Here you go! The full comparison between the new 15" MacBook Air and the 14" MacBook Pro! If you spec them the same, they cost the same. So which one would you get?
In Australia, the refurbished M2Pro 14-in MacBook Pro chosen for this comparison is priced $80 LOWER than the 15-in Air. I've been looking for such a comparison. I am not currently looking to upgrade from the M1 MacBook Air but given the choice between the ywo Macs mentioned in this video, I'd go with the Pro.
You started out talking about the upgraded 15 Air vs. the refurbished 14 Pro. SUPER exciting comparison I have been waiting for someone to cover since they match in price. Yet you compared the performance of a base 15 Air to the 14 Pro. Not all that relevant to your intro/outro talking points...Would love to see you do this test properly with matched RAM and storage specs :)
This is an easy comparison. If you use the laptop in bright lights Or You you like extra weight Or You don’t need 18+ hours of battery Or You don’t mind the fans running Or You use blender Or you get paid for video editing Then get then m2 pro refurbished. Else if you Can’t tell the difference in 5% performance improvement in everyday tasks Or Like more screen size. Or Do a lot of typing on the laptop on and need extra battery time - MBA For everyone else (non complex rendering) get a MacBook Air.
not for me i dont really see my self doing editing work but the Display is just enough for me to go for Pro over Air though its sad that in my country there is no deals on Pro
I absolutely choose the the AIR for the reason that it's super light weight, the reason I'm using a laptop in the first place, and the bigger screen. Using the air pods still gives you high resolution with the AIR. If I really needed high performance on a consistent basis, I'd go with the 16" MacBook Pro. Secondly. the MacBook Pro in your example is refurbished, which is not easily available in Canada.
I got the base model 15-inch Air, ended up returning it and buying a refurbished 14-inch M2 Pro and couldn't be happier. Easy to connect to my monitor with the HDMI port, and can handle absolutely anything I throw at it. Not to mention the amazing screen and speakers. With the base Air when I pushed the limits, it struggled at times.The ProMotion makes it easier on my eyes when I scroll
I find the base 15 inchs screen amazing from how big it is, and love the speakers though I use earbuds mostly. I love the fanless and super light design that looks sleek, the animations I disable and use page up/down so scrolling is not done often, and even then there are battery life gains so it wins there. I love my MBA and despite the Pro being much nicer in so many ways, I think the Air 15 is a beast. A 2lb 12 inch is nice too
This is an unfair comparison, two base models have very different ram and SSD features, and the price is 700 different. I’d like to see Air 16g+512 SSD vs Pro base model, which is only $300 difference (or even less if buy pro on Amazon). Will the performance still be so significantly different?
It’s not unfair, the performance is comparable, and someone could easily save $700 because of this review. I’m generally a performance user yet I was very happy with the M1 air 13.3”.
Once again, very detailed comparison. Proves that if you're gonna do professional things on your MacBook, get the Pro and not the Air. For what I do, the Air is perfect so that's what I got. I did own an M1 14" Pro and I do sometimes miss that gorgeous screen, but, for the money, the base model 15 is totally fine. Also, I like the text and windows to be a little bigger (especially since I've aged into my 50's) so the new 15 is better for that as well. Thanks for the vid!
I’ve owned my 2012 MBP with upgraded RAM and SSD storage for the last 12 years, and the times have finally caught up to it (no more software and app updates). I might be biased, but I think going for the 14” Pro and maybe upgrading the RAM and storage a little bit would go a very long way as far as future-proofing your purchase, which is what I’m thinking of doing vs getting the 15” Air. Only time will tell, though.
the air is prfect for those not doing multimedia..like myself using it for office docs, remote access of other machines, and spending msot times with static text. the air is not meant for multimedia and is a great office, remote access, chat communications(voip included). the air is not meant for the media tasks and is why it doesnt have the pro label and the reduced hardware capabilities. the hardware specs actually bear this out without needing to do tests in a way the air was never designed for.
When doing a comparison next time, I’ll give you one pro tip. You should fix the one on the left and the other one on right rather than moving around. At glance, audience may be confused and can be misinformed.
Based on iJustine's review. The M2 chip in the Air has blurred the line even more with the Pro. You will only ever notice a real difference if you're doing intense video editing and graphics processing and want to speed up productivity. But for the general user, having those pro specs is overkill. Based on that alone, I think the 15" Air is the perfect laptop for the majority of consumers.
I went 15"air. I love the screen size, get a bump in the GPU vs the 13", better sound, better power supply... love it. Comparing these two machines is kind of dumb. You either need a PRO machine, or you don't. f you don't, get the air.. if you do, get the pro, it's far more powerful. But you can get the air with 16GB and 512GB NVME for $300 less if you just want better specs for future proofing. The air is not a heavy lifting Photo/video editing machine. The pro is.
