MacBook Air vs Pro: Which one do you need?

Summary

In this video, Tyler Stalman helps viewers decide whether to buy a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. He outlines the main differences between the two models, including screen sizes, display quality, performance capabilities, external display support, and port availability. While the Air is ideal for regular users due to its sufficient performance for daily tasks, those working in professional fields might benefit more from the Pro because of its exceptional display quality, better sound system, and extended performance options. Stalman offers practical advice on configurations and emphasizes considering one's professional demands when choosing between these two laptop models.

Highlights

• MacBook Air is great for daily tasks and remains the top-selling model. 🏆
• MacBook Pro offers significant screen upgrades unparalleled in brightness and performance. 🌈
• The Pro version supports 120 Hz refresh rate making the display fluid for those who notice. ⚡️
• External display support is better on the Pro, handling up to four displays without a hitch. 🔌
• Audio quality is notably better in the Pro, capable of filling a room with sound. 🔊

Key Takeaways

• The MacBook Air is top-selling for a reason; it's perfect for daily tasks and basic needs! 💻
• Screen size choices vary significantly with Air offering more compact options compared to Pro. 📏
• The MacBook Pro comes with a superior display and refresh rate which can wow users in dynamic viewing environments! 🌟
• Ports galore! The Pro's additional ports make it a dream for photographers and tech-savvy travelers. 📸
• Choose more RAM if your livelihood depends on video, photo editing, or intense computing needs! 🎥

Overview

Are you settled on purchasing a MacBook but stuck choosing between the Air or the Pro? Fear not, Tyler Stalman has got your back! This video guides you through the essential considerations when deciding which Apple laptop best suits your needs. For everyday users, the MacBook Air is often praised for being the all-rounder with adequate performance for browsing, streaming, and minor editing tasks.

However, if you crave a powerhouse for intensive tasks, the MacBook Pro might just be your digital knight in shining armor. It boasts an exceptional display with up to 1,600 nits of brightness, superior to any standard laptop. Plus, the Pro's extra ports and support for up to four external displays mean no more hassling with dongles!

