Could anyone tell me how the 2024 MacBook Air compares to 2018 MacBook Pro?
Bought the 2018 pro thinking it would “last” longer than an air but I’m now wondering if it’s time to upgrade and go for the Air instead of the pro due to price difference.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
A 14" MBP with a M3 Pro or M3 Max chip would be the most straightforward replacement for a 13" 2018 MBP with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, in terms of expansion ports and support for external displays.
A M3 MacBook Air will be a downgrade in terms of expansion ports. The M2 and M3 MacBook Airs only have two USB-C (Thunderbolt) ports, a MagSafe 3 charging port, and a headphone jack.
In terms of CPU benchmarks, the M3 MacBook Airs turned in scores at least twice those of the 2018 MBPs. If you have enough RAM for what you. are doing, single-core CPU performance of the base M3 chip is virtually identical to single-core performance of the higher-end Pro and Max chips. The higher-end chips have faster GPUs and will make quicker work of lengthy batch jobs that can make good use of multiple CPU cores.
A 14" MBP with a M3 Pro or M3 Max chip would be the most straightforward replacement for a 13" 2018 MBP with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, in terms of expansion ports and support for external displays.
A M3 MacBook Air will be a downgrade in terms of expansion ports. The M2 and M3 MacBook Airs only have two USB-C (Thunderbolt) ports, a MagSafe 3 charging port, and a headphone jack.
In terms of CPU benchmarks, the M3 MacBook Airs turned in scores at least twice those of the 2018 MBPs. If you have enough RAM for what you. are doing, single-core CPU performance of the base M3 chip is virtually identical to single-core performance of the higher-end Pro and Max chips. The higher-end chips have faster GPUs and will make quicker work of lengthy batch jobs that can make good use of multiple CPU cores.
You haven't said which 2018 MacBook Pro, and which 2024 MacBook Air, you were thinking about.
There were two 2018 MacBook Pros, both Intel models
These MacBook Pros can run Sonoma, and will be able to run Sequoia – but it is quite possible that they will never receive any new versions of macOS after that.
They have the infamous "butterfly keyboard" design first introduced on the 12" Retina MacBook. This key design makes it more likely that dirt will get trapped in the key mechanisms in a way that you cannot remove – short of a very expensive repair. Apple had a keyboard service program to fix or replace faulty "butterfly" keyboards – but that program has expired, so If your keyboard went bad you would be on your own.
Those models are also old enough that they're getting close to the point where Apple might not offer repair parts, or repair service, with the exception of battery replacement service.
How do I decide between upgrading to MacBook Air or MacBook Pro
