac Mini (i7 2012) at office and home office, but is becoming frustrated at being ‘tied’ to a desk space and wishes for a MacBook for portability.

She has a budget of £1200-ish for which she could pick up a 13” Air M2 (2022) or a 13” Pro M1 (2020)

This will be an investment to her, from which she would like to see at least 5 years worth of use.

My question is.. M2 Air or M1 Pro.. or any others to consider?

 

[wardie]

My partner is self-employed and has been deliberating for some time about purchasing a MacBook to aid her business needs.

She currently has an iMac 27” (4K i5 2012) and a Mac Mini (i7 2012) at office and home office, but is becoming frustrated at being ‘tied’ to a desk space and wishes for a MacBook for portability.

She has a budget of £1200-ish for which she could pick up a 13” Air M2 (2022) or a 13” Pro M1 (2020)

This will be an investment to her, from which she would like to see at least 5 years worth of use.

My question is.. M2 Air or M1 Pro.. or any others to consider?

Without knowing the usage it’s a bit hard, but for light work I would say the M2 Air. I’ve got one and it’s stunning, light, long battery, great screen, speakers surpassingly ok, powerful enough for office work and photo edit. Works great with external USBC hub for monitor and power.

 

[russell_314]

My partner is self-employed and has been deliberating for some time about purchasing a MacBook to aid her business needs.

She currently has an iMac 27” (4K i5 2012) and a Mac Mini (i7 2012) at office and home office, but is becoming frustrated at being ‘tied’ to a desk space and wishes for a MacBook for portability.

She has a budget of £1200-ish for which she could pick up a 13” Air M2 (2022) or a 13” Pro M1 (2020)

This will be an investment to her, from which she would like to see at least 5 years worth of use.

My question is.. M2 Air or M1 Pro.. or any others to consider?

What is she doing with it? That's the most important question. If by "to aid her business needs" you mean office documents and stuff like that the MacBook Air is perfect. I love mine and battery life is great. I don't see any reason to go for the 13" M1 or M2 Pro. Those models just don't serve a purpose as far as I can tell.

 

[Hallstar]

It will mostly be used for browser work, some light Pages/Numbers use, and music (playback). General use really. Nothing heavy

The Air would give the latest chip, etc. But What is the longevity of them Air like over the Pro?

 

[beach bum]

It will mostly be used for browser work, some light Pages/Numbers use, and music (playback). General use really. Nothing heavy

The Air would give the latest chip, etc. But What is the longevity of them Air like over the Pro?

Based on the stated use, the Air should more than meet her needs and I think that an MBP would be overkill. The MBA should be good for at least 5-7 years if not more with the stated use.

Also, what are her storage needs? Does she save to the Cloud, have an external drive? At most, I would suggest 8/8 16gb/512-1tb, or, you could even go with the M1 which would still be more that sufficient for her needs.

 

[russell_314]

It will mostly be used for browser work, some light Pages/Numbers use, and music (playback). General use really. Nothing heavy

The base model M2 Air is more than powerful enough for this. If she's a pack rat with files consider a storage upgrade but that's it.

The Air would give the latest chip, etc. But What is the longevity of them Air like over the Pro?

End of supported life will probably be the same. When you say the "Pro" I'm guessing you're talking about the old style 13" MacBook Pro and not the newer 14" MacBook Pro? It has a worse screen and a touchbar that is going out of support. Unless she likes the older MacBook look I don't see buying that.

 

[Hallstar]

Thanks for the responses, some great insight.

I think we’re settled on an M2 Air (8/8).

256GB SSD should be sufficient. We have cloud storage for most things and external drives for local backups.

Is it worth fronting the extra for 16GB RAM, given that it can’t be upgraded at a later date.

 

[tstafford]

Thanks for the responses, some great insight.

I think we’re settled on an M2 Air (8/8).

256GB SSD should be sufficient. We have cloud storage for most things and external drives for local backups.

Is it worth fronting the extra for 16GB RAM, given that it can’t be upgraded at a later date.

YMMV however for light stuff I am finding the base M2 MBA to be totally fine (8GB RAM/256 SSD). I use it for browsing, email, streaming and MS office. Wouldn't blame someone for bumping up the RAM, would be a $$$ thing IMHO. I was able to get the base on sale at BestBuy for $999. The non-base models rarely go on sale and a 16GB model would have been $1399. Big price difference especially by percentage.

 

[clueless88]

I know the new and shiny stuff seems very attractive, but looking at what the OPs partner is working with presently--a couple of 2012 vintage Macs--I am not too sure how much horsepower she needs in a laptop/portable computer.

I don't think she needs to shell out 1200 pounds (approx $1600) for portability. I wonder if she could get something like a mid 2012 MBP or newer and get the functionality she needs. If the device goes south or if she needs to replace the battery or upgrade the RAM or install an SSD, she could do all of that and still have money left over from her !200 pound budget. At least with the older MBPs one can service them pretty easily DIY (for the most part).

She could also look at a tablet like an iPad a generation or two from the new ones and get a case with an integrated keyboard--like getting a microsoft surface on the cheap. The iPad can do pages/numbers as well as stream music (or play stored music) and do "browser work".

The downside is the size of the screen, but that is a price of portability.

Hate to take away sales from the new retailers, but I don't think there is a compelling reason to burn through all that cash for something that will not be used close to its potential.

[end old curmudgeon rant mode]

 

[xraydoc]

My partner is self-employed and has been deliberating for some time about purchasing a MacBook to aid her business needs.

She currently has an iMac 27” (4K i5 2012) and a Mac Mini (i7 2012) at office and home office, but is becoming frustrated at being ‘tied’ to a desk space and wishes for a MacBook for portability.

She has a budget of £1200-ish for which she could pick up a 13” Air M2 (2022) or a 13” Pro M1 (2020)

This will be an investment to her, from which she would like to see at least 5 years worth of use.

My question is.. M2 Air or M1 Pro.. or any others to consider?

Consider a reconditioned MacBook Air M1 with more RAM and SSD space. For the jobs at hand, the M1 will be more than sufficient, and you can get more RAM and SSD space for the same amount of money as a new MacBook Air M2. Apple sells refurbished Macs on their website.