Apple

I was at the Apple Store today and gave these a test drive.

The 15" feels way more lighter, it's a great size when closed, super thin. It's the better choice if you the majority of your usage is surfing+light productivity work. Battery life is also a winner because it's not as powerful with just 8 cores. I also love how there is absolutely no fans. Passive heatsink. Will throttle when you really push it.

The 14" definitely felt heaver, thicker. More powerful and I expect it to also not be as a long lasting battery because of the high refresh rate display, more CPU and GPU cores. It's the better laptop if you are going to be doing more than just surfing+light productivity, and you are doing those tasks more often. Video editing, music production, xCode, I would classify as tasks that definitely take advantage of a MBP features. If those are those types of things one does daily, the weight and thickness and can totally be overlooked as the non pro M2 can struggle, I've read anecdotally. MBP also have the better heat dissipation as it has a cooling fan. You want power, you will get it. But also moving parts like a fan will be the first to go on a computer.

The displays are only 1" different. It was like a 50/50, no clear winner.

My personal pick is I chose the 15" simply because of the weight and how thin it is. I have way more powerful computers that I can RDP into. So the MBA serves as the perfect thin client.

Pro chips are significantly better in the long run because they have a fan. And that’s ignoring all the benefits u get on the pro for just 150 more

For $150 more this is an easy choice for me. Go pro, better screen and better chip.

I picked the Air after looking at them side by side. I couldn’t tell too much difference in screen quality and the extra inch is very noticeable and usable.

Most of my work is email, PowerPoint, Teams meetings, web apps, and spreadsheets. For me, extra screen real estate is more important than darker blacks.

I also liked the feel of the keyboard (a bit shorter, easier stroke to my feel) when typing. And I travel a good deal for work and it is thinner.

If you need more power for your work stream, I can see the Pro making sense. I thought about it.

But the Air was a better fit for me. I ordered last week.

To me, the 150$ is well worth the 120hz display, extra battery life, and active cooling fans (if you push it hard enough to activate them). Also, the option for dual monitors is cool, and you have an hdmi port on the Pro. They also have better resale value (at least here in Canada).

Edit*: you also have more GPU cores, which is nice for any video editing, modelling or gaming, if you plan on dabbling there at all.

Personally, my notebook computer primarily sits on my desk, plugged into external monitors. I travel less often than I used to. For this reason, I’d go with the Pro for the extra IO and ability to connect two monitors without resorting to DisplayLink drivers.

No brainer in any case I feel to pick the pro. $150 over the lifespan of the computer for:

• Much better processor
• Ability for 2 external displays
• Nearly the same weight
• 120hz vs 60 - no going back
• HDMI port, good for travel in hotels if no airplay, or even at home in general
• Additional usb c port
• Keyboard is nice (on both)

For productivity reasons if you ever try 2 actual external displays (like 2 4Ks or 1440s) instead of one, it’s a world of difference. I recently had to return my 2nd external display and have been using my mbp as a 2nd display (16”), and it’s been a rough ride. It helps but nothing like the productivity of 2 actual external displays.

Air all the way. Had both here for testing. Air was superior in screen size (significantly!), screen feel (feels better than pro despite 60Hz less!), weight, thinness, general astetics, keyboard feel, touchpad feel and size, keyboard background.

Sorry.

MBP For sure no second thought. The air is here only for people wanting a very compact laptop. But to me even the 14” Pro is enough to carry around

At these price, the Pro no contest. Better screen, better everything at the cost of just a few more weight.

Open box deal just 50 dollars more

Pro ofc

Yeah this would be a no brainer for me and would definitely get the Pro. Absolutely no doubt.

I returned a MacBook Air 13 inch with M2 for the M2 Pro 14 inch and I find that the battery life on the Pro is noticeably worse than on the Air, even when doing normal web browsing. I don’t know if the CPU is just more power hungry or what it is. This is just my personal experience.

That extra 150 gets you a significantly better machine that will last longer. Definitely worth the pro when the only sacrifice is the 1” of screen.

MacBook Pro

Pro

Imo, pro 100%. Especially when it’s only like 100$ difference

Depends on your usage - none of us know how it’s going to be used.

Netflix & light personal work? Air. Like the lowest model of an air.

Photo editing, video compression, code bases, scripts, CAD work? Pro all the way.

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What's going to be your main usage for the Mac?

Left

So I went back and forth on this as well. I bought the air for my wife cause she is a teacher. I posted my own thread and most people had buyers remorse with going with the pro. They would have preferred extra screen relastate. So I ended up getting her the 15" and honestly she is not gaming or video editing so she would never need for than the M2 which is already better than most i5 and i7 window laptops. At the end of the day it depends what you want to use it for. If it is going to be for nothing more than web browsing and school work the air works. If it will be heavy lifting than the pro.

That’s my question I’m not sure what to buy!!

Go with the pro... For sure

I would go with the Pro, $150 more for much more computer