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Apple needs to lower RAM and storage upgrade prices. My dream 15 inch Air costs 2.250 EUR in Germany. I can almost get a MBP 16" for that with the same specs.
It’s a business tactic. They can easily upsell you on a more expensive device if you tell yourself that for a few more hundred dollars you can have the next tier machine.
That’s y I ended up buying a second hand 13” 10 gpu, 512gb, 16gb for 1300 and still under warranty. Couldn’t excuse myself the 2000€ cause I could have got the M1 Pro 14” for 1450 ca. But this time I wanted something light to transport. The 15” one would have been great but being new no way to grab a second hand occasion.
The 15" MacBook air is going to be very popular for corporate and education customers. The regular M2 is more than enough power for most corporate professionals, faculty, staff, and students but the larger display will make doing things in MS office, photoshop, and google chrome much better for most users. It's still remarkably thin and light for a 15" laptop.
I start laughing when Apple brags about thin laptops, since I believe more thinness is going to make the laptop less functional since there's less space for specs inside.
@@languist Apple is not interested in building a computer with upgradable RAM, SSDS, and discrete graphics cards. There are companies who are and if you need any of those things you already know that a MacBook air is not for you. For the tasks that the SOC is specifically designed to perform, it is extremely impressive. The objectively superior battery life compared to its windows alternatives also makes the Air a great buy for a lot of people. The purpose of a computer like the MBA is not to compete with proper gaming laptops or even higher end productivity laptops from Lenovo, Dell, or HP. The thinness of the device is a feature for the target audience.
There’s one Mac that you guys failed to mention that I think beats out all of the Macs you mentioned in terms of value which is the M1 Pro 14” MBP. You can find the base model of that Mac for as low as $1500 refurbished, and even lower if you look further into the used market. Sure, you’re not getting it new compared to the Macs you compared in this video. But refurbished Macs are still very reliable in my experience. Also, the M1 Pro MBP comes with nearly all of the features of the M2 Pro MBP, better performance than the 15” MBA for a price that’s not much more than the MBA. So in my opinion, if you can find an M1 Pro 14” MBP, I say go for that over 15” MBA.
I used to think like you, but after months of keeping my 13 I’ll be getting an air 15 16gb and 512, refurbished instead of a 14 pro base m2, both with a 10% discount to me makes more sense because: 1. I want to be able to watch more stuff in the screen when i’m mobile, the 14 feels like a 13 even if it’s a beautiful spreadsheet with better greens and whites.😅 2. I want better battery life 3. I want a larger trackpad 4. If I wanted top notch sound at home, i’ll just link it to a external speaker that even a pro 16 won’t match, i won’t be able to use the amazing speakers of the pro in public unless ppl around you ask you to. Instead most of us would be using head/earphones. 5. If I want a better screen for multimedia consumption at home, i’ll go to my tv. Or watch in a 12.9 ipad pro (plus touch) in the bed and would be less weight whatsoever. 6. I feel the pro is for someone who actually works in editing videos and that kind of stuff that requires power, which in that case it would only be for mobile (or you plan to have a single laptop at home that handles everything, not have a mini, studio or mini pro) bc you can buy a studio at a discount too and you could throw everything at it and get better results, so a pro for someone that does office work most of the time is overkill in terms of power and you’ll be losing battery and screen size when mobile, plus the air won’t crash or fail miserably if you occasionally put it through some paces. 7. Typing on the air is less tiring because your wrists are lower. 8. it’s cheaper, $1295 for the 16/512 directly from apple (I won’t buy somewhere else) it is inconvenient to carry a hub, but an anker with more than you need is $25, you’ll transfer what you need and store it. 9. gaming… on my ps. Weird thing, I like the 14 pro more, hell, even the 16, but they don’t have the sweet spot of portability as the air. And a laptop is that. Some ppl don’t like to carry that brick everywhere. Give me a pro 15 with better battery life and not so heavy and i’ll take it.
