MacBook Air vs Pro

[OMGClover]

i5 10th gen MacBook Air vs base model i5 8th gen MacBook Pro. Planning to get one of them, any suggestions?

[Lord Vile]

9 minutes ago, OMGClover said:

i5 10th gen MacBook Air vs base model i5 8th gen MacBook Pro. Planning to get one of them, any suggestions?

Which MacBook Pro... There's the 13" and the 16" and the 13" has the 2 TB3 version or the 4TB3 version.

 

Also what are you wanting it for? 

[OMGClover]

6 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Which MacBook Pro... There's the 13" and the 16" and the 13" has the 2 TB3 version or the 4TB3 version.

The 13”. The pro definitely performs way better, but just don’t like the Touch Bar

[CommanderAlex]

2 minutes ago, OMGClover said:

The 13”. The pro definitely performs way better, but just don’t like the Touch Bar

I would definitely prefer buying the Pro than the Air. I'm quite biased against the Air for many reasons and the new one has more to add to my list .

[Lord Vile]

Just now, OMGClover said:

The 13”. The pro definitely performs way better, but just don’t like the Touch Bar

Eh depends what you want it for. If you were doing heavy work you should be looking at the 16" with the Hexcore and dGPU. For general use the Air and 13" Pro are around the same. The air has an hour more battery and is 0.3lbs lighter,. The pro is a tad ore beefy and has a better screen with 100 nits more brightness and covers the P3 gamut not just the sRGB one. 

 

Touchbar is actually very useful. Very good when you're watching stuff.

[Lord Vile]

2 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

I would definitely prefer buying the Pro than the Air. I'm quite biased against the Air for many reasons and the new one has more to add to my list .

What's wrong with the air lol

[Jet_ski]

2 hours ago, OMGClover said:

i5 10th gen MacBook Air vs base model i5 8th gen MacBook Pro. Planning to get one of them, any suggestions?

Can you be more specific which configurations you are considering? The 10th gen can be much better than some 8th gen CPUs and while the MacBook Air runs at a lower base clock, the 10th gen CPUs turbo up to 3.8ghz. Also the lower base clock means better battery performance.

 

I found this site which compares the different generations of Intel i5 CPUs.
 

https://vsbytes.com/i5-8th-vs-9th-vs-10th/#The_difference_between_the_8th_9th_and_10th_generations

 

Also the new MacBook Air has the new keyboard and Retina display. So compared to an older MacBook Pro 13, the Air would be my choice.

[CommanderAlex]

3 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

What's wrong with the air lol

Mainly, you get more bang for you buck with the Pro lineup. There is an actual cooling system in the Pro (unlike the Air). When the Air first released, the lack of ports was a big turnaway for me. The Air is comparable to Windows laptops in terms of dimensions. Specifically the older models before they gave the Retina screen to the MacBook Air, the low resolution screen of 1440 x 900 (On a side note since my mother watches QVC a lot, a MAJORITY of laptops they sell there are still using 1024 x 768. Very HORRENDOUS). The RAM offerings during those times as well. 

 

IMHO I don't see the purpose of such a computer as the MacBook Air other than longer battery life/Chromebook-like use. If I want a laptop that can perform well and not feel sluggish, I would want to buy the MacBook Pro or stick to a desktop. 

[Lord Vile]

3 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

Mainly, you get more bang for you buck with the Pro lineup. There is an actual cooling system in the Pro (unlike the Air). When the Air first released, the lack of ports was a big turnaway for me. The Air is comparable to Windows laptops in terms of dimensions. Specifically the older models before they gave the Retina screen to the MacBook Air, the low resolution screen of 1440 x 900 (On a side note since my mother watches QVC a lot, a MAJORITY of laptops they sell there are still using 1024 x 768. Very HORRENDOUS). The RAM offerings during those times as well. 

 

IMHO I don't see the purpose of such a computer as the MacBook Air other than longer battery life/Chromebook-like use. If I want a laptop that can perform well and not feel sluggish, I would want to buy the MacBook Pro or stick to a desktop. 

None of your issues seems to be with the current Air. It has the same IO as the 13" Pro and a 1600p screen. The air isn't sluggish either.

[CommanderAlex]

1 hour ago, Lord Vile said:

None of your issues seems to be with the current Air. It has the same IO as the 13" Pro and a 1600p screen. The air isn't sluggish either.

True, the fact that they basically put a ventilation fan in the new MacBook Air is one thing. There is no physical heatpipe that goes from the heatsink on the CPU to the fan like a traditional laptop or MacBook Pro. 

[Lord Vile]

33 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

True, the fact that they basically put a ventilation fan in the new MacBook Air is one thing. There is no physical heatpipe that goes from the heatsink on the CPU to the fan like a traditional laptop or MacBook Pro. 

It has a low wattage chip and isn’t meant to do anything strenuous 

[Jet_ski]

7 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

It has a low wattage chip and isn’t meant to do anything strenuous 

Exactly, the i5 10th gen TDP is 7-10.

[CommanderAlex]

13 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

It has a low wattage chip and isn’t meant to do anything strenuous 

 

12 hours ago, Jet_ski said:

Exactly, the i5 10th gen TDP is 7-10.

But why waste $999 on a laptop that cant take strenuous tasks?? Its quite frankly, a ripoff luxury Chromebook. I'm not going further with this discussion. 

[Lord Vile]

24 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

 

But why waste $999 on a laptop that cant take strenuous tasks?? Its quite frankly, a ripoff luxury Chromebook. I'm not going further with this discussion. 

But it doesn't run ChromeOS? You pay a heavy tax for MacOS which is worth it. Plus you get a solid keyboard and a Trackpad that blows any other non-apple pad out of the water. 

 

This is the issue with "PC guys" they just see a specsheet not the stuff that actually matters. Sure it would be nice to have a 9750H in there but the battery life would suffer, it'd be heavier and it would be louder. MacOS counts for a lot and from using windows 10 and MacOS side by side there is no contest to which is the better day to day OS. W10 is outright embarrassed by MacOS. 

[Jet_ski]

10 hours ago, CommanderAlex said:

 

But why waste $999 on a laptop that cant take strenuous tasks?? Its quite frankly, a ripoff luxury Chromebook. I'm not going further with this discussion. 

Have you ever used either of those two devices?!

[Commodus]

On 5/25/2020 at 12:11 PM, OMGClover said:

i5 10th gen MacBook Air vs base model i5 8th gen MacBook Pro. Planning to get one of them, any suggestions?

It really depends on what you intend to use the system for.

 

If it's for relatively mainstream use like browsing the web, writing reports and catching up on Netflix or YouTube, the Air is just fine.  Get the quad-core model and strongly consider 16GB of RAM, but you don't really need much more than that.

 

The Pro is worth it if you know you'll put a load on the system -- lots of browser tabs, several apps running at once, or running intensive tasks like media editing.  You don't have to like the Touch Bar, but it's worth living with if you need the performance.

[CommanderAlex]

1 hour ago, Jet_ski said:

Have you ever used either of those two devices?!

I used a Chromebook for many years in school and my sister has a MacBook Air that I had to help troubleshoot. 

[BlueSpartan]

Since we're all on the topic, which is cooler in the lap, the 2020 Macbook Air or the 2020 Macbook Pro? I need to learn the OS and since even the $1800 Macbook Pro will suck for light gaming, I just want to not get third degree burns while sitting on the couch typing/reading/streaming video/etc.