Stalman dives deeper, discussing configurations and technical specs aimed at those in creative professions. Opt for more RAM and a higher-spec model if your work hinges on demanding software. His insights might guide you to the right MacBook, ensuring it meets both your current and future digital needs.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The introduction sets the stage for helping the reader decide between purchasing a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. It acknowledges the difficulty of making this choice while browsing through configurations on the Apple website. Emphasis is placed on guiding the reader through these decisions. Although there are budget options available through third-party retailers, particularly older M2 MacBook Air models, the focus will not be on budget-friendly selections because they are the cheapest Macs currently offered.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Choosing Between Air and Pro This chapter aims to help readers decide between purchasing a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. It begins by affirming that the MacBook Air is preferable for most users because of its sufficient performance for basic tasks like web browsing, watching videos, and general computer use. The narrator acknowledges the performance prowess of the MacBook Air's M4 chip. However, the chapter suggests that if readers anticipate needing more advanced features, they might want to consider the MacBook Pro.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Size Comparison The chapter discusses choosing the size of a MacBook, comparing various options: a 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air, and a 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The speaker expresses a personal preference for larger screens, specifically using a 16-inch MacBook Pro for maximum screen real estate, while acknowledging that the choice is highly personal.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Performance and Size Considerations The chapter discusses the importance of comparing different models in person to understand the differences and ascertain what compromises one is willing to make. It highlights that within the Air lineup, opting for a larger screen does not impact performance, except for the base model. The narrator suggests avoiding the base model of the M4 and recommends older models like M3 or M2 for those looking to save money. Various configurations are available, but there are some shortcomings in the base model, which will be further discussed.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Display Differences The chapter titled 'Display Differences' discusses the differences in performance and specifications between the 13-inch, 15-inch, and 16-inch MacBook Pro, emphasizing the significant upgrades and increased price with the 16-inch model. It also highlights the comparison between the MacBook Air and Pro, noting a key difference in the display, where the Air features a 500-nit screen.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Refresh Rate and External Displays The chapter titled 'Refresh Rate and External Displays' contrasts the display quality of two devices. The 'Air' model is described as having a sufficient display for most uses, being bright enough, and not causing any issues during use. In contrast, the 'Pro' model boasts an exceptional display, considered the best available in any laptop by any manufacturer. It has a brightness of 1,000 nits during standard dynamic range viewing and can reach a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. This makes it exceptionally suitable for outdoor or bright environments, offering an impressive visual experience. In summary, while the 'Air' model is perfectly adequate for work, the 'Pro' model's display is notably superior.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Framer Sponsorship The chapter discusses the difference between 120 Hz and 60 Hz refresh rates in screens. While 120 Hz is becoming more standard and is noticeably smoother to those who can discern the difference, many casual users may not notice the difference in regular use. However, people accustomed to 120 Hz may find 60 Hz to feel slower. The speaker, despite working in video production, shares a personal viewpoint on the refresh rate preference.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Audio and Ports Comparison The chapter 'Audio and Ports Comparison' reviews the advantages of upgrading to a Nano-Texture display for your screen, costing an additional $150. This upgrade is praised for reducing screen reflections although it is not essential. Further discussion highlights display capabilities: the Air model supports up to two external displays, whereas the Pro model can support four. However, a caution is noted for Air model users, as the use of maximum external displays could impact overall device performance due to its less powerful GPU.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Ports and Connectivity The chapter discusses the advantages of using a MacBook Pro over an Air when handling multiple displays, emphasizing better performance with the Pro model. It also advises on the importance of building a personal website for sharing creations, rather than relying solely on social media. The recommendation includes using tools like Framer to create customized and professional-looking portfolios, avoiding the limitations of generic templates.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Webcam, Battery, and Charging The chapter discusses the limitations of traditional website builders and introduces Framer as an alternative. Framer allows users to design custom websites visually without coding, offering features like scroll animations, responsive layouts, a built-in CMS, and localization for international clients.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Performance Features The transcript discusses the speaker's experience as a web designer and highlights the capabilities of Framer as a visual design tool. It emphasizes Framer's ability to handle complex effects and animations across all browsers, making it a powerful tool for startups and agencies to build comprehensive product websites. The platform is credited with powering prominent sites like Runway and Superhum, showcasing its scalability and suitability beyond personal projects. The speaker encourages those who have postponed launching their websites or are tired of traditional templates to consider Framer.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Use Cases and Recommendations The chapter discusses the benefits of using Framer for creating a high-quality website, highlighting that it's free to start and can enhance the presentation of your work. It also touches on the quality of internal speakers in laptops, comparing MacBooks favorably to PC laptops. While the MacBook Air's speakers offer less volume and bass, the MacBook Pro's speakers are described as exceptional, capable of filling a room with sound when turned up.
• 10:00 - 11:00: Storage and Memory Recommendations The chapter compares speaker performance and port options between different MacBook models. It emphasizes the improved speaker quality of the Pro model due to its larger body. The author discusses the convenience of using a MacBook Air for travel and a more powerful desktop like a Mac Studio for intensive tasks at home, reflecting on the idea of having a lighter, travel-friendly computer and a robust, stationary editing machine.
• 11:00 - 11:30: Decision Summary The chapter highlights the flexibility of the MacBook Pro, focusing on its versatile port options. It mentions the presence of two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which are also USB-C and allow a wide range of peripherals. Additionally, the MagSafe charging feature is noted as a significant upgrade from previous models, allowing simultaneous use of other ports while charging. The chapter also notes the presence of a headphone jack.

