No cause no fan no sale for me. I'd much rather have a device that's a little more noisy and can actually keep performance up rather than a device that constatnly overheats and probably has a shorter lifespan due to it. Like what if I tried to use the damn thing on my lap??
Thanks for this. Not in the market yet, my 2019 16” base is still more than sufficient for me. I’ve grown to like the Touch Bar too minus some accidental touches here and there.
@@haoyuwang3243 Indeed, recall though that prior generations were even worse from mid-2016 I think until the 2019 16". Remember how many UA-camrs were praising this chassis and how much better it was. Obviously Apple silicon is way more efficient so any M-series Mac will be cooler running similar loads.
Personally, I have the 14" mac pro for video work, and I absolutely love it, not sure what the 15" air is like but I can say for sure that the mac pro is amazing for heavy workflows.
@@BrandonButch great video as always Brandon, this MacBook Air is really impressive, someone from my job just ordered the 15 inch MacBook Air M2 and I told them how great it is and how long it will last.
I own the 16 M1 Pro and the 13 Air M2. From performance side i never was feeling a difference. I am a software developer. The typing expierience is so much better on the Air. Thats why i will order a 15 Air as well.
Yeah everyone sees the specs on the mbp, but in reality less than 8% of all users can max out a m1 air and the m2 is only 10% better, but the 15” screen sells the m2 air.
Thanks for comparing screen sizes. Programmers are a going to be a big part of the audience comparing these two laptops, so it would have been even better if you could have shown the difference on how much text you could fit in one window / two windows side by side.
I got myself the 15 Air with 24GB RAM and 256 SSD, the reason why I went with the configuration is cause I use a gaming monitor as a 2nd Monitor display which can use significant energy when I have 2 windows open on an browser so that extra RAM is very useful and there is NO alternatives for extra ram while I do have a 5TB external hard drive which there is many alternatives and having a bigger screen on the MacBook Air for less then 2000 bucks is just insane value. I was thinking at a Pro version at first but just to have the 14 M2 Pro is already 2000 bucks + tax and I don’t really need the HDMI port since I already have a USB Hub, overall I love the portability of the MacBook Air 15 and upgrading it from my Intel 2020 MacBook Air is a huge Win for me!
I think MacBook Air 15inch M2 with 512gb storage and 16gb ram might just be enough even for occasional video editing and heavy tasks. Plus it is really sleek and light with a big screen now. Only someone who does animation or heavy 4k/8k rendering should choose the MacBook Pro.
Great comparison between the 15” MBA and the 14” MBP. I believe the better value is the 14” MBP once you upgrade the 15” MBA RAM to 16GB and storage to 512GB. With that said going to the Apple Store and seeing the additional screen real estate the 15” MBA provides was very noticeable and a key factor for me. That stopped me from buying the 14” MBP yesterday. I didn’t get the 15” MBA yet. Still researching but leaning more towards the Air.
Nope still keeping the 14 inch beast. Bcos that's what it is. The screen, brightness, HDR, ports, power all are worth the $. Only thing I regret is not going 32gb with the ram.
@@BrandonButch wife has the 13.3" M2 Air from last year and she does fine with it, I just couldn't make do with the LCD screen after experiencing the mini LED on the 14 inch. She'll prolly go with the 15 inch Air once it's time for her to upgrade. The blacks look too grey for my liking on the LCD panels. Especially when it comes to using LR and watching HDR content.
@@BrandonButch Why can't I have an 18" MBA? That would be my ideal size laptop. I have a 16" Lenovo Legion 7 and I still think it is too small. Since it is 16X10, it has the same footprint as a regular 16X9 15.6" laptop.
Have you seen the price of the MBA vs a refurbished MBP Personally I’d upgrade the Air to 16GB of Ram and 512GB storage and that $300 difference gets cancelled out on a refurbished 14 MBP So for me personally I think the refurbished MBP is the way to go
Well also, Amazon still has the 14” M2 MBP for $1749 brand new at base specs 16GB RAM/512GB SSD. That’s what I went with. The 15” Air looks amazing if you are comfortable with the 8/256 but once upgrading both memory and storage you’re only $50 away from the M2 Pro and nicer display (though slightly smaller). My 14” is about the same weight and smaller form factor too. I absolutely love it so far!!
I have not really known or even seen a review of the Macbook air m2 performance review when it comes to 8gb vs 16gb ram, beyond all the Cinebench tests, etc. Any real world difference between the two? I have ab 8gb M1 Air which is fast and quiet for me, even when I am doing graphic/web design and light video editing. I have nearly 30 tabs open all the time and it works fine. What am I missing by sticking with my old M1 if I can do all these tasks well, without any issue? Have we been hoodwinked to think that we always need to upgrade? That we need to keep buying. I am thinking maybe Apple's chip is just that revolutionary to make me think even just the M1 8gb is enough. I know there are actual tests that show how some videos take time to process when one is using M1 vs M2 etc but that's really the only glaring difference. Please prove me wrong. I would like to be wrong in my assumptions.
The 14" MBP still seems like a better value to me coming from a late 2013 15" MBP. Its additional ports (HDMI and SDXC slot) means I only need to carry an Ethernet adapter if/when I need it. If you buy it refurbished, it's a great value.
Well yeah, if you’re a pro user the Pro will always be better. The Air is aimed at more casual users who would rarely (if ever) need an SD card slot/HDMI
If you aren't a "pro" and like to hook up your laptop to external monitors and or TV the HDMi comes in handy without having to sacrifice a USB-C slot in line with a dongle if said monitor lacks USB-C input. Plently of casual type users who have cameras such as DLSR or mirrorless and have them for hobby use. The ability to watch HDR content outside of "pro" usage which is fantastic, considering that youtube now hasHDR available content. Games with "HDR" as a graphic option looks great. 120 hz monitor which is buttery smooth. Not just for pros. Have to agree dmnddog7417, the 14inch mbp, especially the m1 is a great alternative. Got a base 14inch m1 pro with six battery cycles in mint condition including apple care for 1300 and it's a thing of beauty. The amazing thing is that I can enjoy all of it's features without being a "pro".
