Unless you're trying to save money, get the 14" Pro! It's only a tiny bit heavier than the 15" Air and it has more pixels than the 15" Air. It's counterintuitive, but you actually have more desktop space to work with on the 14".
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Who's rocking an M1 still and how's it holding up for you?
- Thread starter FlyingTexan
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Unless you're trying to save money, get the 14" Pro! It's only a tiny bit heavier than the 15" Air and it has more pixels than the 15" Air. It's counterintuitive, but you actually have more desktop space to work with on the 14".
People often say they’ll never upgrade from their M1s. I was just wondering if the same will be said with the M4 iPad Pro.I don’t see that product relationship? There is nothing about a M4 iPad Pro w/OLED that is using iPadOS 18.x, that begins to approach’s a 14” M4 Pro MBP w miniLED display running MacOS 15.x. Multitasking, Application interface depth, Installation freedom from App Store, multiple browser running their own web engines. The ability to drive multiple 6k displays. Built-in keyboard. I use iPads also but it’s not the same as using various M1 thru M4 Max processors with Macs.
I personally think the iPad Pro is a better all around device. There just aren’t that many good developers for it!
You’re right though. It would be great for the iPad Pros to support more than one display. The screen, on the other hand, is the best screen I’ve ever seen, hands down. Macs don’t even come close!
When you price out a M4 iPad Pro with all the options, pencil, keyboard/case it’s only about $100 less then cheapest 14” M4 Pro MBP. So depends on your usage preferences. Maybe we see the first M5 Pro MBPs in Oct/Nov 2025, with OLED displays then iPad Pro will cease to be as attractive device as it is now? Meanwhile I continue to enjoy my M1 Max MBP.
I believe that even if the iPad Pro was more expensive than the 14-inch Mac, it would still be a better all-around device. It just needs better apps, a few productivity and APIs from Apple. I cannot judge a device because developers aren’t making use of it.
I love iPadOS. I love holding the device, changing the orientation, using Touch or Switch to the Magic Keyboard. It’s very intuitive. It’s fun to use. It makes you want to use it. Sure, you can’t use shortcuts or macros like you can on macOS, but I believe that SHOULD be implemented. It’s just not a priority.
I've actually been leaning Pro, more for the screen quality than the size. But factoring in resolution increasing workspace hadn't occurred to me. Thanks!
It really depends on your eyesight!
I have a 14" M1 Pro and had a 15" M2 Air. The 15" Air was definitely more comfortable for me to use than the 14". The quality of the 14" display is noticeably better but in saying that, I don't mean to imply the 15" display is junk - it is not and it is superior to just about every other laptop display I have tried.
In fact, I am planning to replace the 14" M1 Pro with a 15" M4 Air when the Air is updated to M4. It will be more than powerful enough for my daily workload and the larger display is easier on my aging eyes.
It absolutely does!
I should clarify that what I said was only partially true. There are more pixels, but my math is bad and I didn't factor in that the resolution is different so the default screen space is not as roomy on the 14" MBP as I've been saying.
That said, the 14" does look really sharp at its largest default scaling resolution.
At that size it's too small for my eyes to use for very long, as well but I can still manage it for short periods. When I need more desktop space, I use it at the largest scaled resolution, but bump the text size up in the programs I'm using to compensate for the text being too small.
Great feedback on both memory and nanotexture display. Can you share some insight into your use cases and any memory intensive apps or practices (lots of open applications, dozens of browser tabs, etc.) that might help us calibrate to your experience with the M4 Max? Thanks!
More of a sales focus, easier to show 15' MacBook Air as a serious contender when you use one on the daily. The weight difference is significant, but only a bonus for me in this case.
Ram was 32GB (1TB) on 16' MBP M1 Max, and 16GB (512GB) on 15' MBA M3
I do respect your opinion. I can only hope that you’ll respect, or at least acknowledge mine.
To me - there is a deep issue with us in general - living in the times we live in - how we link consumerism/materialist pleasures with happiness (joy). It has the tendency to at times make us unhappy with what we have / have been given because we cannot get to unwrap the newest and shiniest object. I understand the sentiment behind your statement - we can call anything we do for enjoyment a waste of money. Yes, I tend to agree with it to a certain extent, even. But the downside of this new box unwrapping (borderline) obsession is that companies are given the incentive to sell the same damn thing with marketing buzzwords for thousands of dollars each cycle, and app / game companies and storage companies to do the same to require newer hardware to run their poorly optimized code. This cycle, in my humble opinion is vicious, and may not always equate to long term or even near term happiness. If anything, it is financially damaging to the society, majority of which is living paycheck to paycheck. This upgrade spree makes it worse for everybody because that creates a bloated demand and in turn raise the overall price tag.
Now, it would be foolish to say that because of my buying spree, prices go up, putting something out of scope for a poor person to buy, so I must going to stop buying everything. That’s rather extreme. But I am just pointing out the downside we slowly are witnessing in the world today. For a society to function, money must exchange hands, which means people should buy, but in moderation. But I need not tell you how obsessed some countries are with buying things. I doubt they’re getting that much happier as much as the stuff they find stuffed in their garages.
When unboxing videos became a thing on the internet, I laughed. But it did catch on. I understand now people get a buzz from the unboxing. That means they're getting a bit more value for money from a new MacBook Pro than me, I see it just as a tool.
. Last one I unboxed was in 2024, used Migration Assistant and the box went into the trash immediately.Another example, photography is a hobby of mine, but a friend was simply horrified I toss the packaging away after briefly testing the equipment, e.g. a lens or new camera body.
All that packaging design is wasted on me.
Then upgrading the phone seems rather pointless to me. I don't need a faster iPhone, what app needs to be faster? And the camera isn't much better, it's still lightyears behind my regular camera system in picture quality. I just had Apple replace the battery (< 80% capacity) and cracked screen protector on mine. Now, it's refreshed.
Now, having said all that, I do want a new faster computer. I see people are stacking Mac Minis connected together by Thunderbolt 5 bridging. That would save much time.
I don’t just keep the boxes, but even that strip you tear off to open a box, LOL. When I resell my devices they look brand new… until you open the box that is and see the state of the USB-C cable, for instance
I've been using my base M1 Air that I picked up at Costco in early 2021, so just coming up on four years now. I'm a teacher and it's my primary computer to tote between home and my classroom. It is used for heavy office productivity, some light programming and 3D modeling (I teach middle school robotics & coding) and it has yet to not meet my needs. I do bump up against the 8GB of RAM that it has on occasion, and that's been pushing me to consider an upgrade at some point, but for the time being this little machine has been going strong for four years. I'm hoping to push it to five of active production before retiring it to a life as a secondary machine, a role that my trusty rusty old 2015 11" Air currently fills.
I think you deserve an upgrade
Have you started speculating on what will attract your education discount?
Oh I don’t just respect your opinion. I actually agree with it. I don’t think what you wrote and what I wrote are mutually exclusive. I was describing why people do it. You’re talking about whether it’s a good thing. I agree with you that the majorly of the time, it’s not.
Same. I picked up the base M1 MBA when it was first released, and it is still going strong for me. I am not sure what would make me finally decide to upgrade. I have been tempted by the larger display of the 15" MBA, 8gb ram doesn't exactly feel insufficient for me, and reality is I get more mileage out of my iPad for every use.
It's not that the new laptops aren't any better or more enticing, but that M1 is simply more than enough for my current needs.
We will see when the M4 MBA gets released. Or maybe I will just hold on for another year, and the cycle repeats. 😛