MacBook Air vs Pro: Which one do you need? Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 let's just say you already know that your next computer is going to be a MacBook but is it going to be a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air well I'm going to help you figure that out today so if you've been staring at the configuration page on the Apple website I'm going to try to walk you through it help you make some of those decisions and by the way if you are shopping for a budget computer there are great third-party retailers out there that you can find a good deal on like an older M2 MacBook Air something like that but I'm not going to be focused on that budget choice because those are the cheapest Macs out there and you're probably not
• 00:30 - 01:00 thinking about getting a MacBook Pro so I'm going to be more in between like are you ready to transition from the Air to the Pro i'll help you decide let me say that again a different way and this might clear things up for a lot of people watching most people probably want the MacBook Air it's the top selling Apple laptop for a reason because it has the performance you need for basic daily tasks like web browsing and watching videos and Netflixing and you know basic computer stuff the M4 chip can handle it all but if you think you might need some of the pro features
• 01:00 - 01:30 let's try to figure it out starting with the sizes so if you're looking at the MacBook Air you'll see a 13 and 15in option available and with the Pro there is a 14 and a 16in the way to think about this for me is that the only one that feels small is that 13in Air all of the others are relatively large i prefer to maximize my screen real estate all the time so my computer I work on is the 16-inch MacBook Pro and choosing the size is so personal that I can't tell you what you're going to want to use but
• 01:30 - 02:00 you should check that out in person make sure that you've seen them side by side just so you're aware of the differences and what compromises you're willing to make it's worth noting that with the Air lineup jumping to the larger screen size doesn't affect performance except in the base model and I'm actually going to kind of encourage you to ignore the base model of the M4 again if you're trying to save money I would actually go for one of the older like M3 or M2s if you can find them at another retailer if you're looking for performance the base model it's got a few things we're missing we'll go into it later but you can get all the same configurations
• 02:00 - 02:30 between the 13 and 15in now with the MacBook Pro it's pretty different once you get to the 16inch you're making some big spec jumps so you'll notice that the price goes way up but you're getting a lot more performance along with that so there's a lot of other performance details that are tied to that 16-in screen and makes it a little harder to compare prices but we'll get there but aside from the dimensions of the MacBook choosing a Pro over an Air will also give you some pretty significant screen upgrades so the Air has a 500nit display
• 02:30 - 03:00 that's like a normal TV i mean it's just bright enough for most things and it never bothers me using it like it is bright enough on the other hand the Pro has an exceptional display probably the best display you can find in any laptop by any manufacturer has a,000 nits of brightness when it's just in standard dynamic range viewing and at peak brightness 1,600 nits so outdoors or in bright environments it's pretty exceptional it really will blow you away again the Air is usable it will not get in the way of your work but the Pro is
• 03:00 - 03:30 visibly better it's also going to get you 120 Hz refresh rate which is kind of becoming more standard like we expect that on a lot of the screens that we interact with while you've only got 60 Hz on the MacBook Air it's one of those things that if you can see the difference it might feel really important to you i think a lot of casual users are not aware of the difference will not see it in regular use it's more like when you get used to 120 the 60 feels slower but personally even though I work in video production I don't
• 03:30 - 04:00 usually notice the 60 Hz unless I'm thinking about it and if you feel like spoiling yourself for an additional $150 the Pro offers a nanoexture display which cuts down on reflections that the typical glass screen usually has it looks really good i do like this upgrade but it's not necessary it's a bonus if you're using external displays the Air can support two of them and the Pro can support four but keep in mind I find that with the Air since its GPU is not as powerful it does slow down overall performance a little bit if you're running it maximum amount of displays so
• 04:00 - 04:30 if you're using two I might still recommend a Pro because it'll just handle them better just one display no problem with the Air two starts to push it and you might want to look at the Pro whatever you create with your new MacBook when you share it with the world i can't recommend enough that you build your own website to do it not just social media and the best way to do that is with Framer sponsor of this video let's say you want to design a greatl looking portfolio but all the templates out there are either too generic or you