I love how Brandon spent 5 minutes talking about the MacBook Air's beautiful color and how it shows smudges, but didn't mention how it can double as a mirror for quick touch-ups
The display itself is a killer feature to me, the miniLED display with pro motion is gorgeous, so even for light tasks and entertainment the pro wins hands down
This is an easy pick. If you get paid to edit 8k videos all day long. Get the pro. If you edit 4k up to 3 streams and Lightroom etc. then get the air. The mba15 will last you until 2030 or until you WANT to buy the m5 air in 2026. I am still using a mbp i7 from 2016 and my m1 13” air 8gb 512gb runs circles around it for my graphics design business. Alternately…Best bang for the buck is buy an m1 refurb from apple to get you to the M3 pro chips then buy that refurb in 2024 / 2025. Then sell the m1.
Somehow this was the “boring” part of WWDC, but this was the unspoken hero of the MacBook lineup. All we need to do is get rid of the old 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Agree, I think the Air is fine for a light work/home computer, but for an “at work” laptop where you need the built-in ports for versatility, and my case, doing heavier video/graphics, the MBP is a better choice because you have more options to customize according to the need. The only downside is the cost of the build.
something is terribly off with your reasoning: 1) you won't get burnt by Macbook Air because it cannot sustain same workload 2) you won't feel the screen difference, unless you are in the bright sun 3) you won't see SSD speed difference unless you copy big files 4) the dimensions aren't really different unless you put the, side to side (this one killed me) . Do you see the pattern here? Sounds like Macbook Air is way better UNLESS you really start working on it. I have no idea why you're trying to sell us thin Air so much
to me the 14" mbp is the perfect laptop, either M1 or M2... the screen alone worth to pay the price difference and you end up with 16gb ram abd 512gb of storage.. what to ask more
hes wrong on the ram information yo dont need a ton of applications or tabs open to run up your ram, video editing in 4k will eat your ram alive, also gaming will eat your ram up very fast with only one tab open, ram is short term memory not just tabs being open and on top of that the new macbooks shares the ram moreso than regular laptops. You should definitely get the extra ram over the extra storage!!!! i repeat get the extra ram first!!! you cant change the ram once you get a macbook but you change always get extra storage later. extra ram will make the macbook be worth it in the long run when it gets old it will still run better than the same macbook with less ram. storage is the easiest thing to add on later.
macbook pro 14 inch, if you can afford it, will be the better machine in pretty much every aspect, HDMI port, added Fan for cpu and GPU, higher amount of base SSD and Ram, high refresh rate display, higher display brightness, much more powerful SOC all these for 300 hundred dollar more (compared to 512gb ssd, 16 gb ram model of macbook air)
As someone who's never had a MacBook, I kinda recently got the 14" MacBook Pro, and I'm loving it. The 16" was too much screen for me, tbh. I'll be doing video editing/photo editing so the pro definitely best suited me.
I have a question that hasn't been addressed in any of the reviews I've watched: If I plan on using the Mac for programming with extensive virtualization (docker and Parallels with Windows), which option would be better between the 15" MacBook Air with 24GB RAM and 512GB storage or the base model MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage? Both options are priced the same in Canada.
So you are wondering whether a slower computer with 8GB more RAM is better than a faster computer? Avoid buying RAM from Apple at all costs. If the base model of a SKU doesn't meet your needs, move to the next model refurbished or with educational discount.
Speaking as a web dev, I will choose the 16GB MBP if I was you. I typically use about 12gb of ram when working with jetbrains IDE + at least 2 docker container running + 1 frontend UI + a buttload of chrome/brave tabs. I also use Parallels(mainly for windows games) and 16gb is more than enough, unless you are trying to run AAA games which...has more problems than one. In the end it's up to peripherals. I use a 4k 120hz monitor and often need access to HDMI ports, so MBP made more sense instead of bringing dongles around. I also need at least 3 USB C slots due to FIDO keys and accessories so MBA doesn't make sense for me. tldr; MBA or the MBP works for development, but I would go for the faster processor MBP just for faster compilation. 16GB of ram is sufficient for web dev/docker usage.
The air will be just fine for programming if your not doing 3d game development. Even with the macbook m1 air 8gb. Now that I just program as a hobby I mostly just using json for database iterating over a few million items is under a second in javascript.
I decided to jump the gun and buy the MacBook Air 15 inch but with 24GB RAM and leave the 256GB SSD since I have an 5TB external hard drive and seems people worry too much on storage due to only 1 chip which I get but after seeing so many videos and UA-camrs doing “benchmarks” cause I don’t think I’ll see any difference in the SSD and I’m sure it can run very well with a lot of applications and especially having a gaming monitor so I don’t need a Pro MacBook, yes people will say I should have gone with the Pro but people underestimate how good the M2 Air is and it’s portability, I’d say if you love the M2 Air, go for It, just make sure to get more RAM whether it’s 16 or 24GB rather than storage
As a developer, I opt for the MBA15 due to its affordability, larger display, and superior keyboard. Most of my work relies on cognitive tasks, with the MacBook primarily used for text input. Therefore, I don't need high-end specs for my development work. If my work involved video editing, I would have gone for the MBP. Rendering and encoding demand high-performance specs, and the MBA's lack of a cooling fan makes it prone to overheating. Plus, the integrated memory is limited. However, my main focus is coding, which doesn't require such high-end hardware. Don’t be swayed by the "Pro" label. Your brain is the real Pro here.
I have Mac Book Pro from mid 2012 and works just fine, will it become obsolete soon with the OS upgrades? How much faster is the Mac Book Air than my old one? Thanks.
I love my m1 MBA 13. it is very light and plenty of screen. It is perfect for my use, (not a Pro user) and I still believe it is great for most uses and for most users. It is so much less expensive also. It also lets me catch up on Brandon's videos just fine.
