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M2 Air for fulltime coding vs 14" Pro
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M2 Air for fulltime coding vs 14" Pro
I can't decide between M2 Air 16+/500 and M1 14" Pro. It will be my primary machine for every day coding at home and on the go. I usually run at the same time:
2× PhpStorm, two browsers, VS Code, SQL manager, Webpack (+ 10 deps such as React, Vue..), Outlook + plan to start using Docker + occasional video editing.
I understand that Apple CPUs are so performant, but I've seen
He shows the M2 temperatures are constantly around 80°C during programming more complex projects. Isn't it too much for long term use?
I wanna become a digital nomad for a short time, that means these are the deciding factors for me:
- usability without external monitor - larger display is better, I also use scaling (Pro)
- performance with sufficient cooling (Pro?)
- weight in a backpack (Air)
I think the Pro is a safer option for a creator, but the Air is soo light. What do you think?
2× PhpStorm, two browsers, VS Code, SQL manager, Webpack (+ 10 deps such as React, Vue..), Outlook + plan to start using Docker + occasional video editing.
I understand that Apple CPUs are so performant, but I've seen
He shows the M2 temperatures are constantly around 80°C during programming more complex projects. Isn't it too much for long term use?
I wanna become a digital nomad for a short time, that means these are the deciding factors for me:
- usability without external monitor - larger display is better, I also use scaling (Pro)
- performance with sufficient cooling (Pro?)
- weight in a backpack (Air)
I think the Pro is a safer option for a creator, but the Air is soo light. What do you think?
I’m using a 24 GB/1 TB M2 MacBook Air for development (mostly react right now) and it is just about perfect. Battery easily exceeds a full day of work and performance is stellar. I have no worries about temperatures. They go up and down quite rapidly depending on what is running. The system seems to handle it all very smoothly.
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maka344
Toutou
macrumors 6502a
Jan 6, 2015
1,455
Prague, Czech Republic
Unless the M2 Air is actually worse at anything than the M1 Air, I can’t see it being a bad dev machine.
I’m a Rails dev and I use the M1 Air, my normal workload is RubyMine, Puma, MySQL, Redis, some Spotify and browsing on the side, driving a 6k (4k scaled) monitor. The temps usually hover at or below 30 degC, occasionally spiking to maybe 60 when running a Vite or Webpack build or hitting the DB with a migration.
I’m a Rails dev and I use the M1 Air, my normal workload is RubyMine, Puma, MySQL, Redis, some Spotify and browsing on the side, driving a 6k (4k scaled) monitor. The temps usually hover at or below 30 degC, occasionally spiking to maybe 60 when running a Vite or Webpack build or hitting the DB with a migration.
ilikewhey
macrumors 68030
May 14, 2014
2,854
3,713
nyc upper east
how big is the sql database you working with, one thing i noticed is the extra memory bandwidth on the 14 comes in very handy. given that the 14 base is actually cheaper than same spec m2 while not being much heavier nor larger, i would just go for the 14 due to all the nicer bells and whistles the m2 mba lacks, such as speaker, screen, ports, oh and the ability to drive 2 external.
Hey Dave, I've faced the same decision as you few days ago (I'm also starting my digital nomad journey next month)
I ended up buying the MacBook Air M2 24GB 512GB upgrading from my previous MacBook Pro 16" i9.
I've seen all of the reviews and was also considering paying the difference for the Pro 14", but I'm happy I didn't.
My first impressions are:
Performance are amazing comparing to the i9 from three years ago, everything is snappier, have no concern, this machine is really capable for programming and everything works extremely fast.
Considering the fact that the M2 is between 50-90% faster than Intel's i9, I'm pretty sure the performance would be enough
I've setup all of my projects (typescript / go) and neither of them bothered the CPU so I wouldn't be afraid of getting anywhere near a throttling temperature.
Heating is a non issue if you're not planning on editing videos, most of the time it's cold, and the CPU is so capable that it is pretty hard to overload the machine.
