Apple’s MacBook line is completely refreshed between the new MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chips, which arrive this summer, and the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which appeared last fall. And Apple keeps the M1 MacBook Air in the range. Let’s take a closer look at the difference between the MacBook Air and the Pro to see what sets these MacBooks apart.
Update 6/24: Orders are open for the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro and Apple has also launched its Back to School promotion. But we are still waiting for the release of the M2 MacBook Air, which is scheduled for July.
Read why the new M2 MacBook Air is a better choice over the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro, unless the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro is more appropriate.
The 2021 MacBook Pro notebooks, 14 and 16 inches, feature a fresh design, mini-LED display backlight, I / O return, including HDMI, SD card slot and MagSafe, and Touch Bar removal.
And they have more power than ever with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips (if you’re on the border between a 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, see our detailed guide).
Apple has now introduced the new MacBook Air 2022 and a 13-inch MacBook Pro running on the upgraded M2 chip. The MacBook Air received the most changes with a completely new design, a larger 13.6-inch display, a flat-edged chassis, a new midnight color, an improved webcam and much more.
Difference between MacBook Air and Pro
CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.
Apple has announced its second generation base processor Apple Silicon with M2. Although a noticeable upgrade over the M1, the M2 is less powerful than the M1 Pro, Max and Ultra chips.
The M2 allows up to 24 GB of RAM, up to 10 GPU cores and comes with a faster 8-core CPU than the M1. Here is a more detailed look at the M1 vs. M2 chips.
Meanwhile, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro, you get an M1 Pro or M1 Max chip with the option of even more CPU and GPU cores and RAM up to 64 GB.
Hardware 2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13 ″ MacBook Pro (2022) 14 ″ MacBook Pro (2021) CPU M2 – 8-core M1 – 8-core M2 – 8-core M1 Pro or Max – 8 or 10-core storage Up to 2TB Up to 2TB Up to 2TB Up to 8TB RAM 8, 16 or 24GB 8 or 16GB 8, 16 or 24GB 16 to 64GB Graphics Up to 10-core 7-core 10-core Up to 32-core Neural engine 16-core 16-core 16-core 16 -nuclear camera FaceTime 1080p 720p 720p 1080p Speakers System with 4 speakers with wide sound Stereo speakers with wide sound Stereo speakers with high dynamic range 6 speakers high quality microphones 3-microphone grille 3 3-microphone array with studio quality Thermal control Without fan Without fan Active cooling with fans Active cooling with fans
Apple says the M2 is up to 18% faster for CPU performance and up to 35% faster for GPU performance than the M1. It has over 20 billion transistors and can handle up to 15.8 trillion operations per second.
The M2 chip also has a multimedia engine that supports hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW. It also has a video and ProRes encoding and decoding machine.
Another nice addition to the MacBook Air 2022 is a 1080p webcam, such as the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Apple says it has the same “advanced image signal processor with computing video.” Meanwhile, the new M2 13-inch MacBook Pro sticks to the old 720p webcam.
Displays
If screen brightness is important to you, the MacBook Air 2022 gets a nice improvement from 400 to 500 nits of brightness.
Another change with the redesign is that the new MacBook Air has a larger 13.6-inch screen with thinner bezels.
While the 14-inch MacBook Pro’s brightness of up to 1000 stable rivets (peak 1600) is for HDR content only, you still get up to 120Hz refresh rate with ProMotion, mini-LED backlighting and slim bezels.
2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021) Actual screen size 13.6-inch 13.3-inch 13.3-inch 14.2-inch Resolution 2560 x 16062 x 601 x 60 60 60 60 60 16:10 + slot 16:10 16:10 16:10 + slot PPI 224 227 227 254 Nits (brightness) 500 400 500 500 for SDR, 1000 continuous, up to 1600 Retina tip for HDR display – ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ + XDR ProMotion (up to 120Hz) (❌ ❌ ✅ mini LED backlight ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ True Tone ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ P3 (✅ ✅
The new MacBook Air and 14-inch MacBook Pro include a slot in the top center of the display for a 1080p FaceTime camera. But unlike the iPhone, the slot does not include hardware / support for Face ID.
I / O: Difference between MacBook Air and Pro
The MacBook Air 2022 gets MagSafe charging like the MacBook Pro laptops from 2021. However, Apple has retained additions such as HDMI, SDXC slot and support for up to 4 external displays, exclusively for the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The new MacBook Air 2022 and 13-inch Pro have support for only 1 external display up to 6K at 60Hz, even with the new M2 chip. This can be an obstacle for some.
