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Not a lot of useful insight in this article, but it does make me want to remind all of you that if you want MacBook Air, especially the 15” version, consider th
by dangus 3y ago
Not a lot of useful insight in this article, but it does make me want to remind all of you that if you want MacBook Air, especially the 15” version, consider the 14” MacBook Pro.
The price gap looks big, but it’s actually not.
If you consider the upgrade to 16GB or RAM and 512GB of storage, you’re already at $1500 for the 13” model or $1700 for the 15” model.
$1999 gets you the 14” MacBook Pro with 16GB/512GB standard, where you a get better screen, microphone, speakers, processor, graphics, thermal performance, I/O including HDMI port and dual external screen support.
You sacrifice a little weight and thickness but not much else, and the difference in a backpack (especially with the 15” Air) is minimal.
And here’s the other thing: you can just pick up the M1 14” MacBook Pro and essentially have a better machine in every way at a very similar cost to the base price of the M2 Air models.
You can’t really do that in the same way with the M1 Air because you’re sacrificing the newer superior form factor to get a system with a really ancient design, large bezels, and bad webcam, while the M1 MacBook Pro compared to the M2 is a nearly identical system with almost all of the same advantages.
The 8GB/256GB models of the MacBook Air are a price anchor more than a practical model, because I think that the majority of buyers should upgrade at least one of those specs if not both regardless of how light their usage is.
- denimnerd42 3y agothe 14" pro is so much better. The on board speakers are so much better and the ports on both sides is obviously so much more convenient. The con is the weight but it's a fair tradeoff if you spend most of your time working at a desk and not just surfing on the sofa. the big problem with the 8/256 is not that it's useless, it's that it's the primary model retailers like costco, bestbuy, etc purchse. So you end up with these great sales on useless computers. I'm sure some clueless people buy them and suffer from that but I can't recommend them to anybody. The price ends up being double the 8/256 price once the sales occur. 8/256 for $800 or 900 vs 16/512/or 1TB for 1600+ infuriating.
- washadjeffmad 3y agoThat's funny, the only two electronics deals I routinely follow are Costco's Macs and Chromebooks. Their $799 M1 Air is still a steal, and the M1 Mac Mini for $299 was unbeatable for the moment it lasted ($499 for the M2 Mini is pretty great, as well). $1200 for an 8GB M2 Air, though... It's a bit steep in comparison, but on it's own, it's really a 13" MBP inside... And if it's practically a Pro, why not just get the 14" for $1600? I think their final lineup of sickly Intel Macs really distorted things with the operations-centric "come get your ports, lol" pricing. Those are awful machines, and setting the expectation that a device's capability should be related to its display size was such a thinly veiled intelligence test. Between barely refreshing their hardware over a decade (the trashcan Pro was X79-based) and Batterygate, it wasn't their brightest era.
- rcarr 3y agoThe 14" Macbook Pro is only 360g heavier than the Macbook Air as well. It really is the better value machine.