• 04:30 - 05:00 try to design something more custom and then it completely falls apart that's where Framer comes in it's a website builder that actually feels like a design tool you can move elements around freely customize everything visually and then publish a live site without touching a single line of code and I think what makes Framework stand out is that it's not just throwing a page online in just a couple of days you can create something that feels crafted you get things like scroll-based animations responsive layouts built-in CMS for case studies or blogs and even localization if you're reaching international clients
• 05:00 - 05:30 i worked as a web designer for years and I always had this impression that like visual design tools could only really work with the basics but what's amazing is to see how Framer can handle even complex effects and animations that work great across all browsers and it's even powerful enough for startups and agencies to build complex product websites it's the same platform behind sites like Runway and Superhum so you know it can scale way beyond just your personal projects if you've been putting off launching your website or you're just tired of the same old templates
• 05:30 - 06:00 check out Framer the link is in the description below it's free to get started and you can finally have a website that reflects the quality of your work so thanks again to Framer for sponsoring this video the internal speakers are very good on both of them for laptops but I mean when I go back to a PC laptop I remember how bad it can be the MacBooks are excellent in comparison the Air is not as loud it doesn't have as much bass the Pro actually sounds pretty exceptional like if you just crank it up as kind of a speaker in the background it can kind of like fill a
• 06:00 - 06:30 small room again it's like not a home stereo system but you will notice a difference just because of the larger body the Pro does have better speaker performance now how about the ports on each of these machines the in-n-out options you have available i use the MacBook Air 16in all the time it's my standard and I sometimes have this dream like what if I could travel with the Air and then at home I'm using a Mac Studio or some kind of desktop as my full-time editing machine that does the heavy lifting and then I just have a smaller computer on the road what really keeps
• 06:30 - 07:00 me hooked though is all of the flexibility that you have on the Pro so let's go over the details the Air has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and for anybody that doesn't pay attention to ports that is also USBC USBC 3 thunderbolt 4 means you can kind of run anything across it which is very impressive and you get two of them then you also get a Mag Safe so you can charge it while using those other two ports very big upgrade over previous MacBooks and there is also a headphone jack yes it still has a
• 07:00 - 07:30 headphone jack in comparing that to the Pro which has the same MagSafe and headphone jack it has three Thunderbolt 4 ports an HDMI port and an SD card reader and I find those so incredibly useful when I'm just traveling around that I need to plug my computer into a TV HDMI i've got to download my photos SD and I don't have to carry around a little adapter dongle like I did in the olden days cuz that was terrible when none of these ports were internal so as a photographer I find these things very
• 07:30 - 08:00 important you'll probably know if they're important to you or not if you are rarely using them then maybe keeping an adapter in your bag is not such a big deal if you use them daily like I do it's a big part of why I love the MacBook Pro macbook Pro with M4 Pro or M4 Max also features Thunderbolt 5 which more than doubles transfer speeds up to 120 gigabits per second both of them come equipped with the same 12 megapixel wide-angle webcam that has center stage
• 08:00 - 08:30 which is the thing where it follows your face around depending how you move and I'm going to go on the record I'm just going to say it i think center stage is kind of terrible i always turn it off and I wish they had put better cameras in there with less fancy features i don't know i I don't love the state of webcams like they're fine they work but it they're not the best in either Mac uh but they are the same so you don't have to choose that looking at battery life performance is a hard time consuming project and I don't have all of the machines so I'm going to be referring to Tom's hardware test results which are in
• 08:30 - 09:00 line with what I've seen from other testers and what you'll find is the battery life keeps getting better with the more expensive laptops i do think that the 13-in is excellent like it's not a problem you can get through a day working on it depending what you're doing but if you go all out for the 16-in Pro you do get the benefit of a lot longer battery another bonus when you're traveling with the Air is that the chargers are so much smaller cuz you can just use a little 35 watt charger and it gets the job done whereas you're going to need something much larger for the Pro often I can get away with a 70 watt charger it's a little bit smaller
• 09:00 - 09:30 but generally you're just going to be carrying around a larger charger for the Pro let's dig into the actual performance now great news thanks to Apple intelligence all of the MacBooks now have 16 GB of RAM it's about time this has been a long time coming we We needed it they used to have a And by the way if you're worried about your computer's ability to run Apple Intelligence I wouldn't worry about it right now i don't think anybody's really using Apple Intelligence for anything unless you're working in the field of AI in that case you probably already know