Great video Brandon! I share the same sentiment as you. I much prefer the typing experience and overall form factor of the MBA. Currently using a launch MBA M2 13 inch. Look forward to the future MBA M3 15 inch.
Hi, thx for your video. What do you think? The new air is enough for Adobe apps and Ableton (music prodution)? I'm webdesigner and DJ, this two things is the important for me. Thank you :)
I have a 2021 16" MBP base model and I'm thinking about the 15" due to weight... I love everything about the MBP expect the weight. I am used to 16GB of ram and the 512GB SSD and it is a sweet spot in usability.
Got myself MacBook Air M2 8gb/512gb this November. Fantastic machine. I am not doing a lot of heavy work, just web browsing with a bit of light Programming on the side. Was having high hopes on shared memory, as well as the fact that my previous windows laptop had 8 gigs and was fine. But Macs use ram differently, so half of these 8 gigs fill up only at the start of the MacBook. Opening up more apps will make it short quick. So you will need to restart it from time to time to reset the ram. But upgrading air to 16/512, it was near the cost of base MacBook Pro 14. Will probably update to pro when M3 rolls out. Mostly because of the price/value perspective, since you do get 120hz screen, mini-oled and better speakers with pro, a nice bonus to casual web browsing. Is it a good way of thinking or for web-browsing these features are not really utilised, so 16/512 air is enough?
Okay… to elaborate:an m2 and an m2 pro run the same architecture and model: so their single cores are going to be the same. A pro (even the binned) version of the m2, just means that it has more performance cores and actively cooled, that’s why they sustain multi core for longer. Now.. the 10k vs 12.5k multi core u saw? That’s 20% more performance on the m2 pro. Yk why? Because it has 20% more performance cores… it scaled up perfectly well. Also the 14 core m2 pro has a 14.6k avg geek bench score by the way. So every benchmark checks out and scaled perfectly.
13 in screen is not enough for me to the point where I get frustrated at times. I used windows all my life and the view from the 13 in screen disappointed me. Like where is the rest of my screen at, I can't see the lower half. I'm curious to see if there are improvements in productivity with a larger screen cause I feel like there will be especially for former windows users like me.
Hi Brandon! Could you please tell me what configuration are you getting for your MacBook Air 15”?? Thank you for the amazing video. I also have MacBook Pro 14 but getting the air 15. I would really like to know your configuration!
It looks like they've used the exact same keyboard from the 13" mba & fitted it into the 15" mba. That's y there's so much space left over on either side. They changed the speaker system, they could've easily included a numpad too, that would've been really useful.
Thank for this! I don't do a any video editing, but use my pro for DJing, and now need to upgrade because of all the new technology in DJ applications.
I see the advantage for someone who is tall and their workload doesn't need the M1/M2 Pro, but someone who is 5'8 or shorter the 13-inch M2 Air was perfect. Light weight for travel, small, great battery, no fan noise, good looking Midnight blue design, and effective for mid-tier CPU use. The only other laptop that had 80% of what the 13-inch M2 offered was the HP Dragonfly G3.
5:50 wont get burned off by the fans??? thats not... how it works. Fanless makes the casing become the heatsink and not the air to actively remove heat. Im not sure i agree with you on that statement about fanless vs one with fans...
i feel like returning my 15 inch m2 air for a pro since i already spent 2k on a 1tb 16 gb m2 air BUTTT the 15 inch screen size is actually insane, it really is for the creative/mobile individual. no pro user needs 15 inches, because they work on 3 monitors. hahahaha
If you compare "Apples to Apples" you close the gap between these two to $300, and for that the MBP 14 delivers better performance, a better screen (albeit 1.2" smaller), 3xTB4, more ports (HDMI and SDXC), and dual external monitor support. YMMV, but for many users that's a good trade off for an extra 3oz in your backpack.
A question that is rarely asked : does the screen of the Macbook Pro 14 inches (or Pro 16 inches) have less reflections than the Macbook Air (13 or 15 inches) ?
I agree with the SSD upgrade over the ram upgrade. I have a M2 MBA in midnight and I upgrade the SSD to 512gb and left the ram as is. Storage was my main gripe coming from a intel Mac with 128gb. And im not the type to keep a bunch of tabs and apps open at once, but when i do i don’t see any problems on my Mac. Plus when you upgrade the SSD to 512, you get a 8 core cpu and 10 core gpu instead of 8 for both.
Don't agree when you say base models and compare it. Base model of 14 pro have more ram and ssd. If you add same on air price becomes almost similar, but with pro having more processing power and better display
More is relativ. Put 16 gig RAM and 512 gig SSD in the Air and it costs almost as much as the 14 pro and even more than a refurbished M1 14 Pro... as much as I like the 15" screen, I think they are destroying all the Airs with high memory and storage prices.
Hey brandon! So im planning to upgrade my m1 macbook air 13” to m2 air 15”, my workflow is basically a lot of web browsing and lots of tabs opened, i saw in another video that getting 512 hdd, the system will swap memory from the hdd, which will be beter? Getting 16 ram? Or keep going with the 512hdd? Thank you 👍
M1 Pro MacBook Pro vs M2 Air? For a college student (Video/photo editing as a hobby) (Battery life) (Coding) (Media consumption) (Playing minecraft - nostalgia) I would go for air but the 60Hz display on the air and better hdr on the pro is kind of a deal breaker thing. Since it has much better battery and manages to do these tasks too, so I'm confused. Edit: I will edit cinematic/ProRes HDR in 4K tho and some 8K photos too at times. Because the M2 Pro has a slower SSD on the base model, and I (probably) don’t need the performance gain on the M2 Pro over the M1 Pro I believe.
You're talking rubbish about the fans kicking in and being loud.....a much bigger difference with the speakers than you make it out to be! You don't need to do creative work to prefer a much better screen, pro motion, better speakers, smaller bezels, more ports and faster wi-fi. I don't think you're giving good advise, the air is compromised in every area that matters, except the cost of the base one, which in it self is compromised with RAM & Storage!
