M2 MacBook Air VS M3 MacBook Pro

Looking for advice! I am trying to decide between the Macbook Air M2 and Pro M3 to replace by recently dead Macbook Pro 2015. I originally bought a Macbook Air 2020 but it did not function well (overheated really quickly and would crash with too much going on). I use my laptop all day everyday for work and university but for nothing more than chrome, zoom, microsoft etc. Granted I do have 3 different chrome browsers open all with multiple tabs. Will the MBA M2 be enough for my usage? I feel the Pro is a bit overkill but having had one for 8 years with no faults I'm tempted. I'm purchasing in NZ so there is a big price difference ($600-$1k depending on upgrades).

Would love some help! Thanks :)

I was in the same boat. I do light photo editing, spreadsheets, etc.. However, I also wanted to have a computer that could last and not be bogged down when there are future update.

I strongly considered a refurbished MacBook Pro M2 and MacBook Pro M3 (with the Pro Chip). I ended up with a refurbished M2 Air with 16 GB RAM/512 GB. Saved $300 over the M2 Pro and $600 over the M3 Pro. I am a man that likes to leave his Chrome Tabs open. It's a sickness - but activity monitor never shows me going over 12 GB of RAM. 16 GB is the sweet spot for me without having to go into swap memory.

I valued portability (I like to relax on my couch and work from my lap), battery life and most importantly, my money. For me, the Pro lines were overkill. It really is a lifestyle choice - luckily the resale value of MacBooks allow for a correction if you ever have an issue.

The 14" MacBook Pros which have the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips are the successors to the 14" MacBook Pros that had the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips.

----------

The 14" MacBook Pro that has the 'base' M3 chip is a successor to the 13" M2 MacBook Pro. Both are conceptual descendants of low-end 13" Intel MacBook Pros that had only two USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports, back when Apple was segmenting the 13" Intel MBP line into two-TB-port and four-TB-port versions.

As such, the 14" MBP with the 'base' M3 chip has several upgrades over the 13" M2 MBP; some advantages over the M2 MacBook Airs.

• It got the M3 chip
• It got an upgrade to the mini-LED-backlit Liquid Retina display
• It got a HDMI port
• It got a SDXC card slot
• It got a MagSafe 3 port (present on the M2 MacBook Airs, but not on the 13" M2 MacBook Pro).

It still has just the two USB4 (Thunderbolt) ports, and just support for a single external display. If you want an extra USB4 (Thunderbolt) port or support for multiple displays, you need to get one of the M3 {Pro/Max} models.

The RAM options are the same as machines with the 'base' M2 chip: 8/16/24 GB.

It lost the Touch Bar.

----------

Thanks for the hardware comparison.

In case it is useful, I went from a late 2012 13/14" MBP (bought new) to a 13" MBA M2 last August. It was an excellent upgrade but for the loss of hardware options and tradeoffs.

If I were to buy today, I would go right to the 14" MBP M3 with 16 GB RAM and at least a 512 GB of storage. I do not "need" a MBP M3 for what I currently do, but I would have surely saved some brain cells and avoided many tradeoffs. I am biased towards getting what I want and what can financially justify (over an 8-10 year life span). FWIW.

annafromroyston wrote:

Looking for advice! I am trying to decide between the Macbook Air M2 and Pro M3 to replace by recently dead Macbook Pro 2015. I originally bought a Macbook Air 2020 but it did not function well (overheated really quickly and would crash with too much going on). I use my laptop all day everyday for work and university but for nothing more than chrome, zoom, microsoft etc. Granted I do have 3 different chrome browsers open all with multiple tabs. Will the MBA M2 be enough for my usage? I feel the Pro is a bit overkill but having had one for 8 years with no faults I'm tempted. I'm purchasing in NZ so there is a big price difference ($600-$1k depending on upgrades).

Would love some help! Thanks :)

For your intended use, I think the MBA M2 would be fine, as long as you configure it with a MINIMUM 16GB RAM...24GB if it's within your budget. I say this because it sounds as if you have quite a few browser tabs open most of the time, and for that you need the extra RAM. Also make sure you configure it with at least 512GB internal storage.

I don't know what peripherals you normally connect to your MacBook, and that may well be a reason to look beyond the MBA to the MBP.

I use the apple MacBook m2 pro and it works amazing but if you want to run more tabs (which I don't think you need to do) then I would suggest the m3 MacBooks or iMacs but if you just want something for college then I suggest getting the M1 MacBook Air