Looking for advise on getting Air instead of a Pro

For sure, a new MBA will be much, much faster than your current 2013 MBP.

Now...to the topic of whether you should go with a new MBP or MBA...and use Final Cut Pro X. If you only do occasional video editing with FCP, then the 15" MBA would be fine. I would advise you to spec the MBA with 1TB SSD and 24GB RAM. (The MBA can only support a max of 24GB RAM).

Be aware, also, that the MBA will only support one external monitor (and there's no "elegant" workaround for that). So if you think you'll someday want to use 2 external monitors, then you'd have to go with the MBP.

Also, the MBA has a MagSafe charging port, a headphone jack, and 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports....that's it. The MBP has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, and a headphone jack. The MBP's display is a bit brighter than the MBA as well. Also, the MBP can support up to 96GB RAM.

For me, I traded my 2016 MBP in for the 2023 15" MBA, as I don't do any significant amount of video editing...primarily photo editing with Photos, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Pixelmator Pro.

Last, but not least...don't do anything prior to the product announcements Apple will be making the afternoon of October 30th.

Hope this helps.

If you plan to work the GPU or CPU hard with an intense application workflow, the 2023 Air has no internal fan and will overheat. The M2/M3 MacBook Pro is better suited to dissipate heat as it has dual fans. The Air is restricted to 24 GB of RAM and the MacBook Pros are not which may be a consideration for larger workflows. The MacBook Pros have additional GPU capacity options and the Air does not.

Alfredo Jahn wrote:

I assume that if I get a 15" MBA with the M2 and add the 1TB SSD, it will be SO MUCH FASTER AND NICER than that 2013 dinosaur that I will love (and won't even miss having an MBP). I assume it would be fast enough to run Final Cut Pro X to do a little home video editing, etc. I'm not a power user anymore, but I still want a decent machine.

There are a few differences between the 13"/15" M2 Airs and the 14"/16" M2 {Pro/Max} MBPs that you might want to consider:

• The M2 Airs have two USB4 (TB3) ports. The 14"/16" M2-series MBPs have three USB4 (TB) ports, a HDMI port, and a SDXC card slot. All have a MagSafe 3 charging port.
• The M2 Airs can only drive a single external monitor.
• The 14"/16" MBPs have pixels that are packed a bit closer together, so text on them would be smaller unless you cranked Displays Settings a notch towards Larger Text.
• The 16" MBP is significantly heavier than the 14" MBP and 15" Air.

Alfredo Jahn wrote:

I would support your idea of checking them out at the Apple Store. If you compare the 14" MBP to the 15" MBA, you might find the text size of the Air more to your liking, as the MBP has a higher pixel density.

Since I'm in no rush to get a new Mac right away, I might just wait for the M3 MBAs to come out later next year. Text size is a big consideration for me. My 2013 MBP's text is getting harder to see as time goes by. :)

Thanks for your help.

You would probably need to crank the Displays Settings on the 14" MBP one notch towards "Larger Text" in order to roughly compensate for the greater PPI, and get text to be about the same size that it is on the 13"/15" Airs.

I believe the 14” M3 MacBook Pro has the same limit on external monitors (one) as the 15” M2 MacBook Air. But it has a HDMI port and a SDXC slot that the Air does not have. Plus the upgraded processor.

The M3 Pro and M3 Max MBPs are the counterparts to the M2 Pro and M2 Max models.

I would support your idea of checking them out at the Apple Store. If you compare the 14" MBP to the 15" MBA, you might find the text size of the Air more to your liking, as the MBP has a higher pixel density.

But honestly, you can't go wrong with either.

Since I'm in no rush to get a new Mac right away, I might just wait for the M3 MBAs to come out later next year. Text size is a big consideration for me. My 2013 MBP's text is getting harder to see as time goes by. :)

Thanks for your help.

There's certainly nothing wrong with waiting.

Odds are that Apple will, indeed, release M3 MacBook Airs next year. Of course, nobody know if or when this will happen. There will always be MBP features the MBA won't have, but it doesn't sound as if those are a huge concern for you.

All the best.