Brandon you seriously didn't even mention the strength of the XDR (extreme dynamic range) of the mini-LED display on the 14? One of the key strengths of the 14 pro which is a strong point for some users. Brightness and pixel count is all you addressed for 2 seconds. Important miss for a tech review during the display comparison.
A suggestion for the ease of translation: place the products in line with the chyron. In this video, they were reversed which, for me, made it hard to follow. Otherwise, solid video!
is it worth getting the m2 air 15 for $1600 or should i go for the m2 pro 14 for $1800 both having same specs: 16gb ram and 512gb ssd? thanks in advance:)
Thinking of getting a new MacBook for business, going to be running complex excel spreadsheets and a lot of different tabs as my most intensive tasks. Trying to decide between getting the 15” M2 MBA vs the 14” M2 Pro MBP. I’m leaning towards the air and i just get one upgrade, maybe RAM. Thoughts?
I tried both the 15 Air and 14 Pro - also heavy Excel user. The 15 Air will show more cells (both horizontally and vertically) than the 14 Pro. The default resolution on the Pro is 1512x982 and if you opt to have more space displayed its 1800x1169. The 15 default is 1710x1107 and more space option is 1920x1213. If you were curious its pretty close to the 16 Pro which defaults at 1728x1117. I had the 8gb 512 Air it handled office aps plus a bunch of browser tabs no problem. The 14 display is noticeably nicer than the 15 but for office work and web browsing the 15 works great. The display is plenty sharp and bright enough. I also found the 15 more comfortable to type on. I think because the 14 Pro is a little smaller and taller the keyboard deck is smaller and my wrists and palms would hang over the edge and after a while it became uncomfy to type. The 15 has a bigger deck and is thin so it seems like my hand position is better on it.
Air is a fanless, portless tablet of a laptop, and you will be reminded of it every time you do casual gaming, rendering etc. There's also a night and day difference between the screens, once you use them side by side. Pro all the way!
Worth mentioning that in SDR these laptops have exactly the same brightness. I use my Pro for photo editing, so I don’t use the XDR mode, and for me there’s literally no difference in brightness in these two
I wish they can release a Geekbench 7! And that one new feature is testing the performance during heavy workload for a longer time to try to force thermo throttling. That will show MacBook Air's true performance. That would be great! So we can compare MacBook Air and MacBook Pro even better.
![MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Pro M3 - Which Should You Buy? [2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I0YcblQpJBg/mqdefault.jpg)
![MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Pro M3 - Which Should You Buy? [2024]](/img/tr.png)
Are you gonna pick up the new 15" MacBook Air?
Bought mine from Best Buy an hour ago.
No. I have the M1 Macbook Air and I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon but would go for the Pro next time mainly for the 120 hz and XDR display
Love ❤
Midnight looks great but went with starlight again just like the light goldish side
No cause no fan no sale for me.
I'd much rather have a device that's a little more noisy and can actually keep performance up rather than a device that constatnly overheats and probably has a shorter lifespan due to it. Like what if I tried to use the damn thing on my lap??
Thanks for this. Not in the market yet, my 2019 16” base is still more than sufficient for me. I’ve grown to like the Touch Bar too minus some accidental touches here and there.
same here. It's just that it gets hot so easy even you just watch some UA-cam videos.
@@haoyuwang3243 Indeed, recall though that prior generations were even worse from mid-2016 I think until the 2019 16". Remember how many UA-camrs were praising this chassis and how much better it was. Obviously Apple silicon is way more efficient so any M-series Mac will be cooler running similar loads.
I have the same computer I really like it never had a problem with mine no need to upgrade yet...
Personally, I have the 14" mac pro for video work, and I absolutely love it, not sure what the 15" air is like but I can say for sure that the mac pro is amazing for heavy workflows.
Agreed, my 14” MBP was perfect for video editing! I just don’t need all that power in a MacBook these days since I have a Mac Studio for video work
@@BrandonButch that makes sense, I definitely wish I had the bigger screen tho, it would be nice to have a 15” pro
@@BrandonButch great video as always Brandon, this MacBook Air is really impressive, someone from my job just ordered the 15 inch MacBook Air M2 and I told them how great it is and how long it will last.
Will there be a new Mac Pro this year ?
What about the fans they spinning all the time?
I own the 16 M1 Pro and the 13 Air M2. From performance side i never was feeling a difference. I am a software developer. The typing expierience is so much better on the Air. Thats why i will order a 15 Air as well.
Yeah everyone sees the specs on the mbp, but in reality less than 8% of all users can max out a m1 air and the m2 is only 10% better, but the 15” screen sells the m2 air.
Thanks for comparing screen sizes. Programmers are a going to be a big part of the audience comparing these two laptops, so it would have been even better if you could have shown the difference on how much text you could fit in one window / two windows side by side.
I will do that in my full review, thanks
@@BrandonButch how about just make a short on it? People love to watch shorts like these. Something like what Mrwhosetheboss does.
I got myself the 15 Air with 24GB RAM and 256 SSD, the reason why I went with the configuration is cause I use a gaming monitor as a 2nd Monitor display which can use significant energy when I have 2 windows open on an browser so that extra RAM is very useful and there is NO alternatives for extra ram while I do have a 5TB external hard drive which there is many alternatives and having a bigger screen on the MacBook Air for less then 2000 bucks is just insane value. I was thinking at a Pro version at first but just to have the 14 M2 Pro is already 2000 bucks + tax and I don’t really need the HDMI port since I already have a USB Hub, overall I love the portability of the MacBook Air 15 and upgrading it from my Intel 2020 MacBook Air is a huge Win for me!
Now THIS is the comparison we wanted to watch. Thank you Brandon 🙏
This is the comparison that I've been wanting to see!
I think MacBook Air 15inch M2 with 512gb storage and 16gb ram might just be enough even for occasional video editing and heavy tasks. Plus it is really sleek and light with a big screen now.
Only someone who does animation or heavy 4k/8k rendering should choose the MacBook Pro.
