Apple MacBook air VS Apple MacBook Pro: Which is better?
With the new features that apple are continuously upgrading their devices has raised the confusions in buyers mind for which device to purchase. The mind gets more puzzled when you have to decide between the two devices having the same range and almost similar features as that of the dearest version of Air and cheapest Pro 13in.
The way of reducing this confusion is to ask ourselves what are our requirements? If it is portability and the lighter version we need or the power and performance we are looking for and how much rates we can afford?
Apple has upgraded all of its MacBook devices have included two features in them that are magical keyboard which replaces the butterfly mechanism and intel chips replaced by Apple designed Arm chips. Apple Macbook Pro(16in) with the first feature was revised in November 2020 and Apple MacBook Pro(13in) and Macbook Air were released in 2020. Soon Macbooks with Arm chips feature will be released soon. It is expected that the first Apple silicon MacBook will be released by the end of 2020.
Arm-chip based Macbook will have face recognition or face id feature included in it. Also, the battery life will be improved, but it may not cooperate with some of the apps. So now the question may arise that should I buy now or wait for Arm-chip based Macbook to launch? Well, then thats completely your choice because without Arm-chip also the Macbook works completely fine and you will not be losing anything drastic. Or if the work is not urgent then you can wait for some time.
Macbook avoid line creep system(when the brand launches subdivisions of every product) by providing various choice in its every MacBook version. But still, it remains confusing for customers to choose among them. In this blog, I have included all comparisons that you can look upon while buying a new Macbook version.
You can purchase these from any online site or from the Apple store.
Comparisons
Price:
Let’s take a look at the default configurations of both the MacBooks:
Apple MacBook Air:
Version 1:
- RAM: 8 GB 3733 MHz
- STORAGE: 256 GB
- PROCESSOR: 1.1GHz dual-core 10th-gen Intel Core i3
- COST: $999
- Magic keyboard
- Touch ID
- Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
- Intel iris plus graphics
- 720p FaceTime HD camera
Image from google
version 2:
- RAM: 8 GB 2133 MHz
- STORAGE: 512 GB
- PROCESSOR: 1.1GHz dual-core 10th-gen Intel Core i5
- COST: $1299
- 720p FaceTime HD camera
- Touch bar and touch ID
- Intel iris plus graphics 625
- Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) ports
Apple MacBook Pro(13 in):
Version 1:
- RAM: 8 GB
- STORAGE: 256 GB
- PROCESSOR: 1.4 GHz quad-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5
- COST: $1299
Version 2:
- RAM: 8 GB
- STORAGE: 512 GB
- PROCESSOR: 1.4 GHz quad-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5
- COST: $1499
Version 3:
- RAM: 16 GB
- STORAGE: 512 GB
- PROCESSOR: 2.0 GHz quad-core 10th-gen Intel Core i5
- COST: $1799
Version 4:
- RAM: 16 GB
- STORAGE: 1 TB
- PROCESSOR: 2.0 GHz quad-core 10th-gen Intel Core i5
- COST: $1999
These are the versions of Macbook pro(13 in) with the older chip and cheaper models. Every MacBook Pro(13 in) has a touch bar in it.
You can compare that the dearest version of apple MacBook Air is similar to the cheapest version of Apple MacBook Pro(13 in).
Apple MacBook Pro(16 in):
New Version 1:
- RAM: 16 GB 2666 MHz
- STORAGE: 512 GB
- PROCESSOR: 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-gen Intel i7
- COST: $2399
- Touch bar and touch Id
- 720p face HD camera
- 4 thunderbolt 3-(USB-C) ports
New Version 2:
- RAM: 16 GB
- STORAGE: 1 TB
- PROCESSOR: 2.3GHz 8-core 9th-gen Intel i9
- COST: $2799
There is no doubt that MacBook pro comes up with more storage, more memory, and more battery life. But point to ponder here is that cheapest Air has a new processor than cheapest Pro but the latter has a quad-core processor and the other has dual-core. So if you are low on budget then you can go with Air but if you need better performance and graphic work then go for Pro.
Design:
In the display, it may seem that Pro is thinner due to its taper design but in reality Air weigh less than Pro and is more portable. the weight difference is not high, 1.29 Kg for Apple MacBook Air, and 1.43Kg for Apple MacBook Pro 13in and 2 kg for Apple MacBook Pro 16in.