Me too - the 14” M1 with 16gb Ram & 512 SSD @ 3.5 pounds, is cheaper with Mitch better specs, then the 15” MBAir with same specs @ 3.3 pounds. I love the Air, but now that it’s no longer tapered thin, it’s too close to the Pro thickness, without the added Pro benefits. I get it - but 16gb Ram & 512 SSD on Apple Silicon has been my standard choice, which pushes the 15” into Pro territory as Max Tech outlines - so the M1 Pro is the way to go!
I have the 14” M1 Pro. I might grab the 15” Air since I like working with a bigger screen, I don’t have the fan though, it’ll be a problem while video editing. It’ll be great for everything else though.
For most people who just do some adobe suite, watching Netflix and Hulu, RU-vid, emails, web surfing, and web based services (for work) or personal. The M2 Air 15 inch is the way to go. Just upgrade to 16gb ram, external hard drive and done.
they’re assholes but it is true that the ssds on those things are fast like hell so on “not for professional” machines like the air 8 gigs using a lot of swap is alright, it will run perfectly
I don't disagree with you there, however, just point this out that for the 14" and 16" MBPs they do have a standard 16GB of unified memory which can go to 32GB with the Max chip configuration. For what you're talking about with the MBA models, I do agree that 8GB is a small amount. That's what my old 13in 2012 MBP has, LOL!
@@fitzman7 You can't beat the longevity of the OG unibody MBPs. I've got the exact same model still going strong as a media server. I wish they'd spend some r&d dollars into figuring out a way to have user replaceable RAM. Maybe right to repair legislation could force it.
Agreed! Even for a vanilla laptop with good security and an Operating system, you still use up to 4GB. That means 4 GB to use anything else before swapping disk starts to happen. With 16GB in total, you have 12GB of memory. For RAM heavy apps or browsers, you may need 24-32GB of RAM. Especially if you use Google Chrome, Adobe, Android studio, IntelliJ, and/or Visual Studio Community.
@@akin242002one point you are not considering at all is the RAM management of MacBooks. I use both Windows and MacOS on a daily basis as a professional developer and video master. For windows even when you have 32gb of RAM, it still loses to a tiny 8gb RAM MacBook. And it is a business here. Why would Apple bother adding more RAM when 99% of the people will not use it, or understand it or even notice the difference? They will save the buck of course.
The one thing that'll probably push me to the 14/16 MBP is the support for multiple external displays. Once the MBA line can support two external displays again (the Intel ones did!) I can step down to an MBA.
Just get the 13inch if you like the 13inch form factor and get the 15inch if you like bigger laptops. They’re literally the same. Still love the 13&14inch size and portability.
You just HAD to get the dig in on the base model Airs at the end. 😆 I've had the base 13" M2 Air since launch and I can tell you that it requires VERY heavy work loads to see any slow down in performance. In fact, I've never had it slow down or heat up on me at all. I regularly have 5-6 apps open at a time. That would include apps like Photoshop and audio editing software. It handles all that like a champ. Unless you are doing really high end pro work for extended periods of time, the base M2 Air (13" or 15") will work great for you.
Solid buyer’s guide video MaxTech team! My daughter has the 13” MBAir for college which is think is the perfect size for students always on the go then connect to an external monitor at home. Since I rarely connect to an external monitor the 15” is my choice. I’m not a heavy power user, so any M1 M2 would have plenty of ceiling for me.
I had an Intel 15” MBPro and thought it was the perfect size til I had to lug it around from meeting to meeting. The new 15” MacBook Air is now the best combination of size and portability at a reasonable price.
I bought a 16" MacBook pro primarily for the larger display but am now seriously considering selling it and getting the 15" MBA to save the weight in my bag. The fact that it is more than a pound lighter makes a big difference when carrying the computer around campus going from meeting to meeting.
@@heirtothethrone000 The 16” MacBook Pro weighs 4.7 pounds which is a very noticeable difference. If you don’t need the extra power and features of the “pro” computer but want a larger display for writing emails, working on spreadsheets, managing google docs and other types of productive tasks then 15” Air is just about the perfect Mac.
@@heirtothethrone000 sorry for not explaining that it was the 15 inch MacBook Pro from 2016 and that thing was at least 4 pounds. Was it the end of the world to carry a 4 pound laptop? Not really, but this new MacBook Air is and should feel significantly lighter throughout the day.