Great comparison between the 15” MBA and the 14” MBP. I believe the better value is the 14” MBP once you upgrade the 15” MBA RAM to 16GB and storage to 512GB. With that said going to the Apple Store and seeing the additional screen real estate the 15” MBA provides was very noticeable and a key factor for me. That stopped me from buying the 14” MBP yesterday. I didn’t get the 15” MBA yet. Still researching but leaning more towards the Air.
Was close on getting the air until I came across the 14 inch base model for $1600
@@unknownposter2075definitely hard to pass that kind of deal up
@@unknownposter2075where did you find it for 1600
@@angdathief Microcenter. Update: Got m2 pro MacBook from there with only 2 charge cycle count for $1360 with tax calculated.
Would you recommend getting the 15" Macbook Air w/ 16GB RAM & 512SSD or getting the 14" Macbook Pro Base model?
Your review style is incredible. Have not been this impressed w/ a tech reviewer since Brownlee.
Wow thank you, I appreciate it!
lol what is impressing you?
Very comprehensive. This helped solidify my decision to get a Macbook Air. Appreciate it!!
No gimmicks no 3 month 3 month 15 days kind of videos just straight to the point that helps to choose one that is being reviewed. Thanks.
I’m not a power user but preferred the 14 pro for its size and screen resolution.
Is this still your computer? How are you enjoying it? How is typing on it for long periods?
Nope still keeping the 14 inch beast. Bcos that's what it is. The screen, brightness, HDR, ports, power all are worth the $. Only thing I regret is not going 32gb with the ram.
Def worth it if you take advantage of it. I personally don't and that's why I'll likely be selling my 14 MBP
@@BrandonButch wife has the 13.3" M2 Air from last year and she does fine with it, I just couldn't make do with the LCD screen after experiencing the mini LED on the 14 inch. She'll prolly go with the 15 inch Air once it's time for her to upgrade. The blacks look too grey for my liking on the LCD panels. Especially when it comes to using LR and watching HDR content.
@@BrandonButch Why can't I have an 18" MBA? That would be my ideal size laptop. I have a 16" Lenovo Legion 7 and I still think it is too small. Since it is 16X10, it has the same footprint as a regular 16X9 15.6" laptop.
Have you seen the price of the MBA vs a refurbished MBP
Personally I’d upgrade the Air to 16GB of Ram and 512GB storage and that $300 difference gets cancelled out on a refurbished 14 MBP
So for me personally I think the refurbished MBP is the way to go
Right. Why in the world he’s not comparing this to a used 14 inch MacBook Pro is ridiculous. The entire video is useless unless he does that.
Well also, Amazon still has the 14” M2 MBP for $1749 brand new at base specs 16GB RAM/512GB SSD. That’s what I went with. The 15” Air looks amazing if you are comfortable with the 8/256 but once upgrading both memory and storage you’re only $50 away from the M2 Pro and nicer display (though slightly smaller). My 14” is about the same weight and smaller form factor too. I absolutely love it so far!!
@@kdupuis77 did the exact same thing. $1750 m2 14’ pro from Costco
@@kdupuis77 the m1 mbp is only $1350 refurbished though.
What about THAT one?
$1350 is way better than $1750!
I have not really known or even seen a review of the Macbook air m2 performance review when it comes to 8gb vs 16gb ram, beyond all the Cinebench tests, etc. Any real world difference between the two? I have ab 8gb M1 Air which is fast and quiet for me, even when I am doing graphic/web design and light video editing. I have nearly 30 tabs open all the time and it works fine. What am I missing by sticking with my old M1 if I can do all these tasks well, without any issue? Have we been hoodwinked to think that we always need to upgrade? That we need to keep buying. I am thinking maybe Apple's chip is just that revolutionary to make me think even just the M1 8gb is enough. I know there are actual tests that show how some videos take time to process when one is using M1 vs M2 etc but that's really the only glaring difference. Please prove me wrong. I would like to be wrong in my assumptions.
The 14" MBP still seems like a better value to me coming from a late 2013 15" MBP. Its additional ports (HDMI and SDXC slot) means I only need to carry an Ethernet adapter if/when I need it. If you buy it refurbished, it's a great value.
Well yeah, if you’re a pro user the Pro will always be better. The Air is aimed at more casual users who would rarely (if ever) need an SD card slot/HDMI
@@BrandonButch Wait how do I hook up an Air to my 4K monitor without HDMI?
If you aren't a "pro" and like to hook up your laptop to external monitors and or TV the HDMi comes in handy without having to sacrifice a USB-C slot in line with a dongle if said monitor lacks USB-C input. Plently of casual type users who have cameras such as DLSR or mirrorless and have them for hobby use. The ability to watch HDR content outside of "pro" usage which is fantastic, considering that youtube now hasHDR available content. Games with "HDR" as a graphic option looks great. 120 hz monitor which is buttery smooth. Not just for pros.
Have to agree dmnddog7417, the 14inch mbp, especially the m1 is a great alternative. Got a base 14inch m1 pro with six battery cycles in mint condition including apple care for 1300 and it's a thing of beauty. The amazing thing is that I can enjoy all of it's features without being a "pro".
I love how Brandon spent 5 minutes talking about the MacBook Air's beautiful color and how it shows smudges, but didn't mention how it can double as a mirror for quick touch-ups
Well he’s a guy 😂
Me: I just want a 15 inch Macbook Pro.
Apple:
I need to external display on the air😂
The display itself is a killer feature to me, the miniLED display with pro motion is gorgeous, so even for light tasks and entertainment the pro wins hands down
Agreed. I bought a used M1P MBP 14” for 200 dollars less than a new 15” Air
If the Air had 16GB/512GB, it would cost 600 dollars MORE here.
BB looks like he is filming in a bunker 😂😂
MBA15 with 16gb and 512gb upgrades vs base MBP14 would be awesome review. Tossing up between them. $2799 vs $3199 respectively in Australia
In the same position 😂
This is an easy pick. If you get paid to edit 8k videos all day long. Get the pro. If you edit 4k up to 3 streams and Lightroom etc. then get the air. The mba15 will last you until 2030 or until you WANT to buy the m5 air in 2026.