Both have touch Id and force touch trackpad, but the touch bar on Pro is more advanced as its multi-touch strips replace many function keys and control other options depending on the app opened.
There is only a slight difference in their designs, so they almost give the same feel due to the Apple icon present on it, therefore it is just a matter of preference.
Storage:
Apple Pro-16in starts with 512 GB of storage and can go up to 8 TB. while Air and Pro 13in have 256 GB of storage, but Pro can be increased to 4 TB while Air is limited to 2 TB.
Battery life:
Apple Air: 11 hours of wireless web browsing and 12 hours of video playback (whole day)
Apple Pro 13in: 10 hours of wireless web browsing and 10 hours of video playback
Apple Pro 16in: 11 hours of wireless web browsing and 11 hours of video playback
The battery life of Air is slightly better than Pro, though the latter has high processor speed.
USB ports:
All current MacBooks come up with USB-C ports and no place for USB-A and SD cards.
Air 2020 and 2 cheapest Pro(13 in): 2 USB-C ports (one will be used for charging)
2 expensive pro(13 in) and pro(16 in): 4 USB-C ports (useful when a laptop is needed for excessive work.)
There are many USB adapters and accessories that are present in the market to expand the ports and use USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, and more.
Screens:
Apple Air 2020:
- Display: 13.3in LED-backlit
- Technology: IPS technology
- Resolution: 2560*1600 (227 PPI)
- 400 nits brightness level and wide color sRGB
Apple MacBook Pro(13in):
- Display: 13.3in LED-backlit
- Technology: IPS technology
- Resolution: 2560*1600 (227 PPI)
- 500 nits brightness level and wide color(P3)
Apple MacBook Pro(16in):
- Display: 16in LED-backlit
- Technology: IPS technology
- Resolution: 3072*1920 (226 PPI)
- 500 nits
Apple does not have a touchscreen in any version. There is not much difference in the display of both of them but due to larger area pro(16in) have better resolution.
Gaming and Graphics:
Apple cheapest Pro(13in): Intel iris plus graphics 645
Apple Macbook Air and 10th-gen Pro(13 in): regular-grade iris plus graphics(80% faster than the previous generation)
Apple Macbook Pro(16in): Intel UHD Graphics 630 and AMD Radeon Pro discrete graphics cards.
For gaming pro(16 in) is better than others, but you can use other versions using eGPU to make it better.
Processor and RAM:
Apple Macbook Air 2020: 10th-gen Intel processors better than 8th- gen chips in cheapest Pro(13in) and 9th-gen chips in Pro(16in), though Pro(13in) may have 10th-gen chips by paying more. Air is still dual-core while others are quad-core, but Air is meant to give maximum battery life and better work efficiency by not taking too much power. You can customize it to core i7 for more power enhancement but that costs more, but clock speed still remains at 1.1 GHz.
RAM: 8GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X, configurable to 16 GB.
Apple Macbook Pro(13in): 10th gen quad-core processor with 2 GHz i5 or 2.3 GHz i7 and turbo boost up to 3.9 GHz.
RAM(8th-gen):8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3,configurable to 16 GB.
RAM(10th-gen):16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X, configurable to 16 GB.
Apple Macbook Pro(16in): 2.3GHz 8-core 9th-gen Intel i9 and 6–8 crores AMD Radeon graphics cards for those who need extreme power to perform heavy work.
RAM: starts with 16GB and can go up to 64 GB.
Air is faster than the cheapest pro. The processor speed of Pro(16 in) beats all.
Conclusion:
As I mentioned in the starting that it depends on what you need. Clearly, if you have a lot of power work like that of graphics, video editing then you need more USB ports and fast processing speed so your preference must be Apple MacBook Pro(16in).
But most of the users go for either Air 2020 or Pro(13 in) as the cost is less but features are not much lacking. Since the speed(10th-gen intel quad-core processors) of Pro(13in) is better than Air(dual-core) so it is most preferable among all as it can also be upgraded to more storage or RAM.
But if you are looking for less price, easily portable, and good battery life then you can go for Air.
You can check the reviews of MacBook Air 2020 and MacBook Pro 2020 for better clearance.