I've installed Windows 11 ARM using Parallels, just for the experiment - installation went extremely fast (few minutes) and the CPU temperature never went over 75 celcius while the machine was not warm to touch (performance wise, the virtualization works amazing, I was surprised of how fast a windows vm runs).
Display is actually the only issue I have with this machine, It's not bad, and comparing to my previous 2019 16" - it pretty much the same with one present issue: the screen resolution.
Apple has spared with the resolution resulting in a rendered display that doesn't match the retina screen resolution, that means the mac is actually rendering the display for a larger resolution and downscales the image in real time - resulting in a little bit less crispier text
In terms of display real estate for coding - it's ok when coding in full screen but I do consider having my iPad with me to be used as a second display (can be easily done if on the same wifi).
----
The rest of the advantages are here, amazing battery life, lightweight device and a great keyboard.
Instead of paying the difference for the 14" Pro and carrying this weight, you should get an external keyboard, mouse and a laptop stand (like moft)
I ended up buying the MacBook Air M2 24GB 512GB upgrading from my previous MacBook Pro 16" i9.
I've seen all of the reviews and was also considering paying the difference for the Pro 14", but I'm happy I didn't.
My first impressions are:
Performance are amazing comparing to the i9 from three years ago, everything is snappier, have no concern, this machine is really capable for programming and everything works extremely fast.
Considering the fact that the M2 is between 50-90% faster than Intel's i9, I'm pretty sure the performance would be enough
I've setup all of my projects (typescript / go) and neither of them bothered the CPU so I wouldn't be afraid of getting anywhere near a throttling temperature.
Heating is a non issue if you're not planning on editing videos, most of the time it's cold, and the CPU is so capable that it is pretty hard to overload the machine.
I've installed Windows 11 ARM using Parallels, just for the experiment - installation went extremely fast (few minutes) and the CPU temperature never went over 75 celcius while the machine was not warm to touch (performance wise, the virtualization works amazing, I was surprised of how fast a windows vm runs).
Display is actually the only issue I have with this machine, It's not bad, and comparing to my previous 2019 16" - it pretty much the same with one present issue: the screen resolution.
Apple has spared with the resolution resulting in a rendered display that doesn't match the retina screen resolution, that means the mac is actually rendering the display for a larger resolution and downscales the image in real time - resulting in a little bit less crispier text
In terms of display real estate for coding - it's ok when coding in full screen but I do consider having my iPad with me to be used as a second display (can be easily done if on the same wifi).
----
The rest of the advantages are here, amazing battery life, lightweight device and a great keyboard.
Instead of paying the difference for the 14" Pro and carrying this weight, you should get an external keyboard, mouse and a laptop stand (like moft)
Reactions:
rmadsen3
ilikewhey
macrumors 68030
May 14, 2014
2,854
3,713
nyc upper east
what price difference? the 14 have been on heavy discount for months now, the 64gb 1tb BTO was being offered for 2500, which is a massive 1300 discount. even base 14 is currently offered at 1599.Hey Dave, I've faced the same decision as you few days ago (I'm also starting my digital nomad journey next month)
I ended up buying the MacBook Air M2 24GB 512GB upgrading from my previous MacBook Pro 16" i9.
I've seen all of the reviews and was also considering paying the difference for the Pro 14", but I'm happy I didn't.
My first impressions are:
Performance are amazing comparing to the i9 from three years ago, everything is snappier, have no concern, this machine is really capable for programming and everything works extremely fast.
Considering the fact that the M2 is between 50-90% faster than Intel's i9, I'm pretty sure the performance would be enough
I've setup all of my projects (typescript / go) and neither of them bothered the CPU so I wouldn't be afraid of getting anywhere near a throttling temperature.
Heating is a non issue if you're not planning on editing videos, most of the time it's cold, and the CPU is so capable that it is pretty hard to overload the machine.