How much do you want more display real estate? That is the single reason my sister chose a 15” air (16GB/1TB) over a similarly configured 14” pro. As somebody who multitasks while sitting on the couch and doing leather work and other crafts, more screen is more better since multiple monitors don’t work well with that flow. Being able to reference patterns and designs on the computer is important. Rendering and exporting are rare occurrences so performance differences are not important.
Nice, but the Air is meant for people whom want the 15 inch screen real estate. If you do not need that you can drop down to M2 13 and if you need to larger or SSD or Ram (the 13 is now 1099). Screen size is screen size. Most people who only doing non pro tasks will have no issue with the base M2 13 or M2 15. Everyone's needs are unique.
Interesting. But it is two very differented speced computers. 512 GB of SSD storage will make a lot of difference when testing due to the way Apple sets this up. And 8 GB of extra ram will also make a difference. Why not test apples with...ehm...apples? 😁 PS: What is the difference in noise? Air is silent, but is Pro 14 noisy?
never heard my 14" once since i bought it.. also own an imac 24" (16gb/512gb 2 fans) and i think i've heard it once but had to listen for it and i was even shocked that i noticed lol i was working in photoshop and lightroom with spotify music in background and browsing multiple tab in firefox. could hear it but not as loud as it used to in the intel era, like not distracting at all so i wouldn't make my choice around that concern if i were you. I personally prefer the 14", the screen is literally the best screen i owned yet. speakers almost better if not better than my imac... powerful, etc... its perfect imo
Absolutely NO. And i am an extreme user and work all the day on this machine (besides my MacStudio M1 Pro). The performance of the MBP is much much better than the MacStudio and so i do heavy renderings, photoshop with very high resolution over 20.000 pixels and lots of video cutting. When the fans turn on, you have to lay your ear onto the surface to hear it. For me the 14 MBP M1 Max is the best laptop i ever bought from apple. And believe me... i had a loooooot MBP in the past. Absolutely recommend this machine.
Both fantastic machines and in reality will deliver great performance. In reality even the Air would be good enough for most photographers/ videographers. But clearly the pro is pro for demanding users. The test seemed a little flawed using a lower specification machine in the tests, but otherwise made a convincing argument for either machine depending on your use case.
The MB Air display is impressive, and I notice little difference from the Pro XDR displays. If you use a lot of HDR, then the Pro is the way to go; otherwise, the MB Air screen is A+. I do not use 120Hz so that is not a biggie for me; mostly typing or media.
My personal thought is this, I want a bigger screen but don’t need all the power. Now I’ve seen both the 14 inch and 13 inch at Best buy and the difference in screen size isn’t that much, or at least for what I need but the difference between the 15 and 13 is more noticeable. Because of this I prefer the 15 over 14
You are paying quite a premium for the thinner MBA with a slightly bigger screen. I think the MBA is more appealing for most. For me the MBP will last me longer and has so many better features.
for the past few weeks i have had the get a new laptop bug. Was going back and forth between Dell XPS / Asus / Apple. Thought for sure was going to be a 13inch Air. Had a refurb 13 Air (and a pro) in cart a few times but backed out. Thought ok, wait and see the 15 Air. Almost got it. But looking at tie price of upgrading ram and storage puts it in the pro $$ range. So finally, yesterday i bit the bullet and got a MacBook pro 14. Glad i did.
Excellent comparison. Thank you. I’ve twice made the mistake of buying the base Air models. The problem is that the base SSD really restricted my use over time. Constantly ran out of memory and had to delete many apps. As simple models they work well for daily use. Love them. But I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m going PRO.
In the US, your recommendation makes sense. But in Greece, the 15” MacBook Air costs 1749 € the base model and the 14” MacBook Pro 2499€. For any non-photo-video professional, the Air is a perfect option (and way cheaper).
I couldn't decide between the two for my wife for a Christmas present. I kept on trying to see what she would use it for--editing vs. casual. I eventually ended up asking her if she had the option between two screen sizes (14 vs. 15), which one would she use. She said she would always opt for the larger screen, so that is what was the deciding factor. I ended up going with the Air for her.
It should be understood by now that these are designed for different needs. Not sure why people still think that the M2 Air will ever keep up with a Pro machine. Thanks for the review!
Thank you for the comparison! Exactly what I had asked for. I think I’ll be sticking with the 15” MBA. Thank you again, always putting the best content out
Incorrect. I work in multiple virtual machines/remote desktops and use multiple screens as part of my job. I also partake in photography/video making as a hobby. I have the 16 inch MBP M1 Max, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD. Oh also, I’m 6’3” and 90 kg, so this MacBook feels like the normal MacBook Pro 14 inch for normal sized people 😂
This a small correction for the pedantic out there! If you need multiple monitors then as the Air only supports one, obviously that will not be on your radar!!!
