We examine the 2023 variants of the M2 16 inch MacBook Professional vs 15 inch MacBook Air
Up to date: Nov 3, 2023 2:30 pm
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The 15 inch MacBook Air vs 16 inch MacBook Professional – which is best? Or, extra precisely, which is the higher choice on your wants? Following the 15 inch MacBook Air release, we obtained our fingers on this new system so have been capable of examine it to the MacBook Professional (M2 variant), and talk about what these particulars imply under that will help you system between them.
The brand new MacBook Professional M3 sequence has in fact not too long ago been launched, however these are significantly dearer and highly effective than each the laptops on this web page so don’t work as properly for a comparability. If you wish to know the variations between them, mainly, no matter applies to the M2 choice we’re evaluating under – simply exaggerate additional and this provides you with a good suggestion of the M3 MacBook Professional. Additionally, be sure to try our Black Friday MacBook Air deals and Black Friday MacBook Pro deals hubs for some nice financial savings this November.
Immediately’s greatest MacBook offers
MacBook Air 15 vs MacBook Professional 16 M2 specs comparability
| Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) | Apple MacBook Professional 16 (2023) | |
| display measurement & decision | 15.3-inch 16:10 (2880 x 1864, 224ppi) | 16.2-inch (3456 x 2234, 254ppi) |
| show | 60Hz, Liquid Retina IPS (500nits) | 60Hz/120Hz ProMotion, Liquid Retina XDR (500nits SDR / 1000nits XDR / 1600nits HDR content material) |
| touchscreen? | no | no |
| chipset | Apple M2 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine) | Apple M2 Professional (12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine) / M2 Max (12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine) |
| RAM | 8GB / 16GB / 24GB unified reminiscence | 16GB / 32GB / 64GB (M2 Max solely) / 128GB (M2 Max solely) |
| storage | 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB SSD | 512GB/1TB/2TB/4TB/8TB SSD |
| I/O ports | 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1x 3.5mm headphone jack | 3x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x HDMI, 1x SDXC card slot |
| battery | 66.5 watt-hour | 100 watt-hour |
| charger | MagSafe 3 charging port: both 35W Twin USB-C Port Compact Energy Adapter or 70W USB-C Energy Adapter | MagSafe 3 charging port |
| weight | 3.3lbs | 4.7lbs (M2 Professional) / 4.8lbs (M2 Max) |
| dimensions | 0.45″ x 13.4″ x 9.35″ | 0.66″ x 14.01″ x 9.77″ |
| colours | silver, house grey, starlight, midnight | silver, house grey |
| misc | 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 | 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
MacBook Air 15 vs MacBook Professional 16 M2 show
Though each laptops include Liquid Retina shows, the 2023 MacBook Pro 16 comes with the XDR variant that’s able to a lot greater peak brightness, notably when viewing HDR content material. It additionally has ProMotion tech that successfully boosts the utmost refresh fee to 120Hz.
When it comes to decision, the MacBook Professional additionally has the next pixel per inch (ppi depend) than the 15-inch MacBook Air.
MacBook Air 15 vs MacBook Professional 16 M2 chipset
The Apple M2 Professional and M2 Max chipsets within the newest MacBook Professional 16 are considerably extra highly effective than the common Apple M2 chip within the 15 inch MacBook Air (even whether it is extra highly effective than that within the 13 inch MacBook Air), nonetheless this degree of energy is past what you’d want for informal common use.
The M2 Professional is greatest for these with reasonably demanding modifying workloads (be they photograph/video/audio) whereas the M2 Max is just for actually strenuous workloads, or many operating concurrently, heavy CAD rendering or the like.
The M2 chip within the MacBook Air is definitely enough for common use and light-weight inventive workloads nonetheless.
MacBook Air 15 vs MacBook Professional 16 M2 battery life
The MacBook Air 15 inch mannequin comes with a smaller 66.5 watt-hour battery than the bigger 100 watt-hour one within the MacBook Professional, but it surely has a much less highly effective (and subsequently much less power-hungry) chipset.
We’ll have to attend for third social gathering testing to know the way the 15 inch MacBook Air battery life performs in several real-world situations, however based mostly on the specs offered by Apple, it’s claimed that each laptops ought to have the ability to handle ‘as much as 15 hours wi-fi net searching’, though the MacBook Professional can apparently handle as much as 22 hours of Apple TV app film playback, whereas the Air can solely handle 18.
MacBook Air 15 vs MacBook Professional 16 M2 value
The 15 inch MacBook Air price starts at $1,299 for the bottom storage and RAM loadout, with upgrades in both of those areas costing extra.
The MacBook Professional 16 (M2) value begins at $2,299 for the M2 Pro model, and $3,199 for the M2 Max.
Remaining Phrase
So, to sum up, the 15 inch MacBook Air vs 16 inch MacBook Professional – which must you decide? Properly the 2 gadgets are finally aimed toward completely different customers, with completely different wants and completely different budgets. The lighter, thinner, and far more inexpensive MacBook Air is a significantly better selection for the common common consumer, on the lookout for a top quality machine for the workplace, finding out, or mild inventive use.
The MacBook Professional nonetheless (because the title suggests) is extra geared in direction of inventive professionals doing extra demanding duties, with a necessity for larger processing energy, storage, RAM, and an HDR succesful display, for whom the steep asking value is definitely worth the cash.
You could need to additionally think about some Home windows laptops on our best MacBook Pro alternatives information.
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