I guess if you’re planning to max the RAM of the MBA15 and both being 512gb SSD then it’ll be 16gb vs 24gb, fan vs fanless, faster CPU+GPU vs not as fast, 14” vs 15” and longer battery life, Pro Display XDR vs Liquid Retina
I have the 16 inch 4.7 pound behemoth M1 MacBook pro, this thing is now a permanent desktop. 2.7 ponds sound a lot better! But I think I will go for the tiny old M1 13” is the way to go for me anyway…
I just got the 15” air. I upgraded the internals. I’m really excited. My last MacBook was from 2013 and it bricked on me lol. Needless to say I’m so stoked for this new model
Great video guys! I’ve returned my 13 inch Air for the 15” actually. I only just got that 13” and I felt like the 15” is better bang for the buck. And of course, I didn’t buy the base model after watching you guys’ videos exposing the SSD issues!
Currently, on the Australian Apple Website, a 15” M2 MacBook Air (New) and a 16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro (Refurbished), both with 16gb Ram and 512 SSD, are the same price. I think this would make an interesting comparison video for people looking for a bigger screen laptop.
The whole point of the MacBook Air is portability, so even though it is thin, it has almost the same footprint as the 16" MacBook Pro, which kind of makes the 15" Air a bit awkward. The moment you spec it up it also gets very close to the superior base 14" MacBook Pro that has a smaller footprint and a better display.
My work gave me a 16” 2019 Intel MacBook Pro, and my personal Mac is a 2020 M1 Air. I’m very interested in how this new 15” Air compares to both of them, especially in terms of weight, as the 16” Intel Pro is a bit of a beast.
The M2 Pro numbers look so good it is a matter of holding out for the M3 Pro which should be the biggest upgrade from previous processor we have seen since going Intel i7 to M1 Pro. So, the option for me is to wait until 2024 when the M3 Pro comes out.
Ordered a 15inch. I just wanted a larger screen that wasn't crazy expensive. My eyes aren't what they used to be. Apple knows it's customers are aging.
I’m torn between the MacBook Air 15 or the MacBook Pro 14. I just do general productivity work, research papers, etc. however that IO and better screen seem so nice. Plus the nicer screen. I’d upgrade the storage and Ram to the baseline Mac Pro anyway.
Unless you're typing your research papers in full sunlight, would the brighter screen make much of a difference for you? And what will you need to plug in?
Great video!! But beware people on Amazon buying electronics. IF you decide to return your refund will take forever! Also they have never refunded me still or paid my Discover card for an M1 macbook 14 inch I bought. Will keep you posted. Do love your reviews though and look forward to more.
$100 for better screen, charger, performance, Pro CPU/GPU, speakers, and ports on both sides. It’s a total no brainer, don’t get the MBA, it’s just not worth it.
I am not expecting huge differences, as long as pro models exist. They have to lower most of specs on AIR, like memory, hard disc, screen quality, no fans etc. For me as heavy user, it is always better solution to grab older generation mac book pro 14' in discount.
If you compare MBA13 and 15 with same specs that is good... 8 cores CPU 10 cores GPU 16 GB RAM 512 GB SSD 70 watt charger 13 inch = 1599 US dollar 15 inch = 1699 US dollar It's just 100 dollar difference. MBP14 M2 Pro with the fast charger upgrade (96 watts, 20 dollar extra) makes 2019 US dollar. It's 320 dollar more expensive than a so equal speced MBA15 as you can get. In my eyes the MAIN difference between Air and Pro is that Pro is the better option for "heavy workload for a longer time and for an entire workday". Air can also do some heavy workload but for a shorter time. For average users the good thing about MBP14 (and 16) is the better-quality display plus the HDMI port and the SDXC card slot. That's not "pro ports". You will need SD card slot if you wanna replace SD card in your Nintendo 3DS and transfer the content from the SD card to the new SD card. There's so many ways you can use the SD card slot in a consumer perspective. The HDMI port is great for an external display - great for both consumers and pro users. True pro users should probably buy MBP14/16 with at least 32 GB RAM and you can't get that with MBA. It's impossible to recommend "this or that" MacBook to everybody. If you love or need the ports then go for MBP14 (or 16). Otherwise go for MBA if you're not "that pro user". But even if you're not a pro user you might wanna have 16 GB RAM and at least 512 GB SSD especially if you might wanna use MBA for a couple of years. But it's interesting that the price gap between 13,6 and 15,3 inch MBA is that small ("same spec")! Maybe that shows that Apple got a bigger profit margin on the 13,6" model? And they keep selling MBA M1 at 999 so they can sell MBA13 M2 at a higher price?
