Which M2 Air/M3 Max Dynamic Duo Would You Take of These?

[sidgriffey]

I would like to know which combo would be the better one for someone who moves around some but isn't necessarily jet setting. Assume iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is always in backpack.

16" M3 Max MacBook Pro for mostly home with some travel use -- 13" M2 MacBook Air for day to day on the go use.

OR

15" M2 MacBook Air for mostly home with some travel use -- 14" M3 Max MacBook Pro for day to day on the go use.

I am a therapist and do therapy in person, as well as on zoom. and I am in a phd program so I am doing research, writing a lot. looking at videos for the research, etc. So I want to at least have one machine with the bigger palm wrest for typing.

I'm also not opposed to rocking a 15" air and 16" M3 Max situation if that made sense. is the 15" air portable enough?


thank you in advance.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

You have zero need for the Max model, the rest will be just up to your preference.

 

[Rnd-chars]

What’s the M3 Max for? That’s a lot of power for the work you described. 😅

I have a 16” M1 Max and just spent 3 weeks pretty comfortably traveling Europe with it. It’s certainly no Air, but I also don’t find it as unwieldy as many folks do.

Is there a specific reason you want two laptops? For me, the difference between a 14” Pro and 15” is negligible and I’d much rather use the Air money on something else (like a Studio Display). Plus, unless you really like having separate machines, there’s a little bit of complexity in having multiple Macs (more machines to patch, have to make sure your most recent work has synched, etc)

While I’ve seriously considered having an Air and MacBook Pro (or Studio combo), I’ve decided that my next purchase will just be a 14” Max machine. It’s fast and portable enough and I have a Studio Display at home for when I need to be productive

 

[macduke]

I wouldn't do either one of these. If I was going to do two for the purposes you describe of wanting something faster at home and portable to take out, I would get an M2 Ultra Mac Studio (or wait for the M3 version later in 2024, or the M3 Max version which is cheaper and will still be a beast) and a 15" MBA M2 (or wait for the M3 version later in 2024).

 

[saturnotaku]

You don't need an M3 Max for any of the tasks you describe. A refurbished M2 Pro 14 will be more than enough and serve as a nice middle ground of power and portability to be the only system you need. With the money you save on the base hardware, you can find a machine with a RAM or storage upgrade if you really wanted.

 

[sidgriffey]

Would 14” m3 pro with 18gb ram and 1tb storage suffice?

 

[halledise]

how on earth does one 'rock' a Mac?
that word is a mystery to me.
[ "she rocked that dress?" ]
sheesh

 

[boss.king]

I'd say the 15" M2 Air would be more than enough for the uses you described. If you want something in the Pro body (for the ports or display or whatever) then just get the cheapest version of whatever size you want.

For storage, that's kinda up to whatever you need. Nothing you've described is RAM-heavy, so if you bump the Air up to 16GB with whatever drive size you need, you should be comfortable for many years.

 

[sidgriffey]

Would the m3 pro 14” with 18gb ram be fast for some time to come?

 

[boss.king]

Of course, that would be faster than the M2 Air.

Basically, either way you're going to end up with a machine far more powerful than what you'd need for the uses you described. Now it's just up to picking the form factor you want (Air vs Pro, 13/14" vs 15/16"). I highly recommend not buying two laptops, and so either config should fit comfortably in your price range.

 

[sidgriffey]

Added context … I have an M1 Max 16” and I think it might be good to trade in to get good value while it still can get $1355 in trade-In. So that‘s why I am curious whether I should have a smaller option for when traveling.

 

[leifp]

Would the m3 pro 14” with 18gb ram be fast for some time to come?

What is your present setup? Since you only mention Zoom, which any M series Mac can “rock” (even a base 8GB M1 13” MBAir), suggestions beyond base depend on how many other things you already do that you’d like to continue doing on your Mac laptop…

 

[leifp]

Added context … I have an M1 Max 16” and I think it might be good to trade in to get good value while it still can get $1355 in trade-In. So that‘s why I am curious whether I should have a smaller option for when traveling.