I am still using a mbp i7 from 2016 and my m1 13” air 8gb 512gb runs circles around it for my graphics design business.
Alternately…Best bang for the buck is buy an m1 refurb from apple to get you to the M3 pro chips then buy that refurb in 2024 / 2025. Then sell the m1.
I have the 14 inch Pro for video work, or otherwise I would consider the Air 15 inch. Nice review and comparison video, thanks for sharing.
Thanks, the best straight forward comparison b/w MacAir and MacPro so far.
Somehow this was the “boring” part of WWDC, but this was the unspoken hero of the MacBook lineup. All we need to do is get rid of the old 13-inch MacBook Pro.
I'm with ya!
We need the same macbookPRO screen specs on the studio display!
Agree, I think the Air is fine for a light work/home computer, but for an “at work” laptop where you need the built-in ports for versatility, and my case, doing heavier video/graphics, the MBP is a better choice because you have more options to customize according to the need. The only downside is the cost of the build.
something is terribly off with your reasoning: 1) you won't get burnt by Macbook Air because it cannot sustain same workload 2) you won't feel the screen difference, unless you are in the bright sun 3) you won't see SSD speed difference unless you copy big files 4) the dimensions aren't really different unless you put the, side to side (this one killed me) . Do you see the pattern here? Sounds like Macbook Air is way better UNLESS you really start working on it. I have no idea why you're trying to sell us thin Air so much
Thanks, i was looking for a side by side size comparison.
to me the 14" mbp is the perfect laptop, either M1 or M2... the screen alone worth to pay the price difference and you end up with 16gb ram abd 512gb of storage.. what to ask more
hes wrong on the ram information yo dont need a ton of applications or tabs open to run up your ram, video editing in 4k will eat your ram alive, also gaming will eat your ram up very fast with only one tab open, ram is short term memory not just tabs being open and on top of that the new macbooks shares the ram moreso than regular laptops. You should definitely get the extra ram over the extra storage!!!! i repeat get the extra ram first!!! you cant change the ram once you get a macbook but you change always get extra storage later. extra ram will make the macbook be worth it in the long run when it gets old it will still run better than the same macbook with less ram. storage is the easiest thing to add on later.
macbook pro 14 inch, if you can afford it, will be the better machine in pretty much every aspect, HDMI port, added Fan for cpu and GPU, higher amount of base SSD and Ram, high refresh rate display, higher display brightness, much more powerful SOC all these for 300 hundred dollar more (compared to 512gb ssd, 16 gb ram model of macbook air)
Black is Beautiful 🥶
Love your videos
As someone who's never had a MacBook, I kinda recently got the 14" MacBook Pro, and I'm loving it. The 16" was too much screen for me, tbh. I'll be doing video editing/photo editing so the pro definitely best suited me.
I have a question that hasn't been addressed in any of the reviews I've watched: If I plan on using the Mac for programming with extensive virtualization (docker and Parallels with Windows), which option would be better between the 15" MacBook Air with 24GB RAM and 512GB storage or the base model MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage? Both options are priced the same in Canada.
The Pro
So you are wondering whether a slower computer with 8GB more RAM is better than a faster computer? Avoid buying RAM from Apple at all costs. If the base model of a SKU doesn't meet your needs, move to the next model refurbished or with educational discount.
Speaking as a web dev, I will choose the 16GB MBP if I was you. I typically use about 12gb of ram when working with jetbrains IDE + at least 2 docker container running + 1 frontend UI + a buttload of chrome/brave tabs. I also use Parallels(mainly for windows games) and 16gb is more than enough, unless you are trying to run AAA games which...has more problems than one.
In the end it's up to peripherals. I use a 4k 120hz monitor and often need access to HDMI ports, so MBP made more sense instead of bringing dongles around. I also need at least 3 USB C slots due to FIDO keys and accessories so MBA doesn't make sense for me.
tldr; MBA or the MBP works for development, but I would go for the faster processor MBP just for faster compilation. 16GB of ram is sufficient for web dev/docker usage.
The air will be just fine for programming if your not doing 3d game development. Even with the macbook m1 air 8gb. Now that I just program as a hobby I mostly just using json for database iterating over a few million items is under a second in javascript.
I decided to jump the gun and buy the MacBook Air 15 inch but with 24GB RAM and leave the 256GB SSD since I have an 5TB external hard drive and seems people worry too much on storage due to only 1 chip which I get but after seeing so many videos and UA-camrs doing “benchmarks” cause I don’t think I’ll see any difference in the SSD and I’m sure it can run very well with a lot of applications and especially having a gaming monitor so I don’t need a Pro MacBook, yes people will say I should have gone with the Pro but people underestimate how good the M2 Air is and it’s portability, I’d say if you love the M2 Air, go for It, just make sure to get more RAM whether it’s 16 or 24GB rather than storage
If you start upgrading that air, it makes sense just to get the 14" Pro
No because of confort experience
As a developer, I opt for the MBA15 due to its affordability, larger display, and superior keyboard. Most of my work relies on cognitive tasks, with the MacBook primarily used for text input. Therefore, I don't need high-end specs for my development work. If my work involved video editing, I would have gone for the MBP. Rendering and encoding demand high-performance specs, and the MBA's lack of a cooling fan makes it prone to overheating. Plus, the integrated memory is limited. However, my main focus is coding, which doesn't require such high-end hardware. Don’t be swayed by the "Pro" label. Your brain is the real Pro here.
I have Mac Book Pro from mid 2012 and works just fine, will it become obsolete soon with the OS upgrades? How much faster is the Mac Book Air than my old one? Thanks.
The 14" pro is available for $1750 online from BH vs the 15" air with the same ram and storage for $1699
I love my m1 MBA 13. it is very light and plenty of screen. It is perfect for my use, (not a Pro user) and I still believe it is great for most uses and for most users. It is so much less expensive also. It also lets me catch up on Brandon's videos just fine.
