MacBook Air vs Professional: Variations between MacBook Air and Professional

Apple at the moment sells two laptop computer strains. The MacBook Professional and MacBook Air. The MacBook Professional comes with a 14-inch or 16-inch show (there was a 13-inch MacBook Professional, however Apple discontinued that mannequin) and the MacBook Air with both a 13.3-inch show, 13.6-inch show, or a 15-inch show. That’s quite a lot of Mac laptops, and amongst these fashions are a good wider vary of specs.

On this article, we’re involved with the Mac laptops finest suited to common use: residence, pupil and workplace work. There are 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional fashions powered by M3 Professional or M3 Mac chips which are higher suited to professional customers and have a lot larger costs, so we received’t be together with them right here. However if you’re considering your wants may lengthen slightly additional on the professional aspect, you might have an interest to learn Which MacBook Professional or our information to all of Apple’s laptops.

We’ll be contemplating the next equally speced Mac laptops:

• 13.3-inch MacBook Air, M1 (launched November 2020).
• 13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2 (launched July 2022).
• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M3 (launched October 2023).
• 15-inch MacBook Air, M2 (launched June 2023).

We’ve included the M1 MacBook Air, however solely actually in passing: it’s now greater than three years previous, and, whereas its value remains to be $999/$999 the worth of the a lot better M2 MacBook Air is just $100/$100 extra, so our recommendation is easy: pay slightly additional for a a lot better machine. We glance elsewhere on the MacBook Air M1 vs M2 in additional element.

For recommendation about the perfect MacBook, we even have a shopping for information, see: Finest MacBook 2023: Which Mac laptop computer is finest? Curious in regards to the M3 MacBook Air? Learn: M3 MacBook Air: All the pieces you could know.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional in contrast

Listed below are the three Mac laptops which have our consideration. We’ll examine design, specs, shows, value and different options beneath.

1. Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

Worth When Reviewed:

From $1,199

3. Apple 14-inch MacBook Professional (M3, 2023)

Worth When Reviewed:

$1,599

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Design

When Apple revealed its new design for the MacBook Air in June 2022 you may have been forgiven for considering you have been a MacBook Professional. The tapered edge for which the Air was well-known had gone, changed with a extra uniform design. However positioned beside the 13-inch MacBook Professional the variations are evident: The MacBook Air remains to be thinner, albeit fractionally, however it is usually very barely bigger due to the larger display screen.

Wanting on the display screen you’ll discover the opposite obvious distinction: the MacBook Air has a notch (additionally seen on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional and iPhones) and the 13-inch MacBook Professional doesn’t. This allows the larger display screen and conceals a a lot better FaceTime digital camera, so it’s not a nasty factor, though some individuals don’t like notches.

For those who miss that tapered design that made the MacBook Air immediately identifiable it’s nonetheless accessible when you purchase the M1 model of the MacBook Air (beware: we don’t count on that Apple will proceed to promote that mannequin for for much longer).

If a 13.6-inch display screen isn’t sufficiently big for you, Apple added a 15.3-inch MacBook Air to the lineup in June 2023. This mannequin seems equivalent to the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, and shares (largely) the identical specs, it’s simply greater.

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Even with a smaller 14.2-inch display screen, the 14-inch MacBook Professional is a bit chunkier and heavier than the 15-inch MacBook Air because of the followers wanted for warmth dissipation, whereas the Air is, unsurprisingly, wider and taller, due to the larger show.

Each fashions have a Contact ID sensor constructed into the keyboard, 1080p FaceTime HD cameras, and six-speaker arrays (the 13-inch Air solely has a four-speaker sound system). The sound on the MacBook Professional is described by Apple as “Excessive Constancy”, by which we assume Apple is indicating it’s superior to the Air. Connectivity is through Bluetooth 5.3 and whereas the Air helps Wi-Fi 6, the Professional ideas the steadiness with Wi-Fi 6E.

One other distinction between these MacBooks is the colour selections. There are 4 color selections for the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch MacBook Air: Midnight (darkish blue), Starlight (gold), House Grey and Silver. The Starlight shade is paler gold, whereas Midnight is near black with a darkish blue hue.