Exactly! That's so true! But that's only for the real MBP that's 14-16 inches. The "forgotten" 13-inch MBP can only support 1 external display. Important to think about if you wanna have external displays :)
After advice, I’ve a MacBook Air 2019 still works perfectly should I upgrade to the m2 air? I’m not a heavy user, just use it for bookkeeping, email etc.
It's a bit problematic to buy the 15" MacBook Air here in Norway, since it costs 19490 NOK (1950 USD) after tax. Instead I bought a 13" M1 MacBook Air for 7600 NOK (760 USD) second hand.
To be honest I don’t care at all about the new 15” MacBook Air, is too big, I like compact and light laptops so for me is either the 2020 MacBook Air or the new 13” hands down .
I think at this point we need to stop recommending the M1 MBA. The M2 MBA is offered as low as $999. $200 more for a refreshed design, magsafe, larger screen, faster performance, and the Midnight color option. That's worth it.
I was worried I jumped the line getting a 16 inch a year ago used for 2300$ Canadian with 1tb memory. I have the worst luck and a month later rumours started of the 15 inch. But for 16gb ram and same memory with tax it’s close to 3000$ canandian and the air doesn’t have the better screen so I made the right decision.
I am looking at a 14 inch M1 Pro because I don't want to pay too much for extra speakers, better chipset, better display, and 120 hz most of all. I need louder speakers than my m2 air, and I need a better display and chipset because I am trying to take advantage of the new game mode and new games coming out on the Mac.
Just my luck... I bought an MBP 13 inch last October and at that time I was badly wishing that there was an 15 inch air option. And the thing finally comes out now! If I'd have known I would have held out on the purchase. And I'm complaining about this because I live in a country where returns or Apple trade in is non existent.
@MaxTechOfficial - I have a video topic I've been looking for someone to make/cover, but haven't seen anywhere. I am a gamerdad - have played games since childhood and have built my own PCs for a long time. With the rising costs of desktop gaming hardware (specifically GPUs), I have decided that I will stick to current-gen consoles and switch up to a laptop. I have always loved the Apple ecosystem, but having one of their computers never made sense for me given my ability to build a gaming desktop, etc. Now that I've decided to make this change, my problem is knowing where to begin in terms of switching to a Macbook that will give me a similar-to-better experience in terms of speed and multitasking, just minus the gaming. For reference - I currently run an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X @ 4.20GHz and 32GB of RAM. I know that the hardware specs do not translate 1:1 in terms of "real world" usage, and I worry that if I choose incorrectly, I could feel like I've downgraded moreso than given myself a lateral/upgraded portable computing experience. Would be great to find someone who could help someone like me decide where I should begin looking if I want to make the transition from Windows "gaming" desktop to a current-gen Macbook. Hoping you see this - thank you!
That is my impression too. If you are happy with the base model of 15in air. That is great. If you plan to have 16+512, definitely 14in pro. It dominates air in all aspects with just slightly more expensive. But remember it will last more years as the power will meet the needs in future for longer.
I would get a 16+512 15in air over 14in pro. Yes the 14in pro has some strengths, but the 15in air has a larger display, is lighter and thinner, has better battery life, and is cheaper than the 14in pro. Promotion on laptop: not a big difference as a mobile device. Display brightness only applies to HDR content. Performance is more, but so is power consumption (more wattage) and drains battery much faster.
