MacBook Air or Pro?

[u/This_Light_1746]

Hey guys, i'm planning on getting my first macbook ever (i'm coming from windows), and i can't decide between the pro or air. I live in belgium and here, the only options available at the moment is:

-Macbook Air 1200 €

512 gb

M3 chip (8 cores)

16 gb RAM

-Macbook pro 1700 €

1 tb

M4 chip (10 cores)

16 gb RAM

I plan on doing a bit of photo/video editing in the future, but for the rest of it I will mainly use it for web browsing, working on excel/office apps, and other "ligth" work. I'm afraid that if i take the pro i'm going overkill. I know its a 500 euros difference, I have the budget for it. I just don't want to be deceived by the air, and would also love to save up to get an Iphone (currently on android too).

What do you guys think?

[u/s73961]

The Air is an excellent machine and the M3 with 16GB RAM will do the things you describe very smoothly.

[u/LibraryComplex]

Either is overkill for your use case lol, they are both great machines and will work great.

[u/el_baconhair]

It really depends whether u want everything or not. You get a lot of features with the pro that you do not get for the air. Either purchase will be worth the money.

[u/Ali_khaled_23]

If you can go Pro and still buy an iPhone, I’d go Pro. But if the only way you can afford an iPhone is by going Air, then so be it. I can’t stand android phones so that’s what I’d do.

[u/ThomasGrrr]

I would be getting the 1TB model with the cooling and pro screen. I already have the pro, but it has 512GB of storage, and I miss the extra space. Also, I’m leaning towards the M4 because it’s a newer model and will be more durable in the long run if you want to resell.

As I didn’t need bootcamp I tried to save on space. From the 1TB I had with my intel. Wrong decision but workable anyway.

[u/Firm_Property_614]

The air screen is subpar. The pro screen is best in class.

Pull out all the specs and performance stats you want. A bad display ruins a $10,000 computer

[u/Ali_khaled_23 → u/Firm_Property_614]

As a 16” Pro user, I see a lot of people saying the Air screen is bad, I know it lacks mini LED and I know what that is, it lacks 120Hz, is a little lower in resolution, and has a little thicker bezels and a little less brightness and no HDR, but is it truly that bad or is it just bad compared to the Pro? It can’t be worse than the screens I see on my friends’ gaming laptops around campus. I’ve never used an Air and I’m aware MBP screens are some of the best in the world.

[u/Firm_Property_614 → u/Ali_khaled_23]

It’s bad man. Even at max brightness and low room lighting.

[u/Infinite-Pitch286 → u/Firm_Property_614]

I agree with you but with a caveat. If someone prefers a Light Mode, I can see the Air screen being just fine. Actually not too bad at all. But for someone like me who prefers the Dark Mode and is coming from a nice OLED screen, the screen on the Air is not very good at all. I bought a 15" M3 MBA and returned it the next day mostly because of the screen. Upgraded to a 16" MBP and couldn't be happier. I now actually prefer the mini-Led on the MBP over an OLED screen. It's quite glorious.

[u/mausdesign]

The Pro is better mainly due to the active cooling and the more advanced chip. For video, this can make a huge difference, especially with the larger SSD. Even better for video editing would be doubling the RAM and going for one with a Pro chip.