The 14-inch MacBook Professional with M3 affords solely Silver and House Grey choices. In case you have the funds for a 14-inch MacBook Professional with M3 Professional or M3 Max a House Black shade replaces House Grey.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Dimensions

When it launched in 2008, the MacBook Air was the lightest laptop computer accessible, however through the years the load of the MacBook Professional has declined, so the distinction is loads much less now:

The 13-inch MacBook Air is lighter than the 14-inch MacBook Professional, as you’d count on, however the 15-inch MacBook Air can also be lighter than the 14-inch MacBook Professional.

• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M3: 3.4 kilos (1.55 kg)
• 15-inch MacBook Air, M2: 3.3 kilos (1.51kg)
• 13-inch MacBook Air, M2: 2.7 kilos (1.24kg)

Chances are you’ll be considering that with the lack of the tapered design the 13-inch MacBook Air, M2, would weigh greater than the M1 model, however at 2.8 kilos (1.29kg) the older MacBook Air weighed extra.

Apple

The 15-inch MacBook Air is the most important, as you’d count on, however as a result of it’s thinner, the load is lower than the Professional. The 13-inch MacBook Air dimensions aren’t loads smaller than these of the 14-inch MacBook Air.

• 15-inch MacBook Air, M2: 13.40 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches (34.04 x 23.76 x 1.15cm)
• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M3: 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches (31.26cm x 22.12cm x 1.55cm)
• 13-inch MacBook Air, M2: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm)

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Show

The MacBook Air has both a 15.3-inch or a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina show. The MacBook Professional comes with a superior 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR panel. The display screen on the Air is a bit greater, but it surely’s inferior to the display screen on the MacBook Professional.

The 15-inch Air’s show runs at a decision of two,880 x 1,864, whereas the 13-inch affords 2,560 by 1,664. Each Airs have a most brightness is 500 nits, which is half of the Professional’s 1,000 nits in regular use or a 3rd when you’re operating HDR content material at a max of 1,600 nits. That is achieved by the Professional show incorporating mini-LEDs slightly than the Air’s customary LCD display screen.

Maybe the most important distinction although is that the Professional options ProMotion, which means that the refresh price tops out at 120Hz, once more double that of the Air’s 60Hz refresh price. This helps maintain scrolling and animations easy and crisp. Any of those shows might be nice for on a regular basis use and lengthy hours of labor, however the Professional has the sting in relation to options.

Listed below are these specs at a look:

• 15-inch MacBook Air, M2: 15.3 inches diagonal, 2,880 x 1,864 pixels
• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M2: 14.2 inches diagonal, 3,024 by 1,964 pixels
• 13-inch MacBook Air, M2: 13.6 inches diagonal, 2,560 x 1,664 pixels

The display screen on the MacBook Air may not match that of the Professional, however it’s superior to that of the M1 MacBook Air, which remains to be on sale. The now discontinued 13-inch MacBook Professional display screen was additionally inferior to the screens on each the Air and Professional.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Specs

All of Apple’s laptops are powered by Apple’s silicon. Amidst the MacBook Air and MacBook Professional choices are three generations of chip: the unique M1 within the previous 13.3-inch MacBook Air, an M2 within the 13.6-inch and 15-inch Air fashions, and an M3 within the 14-inch MacBook Professional that we’re contemplating right here (there are additionally M3 Professional and M3 Max MacBook Professional choices for many who want extra energy). To study extra about all of the Mac processors learn our Mac processor comparability and see how the M3 stacks up in opposition to all of Apple’s chips.

That is how the specs within the varied MacBook Air and the 14-inch MacBook Professional examine:

There are additionally M3 Professional and M3 Max MacBook Professional fashions that we focus on in our MacBook Professional comparability.