@@itsmichaelonthemove the weight difference is very small. i compared the display in store yesterday, the quality difference is very easy to tell, especially in videos, less obvious in image. For battery, it also says 18 hrs for pro , that is the same? I agree that the performance advantage is not big deal for most people. Anyways the display is a killer for me. After I compared the display by playing some videos, i almost immediately made my decision.
@@Z_Y89 Regarding battery life, you can see other Max Tech videos comparing the M2 Air with the MBP. Even though they are technically rated similarly, the 13” MBA has significantly longer battery life than the 14” MBP, especially under load.
It would be awesome to see different configurations comparison, in terms of price/value proposition. Say, 8/256, 16/512, 24/1024 RAM/SSD combinations. Is it worth paying for the top spec, or the middle is the gold standard, or maybe the starter is more than enough for a mere user? Who knows?
@@karanudayandas1608 Why do I have a feeling that the M7 will be a tad bit better than the M6? BUT it will have the same single nand SSD with the same heat issues... 😉
Question: I am looking for a doc for my new Mac Mini. All of them have only ONE USB-C port and three or more usb style ports. Everything I buy today is USB-C. I don’t see anything new with the traditional style USB input cords. Am I missing something? Why don’t they put 3 type USB-C ports on these? Do I need to by cords that change USB to USB-C to use these with external monitors, drives, etc that all require USB-C inputs…HELP. Maybe a video on this would help people like me understand why only one USB-C is available except on the new computers that offer more.
I got the 13.6 MacBook Air. I upgraded to 16 gigs of ram, and 512 SSD. This is my first laptop, as I’m used to high end Dell desktops. I had Windows 7Pro, 2T SSD hard drive. Going tomorrow to have Apple store help me set it up. Which do you recommend for photo editing, Photoshop, or Lightroom? I used to use Photoshop 5.5 on my Dell for editing my product photos for my website. I don’t have site anymore, so don’t have to build web pages.
For general use, editing 1080p videos (under 5 min long), and a ton of work in Photoshop, which would you recommend? 15" M2 MacBook Air with 16GB/512GB SSD vs Apple Refurbished 14" M1 MacBook Pro 16GB/512GB SSD (the price difference is $30 more for the Pro)
Honestly the 14inch MBP is easily better. The only thing you'd be missing out on is the bigger display of the 15 inch MBA but in return you get an overall better display with the MBP. You get ProMotion and the better quality liquid retina XDR display as well as the better performance and fans of the MBP for not all that much extra. I've been thinking about purchasing the 15 inch MBA but then I took notice of some refurbished MBP going at around the same price just slightly higher.
I agree with @thenaimboiii's comment. The Air has no fan. If you push the chip hard, after a while it has to slow down. The Pro has a cooling fan that comes on if you keep pushing the chip hard all day, which you might with your videos and graphic design.
I’m using adobe photoshop and illustrator and at a same time I need to open multiple tabs in google chrome for freelancing work. Which should I go for? Macbook air or MacBook pro? I prefer 16GB ram and 1TB storage. At price point Air is value for money. Can you suggest me?
The M1 Air is an astounding machine. It is probably (considering price/performance/reliability/portability/design) the best laptop ever made. I even prefer the design of the M1 to the M2 and the performance difference will be unnoticeable day-to-day. Obviously, if you want the bigger screen size then it is disappointing for you but you should not feel bad about your purchase. You would have felt worse if you'd paid full price for a 13" M2 Air and then the 15" is only $100 more than you paid!
What happens to the Air prices when M3 launches in a few months? Does the M2 replace the M1 on the store, and the M3 takes the current price point? In that case it would make sense to wait for M3 before buying M2 Air…
I definitely don't think m3 will stay at this price. Apple invested a lot cash into it. Before it was co funding and market push of apple and huawei for 4ns chip process. Now it is sololy apple for the 3ns, and the release date kept being pushed due to technical difficulties. I truly don't believe apple will give m3 chip a good price tag.
That almost 2 extra inches make a big difference for me and a lot of people. This computer will sell hot cakes. About damn time Apple made a big-screen laptop that doesn't cost over 2 grand