What if you decide you want to do occasional gaming? What if you need those fans for rendering? What if you start a photography/videography business? Fanless laptops are overhyped. People who are considering a maxed out Air should definitely get the Pro. There's almost no difference in weight and the footprint is smaller on Pro.
Still prefer the 15” MBA 16/512 for the form factor alone and that’s why I returned my lovely Apple refurbished MBP 14” M1. Don’t regret the choice but everyone has their own preference.
I ordered a 15" MacBook Air with 24GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage. If I needed more power than the MacBook Air, I would get the 16" MacBook Pro with the M2 Max chip. I wouldn't even consider the 14" model.
Thanks for detailed reviewing. I was wondering exactly these two machines and finally made a decision. I'm gonna go MBP14 with the performance. This is absolutely prefect reference for me.
So for someone who doesn’t do any video editing or photography edits, but wants top of the line, which one is better? Besides memory and all the editing goodies why is the pro Better?
I’m going with the 15 inch MacBook Air. I’ve own nothing but MBA in the past. I’m using it mostly for school work. I’m not doing any editing or multimedia.
Thanx for that. I am considering jumping from a PC to a Mac and I want to decide between Air & Pro. I think I like the Pro options you presented. Great video comparison!
I’ve had 2 15inch pros in the past. The brightness is very important to me. The 15in Air looks good. But I wonder if I should go for the 14 in Pro or 16 in Pro. Is the 16 too big? Thx!
MacBook Air 15 inch makes most sense for the majority of us. Especially students and working professionals and writers. We don’t need the power of Pro most of the time we use MacBooks. We need bigger screen without breaking the bank.
All three charging ports on one side - is stupid. And maybe, a marketing trick. In the next version they might move one to another side. In this case PRO is better, you have a choice from which side to charge
Cheers ! Great presentation ! I’m definitely, going to buy the M2 MacBook Pro refurbished. Future proofing has always been a concern for me. Thank You !
Your review and commentary were a decision maker. It allowed me to quickly grasp important differences between the products and conclude how I should spend my hard-earned money. I appreciate the effort you made in producing this content.
RU-vidrs make these comparisons pretending that the base m2 air cannot deal with heavy tasks. Dude, that machine is strong, just because there is a pro model it doesn’t mean the air can’t be for people who create content/art/designs/videos/photography/etc -> it just take a little longer to render/export when needed. Also, with native games, the air can get a good performance when resolution is on full hd. I played resident evil 8 in base m1 air with 39-60 fps using metalFX on quality mode. For 700$ less you get a very good and lightweight machine (best laptop ever).
Love your channel! May I ask if you could correct the way you read your decimals? E.g. 2.89 is read as “2 point eight nine”, not “2 point eighty nine”. The logic to this convention is, reading it as the latter makes it sound incorrectly larger than the former. Additionally, your current decimal convention would be problematic when trying to differentiate between 2.9 vs 2.90 vs 2.09.
It is not fair to compare the price of a refurbished Mac with a brand new one. Also, reviewers need to keep in mind that they're reviewing products for the masses and not for other reviewers. Your mind had already been made that Pro> Air, which it is but context is important too.
Air not having fans is the deal maker for me. The fans pull dust over time and machine struggles to cool down itself and make a lot of noise. The future of laptop is fanless cooling design.
I am in the market for a new Mac. It's like choosing what I need vs. what I want. For example, I bought my wife the new Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek which is better for off road and looks more badass than the normal model. It has more ground clearance, bigger & offroad wheels, better suspension, sweet roof rack, etc... But she will never take it off road where the regular model would be incapable. So we went for want vs. need. After watching this where the Pro wins in just about all the measurements (i.e. speed, resolution, etc..), it is what I would want. But I do not need all the extra speed as I do not use complicated software. Just MS Office. I do use Garageband where i plug my guitar, bass, keys and mics for vocal and drums but I am not recording tunes with tons of tracks. My current 2015 13" Pro does a pretty good job. The Air does have a bigger screen. If it did not, it would not be a question, I would get the Pro. The 16" Pro costs too much. 2500 for the base model.
MBP ….. Better screen in all environments , better speakers , more ports , more staying power on the MacBook Pro , and if I’m not mistaken (please correct me if I’m wrong) the pro version also gets a bigger charging brick for speedier charges ? And more horsepower options for the pro . Pros for the air ………. ? It’s cheaper , it’s a tad lighter , it has a marginally bigger screen , it’s still a capable little computer for general duties. The pro is a Lexus and the air is a Camry .