I’ve got the 13” M2 air and I think I’m gonna keep this for many many years. 15” is kinda cool looking without the speaker grills on the side.
I've got the 13' M1 - the best design. No notch, no ugly "legs' (or how is it called?). The performance is great
Very helpful ty
Great honest review! Thank you
Even for super casual users pro MacBooks are so much better trust me
💯
Great video Brandon! I share the same sentiment as you. I much prefer the typing experience and overall form factor of the MBA. Currently using a launch MBA M2 13 inch. Look forward to the future MBA M3 15 inch.
Should I pay for laptop without touch screen?
Touch screens aren’t needed on macs.
@@davidjacobs6244lol wait until apple makes a touchscreen Mac …
@@Toyota4Life They won’t, and I certainly wouldn’t buy it if they did.Who wants yucky fingerprints all over their computer screen? 🤮
Hi, thx for your video. What do you think? The new air is enough for Adobe apps and Ableton (music prodution)? I'm webdesigner and DJ, this two things is the important for me. Thank you :)
In terms of heating it is actually the opposite - LOL. Fans will move hot air away from machine - tested many time during constant & high workload...
I have a 2021 16" MBP base model and I'm thinking about the 15" due to weight... I love everything about the MBP expect the weight. I am used to 16GB of ram and the 512GB SSD and it is a sweet spot in usability.
Got myself MacBook Air M2 8gb/512gb this November. Fantastic machine. I am not doing a lot of heavy work, just web browsing with a bit of light Programming on the side. Was having high hopes on shared memory, as well as the fact that my previous windows laptop had 8 gigs and was fine. But Macs use ram differently, so half of these 8 gigs fill up only at the start of the MacBook. Opening up more apps will make it short quick. So you will need to restart it from time to time to reset the ram. But upgrading air to 16/512, it was near the cost of base MacBook Pro 14. Will probably update to pro when M3 rolls out. Mostly because of the price/value perspective, since you do get 120hz screen, mini-oled and better speakers with pro, a nice bonus to casual web browsing. Is it a good way of thinking or for web-browsing these features are not really utilised, so 16/512 air is enough?
Why would you compare a base model MBA vs a MBP? Its no contest…..
You got the money to pay him to upgrade it?
Okay… to elaborate:an m2 and an m2 pro run the same architecture and model: so their single cores are going to be the same. A pro (even the binned) version of the m2, just means that it has more performance cores and actively cooled, that’s why they sustain multi core for longer. Now.. the 10k vs 12.5k multi core u saw? That’s 20% more performance on the m2 pro. Yk why? Because it has 20% more performance cores… it scaled up perfectly well. Also the 14 core m2 pro has a 14.6k avg geek bench score by the way. So every benchmark checks out and scaled perfectly.
Every UA-cam reviewer ever…”The newest is my preferred device. Forget what I said on the last review”.
Ha. So true. They probably paid by Apple.
13 in screen is not enough for me to the point where I get frustrated at times. I used windows all my life and the view from the 13 in screen disappointed me. Like where is the rest of my screen at, I can't see the lower half. I'm curious to see if there are improvements in productivity with a larger screen cause I feel like there will be especially for former windows users like me.
Hi Brandon! Could you please tell me what configuration are you getting for your MacBook Air 15”??
Thank you for the amazing video. I also have MacBook Pro 14 but getting the air 15.
I would really like to know your configuration!
My old M1 Air is still going strong. It’s not my main machine so I feel I can get another year (maybe more!) out of it
It looks like they've used the exact same keyboard from the 13" mba & fitted it into the 15" mba. That's y there's so much space left over on either side. They changed the speaker system, they could've easily included a numpad too, that would've been really useful.
the audio difference is huge but I don't care about how a laptop sounds, listen music on a laptop speakers is a joke
I really appreciate the video. Just bought the M2 Pro and was debating whether I should exchange it for the 15-Inch Air.
worth the upgrade from M1 2020 MacBook Air?
I definitely think so for the display size, GPU & speakers
Thanks for the sharing. i think pro really for the professional. Just like the intel ultra book for entertainment and light work air is best.
Thank for this! I don't do a any video editing, but use my pro for DJing, and now need to upgrade because of all the new technology in DJ applications.
I see the advantage for someone who is tall and their workload doesn't need the M1/M2 Pro, but someone who is 5'8 or shorter the 13-inch M2 Air was perfect. Light weight for travel, small, great battery, no fan noise, good looking Midnight blue design, and effective for mid-tier CPU use. The only other laptop that had 80% of what the 13-inch M2 offered was the HP Dragonfly G3.
as far as i know 15inch not available for dual monitor screen, is that true?
Correct.
5:50 wont get burned off by the fans??? thats not... how it works. Fanless makes the casing become the heatsink and not the air to actively remove heat. Im not sure i agree with you on that statement about fanless vs one with fans...
i feel like returning my 15 inch m2 air for a pro since i already spent 2k on a 1tb 16 gb m2 air BUTTT the 15 inch screen size is actually insane, it really is for the creative/mobile individual. no pro user needs 15 inches, because they work on 3 monitors. hahahaha
Hmm would a base 15” MacBook Air be sufficient for running multiple docker containers and programming tasks?
I got the 15” coming tomorrow, I got the max, 24 gb ram and 2 tb storage, and I don’t do a whole lot with it. I am regretting my decision now
You should. You just paid 10x the market price for ram and storage. Unlucky.
😂😂😂 wow
you get 14 days to return and replace, go! you have 3 left!
@@Saneec I already returned it, but thanks!
16gb and 512gb is enough bro !
*That midnight color looks so gross with all the smudges sheesh. I've always advised everyone to steer clear of that color!*
If you compare "Apples to Apples" you close the gap between these two to $300, and for that the MBP 14 delivers better performance, a better screen (albeit 1.2" smaller), 3xTB4, more ports (HDMI and SDXC), and dual external monitor support. YMMV, but for many users that's a good trade off for an extra 3oz in your backpack.