For those who glace on the specs above, the closest comparability is between the $1,499/£1,599 15-inch MacBook Air and the $1,599/£1,699 14-inch MacBook Professional. The MacBook Professional prices $100 extra, however has a more recent M3 chip. All the pieces else seems the identical. That’s assuming you may have round one and a half thousand to spend on a brand new Mac.

With a smaller funds the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2 (2022) seems like a superb deal at $1,099/£1,149. The primary downside with this machine is the smaller SSD, not simply because it’s smaller, but additionally as a result of the 256GB SSDs are identified to be slower. It nonetheless may be a good selection regardless of the SSD, as a result of that most likely received’t matter to you if the apps you utilize aren’t regularly writing to the onerous drive.

There are different components that may decelerate the MacBook Air although. As a result of the Air is compact and fanless it’s much less capable of handle warmth, and due to this fact could run slower when you actually push it.

If it’s energy you want then the benchmarks give a clearer image:

As you’ll be able to see from the scores above, the M3 shoots forward of the M2 and M1, in actual fact it even scores above one configuration of the M1 Professional. However, if you really want a robust machine you may wish to take a look at the M3 Professional MacBook Professional or store round for a M2 Professional MacBook Professional which it’s seemingly will stay on sale for a while although Apple has discontinued that mannequin.

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RAM

All of the MacBooks showcased above include 8GB of Unified Reminiscence at their base configuration. The M1 can solely assist as much as 16GB reminiscence, whereas the M2 and M3 chip deliver an choice to improve to 24GB RAM. For those who want extra reminiscence than that you could look to the M3 Professional and M3 Max, which might assist 36GB within the case of the M3 Professional and as much as 128GB for the M3 Max.

We suggest that, whichever mannequin you purchase, you improve your MacBook to 16GB Unified Reminiscence when you can afford to. Our recommendation is to get as a lot RAM as you’ll be able to afford as you’ll be able to’t improve it later.

Storage

We talked about the SSD briefly above. Apple affords a 256GB storage possibility on the entry-level for each the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air. The entry-level MacBook Professional begins at 512GB.

There are some issues about this 256GB SSD, with experiences that its SSD is as much as 50 p.c slower on learn speeds and 30 p.c on write speeds. We discovered that these observations have been certainly true once we ran our personal set of checks utilizing Blackmagic Disk Velocity Check. This may increasingly matter if you’re utilizing apps that entry the SSD typically, however it might not make a distinction in typical use.

For that reason, when you can afford a 512GB mannequin we suggest that.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Battery life and charging

On the subject of battery life these Macs are miles forward of the previous Intel MacBook fashions. In accordance with Apple, the M1 and each M2 MacBook Air fashions supply 18 hours battery life, whereas the 14-inch MacBook Professional affords a tremendous 22 hours (the identical because the 16-inch MacBook Professional).

In our personal testing, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air battery lasted 17.5 hours, outstripping the M1 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Professional by virtually an hour and a half. The 15-inch MacBook Air battery lasted a good higher 19 hours in our checks.

In common day by day use, battery life is simply as nice. It’s a bizarre feeling, opening up your laptop computer and doing work for 20 minutes and seeing that the battery proportion hasn’t modified even a single p.c, however that’s how it’s with Apple silicon. Clearly, battery life varies based mostly on what you’re doing, however for this laptop computer’s goal market–the on a regular basis residence and productiveness consumer–it’s onerous to suppose that you simply’ll ever should cost up earlier than the day is completed.

It’s not simply how lengthy the battery lasts that issues, but additionally the charging pace. Charging will be quick when you use a superb USB-C energy adapter. An ordinary 35W dual-port adapter can obtain a ten p.c cost in 10 minutes (30 p.c in half-hour). Apple’s 61W USB-C Energy Adapter will increase this to 72 p.c cost in half-hour. See our comparability take a look at of Apple’s M2 MacBook Air chargers in addition to the perfect USB-C charger in your MacBook.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Ports and enlargement

Through the years it’s felt like Apple has been on a mission to take away ports from Macs in an effort to make them slimmer and slimmer. This has been a drawback for a lot of, though typically when you want extra or completely different ports you’ll be able to simply plug in an adapter or a dock (learn: Finest USB-C hubs and adapters for Mac).