With the advancement in the technology field, 8gb of ram is too damn ridiculous. I think the 14th inch with 16gb base model would perform better in the long run.
reaffirms my belief...only buy a Pro, Max or Ultra processor unless your computer use is ••just•• Email, Web, Office, watching RU-vid/Netflix/ and other basic light duty use...
I’m torn between both. I need a new laptop for college but I also do photography and edit only using Lightroom cc. Big screen and lightweight is awesome but the speed of Lightroom on pro is insane! Ahhh which one?😫
I just went and looked at both and I don’t like how the Mac Pro fan slots are right where your hands rest at the bottom. It not smooth and kind of sharp… I went with the air…
The baseline 15 inch Air is so hard to recommend. You're much better off going with the next one up for general usage. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the M2 Pro was going to demolish the M2 in heavier tasks.
how much of the peformance difference was due to the ram and ssd differences? The 15 inch air has 8gb ram and lowest ssd - if it got 16gb of ram and a updgrade in sdd do you think it would help at all
I am a 40s y.o options trader, seeing chart everyday. I am running thinkorswim and tradingview. I am not comfortable with 13 inchi. Which one is better, 14 mpb or mba 15?
So I initially placed my order for a 15 inch MacBook Air M2 with 16 GB RAM and 1TB SSD….. but after you bump up the MacBook Air, for only $270 more can get the 14 Pro M2 with 120 hz pro motion display, more ports, dual external monitor support etc…. Now I don’t know what to do 😫😫 help
Not a fair comparison as you can upgrade memory and RAM on macbook air and it will still be cheaper than macbook pro. Please update the review to include the upgrades.
Good review but man it’s hard keeping up when you keep switching terms and sides where the laptops are displayed. Refer to the air as one thing the entire video and the pro as one thing in the entire video. Ex. MBA 15” = AIR MBP 14” = PRO Don’t switch between saying AIR then 15” laptop then MBA you don’t have to keep changing the terms or it get soooo hard to keep track. And also keep the air on one side and the pro on the other the entire video. The endless back and forth makes it impossible to maintain focus
Thanks for the nice overview with time measurements/comparisons. I don't plan on doing any rendering or heavy duty video editing later, so the Air at 16/1TB is my pick. It's superb for watching movies on the go, and maybe even adequate for some gaming I might do down the line, but as you know, gaming isn't a Mac strength. cheers
Great Compo vid, thks. I was shocked at the lack of screen brightness on the Air, a shame cos you’re much more likely to want - try ! - to use it outside. Also its almost tragically slower in most tests. But that’s the essence of the Air; cheaper, (less expensive! ), and lighter, with a larger but far inferior screen. Apple is a practised master at separating its machines and up-selling.
I still have the MacBook Pro 2015 and the speaker is busted but still useable and now looking to get a new one. I don’t really need a computer but I just feel like I need to update my MacBook and I don’t know which one to choose. I do like to watch movies, Netflix and RU-vid and that’s about it. Which one should I get?
Your testing is confusing. You begin your video asking whether One should buy the M2 MacBook Air with 512 storage and 16 GB of RAM, or a refurbished base model, MacBook Pro. Since these are similarly priced. Then, in all your tests, you compare the baseline MacBook Pro against the baseline MacBook Air, which is $400 cheaper. And of course the MacBook Pro is going to beat the MacBook Air in all the tests, because this is not an apples to apples test in terms of performance. I really don't get this video or the point of it since these tests have been performed already by many others. Your premise you started with was completely different from other videos, but then your tests reverted to something totally different
Good review, but I do none of the thing you just spoke about. The only things I am looking for is a laptop for microsoft excel, word and powerpoint tasking, watching netflix, prime video, a playing around with garage band just for fun only and surfing the web. For gaming I already built myself a gaming pc that has a rtx 3080ti. I just need to replace my 3900x. Now for someone who just does what I said above about MS stuff which would be better for me? and I would like to be able to use it outside from time to time as it is intended to be mobile either outside or inside. Is 500 nit brightness enough if I was to use it outside when it is sunny out or no? Yes, if someone says go for a window laptop. I would say my very first pc was a acer laptop with an 710m and the battery life really sucks on windows Laptop for once I want something to last longer than 3-4 hours of usage. When I bought my first laptop acer. I used it on the coach bus because I travel from my city to another city for work and on the bus ride too it gets boring when your laptop is like at 30% of life before I need to charge it and I didn't like how super heavy it was since it was a 17 inch too. can someone please help me out? Also, for me a refurbished macbook pro with the m2 14 inch in my country is not cheap. it is 1.9k and for that price I can get a macbook air 15 with 512gb 16gb for just $300- 400 more which is like 2.3k to 2.4k.