• 09:30 - 10:00 which computer you need you're probably going to be doing most of your AI tasks online a lot of the local models haven't fully arrived yet so they're just not a big consideration at this moment someday it'll be different today it's not that important if we look at the M4 chip its basic performance is the same across the different computers whether it's a 13 14 or 15 in the M4 is the M4 and then on the MacBook Pros there's also the M4 Pro and the M4 Max very confusing names the M4 is enough for most things you do even
• 10:00 - 10:30 most things I do with photo and video editing so the difference you'll find between the Air and the Pro is that since the Pro has fans inside it has active cooling meaning if you're doing a longer task that is warming up the computer the Air will eventually thermally throttle and slow down whereas the Pro can keep working at faster speeds and let's talk about some of the common use cases beyond just you know browsing the internet and streaming video which of course they all do well let's say you're editing video the Air can easily handle 4K edits no problem
• 10:30 - 11:00 and when you export them they'll go pretty quick if it's not a complex project you won't really be waiting for it however as complexity increases maybe you have a multicam project or some titles and transitions you will find the air will start to slow down like it can handle quite a bit but it will chug a little you might have to create some proxies for your video and just kind of work around it whereas if you're using the M4 Pro or the M4 Max chip it can handle like 4K multicam even 8K raw multicam like you can start to do a lot
• 11:00 - 11:30 and it really doesn't break a sweat and the exports become negligible like they're not instant but they are always fast it's not a big time sync to wait for them and real quick the reason the Pro and the Max chips are so much faster for that is they have dedicated media engines which handle video encoding and decoding on their own so the CPU and the GPU don't have to do all that work it's handed off to a specialized part of the system on a chip if you're a photographer the Air can handle any of the professional software you throw at it lightroom Photoshop Capture 1 they
• 11:30 - 12:00 all run great on it you will notice if you open a lot of tabs it'll start to slow down really large files might generate previews more slowly so things like large exports or multi-layered PSDs those will definitely improve on the Pro but if you're not getting into that style of editing you can do the basics even with professional quality RAW files easily on the MacBook Air but remember the Air only has an SDR display so if you want to work in HDR photo or video
• 12:00 - 12:30 you're going to need the Pro now let's go to the Apple website customize some computers and decide what features are worth upgrading first of all I would not recommend anybody get 256 gigs of storage it will stress you out you'll be running out you're not going to have a good time 512 is enough for most people i do like to upgrade my internal SSD even though it's quite expensive as much as I can my rule of thumb is that I like to have all of my active projects at least available internally first of all because the internal SSD is faster but
• 12:30 - 13:00 the real speed savings are because you're not managing external drives having to bring them with you everywhere i rather keep all of my external storage to backups and archives and whatever I'm working on right now I have available right on the computer now then you've got to choose how much unified memory do you need this is affected by which computer you're buying so they don't all have the same options available the 16 gigs I think are enough if you're just doing say photo and video as a hobby like just family photos things like that and you're just keeping a normal amount of tabs open you can totally get by with
• 13:00 - 13:30 16 it's fine but if any of those things are your job photo video audio or you're a developer then I'd be thinking about upgrading it uh 24 is kind of the sweet spot where you're not really overpaying and it's going to do most of what you need but you know you can kind of just keep adding it on depending how many apps and tabs you like to keep running at a time and if you are going to go with the MacBook Pro you've got to decide between the M4 the M4 Pro and the M4 Max and I'd think about it in those terms as well how much of your income comes from your computer are you making a lot of money based on the things that
• 13:30 - 14:00 it's doing if so I mean I think those upgrades will end up paying for themselves but that's all up to you you know how much you use your computer i don't and just anecdotally I use the M4 Max cuz I need all the performance that I can get other people on our team do use the M4 Pro and there are times they find it slows down on things like multicam or when you have you know vector scopes and waveforms visible it can be a little too much in those video processes so it can handle it all it just could potentially slow down so I I
• 14:00 - 14:30 don't know if that helps you decide there it is after all that if I could sum it up in just a few words this is what I'd say if you're a normal person that uses a computer the MacBook Air is probably right for you but if you rely on your computer and it's at the center of your work that you do day in and day out I would be going for the MacBook Pro i hope that helps guys i'd love to know though which computer are you using now and which one do you most likely think you'll be upgrading from i'd love to compare notes of everybody in the comments so thanks for watching and I'll
• 14:30 - 15:00 see you in the next video