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2020-macbook-pro-vs-macbook-air

2020 MacBook Air vs Pro: Top 5 Differences!

November 17, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Buy the 2020 M1 MacBook AIR ➡️ https://geni.us/macbookAir
Buy the 2020 M1 MacBook PRO ➡️ https://geni.us/macBookPro

Apple just announced the biggest update ever for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. In this video I’ll explain how Apple’s new M1 chip has changed the MacBook lineup, and I’ll go over some key differences between the MacBook Air and the Pro so you can decide which one is best for you to buy in late 2020 going into 2021.

Apple’s new M1 chip consolidates what used to be many different components such as a processor, I/O, and memory into a single chip. By doing this Apple claims major improvements in performance, efficiency, and security.

The 13” MacBook Air and 13” MacBook Pro share some key similarities such as 13.3” Retina display, up to 16GB of memory, up to 2TB of SSD storage, a 720p HD webcam, and both have just two USB-C ports but most importantly they both have the same brand new Apple M1 chip. So what are the main differences?

Price:
MacBook Air has always been and still is cheaper than the MacBook Pro. The Air starts at $999 while the Pro starts at $1299. But the base Air only has a 7-core GPU for graphics which is one core fewer than the MacBook Pro. However, you can choose the $1249 variant of the Air which has that extra GPU core to match the Pro at 8-cores but by choosing that variant of the Air it also doubles the SSD storage to 512GB. That means there’s only a $50 difference between the cheapest 8-core MacBook Air and the cheapest MacBook Pro but with another difference being the Pro having half the SSD storage space at 256GB.

Touch Bar & Brightness:
Both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro have Touch ID so you can use your fingerprint for things like logging onto your Mac and using Apple Pay. However, only the Pro has the Touch Bar which replaces all the top keys with a dynamic touch-sensitive bar that changes based on what app you currently have open which is cool and all, but the Touch Bar is a feature that you absolutely do not need so if you’re considering buying a Pro just for that, you may want to get an Air instead. Also, MacBook Pro has a brighter screen with 500 nits of brightness compared to the Air’s 400 nits of brightness which is something to consider if you use your laptop outside during the day a lot.

Size & Sound:
Now this next difference is very negligible, but it’s interesting to point out because when you think of the Air you think of it being the smallest and lightest MacBook which is still kind of true. But the MacBook Air at its thickest point is actually 0.02 inches thicker than the MacBook Pro. They’re also the same exact width and length, but the Pro is actually only 0.2 pounds heavier than the Air so when it comes to size don’t automatically assume the Air is extremely lighter and thinner than the Pro. They are closer in size and weight than you may think. Also, the Pro comes with better speakers featuring high dynamic range and a better studio quality microphone array compared to the Air so if you are wanting to improve your video chats with better speakers and microphone you may want the Pro.

Battery:
The second biggest difference is the battery. The MacBook Air used to be known for having the longest battery life of all the MacBooks, but not anymore. The MacBook Pro has a larger battery than the Air, about 8Wh more. And the Pro has two more hours of battery life compared to the Air. Apple claims you can get up to 20 hours of video playback on the Pro compared to 18 hours on the Air. The new MacBook Pro also has the longest battery life ever in a Mac so if you’re all about a long lasting battery then you should definitely get the Pro.

Fan:
That brings us to the biggest difference between the new MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro: a fan. The MacBook Air is completely fan-less so this means the Air will be nearly silent and hardly make any noise. If you want an extremely quiet laptop get the Air. However, since the Air lacks the fan that the Pro has, the Pro has a definitive advantage in performance even they both use the same M1 chip. Today’s processors can almost always run faster if given proper cooling. In a fan-less body (like the MacBook Air) the CPU will need to throttle down some so even though the Air and Pro have the same processor, the fan in the MacBook Pro lets it run at peak performance for longer. This gives the performance nod to the MacBook Pro. If you want to run high intensity apps for long periods of time, the MacBook Pro should be able to excel at those tasks compared to the Air.

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Which MacBook to Buy in 2020? MacBook Air vs Pro!

January 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

So you’re interested in buying an Apple laptop. Congratulations, a laptop is a big purchase so it’s very important to choose the right one. In this video I’ll explain which MacBook model is best for you in 2020.

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Which MacBook to Buy in 2019? Apple Laptop Guide!

January 9, 2019 / / 0 Comments

So you’re interested in buying an Apple laptop. Congratulations, a laptop is a big purchase so it’s very important to choose the right one. In this video I’ll explain which MacBook model is best for you in 2018.

