It’s work laptop refresh time. My current setup is a MBP 14-inch, 2023 with 32GB of ram and 1TB of HD space (710GB still available). I use an external studio display running sidecar with an iPad most of the time with Claude at the ready. Here’s a very messy pic of my office to give a sense:
I bike/walk for my commute and I travel about 100 days out of the year and am a light packer. For these reasons, I am very drawn to a lighter machine, but I also am reluctant to give up the security of having a powerful laptop, especially because I anticipate using it for the next three years.
I use Photoshop/Illustrator weekly (but not daily) and when I do the files are sometimes complex. I am starting a podcast at work and we’ll be recording with Riverside. I’m unsure if we’ll be doing the editing or if someone will do that for us, but I’d like to be able to just in case. I’m an AI “power user” in that I experiment with AI agents doing things on my computer. Right now my tools are cloud-based, but I could imagine running a local model in my experiments or as the local models get better. All that said, most of my day-to-day work is a mix of Apple Mail/Notes/Safari, Office Suite, Google Docs, Slack, and Claude.
My wife has a MBA and I am super jealous of how light it is (the laptop and also the brick, which has two USB-C ports, which is also nice for travel). My favorite laptop I’ve ever had was a MBA (circa 2011), hands down, but I do recall running into space/speed issues after a while and getting an iMac to compensate.
So, with the caveat that this is embarrassingly silly to be fraught about in the grander scheme of things, still… I’m torn.
If you’ve read this far, I’d love advice:
I’m leaning toward the MBA. Talk me into or out of it?
A small wonder: Worth looking into a Mac Mini + MBA setup?
I don’t see running two external monitors in my future but I do find myself using up a lot of ports on my Studio Display. I don’t think this would be a problem with the MBA but want a gut check there.
I’ve not had success with using an iPad solo on trips. My current model is a 3rd gen iPad Pro 11" (circa 2022). Are the newer models more capable of being a travel machine?
Beck - Like you my wife owns a MBA and I’m envious of how light it is. I have a MBP M3Max 64GB. I wish it were lighter.
In terms of the work load, how often do you have the fans on? That is the workload that needs the more powerful CPU/GPU for longer periods of time. (This isn’t a very good metric, just a gut feeling.)
I suspect the key question is going around local LLMs. I suspect my next computer, aiming M8 generation will have 128GB of RAM, because I frequently run out of RAM bigger local LLMs. Also running a local models is what needs more GPU cores. see: M3 Max Memory and Bandwidth - #11 by mlevison and M5 and local models - #5 by johnlaudun
This is what I’m running currently. I have to say it’s the best of both worlds for me. I have power at the desk that I can either use directly or remote into when I need it. Everything is backed up on the Mini and I use an Air for lightweight stuff when I’m out and about, or traveling. It’s perfect. The M4 in the Air is super capable. You’ll be able to run everything you want, it might just be a tad slower at rendering things out in Logic, Photoshop, etc… But I don’t notice much lag with anything on it.
M4 Pro Mac Mini with 48GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
M4 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD
I tried this route albeit with an iPad Mini 7 and ran into nothing but headaches. Everything I did took longer and I just don’t really enjoy using it for actual work. As a notebook / reading / gaming machine it’s great.
I’d frame my questions this way if considering a transition from a 14" MBP to a (new) MBA
Do I loose any form factor? – DEPENDS! The overall size can be larger (15") or smaller (13").
Do I loose any computing power? – DEPENDS. Nearly three years on now from your 2023 MBP, I would think that you should be able to spec a new MBA to be comparable in CPU power and RAM size to your existing MBP.
As to the combination mini + MBA, I’d have to wonder why. You appear to keep your MBP closed on your desktop rather than using its screen. Presumably, you’d do the same with the MBA??? If so, invest in a high end (larger size, largest amount of RAM and SSD) MBA rather than a dual setup.
Finally, confirm that the new 15" MBA is not the same weight or heavier than your current 14" MBP (doubtful, but this appears to be the primary reason why you are being tempted to change).
Do you have the M3 Pro MBP? Or the base M3 MBP? Or the M2 Pro MBP? Etc… That will determine whether or not an Air is comparable.
I’d suggest at least waiting for an M5 MBA.
I’d also seriously consider whether or not the additional port on the right hand side and the bright screen of the current 14" MBP is valuable to you or not. I would be very hesitant to lose those two features personally.
There are benefits of either options. I favor the light, travel-friendly option, possibly waiting for the M5 Macbook Air. You could get maximal RAM to run some local LLM’s. And you could add a more robust desktop later, if running larger local models becomes important.
Exactly. I have a 14” M4 Pro MacBook Pro (and a 16” M3 Pro before it) and the fans only really spin up if I’m doing video transcodes. A modest AI load on the NPUs from DxO PhotoLab will only get them going if I’m doing something like 100 photos in a batch.
Performance-wise, from what you described, I think the difference between a MBA and MBP will be unnoticeable to you.
What will be noticeable is the stuff that the MBP gets that the MBA does not.
More ports (though this can be solved to some extent with docks/hubs)
Higher RAM and SSD options (you can add external storage, but if traveling, it’s just an extra thing in your bags)
Much nicer screen (though if you’re fine with the Studio Display, then not a biggie)
Higher sustained performance if you do tax it, as a MBP has a fan
Possibly more I am forgetting.
I wanted 4TB internal SSD. Therefore I have not only a MacBook Pro but one with an M4 Pro chip because the M4 plain does not support it.
Hi, If your main apps are cloud-based and your Photoshop or Illustrator use is occasional, the MBA should be more than enough. It’s light, portable, and perfect for travel, plus M2 handles AI experiments surprisingly well. You might miss some ports compared to the MBP, but a small USB-C hub solves that easily. For your use case, I’d go with the MBA—it’s a great balance of power and portability.
