Q for MacBook users: Air vs. Pro

[Acousticado]

Soon, I’ll be buying a new MacBook to replace an older Pro (10+ y/o). Beyond basic Excel and Powerpoint, my power need will be mainly for audio recording through Logic Pro and maybe dabbling in video for youtubes at some point. I don’t see the need for or extra cost of a Pro, but I could be wrong. I’m leaning to an M2 Air 15.3.

I’m interested in feedback from Air and Pro users and what power/memory enhancements, if any, would you recommend? Thanks!

[jim1960]

There’s not a whole lot of difference between them anymore (other than the base model Air).

The Macbook Pro is going to be a bit more powerful but if you’re only doing basic recording without a lot of virtual instruments, one of the Air models is likely enough power.

Connectivity is the same, each offers two Thunderbolt ports so depending on your needs, you may need a dock and that should be factored into your budget.

The M2 Airs and the 14” and 16” Macbook Pros have the better screens. If a Liquid Retina screen is important to you, that’s where you should be looking.

Battery life is better on the Macbook Pros but not by a lot. They’ll offer 2-4 hours more battery life depending on the model you buy.

Regardless of which you buy, I’d suggest upgrading to at least 16gb or memory …more if you can swing it.

[Acousticado]

Thanks Jim. I should’ve also mentioned that in addition to multitrack recording of vocals, stereo mic for acoustic guitar, and electric guitar, I do plan to try my hand at using VIs for drums, bass, keys. That said, I’ll be relatively new to this, so likely I won’t be getting overly complex, at least for quite some time.

[min7b5]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Thanks Jim. I should’ve also mentioned that in addition to multitrack recording of vocals, stereo mic for acoustic guitar, and electric guitar, I do plan to try my hand at using VIs....

I haven't really used any virtual instruments, but I think all the regular audio tracks should be nothing for M2 Airs. But if you do get into video, and start playing around with 4K editing, that's when things get real. I recently got a 2023 14" MacBook Pro to replace a pretty nice, though Intel based, Air, and with the video editing the difference is pretty dramatic. As for RAM, I just went with the standard 16 gigs because the new unified memory thing is a different animal. I've been editing multi-camera 4K vids with Logic and other apps open at the same time, and this thing just never breaks a sweat. I got 1TB drive which was standard, but I might've went 500GB because I prefer to use a separate 4TB SSD drive for A/V work anyway..

[b1j]

Originally Posted by jim1960

There’s not a whole lot of difference between them anymore (other than the base model Air).

Connectivity is the same, each offers two Thunderbolt ports so depending on your needs, you may need a dock and that should be factored into your budget.

Regardless of which you buy, I’d suggest upgrading to at least 16gb or memory …more if you can swing it.

My 2023 M2 MacBook Pro 16” has three Thunderbolt ports.

I can’t answer Tom’s question because I haven’t used both the Air and the Pro. I justified throwing down for the Pro because my 2015 Pro swelled up through the bottom (battery danger), and it was my business computer. We’ll write it off this year.

But I understand I might have overdone it with 32GB of “RAM” (now called unified memory) because the new type of memory is more efficient. So that’s one upgrade I’ll never know know whether it was a good deal.

[KevWind]

I am probably not the best to directly access the difference because for audio and video production I use a dedicated iMac (in my sig line) and only have the laptop for surfing the web and as a possible backup for my studio computer just incase,,, and I however do my photo editing on the laptop but do my video editing on the iMac which has 2 TB on board storage and I still have external drive storage for both my music and video

That said:

I have had both my previous laptop was and Air my current one is an M1 Pro 16 GB memory 1 TB storage

Now I will suggest for video especially as mentioned 4K that 512 storage is the bare minimum I would consider and will require external drives to off load finished video's to.
Even a 1 TB drive can get full pretty quickly if you do a lot of video editing and effects. Now what tends to dramatically increase the file size is what is called (in FCPX) the render files which can grow to 200 + GB
There are however workarounds to delete render files once the video editing is done and that is a doable workaround, but just know that the smaller the storage size the more often that will have to be done.

[ACOUSTICDEWD]

The new M3 will be announced tomorrow but the recent M2 MBA can be maxed out to 24GB of RAM. It's fanless, so no more recording gtr w/ jet engine sfx in background. Looking to replace my 2011 MBP w16GB (paid $6k+) which is still running Pro Tools daily for work but these new M-series macs are just ridiculously powerful and cheap. I left windows in 2011 after 15yrs of fixing and building them daily. I still run windows on my mac though for the odd task requiring it

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Soon, I’ll be buying a new MacBook to replace an older Pro (10+ y/o). Beyond basic Excel and Powerpoint, my power need will be mainly for audio recording through Logic Pro and maybe dabbling in video for youtubes at some point. I don’t see the need for or extra cost of a Pro, but I could be wrong. I’m leaning to an M2 Air 15.3.

I’m interested in feedback from Air and Pro users and what power/memory enhancements, if any, would you recommend? Thanks!

Hi Tom,
I'm probably old school in this regard but I learned a long time ago that you can never go wrong with extra memory. Now, with laptops used for gaming, multi-track recording, streaming, apps etc...the need is only increasing and you can get close to the max without realizing.
Although it doesn't sound like your needs are overly taxing, relatively speaking, getting the extra memory takes the worry out of it all.
I don't think you can go wrong with either the Air or Pro.
I have an M1 Pro with 32GB. Way more memory than I need, but who knows what I might get into and haven't foreseen yet. I'll be ready!

[j3ffr0]

If you are doing music production with any number of tracks and plugins, I suggest the pro over the air. Can't go wrong with more horsepower and memory.... especially if you are a person who likes to keep up with so-called OS upgrades. I use the term so-called, because each bloated software upgrade usually degrades performance.... so the more you upgrade your OS over time the more all that horsepower will be used up just by booting up and launching your DAW.

[martingitdave]

I got the 16" MBP M1Pro a few years ago. I find the extra screen and battery life to be a blessing. My wife likes a smaller laptop as a pro photographer. She's looking at a 14" M2 MBP when the M3s come out next week. The 15" Air is intriguing, but the speakers on the 16" are a lot better. You can actually use them.

[Acousticado]

Thanks to all for your feedback. Much appreciated!

Well, the M3 MB Pro 14 has just been released which is $350 more than the base Air 15. A bit smaller but better screen resolution, and mostly better features and double the storage are probably worth it. Likely, I’ll go with 16mb, this one may hit the sweet spot for me.