Currently there are 3 MacBook models: MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro
(All MacBook models come standard with an SSD and at least 8GB RAM)

MacBook

  • Apple’s 12″ screen laptop; Base model starts at $1299
  • Only MacBook available in 4 different colors: rose gold, space gray, gold, and silver
  • Base model has 7th-Gen 1.2GHz Intel Core m3 mobile processor; configurable to dual-core i5 or i7
  • 8GB RAM (up to 16GB) and 256GB SSD (up to 512GB)

Get 12″ Retina MacBook if you

  • Want something ultra portable & mobile; Apple’s thinnest & lightest laptop (2 lbs) & also has smallest screen of any current Apple laptop at 12″
  • Only run basic applications, nothing too CPU dependent (base model has mobile processor)
  • Are mostly “wireless” and don’t need a lot of ports (only 1 USB-C port for charging/input/output)
  • Don’t plan to use the webcam for recording videos (only 480p)

MacBook Air

  • Comes in 3 configurations starting at $999, $1199 & $1399. Comes in same colors as MacBook: Gold, Space Gray, and Silver
  • 8GB RAM (up to 16GB); 128GB SSD (up to 256GB, 512GB, or 1.5TB)
  • With the Air you have 2 main versions: the older standard display non-Retina version and the latest Retina display version with Touch ID, the latest-generation keyboard, and a Force Touch trackpad.

Get 13″ NON-Retina MacBook Air if you

  • Have the lowest budget (Apple’s most affordable laptop since it doesn’t have a Retina display or latest hardware)
  • Want the widest variety of legacy ports (still has USB-A ports, SD card slot and MagSafe port)

Get 13″ Retina MacBook Air if you

  • Care about battery life more than anything (up to 13 hours of use which is the longest battery life of any current Apple laptop)
  • Want the small thin lightweight design similar to the 12” MacBook for travel & on-the-go work but you need the better performance & features like the louder speakers and better webcam (720p HD)
  • Want the best display without spending more to get a Pro model (Retina Air has over 4 million pixels w/ higher pixel density than 12” Retina MacBook)
  • Want the newest MacBook model with the latest 8th Gen Intel processor (released Late 2018 which is the most recent release out of all the current Apple laptops)
  • Fine with having only two USB-C ports total for the entire laptop
  • Want the most environmental friendly Mac (made from 100% recycled aluminum)

MacBook Pro

  • Comes in silver or space gray (no gold) and 2 screen sizes: 13″ starting at $1299 (non-TouchBar) & $1799 w/ TouchBar. 15” w/ Touchbar starts at $2399
  • All MacBook Pro models (13” and 15”) have the following in common:
  • They all have IPS Retina displays (13″ has 227ppi; 15″ has 220ppi)
  • They all get up to 10 hours battery life
  • Have all new 8th-Gen Intel processors up to quad-core on 13” model and up to 6-cores on 15” model

Get a MacBook Pro if you

  • Value productivity and performance over everything. The Pro lineup has the best performance and fastest speeds of all the Apple laptops (for professional work) 15″ has the best specs out of all Apple laptops; 13” TouchBar is the best blend of high performance and fairly compact size out of all the Apple laptops
  • Need the most internal storage: 13″ starts at 128GB SSD (configurable up to 2TB); 15″ starts at 256GB SSD (configurable to 4TB)
  • Want the best/brightest display & best speakers out of all Apple laptops (All MBPs have 25% more colors than standard RGB along with 500 nits of brightness; The Touch Bar models have True Tone technology where the white balance automatically adjusts to match the color temperature of the light around you and besides the display it also has high fidelity audio
  • Often multi-task with multiple programs open since you can get up to 32GB of RAM
  • Run CPU-intensive or graphics-intensive applications like photography, coding, HD & 4K video editing, 3D graphics, and certain gaming (For best graphics performance get 15″ which has dedicated Radeon Pro GPU with up to 4GB memory)
  • Don’t mind having a slightly bigger laptop compared to the other MacBook models (having said that, I own a 13” MacBook Pro with TouchBar and it’s still very mobile and portable)
  • Have a large budget (expensive; most expensive config is over $7,000)
2018 MacBook Buyers Guide

Which MacBook to Buy in 2018? Apple Laptop Guide!

December 22, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Which MacBook to Buy in 2018? Apple Laptop Guide!

So you’re interested in buying an Apple laptop. Congratulations, a laptop is a big purchase so it’s very important to choose the right one. In this video I’ll explain which MacBook model is best for you in 2018.

