16GB M1 13" Macbook Air vs 16GB M1 13" Macbook Pro - Why Buy Pro over Air?

[MrMitty]

The 16GB M1 Air is US$ 1350 and the 16GB M1 13" MBP (not the new 14 inch M1 Pro/Max) is US$ 1600. I have a $250 trade-in for an older Mac so my net price would be $1150 for the Air and $1400 for the MBP. 

 

From my research, the MBP has better speakers, camera, slightly brighter screen and a 2 hour longer battery life. 

 

This machine will not be used for coding / video editing / gaming. It will be used for productivity work and entertainment. I like to have lots of Chrome tabs open where I watch YouTube videos and Netflix. When I say lots of tabs, I mean like 40 with maybe 15-20 being videos in YouTube. So, my understanding is that 16GB of RAM and the 8-Core GPU should be sufficient, right? 

 

Which machine is best for me? Will the Air be fine for streaming even though it doesn't have a fan? That and the brighter screen are the only two reasons why I'm thinking about the Pro. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

I got a m1 pro that I use a lot, and a M1 at home now.

 

Id probalby go air and save the money. 

 

The fan won't affect you here, streaming video takes very little resources here, same with the gpu. You won't need the full 8 cores here.

 

Screen brightness really isn't noticeable either, both are bright enough for most rooms.

[Alex Atkin UK]

derp I misread 13" as 14", I need an eye test.

[MrMitty]

3 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Not sure what Macbook Pro you are referring to as the M1 Pro starts at $1999.

I'm referring to the 13" M1 (not the new 14" with M1 Pro/Max). I'll update the body of my post to make this more clear. I don't think I'll need the new machines. Simply too powerful for my needs, I think. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, MrMitty said:

I'm referring to the 13" M1 (not the new 14" with M1 Pro/Max). I'll update my post to make this more clear. I don't think I'll need the new machines. Simply too powerful for my needs, I think. 

Yeah I made a major derp there.  Between the Air and 13" then I'd agree, the Air is fine.  But the upgrade moving up to the 14" and 16" is pretty huge.

[MrMitty]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I got a m1 pro that I use a lot, and a M1 at home now.

 

Id probalby go air and save the money. 

 

The fan won't affect you here, streaming video takes very little resources here, same with the gpu. You won't need the full 8 cores here.

 

Screen brightness really isn't noticeable either, both are bright enough for most rooms.

To be clear, you have both an M1 MBP 13" and M1 Air? When you run lots of tabs in Chrome (optimized for Apple Silicon), has the Air ever heated up? At what workload would you recommend that a person move to the MBP from the Air? 

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, MrMitty said:

To be clear, you have both an M1 MBP 13" and M1 Air? When you run lots of tabs in Chrome (optimized for Apple Silicon), has the Air ever heated up? At what workload would you recommend that a person move to the MBP from the Air? 

I only have a Mac Mini M1 and do not use it as a primary device so don't have good first-hand experience.

 

However I've looked at a lot of reviews and there's only a tiny performance difference between the Air and Macbook Pro.  With the same amount of RAM, they should perform more or less equally.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, MrMitty said:

To be clear, you have both an M1 MBP 13" and M1 Air? When you run lots of tabs in Chrome (optimized for Apple Silicon), has the Air ever heated up? At what workload would you recommend that a person move to the MBP from the Air? 

Yea I have both, the m1 pro is mine the m1 air is a family members. The air gets warm, but not hot.

 

I don't see a big point for the 13 m1 pro now. The performance difference is small, and if you need extra speed, get a 14in. 

 

Its pretty hard to get it to turn its fans on audible, the only time ive done it on my is after rendering 8k video for about 3 minutes.

[Umberto]

18 hours ago, MrMitty said:

The 16GB M1 Air is US$ 1350 and the 16GB M1 13" MBP (not the new 14 inch M1 Pro/Max) is US$ 1600. I have a $250 trade-in for an older Mac so my net price would be $1150 for the Air and $1400 for the MBP. 

 

From my research, the MBP has better speakers, camera, slightly brighter screen and a 2 hour longer battery life. 

 

This machine will not be used for coding / video editing / gaming. It will be used for productivity work and entertainment. I like to have lots of Chrome tabs open where I watch YouTube videos and Netflix. When I say lots of tabs, I mean like 40 with maybe 15-20 being videos in YouTube. So, my understanding is that 16GB of RAM and the 8-Core GPU should be sufficient, right? 

 

Which machine is best for me? Will the Air be fine for streaming even though it doesn't have a fan? That and the brighter screen are the only two reasons why I'm thinking about the Pro. 

There's very little difference in performance between the Air and the Pro so that shouldn't be a factor. It's the other factors that you should consider (brighter screen, bigger trackpad, touchbar etc). I went from a 13" Intel Pro to an M1 Air because I couldn't justify the higher price tag for the pro and I don't regret my decision. It doesn't get hot.

[Darkseth]

Pro has Touchbar, and 500 nits (instead 400 nits). Also, like 20-30% more battery life, depending on usage. Not, like the Air has bad battery life, it's extremely good. The Pro just  has a little bit more.

Webcam is identical, Speakers are similar, you can ignore that. Even tho, on paper, the Pro should be slightly better (don't let that be the deciding factor).

Microphones are better on the Pro, but i doubt anyone will notice a big difference.

 

If you don't "need" the Touchbar, the extra brightness, or the extra last bit of battery life, get the Air. Use the price difference for a free 16gb Ram upgrade, and maybe even for more SSD.

Otherwise, ignore the minor differences like microphones.

 

Edit: Oh yea, Pro has a Fan, which is used after many Minutes of full 100% Load (benchmarks, Rendering etc), the Air does throttle by around 15%~.

As long you don't have 100% Load for a longer period of time, there is no Performance-difference.

 

 

My personal recommendation as a M1 Macbook Pro User: Stick to the 16gb Ram M1 Macbook Air, or go up to the new 14" Base model. You're not just getting the extra Performance, but also other features like IO, Display, Design.

 

Unless, you need the absolute best batterylife you can possibly get.

[MrMitty]

I ended up buying the base Air for $800 and I am extremely impressed. https://www.microcenter.com/product/631513/apple-macbook-air-mgn63ll-a-m1-late-2020-133-laptop-computer-space-gray

 

It is sooo fast. I will probably give this machine to a family member and buy one with 16GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB SSD for myself.