Great! So, here’s what you do: hop on the App Store and buy a wee app called iStat menus (or go here: https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/ ) and find out what your memory and storage pressures are. That will tell you if you need more than the 18GB RAM and 1TB storage you’re thinking about.

edit: be aware that any laptop you buy that isn’t a MacBook Pro is going to have a much lower quality audio/video experience. Only you can know whether or not that will bother you or whether the increased portability of dropping to a MBAir outweighs that.

 

[4743913]

I use my 2019 i9 Macbook Pro for the work on the road machine. 13" M2 Macbook Air is my EDC.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

The first combo for sure. Why not have the biggest screen possible for at home and lightest/most portable for travel?

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Added context … I have an M1 Max 16” and I think it might be good to trade in to get good value while it still can get $1355 in trade-In. So that‘s why I am curious whether I should have a smaller option for when traveling.

Actually if you’re picking one machine to rule them all, the 15” Air seems perfect for your use case. I really don’t think you need the power of a 16” M3 Max. In fact I think you could get away with the 8/512 config or maybe 16/512 for a bit of future proofing on the RAM side. Plus the 15” Air would be plenty portable with lots of screen real estate.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Great! So, here’s what you do: hop on the App Store and buy a wee app called iStat menus (or go here: https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/ ) and find out what your memory and storage pressures are. That will tell you if you need more than the 18GB RAM and 1TB storage you’re thinking about.

edit: be aware that any laptop you buy that isn’t a MacBook Pro is going to have a much lower quality audio/video experience. Only you can know whether or not that will bother you or whether the increased portability of dropping to a MBAir outweighs that.

I’m not sure I’d say “much” lower. Yes the speakers and Promotion display on the Pros sound and look fantastic, but the audio/video on the Airs are no slouch, especially the 15” Air. A lot of people who traded in their 16” Pro for a 15” Air say you can hardly notice the difference without the machines side-by-side.

Just want to offer a little bit of counterpoint in case OP doesn’t want to spend hundreds more for those things.

 

[leifp]

I’m not sure I’d say “much” lower. Yes the speakers and Promotion display on the Pros sound and look fantastic, but the audio/video on the Airs are no slouch, especially the 15” Air. A lot of people who traded in their 16” Pro for a 15” Air say you can hardly notice the difference without the machines side-by-side.

Just want to offer a little bit of counterpoint in case OP doesn’t want to spend hundreds more for those things.

I’d say much lower (and completely noticeable to me even without a direct comparison on hand). Unacceptably lower for myself. And unacceptably lower for my wife (although she cares more about the speakers whereas I care about the visual quality). Acceptably so for my brother and father. That’s why I mentioned that only the OP can know whether it will be ok or not.

 

[boss.king]

Added context … I have an M1 Max 16” and I think it might be good to trade in to get good value while it still can get $1355 in trade-In. So that‘s why I am curious whether I should have a smaller option for when traveling.

It seems like a massive waste of money to me, but if you have money to burn and don’t mind managing two separate laptops then go for it. Personally, I think it makes way more sense to get A portable laptop and then get a monitor and some peripherals to use at home. But, ultimately, you have to decide what’s best for your needs.

 

[JustAnExpat]

Let's look at your computing needs:

> I am a therapist and do therapy in person, as well as on zoom. and I am in a phd program so I am doing research, writing a lot

That means you need a computer setup that:
- allows efficient typing
- may need a large screen or multiple displays (for reading academic articles and videos)
- A decent web cam, to provide visual communication to the people you are providing therapy to.

What type of software would you use? I'm ASSUMING you are using:
- Zoom or Microsoft Teams (for video conferencing)
- Scrivener (or another writing program) to write your documents
- Zotero (or another reference manager)
- A PDF reader to read academic journals
- Maybe a program like Abbyy FineReader to convert PDF images from academic journals to text
- *MAYBE* some type of virtual machine/ emulator to run Windows 11/ Microsoft Office for Windows, and special Excel Plugins (i.e. Crystal Ball for probability?)

In almost all cases, the slowdowns and inefficiencies would be caused from the brain to the fingers, and not any computer equipment.

I would immediately cross out any "Max" or "Ultra" line of computers. The processors would be a waste for your need, since those chips are used to render large graphics, advance movies and cartoon shows, and to make complex music and to control light shows.