Currently there are 3 MacBook models: MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro
(All MacBook models come standard with an SSD and at least 8GB RAM)

MacBook

  • Apple’s 12″ screen laptop; Base model starts at $1299
  • Only MacBook available in 4 different colors: rose gold, space gray, gold, and silver
  • Base model has 7th-Gen 1.2GHz Intel Core m3 mobile processor; configurable to dual-core i5 or i7
  • 8GB RAM (up to 16GB) and 256GB SSD (up to 512GB)

Get MacBook if you

  • Care about looks more than performance (sexy; IPS Retina display with 226 ppi; colors)
  • Want something ultra portable and mobile; Apple’s thinnest lightest laptop (2 lbs and up to 10 hours battery life)
  • Want the smallest screen of any Apple laptop (12″ diagonal)
  • Mainly run basic applications, nothing too CPU dependent (base model has mobile processor)
  • Don’t need a lot of ports (only 1 USB-C port for charging/input/output)
  • Don’t mind having a crappy webcam (only 480p)

MacBook Air

  • Base model starts at $999
  • 13.3″ screen; 8GB RAM; 128GB SSD (configurable to 256GB or 512GB)
  • 5th-Gen Intel dual-core i5 processor (can be upgraded to 2.2GHz Core i7)

Get MacBook Air if you

  • Have the lowest budget (Apple’s most affordable laptop)
  • Care about battery life more than anything (up to 12 hours; longest battery life of any Apple laptop)
  • Want a small lightweight laptop like the MacBook but with more ports (great for students and travelers)
  • Don’t mind having a mediocre display (it’s not an IPS Retina display; 1440×900 not even Full HD)
  • Don’t mind having silver bezels (has fairly large bezels relative to its size)
  • Run the same basic applications that the MacBook is good for and if you know you don’t need more than 8GB RAM (this is Apple’s only laptop that is limited to 8GB)
  • Need an HD webcam (720p)
  • Don’t need a lot of storage space on the laptop and you utilize Cloud storage or external drives (base model only has 128GB storage)

MacBook Pro

  • Comes in silver or space gray and 2 screen sizes: 13.3″ starting at $1299 (non-TouchBar) & $1799 w/ TouchBar. 15.4″ starts at $1999 (2015 non-TouchBar model) & $2399 w/ TouchBar
  • All MacBook Pro models have IPS Retina displays (13″ has 227ppi; 15″ has 220ppi) and all MBP models can expect 9-10 hours battery life
  • 13″ comes with 8GB RAM (configurable to 16GB); 15″ comes with 16GB RAM
  • 13″ starts at 128GB SSD (configurable up to 1TB); 15″ starts at 256GB SSD (configurable to 2TB)
  • 13″ starts with Intel 7th-Gen Kaby Lake dual-core i5 (configurable to dual-core i7)
  • 15″ 2015 non-TouchBar comes with 4th-gen quad-core; 15″ TouchBar comes with 7th-Gen Kaby Lake quad-core i7

Get 2015 15″ MacBook Pro if you

  • Want an awesome laptop for under $2,000 (some say it’s the best laptop ever made)
  • Want Mag-Safe
  • Want all the other ports besides USB-C (HDMI, SD slot, USB-A, Thunderbolt 2)
  • Don’t mind having an older processor (4th-gen)
  • Want 15″ size but no Touch Bar

Get newest MacBook Pro if you

  • Want the best performance and fastest speed of all the Apple laptops (for professional work; 15″ Touch Bar has the best specs out of all MBPs)
  • Need the most internal storage (only Apple laptop to be configured for 1-2TB of storage)
  • Want the best/brightest display out of all Apple laptops (The newest 13″ and 15″ MBPs have 25% more colors than sRGB and 500 nits of brightness; 2015 MBP has sRGB and 300 nits; 13″ has the most ppi)
  • Run CPU-intensive or graphics-intensive applications like gaming, HD video editing, 3D modeling, CAD, virtual machines, hardcore Photoshop (For best graphics performance get 15″ which has dedicated Radeon Pro GPU with up to 4GB memory)
  • Don’t mind having a slightly bigger laptop compared to the other MacBook models (having said that, the 13″ is a very compact and portable laptop)
  • Absolutely want TouchBar/TouchID (even though 13″ MBP doesn’t have it)
  • Are okay with having USB-C ports (USB-C to USB-A adapters are a must-have)
  • Have a large budget (expensive; can go over $4,000 for certain configurations)

 

2016-macbook-pro-13-touchbar

Don’t Buy the 2016 MacBook Pro Until You Watch This

February 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

When Apple first announced the 2016 MacBook Pro I did a video over the top 5 letdowns about the new laptop based on what Apple showed us during the announcement.

Now I’ve owned the 2016 MacBook Pro for almost 3 months, and I’m here to share my experience and give you an update to those letdowns that I was expecting. Is it as bad as I thought it would be? Stick around to find out and at the end of the video I’ll tell you whether you should buy it or not.

Money, Baby

First, let’s address the cost. So many people including me were up in arms about the 2016 MacBook Pro being way overpriced for what you get. I bought the 13″ Touch Bar Space Gray model with a 2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD, which came out to be right around $2,000 USD.

Let’s put that into perspective.