The older M1 MacBook Air affords solely two USB 4 ports two USB/Thunderbolt ports, so a type of may also be used for charging (as was additionally the case with the 13-inch MacBook Professional). With the arrival of the 2022 MacBook Air, Apple added a MagSafe charging port thereby releasing up the 2 USB ports so one doesn’t should be given over to charging (the additionally applies to the 15-inch mannequin).

The MacBook Professional options much more ports. On this model of the 14-inch MacBook Professional, you get the identical two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack as you do on the MacBook Air, however the Professional additionally affords HDMI and SDXC ports that the Air doesn’t have.

For those who want extra ports there’s a further Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port on the M3 Professional and M3 Max variations of the MacBook Professional.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Audio and digital camera

The M2 MacBook Air and the M3 MacBook Professional supply a 1080p FaceTime digital camera, which is superior to the 720p FaceTime digital camera on the M1 MacBook Air and discontinued 13-inch MacBook Professional.

The 15-inch MacBook Air has a profit over the 13.6-inch MacBook Air mannequin: if incorporates a six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers, in comparison with a four-speaker sound system. Apple describes the speaker system within the 14-inch MacBook Professional as a high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers, indicating that’s is superior to that within the 15-inch Air. Apple additionally refers to a “studio-quality three-mic array with excessive signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming” within the 14-inch Professional, whereas each Air fashions supply solely a “three-mic array with directional beamforming”.

All Mac laptops supply a 3.5mm headphone jack. 

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Worth and shopping for recommendation

When Apple launched the M3 model of the 14-inch MacBook Professional in October 2023 it changed a less expensive 13-inch MacBook Professional with M2 chip. The 13.3-inch MacBook Professional began at $1,299/£1,349 for the 8-core GPU, 256GB SSD model and rose to $1,499/£1,549 for the 10-core GPU, 512GB SSD model.

Now you must pay $1,599/£1,699 for a 10-core GPU, 512GB SSD entry-level MacBook Professional. That’s fairly a leap from $1,299/£1,349.

With no ‘funds’ MacBook Professional accessible the MacBook Air is the one possibility for these in search of a discount. If you’re in search of the most affordable possibility the $999/£999 M1 MacBook Air would seem like the clear winner. However in June 2023 Apple diminished the worth of the M2 MacBook Air, which means that it solely prices $100/£100 extra to purchase that mannequin. Our recommendation is to spend the additional cash when you can afford to or search for a deal that reduces the M2 MacBook Air to a value you’ll be able to afford.

The worth of the MacBook Professional is larger, however the MacBook itself is a lot better than its predecessor and when you want the ability and efficiency that the MacBook Air lacks then it’s a superb possibility. At simply $100/£100 greater than the 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 and the identical 512GB SSD, it truly represents good worth for cash.

We suggest getting the perfect machine you’ll be able to afford on the time of buy since you received’t be capable of improve down the road, this will likely require you to improve the RAM and storage.

The opposite issue that could be necessary to you is the display screen measurement, which is the place the MacBook Air is the clear winner, but when you’ll plug your Mac into an exterior show at any time when you’re at your desk this shouldn’t be a choice breaker. See our spherical up of the perfect shows for Mac, additionally keep in mind that it may be difficult utilizing a couple of exterior show with a M1, M2 or M3 Mac.

So which MacBook must you select? If you’re on a funds it needs to be the MacBook Air and also you received’t be dissatisfied. For those who want a bit extra energy than the Air can supply the M3 MacBook Professional will see you good. However when you want much more energy you’ll should fork out for the M3 Professional or M3 Max MacBook Professional fashions.

Fortunately, you don’t should pay full value for a MacBook Air or MacBook Professional, try our greatest MacBook Air offers and finest MacBook Professional offers articles for the perfect reductions accessible.

We additionally take a look at how the MacBook Air compares to the iMac and the way the MacBook Air and Mac mini examine individually. We additionally assist you to select the Finest Mac in our purchasing information.