Let's look at the options:

>16" M3 Max MacBook Pro for mostly home with some travel use - 13" M2 MacBook Air for day to day on the go use.

The 16" M3 PRO MacBook Pro [Yeah, I hate that name too] would be an optimal configuration. You can connect two external displays on the 16" MacBook Pro (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213503). The 13" MacBook Air is light enough to travel with. Both would be fast enough.

For both machines, I recommend getting at least 16GB of Ram.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

I’d say much lower (and completely noticeable to me even without a direct comparison on hand). Unacceptably lower for myself. And unacceptably lower for my wife (although she cares more about the speakers whereas I care about the visual quality). Acceptably so for my brother and father. That’s why I mentioned that only the OP can know whether it will be ok or not.

Fair enough. YMMV and all that. I’ve compared them in the store many times and while there is a noticeable difference, it wouldn’t be enough to sway me away from the Air. But I have a Pro for many other reasons.

 

[Audentia]

I would like to know which combo would be the better one for someone who moves around some but isn't necessarily jet setting. Assume iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is always in backpack.

16" M3 Max MacBook Pro for mostly home with some travel use -- 13" M2 MacBook Air for day to day on the go use.

OR

15" M2 MacBook Air for mostly home with some travel use -- 14" M3 Max MacBook Pro for day to day on the go use.

I am a therapist and do therapy in person, as well as on zoom. and I am in a phd program so I am doing research, writing a lot. looking at videos for the research, etc. So I want to at least have one machine with the bigger palm wrest for typing.

I'm also not opposed to rocking a 15" air and 16" M3 Max situation if that made sense. is the 15" air portable enough?


thank you in advance.

Why on earth do you want two laptops? Particularly when you already have an iPad. Is this a requirement to separate your therapy work?

For the kind of work you do, all you need Is a M2 or M3 with 16gb ram. So decide if you prefer the MacBook Air or Pro based on screen size and weight and ports.

If you really want a second mac for home, get an iMac or mini.

Also I see you already have an M1 Max... you will not notice much difference with your workflow, upgrading sooner to "get better resale value" is just falling for Apple's marketing. (and going to an Air will feel like a downgrade) Unless that machine doesn't work for you for some reason (bad battery, or just too heavy etc.) just sticking with what you have is best.

More computers = more problems, more distractions from your actual work.

Don't get me wrong, it can be done, but I don't understand your thinking. When I worked from home my 2017 27in iMac and M1 MacBook Air (for when I traveled) worked well as a combo. Now that I moved overseas I just have a M2 Max 14in and its hard to beat the simplicity of one machine.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

For the kind of work you do, all you need Is a M2 or M3 with 16gb ram. So decide if you prefer the MacBook Air or Pro based on screen size and weight and ports.

I’d go further and say an M1 MBA with 8 GB would do 😋

Now, I would nowadays get 16 GB (or more, if money is no problem) for future-proofing but wanting an MBP for watching video and typing a lot… that’s overkill.

In fact, I’d get an MBA over the Pro just because it’s flatter and much nicer to type on for me if it’s longer typing sessions.

 

[saintmac]

As other people above have implied, since you already have an m1 max macbook pro and your computing use cases are pretty light you don't need to "upgrade" (or downgrade if you pick a base m2) your laptop.

Having 2 computers (not to mention 2 laptops) is also a bad idea and a waste of time and money:
- having to keep both up to date
- making sure you always have the latest version on both if you worked offline
- wasting time deciding which one to pick today

Not to mention that you have an iPad Pro with magic keyboard in the backpack anyways.

Is there any reason why you want 2 laptops or to upgrade ? I would say that
- If you want to buy a new Apple toy (like most of us like doing here I suppose) get yourself a new iPhone or apple watch
- If you want to improve your at home typing and working experience: buy a Studio Display, a magic keyboard with touch id and a trackpad or good mouse
- If you fee like your 16" is too big to travel, replace it with a m3pro 14" with 18 or 36Gb of Ram (deciding with iStats menu as suggested before) and keep the simplicity of having only one computer.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Why on earth do you want two laptops?

I have had two laptops for years and years. A larger one as a mobile workstation and a smaller one for lightweight use in cafes, bed, sofa.