At the time of this recording for $250 less, on Amazon you can get a 2016 Dell XPS 13 with a newer generation 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, double the amount of RAM, same size SSD, but a higher resolution display that’s also a touch screen.

If you’ve seen my Dell XPS 13 vs MacBook Pro video in which both laptops have 6th gen Skylake processors, you know that not all user experiences are created equally just by basing it off of specs alone. But when you’re talking about an exact dollar-to-specification ratio, the 2016 MacBook Pro is certainly overpriced compared to other laptops in its class.

Oh, Performance

The big question is: How well does the 2016 MacBook Pro perform given its seemingly lower specs?

For me, the toughest task I perform on my laptop is editing 4K videos. Since I use Final Cut Pro X, which is optimized for MacOS, I can export a 5-minute 4K video in about 4 minutes on the 2016 MacBook Pro. That’s actually pretty impressive. The lack of a dedicated GPU is its biggest hurdle when rendering videos but overall, Final Cut Pro X works well enough for me to use the MacBook Pro as a video editing machine, albeit not the greatest one.

Other than video editing, as with any other computer with an SSD, normal day to day tasks are handled with ease. Everything from web browsing to office applications are all fast. There’s no lag or stuttering when opening apps or having multiple tabs open in Chrome. The cold bootup time is about 24 seconds which is longer than I expected, but with one of the MacBook Pro’s best new features, Touch ID, getting back into the laptop from sleep mode is dang near instantaneous which is nice.

On the GeekBench tests, which measures overall performance, my MacBook Pro scored a 7606. LaptopMag.com tested two different models of the Kaby Lake Dell XPS 13, with the Core i5 model scoring 7159 and the Core i7 model scoring 7915. That means the 2016 MacBook Pro 13” i5 model falls right in between the i5 and i7 on the Dell XPS 13, which is pretty good since the MacBook Pro has the previous generation CPU.

Overall, I think the 13″ MacBook Pro is the perfect balance of mobility and performance.

New Features, Bruh

As for the new features, the 2nd gen butterfly keyboard is extremely nice to type on in my opinion. I enjoy it very much, and the super large trackpad is a dream. It’s way better than any other trackpad I’ve used.

Battery life has been kind of average, nothing spectacular. On a normal day for me which includes watching YouTube videos, streaming Spotify, browsing the web, typing documents, it lasts about 7 hours on a full charge. I do love how fast it charges from 0-100% in about 90 mins when the lid is closed, though.

What about the “coolest” new feature, the Touch Bar? I called it a gimmick when I first heard about it and honestly, it pretty much is. It really is just a coolness factor for the most part.

Sometimes it is useful in native apps like Final Cut Pro which is nice for me because I use that to edit, but for web browsing I use Chrome, and I’m not going to switch to Safari just because it’s optimized for the Touch Bar.

Given that the Touch Bar changes depending on what app is open, it’s not easy to wire your brain to use it. If you want a quick way to message emojis it’s great. But other than that, the Touch Bar is overhyped and underused.

The other big change is the port selection on the MacBook Pro. It only has USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports. No USB-A ports, no SD card slots, no HDMI port, which is kind of a travesty for something labeled as Pro. But hey, at least they remembered to put a headphones jack in. (Too soon?)

Out of the box you cannot connect any of your current USB-A devices or even your latest iPhone which is crazy. If you get the 2016 MacBook Pro, I hope you like using adapters. These USB-C to USB-A adapters are probably a necessity.

On the bright side, USB-C with its universal design and incredibly fast transfer speeds is certainly the way of the future and having four USB-C ports will be really convenient when all devices go that route. But right now, it feels unfriendly.

Worth It?

Is the 2016 MacBook Pro worth it? Well we know it has an awesome design, it has a solid build made of high quality materials, it has a fantastic display, nice sounding speakers, great keyboard and trackpad, good reliable performance. But it is expensive, lacks port variety, and has seemingly lower specs than most of its competitors.

I think you should only consider buying it if you:

  • Don’t mind taking adapters along with the laptop wherever you go or if for some reason you don’t need a variety of ports.
  • Absolutely want the Touch Bar and you think you would get use out of it.
  • Have a high budget and don’t care about the latest and greatest specs.
  • Plan to keep this laptop for 5+ years.

If you don’t meet all those conditions but you still want a MacBook Pro, I would suggest looking at a 2015 MacBook Pro instead. Sometimes you can find a good deal on a refurbished one.

The 2015 model will have older specs but the performance will be similar to the 2016 model and you’ll have a wider variety of ports, along with the MVP MagSafe connector, and most of all you’ll save some money.

Let me know what you decide and if this video helped you out, please give it a thumbs up I would really appreciate it. Also subscribe if you haven’t already. My name is Andy. Thank you for watching and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

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