I've installed Windows 11 ARM using Parallels, just for the experiment - installation went extremely fast (few minutes) and the CPU temperature never went over 75 celcius while the machine was not warm to touch (performance wise, the virtualization works amazing, I was surprised of how fast a windows vm runs).
Display is actually the only issue I have with this machine, It's not bad, and comparing to my previous 2019 16" - it pretty much the same with one present issue: the screen resolution.
Apple has spared with the resolution resulting in a rendered display that doesn't match the retina screen resolution, that means the mac is actually rendering the display for a larger resolution and downscales the image in real time - resulting in a little bit less crispier text
In terms of display real estate for coding - it's ok when coding in full screen but I do consider having my iPad with me to be used as a second display (can be easily done if on the same wifi).
----
The rest of the advantages are here, amazing battery life, lightweight device and a great keyboard.
Instead of paying the difference for the 14" Pro and carrying this weight, you should get an external keyboard, mouse and a laptop stand (like moft)
Since I don't live in the US I don't get access to those amazing Amazon discounts.what price difference? the 14 have been on heavy discount for months now, the 64gb 1tb BTO was being offered for 2500, which is a massive 1300 discount. even base 14 is currently offered at 1599.
You're right, with the current Amazon discounts I might've chosen differently.
The weight though is still a factor if he plans travelling (I prefer having external keyboard/mouse with the weight difference)
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ilikewhey
Would you talk about this more, please? I'm fascinated by this topic. The macOS default mode for this device isn't a whole-number multiple of the display's physical resolution?Apple has spared with the resolution resulting in a rendered display that doesn't match the retina screen resolution, that means the mac is actually rendering the display for a larger resolution and downscales the image in real time - resulting in a little bit less crispier text
Apple's implementation for HiDPI is to simply render twice the amount of pixels from the "looks like" resolution, you can see that by taking a screenshot and look at the pixels in the picture.Would you talk about this more, please? I'm fascinated by this topic. The macOS default mode for this device isn't a whole-number multiple of the display's physical resolution?
The Air M2 physical resolution is 2560x1664 which means you should be getting an effective resolution ("looks like") of 1280x832 (half the size).
The problem is that 1280x832 is really low and everything looks huge - Apple's solution is to set the display setting to "More Space" which makes it "looks like" it was a 1470x956.
When I take a screenshots, the files I get have 2940x1912 pixels, that's the amount of pixels the Mac actually renders.
Of course it doesn't match the display native resolution (2560x1664) - so Apple's must downscale the rendered image down to match it.
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rmadsen3
CalMin
Contributor
Nov 8, 2007
1,155
1,429
I have both. The M2 Air is wonderful, but if I had to have only one, then the 14" MBP is spectacular. The weight differences and handling aren't as different as the marketers would have you believe. Check them out side by side in a store and you will immediately see that.
Put it this way. If you get the M2 Air you will always wonder if you should have stepped up to more power. If you get the M1Pro, you will not.
Put it this way. If you get the M2 Air you will always wonder if you should have stepped up to more power. If you get the M1Pro, you will not.
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richinaus and ilikewhey
ilikewhey
macrumors 68030
May 14, 2014
2,854
3,713
nyc upper east
i upgraded from a m1 mba to the 14 and i always take my laptop home instead of leaving it in the office. from my experience the weight isn't really a factor, its less than a lb of difference.Since I don't live in the US I don't get access to those amazing Amazon discounts.
You're right, with the current Amazon discounts I might've chosen differently.
The weight though is still a factor if he plans travelling (I prefer having external keyboard/mouse with the weight difference)
totally agree. The power and display are both worth it. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the 14" and use it daily running pro graphic apps.I have both. The M2 Air is wonderful, but if I had to have only one, then the 14" MBP is spectacular. The weight differences and handling aren't as different as the marketers would have you believe. Check them out side by side in a store and you will immediately see that.
Put it this way. If you get the M2 Air you will always wonder if you should have stepped up to more power. If you get the M1Pro, you will not.
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