A question that is rarely asked : does the screen of the Macbook Pro 14 inches (or Pro 16 inches) have less reflections than the Macbook Air (13 or 15 inches) ?
That would interest me too
I agree with the SSD upgrade over the ram upgrade. I have a M2 MBA in midnight and I upgrade the SSD to 512gb and left the ram as is. Storage was my main gripe coming from a intel Mac with 128gb. And im not the type to keep a bunch of tabs and apps open at once, but when i do i don’t see any problems on my Mac. Plus when you upgrade the SSD to 512, you get a 8 core cpu and 10 core gpu instead of 8 for both.
The 15" MBA has 8 core cpu and 10 core GPU in all configurations.
@@michaelstoeckel2954 true, but the 13” doesn’t.
9:30, you can hold Option when clicking WiFi icon on the top taskbar to see info about connection and check why it's slower.
Don't agree when you say base models and compare it. Base model of 14 pro have more ram and ssd. If you add same on air price becomes almost similar, but with pro having more processing power and better display
I like to add: buy a second hand. Or a model of last year.
More is relativ. Put 16 gig RAM and 512 gig SSD in the Air and it costs almost as much as the 14 pro and even more than a refurbished M1 14 Pro... as much as I like the 15" screen, I think they are destroying all the Airs with high memory and storage prices.
I just got the 15” MBA 16/512. I just got 600-800MBS with my T-mobile home internet. It might be your connection for why your speeds were slower.
Hey brandon! So im planning to upgrade my m1 macbook air 13” to m2 air 15”, my workflow is basically a lot of web browsing and lots of tabs opened, i saw in another video that getting 512 hdd, the system will swap memory from the hdd, which will be beter? Getting 16 ram? Or keep going with the 512hdd? Thank you 👍
Great Video.. Christopher Nolan's son👍
M1 Pro MacBook Pro vs M2 Air?
For a college student
(Video/photo editing as a hobby)
(Battery life)
(Coding)
(Media consumption)
(Playing minecraft - nostalgia)
I would go for air but the 60Hz display on the air and better hdr on the pro is kind of a deal breaker thing.
Since it has much better battery and manages to do these tasks too, so I'm confused.
Edit: I will edit cinematic/ProRes HDR in 4K tho and some 8K photos too at times.
Because the M2 Pro has a slower SSD on the base model, and I (probably) don’t need the performance gain on the M2 Pro over the M1 Pro I believe.
m1 macbook pro is now cheaper than 15 Air. and with 16GB ram and 512GB disk.
bargin. i bought mine for 2,220 with 1tb and 16gb ram
better battery life too being 3 years old. I would imagine with the M2 and newer technology it would have better battery life
You're talking rubbish about the fans kicking in and being loud.....a much bigger difference with the speakers than you make it out to be!
You don't need to do creative work to prefer a much better screen, pro motion, better speakers, smaller bezels, more ports and faster wi-fi.
I don't think you're giving good advise, the air is compromised in every area that matters, except the cost of the base one, which in it self is compromised with RAM & Storage!
Brandon you seriously didn't even mention the strength of the XDR (extreme dynamic range) of the mini-LED display on the 14? One of the key strengths of the 14 pro which is a strong point for some users. Brightness and pixel count is all you addressed for 2 seconds. Important miss for a tech review during the display comparison.
Thanks Greatly appreciate
A suggestion for the ease of translation: place the products in line with the chyron. In this video, they were reversed which, for me, made it hard to follow. Otherwise, solid video!
With the screen real-estate comparison @ 9:50 was the setting the same (i.e. "more space") in Display settings?
is it worth getting the m2 air 15 for $1600 or should i go for the m2 pro 14 for $1800 both having same specs: 16gb ram and 512gb ssd? thanks in advance:)
Thinking of getting a new MacBook for business, going to be running complex excel spreadsheets and a lot of different tabs as my most intensive tasks. Trying to decide between getting the 15” M2 MBA vs the 14” M2 Pro MBP. I’m leaning towards the air and i just get one upgrade, maybe RAM. Thoughts?
I’m in same situation 😢
Thinking of MBP 14” is better for long term
I tried both the 15 Air and 14 Pro - also heavy Excel user. The 15 Air will show more cells (both horizontally and vertically) than the 14 Pro. The default resolution on the Pro is 1512x982 and if you opt to have more space displayed its 1800x1169. The 15 default is 1710x1107 and more space option is 1920x1213. If you were curious its pretty close to the 16 Pro which defaults at 1728x1117. I had the 8gb 512 Air it handled office aps plus a bunch of browser tabs no problem. The 14 display is noticeably nicer than the 15 but for office work and web browsing the 15 works great. The display is plenty sharp and bright enough. I also found the 15 more comfortable to type on. I think because the 14 Pro is a little smaller and taller the keyboard deck is smaller and my wrists and palms would hang over the edge and after a while it became uncomfy to type. The 15 has a bigger deck and is thin so it seems like my hand position is better on it.
Can any sysadmins (Windows, Linux etc…) chime in? Is the air sufficient or is a MBPro needed? 🙏🏻
Could you do a comparison between the 16 inch pro and 15 inch air? I'm currently debating between those 2 for an upgrade to my 2018 15 inch pro
Which computer makes better sound for videos on UA-cam? I really like the speakers on the MacBook Pro. Thoughts anyone?
Air is a fanless, portless tablet of a laptop, and you will be reminded of it every time you do casual gaming, rendering etc. There's also a night and day difference between the screens, once you use them side by side. Pro all the way!
Worth mentioning that in SDR these laptops have exactly the same brightness. I use my Pro for photo editing, so I don’t use the XDR mode, and for me there’s literally no difference in brightness in these two
I wish they can release a Geekbench 7! And that one new feature is testing the performance during heavy workload for a longer time to try to force thermo throttling. That will show MacBook Air's true performance.
That would be great! So we can compare MacBook Air and MacBook Pro even better.
May I know which brand of your Apple Watch ultra band? Thanks🙏🏻
Excellent thank
Do u do iPadOS too