Today, Apple unveiled its latest entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 chip. At $1599, it’s by no means cheap, but it falls within just a couple hundred dollars of the MacBook Air once you spec it equally. With the MacBook Air now shipping with older Apple Silicon, is it still worth purchasing at this point in time?
M5 vs M4 chip
The biggest debate to be had is going to revolve around the chipset. Do you need an M5 chip for your workflow?
I’m not gonna delve into all of the details, you can read our M5 roundup here if you’d like. But, in short, this is what’s new with M5:
15% faster multithreaded CPU performance vs M4
45% faster GPU performance vs M4
30% increase in unified memory bandwidth
4x peak GPU compute performance for AI
Overall, M5 is a great leap in GPU performance, and with Apple betting so heavily on local models for AI, that could be important in the future. However, M4 is still plenty fast, and I wouldn’t make any purchasing decisions based on what Apple might do in AI in the future.
It’s also worth noting that Apple still does most of its Apple silicon comparisons to the M1 rather than newer chips like M2 or M3. I’ll let that speak for itself.
Air vs Pro: Worth the premium?
With the 14-inch MacBook Pro, you’re paying for a couple nice-to-have features. Those features are additional ports, a proper active cooling system, and a nice miniLED display with HDR support, better colors, and more. Also, you’ll get a larger display. MacBook Pro is 14.2-inch, vs 13.6-inch on the MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air only comes with MagSafe and two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, both of which are located on the left side. MacBook Pro comes with MagSafe, three Thunderbolt/USB-C ports (two left, one right), as well as an HDMI port and SD card slot.
Thermals are also a big differentiator for the MacBook Pro. Simply put, MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan, and relies entirely on passive cooling. If your workflow is CPU/GPU intensive, you’ll likely run into thermal throttling on the MacBook Air if you’re pushing it for a while.
Plus, to be completely honest: macOS Tahoe isn’t perfectly optimized quite yet, and I’ve heard from a number of MacBook Air users that their Macs are consistently running hot.
Lastly, MacBook Pro has a fantastic display. Unless you’re constantly working with colors, this probably doesn’t matter as much. It’s not like the MacBook Air display is bad. That said, thanks to its miniLED panel, the MacBook Pro supports HDR content, whereas the Air simply doesn’t. The MacBook Pro also has 1000 nits of standard brightness versus 500 nits on the Air, making it much more enjoyable in outdoor conditions.
Wrap up
Typically, there’s around a $400 price gap between a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro once equivalently upgraded. MacBook Air comes with 256GB of storage by default, whereas the 14-inch MacBook Pro comes in with 512GB. However, once you bring them to the same level, MacBook Air is $1199, vs $1599 for the MacBook Pro – at least directly from Apple.
$400 is nothing to scoff at. That’s certainly an adequate amount of money to think about saving.
Overall, I’d say MacBook Pro 14-inch is highly compelling, but you maybe shouldn’t purchase it yet. New MacBooks tend to go on sale fairly fast, and you’ll likely be able to pick up a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 on discount within a month or two.
Additionally, M4 MacBook Air does go on sale regularly, and right now, the 512GB/16GB configuration can be had for just $999. That makes it a lot more palatable, and that’s $600 less than the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5. You can also get the MacBook Air in an even larger size than the entry-level MacBook Pro, as it comes in a 15-inch variant.
The choice is up to you ultimately. I do like the 14-inch MacBook Pro a lot, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time utilizing both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. The main takeaway I want you to have here is that you probably shouldn’t buy the MacBook Pro purely because it has an M5 chip. Get it because you think you need the thermals, display, or ports.
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