Hello Apple,
I am really torn between an Air and Pro. I am hoping you can look at my workload and make a recommendation. My main concern with the air is that it will throttle too much during use, but I really do not know if that is a problem.
The country I live in does not have returns, so it is a little stressful as I do not want to over spend, but I also do not want to get a computer that can’t handle my workload.
I know the pro has a new processor, I can wait until the Air gets a new processor before buying it, so I am not concerned about that.
I’m considering the $1299 air or the $1500 pro. (The prices are a bit different in my country, but these are the models I am considering.)
Main Task
I will have Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs, Word, and software like Zoom all running at the same time. I may be in Zoom meetings with cameras on for up to 10 hours straight. (This is where I am concerned about throttling) I will also have a few other open programs like discord, telegram, and a web browser (probably firefox).
Secondary Task
I will be doing some video editing on it and recording with OBS the recordings would be up to an hour at the most and probably in 1080p for both the recording and editing. I will be using final cut as I used it in the past an am familiar with it. I’ll do this about once a week.
Additional Irrelevant Info
This is mainly a work computer that will be used closed and connected to a monitor for most of the time working on it. I do need a laptop so I can work remotely often enough.
I will not be gaming on it or anything as I have a SteamDeck for that. I might run some AI stuff on it to play around, but if it works well enough I might run it for work. But, I can offload those tasks to the cloud so it is not a big deal to work on the Mac.
Anyway, thanks for your input. I am guessing the Air will be fine, I just don’t want to get stuck with the wrong computer.
I use an M2 air with 16GB RAM for a very similar workload all day every day. It is more than capable, and thermal throttling is not an issue for those tasks which are not CPU or GPU heavy at all. a Pro is absolutely not necessary unless you need to hook up to multiple monitors (air is limited to 1 external display) or you really need the various physical ports that the pro has.
I suspect anyone saying “just get a pro if it’s for work” or “you need a fan with that much going on” has not actually used an Air or know how powerful and efficient they are. It’s 100% wrong.
Have you done any obs recording on the air? I’m curious how extended recording will heat it up.
In this screenshot I had been streaming a 14mbps 4k video and doing a 1080p screen recording in OBS for about 30 minutes. You can see the CPU is still about 60% idle. The case is warm (expected because it acts as a heat sink), but it’s nowhere near the point where you’d need to worry about thermal throttling. It’s doing its job dissipating heat for this workload, and the system has remained perfectly responsive while doing other tasks.
Wow! Thanks for this. I think the air probably had enough power for my needs. Especially considering that I’ll wait for the m4
yeah even the base models are very powerful machines for productivity, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Fwiw, on my m3 + max ram, I also was recording 1080p 30-ish minute obs videos for a while running large Ableton Live project playback + a facecam, and (while I don’t remember specs specifics) I didn’t find it to be unstable. I don’t do heavy video editing, so I’m not sure about the requirements, but for obs in 1080, it felt fine for me. I think I also exported some edited 4k footage at one point though, and I seem to remember rendering that one took a solid amount of time, so if you think you might move to 4k, pro might be more appropriate.
But I remember having specs reservations when getting my air, and I have not regretted it at all. Especially when I see my friends lug around their monster of a laptop. Those pro machines are thicc
Thanks! I do like the portability of it and it’s so much cheaper. The video editing will be super basic and just 1080p.
I guess I’m mostly confused as I always hear about how the air throttles, but I never actually hear anyone say anything bad about the air or that they think it’s underperforming or can’t handle a task.
I’m going to steal my wife’s m1 MacBook Air for a couple days and put it through its paces.
If her 8gb m1 can handle it, then I have no doubts a 16gb m4 air will be able to handle it either.