Along with the two USB4 / Thunderbolt 3 ports, the new MacBook Air retains a 3.5mm headphone jack.
2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13 ″ MacBook Pro (2022) 14 ″ MacBook Pro (2021) Magic Keyboard ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ Touch ID ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ Touch Bar ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ 2 ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ жа 2 жак ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ HDMI ❌ ❌ ❌ SD SDXC card reader ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ MagSafe charging ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ Bluetooth 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Wi-Fi 5.0 (Wi-Fi 5.0) -Fi 6 (802.11.ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11.ax) External display support 1 external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz 1 external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz 1 external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz Up to 2 external displays at 6K res at 60Hz (M1 Pro) or up to 3 external displays at 6K ress and 1 external display up to 4K res at 60Hz (M1 Max)
Size, weight and coverage
As you’d expect, the MacBook Air remains the lightest machine, with the 13-inch MacBook Pro weighing a little more and the 14-inch being the heaviest. The new MacBook Air is even £ 0.1 lighter than its 2020 predecessor.
The new MacBook Air is also super thin – 11.3 mm (0.44 inches). And if gold or new midnight colors are appealing, they’re only available with the MacBook Air.
2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13 ″ MacBook Pro (2020) 14 ″ MacBook Pro (2021) Weight 2.7 lbs (1.24 kg) 2.8 lbs. (1.29 kg) 3 pounds (1.4 kg) 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) Thickness 0.44 inches (1.13 cm) 0.16-0.63 inches (0.41-1, 61 cm) 0.61 inches (1.56 cm) 0.61 inches (1.56 cm) 0.61 inches (1.56 cm) 1.7 inches 19 inches. (30.41 cm) 11.97 inches (30.41 cm) 11.97 inches (30.31 cm) 12.31 inches (31.26 cm) Depth 8.46 inches (21.5 cm) 8.36 inches (21.24 cm) 8.36 inches (2.36 inches (2 inches) 4 inches 22.12 cm) Display size 13.6 inches 13.3 inches 13.3 inches 14.2 inches Finishes Silver, cosmic gray, starlight, midnight Silver, cosmic gray and gold Silver or cosmic gray Silver or cosmic gray
In particular, the new MacBook Air has replaced the wedge design it had for years, and now has a flat-edged chassis like the MacBook Pro. But Apple made it very thin with a thickness of only 11.3 mm (1.13 cm).
Battery life
The real battery life of the Apple Silicon MacBook compared to older Intel models is impressive and usually corresponds to Apple’s claims. But it may depend on what you do with your MacBook, screen brightness and more.
In any case, energy efficiency and battery life are strong with the new M2 MacBook Air.
2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13 ″ MacBook Pro (2022) 14 ″ MacBook Pro (2021) Wireless web battery 15 hours 15 hours 17 hours 11 hours Video playback 18 hours 18 hours 20 hours 17 hours Power adapter included 30 W, 6 W USB-C + MagSafe 30W USB-C 67W USB-C 67W or 96W USB-C + MagSafe Battery capacity 52.6Wh 49.9Wh 58.2Wh 70Wh Fast charging ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
Apple says that when using a 67W power adapter, the new MacBook Air can charge quickly to provide up to 50% battery life in just 30 minutes.
Pricing
With a starting price of $ 1,199, the new MacBook Air comes in at $ 800 less than the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $ 1,999.
The standard models of the new Air are 256GB SSD / 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD / 8GB RAM configurations. Models with 16 or 24 GB RAM for 2022 Air and an upgraded M2 chip are optional.
The base 14-inch MacBook Pro model priced at $ 1999 with M1 Pro chip, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD.
Model / price 2022 MacBook Air 2020 MacBook Air 13 ″ MacBook Pro (2020) 14 ″ MacBook Pro (2021) 256 / 8GB $ 1,199 $ 999 $ 1,299 – 512 / 8GB $ 1,399 $ 1,199 $ 1,499 – 256 / 16GB $ 1,399 $ 1,199 $ 1,499 – 512 / 16GB $ 1,599 $ 1,399 $ 1,699 From $ 1,999 1TB / 16GB $ 1,799 $ 1,599 $ 1,899 From $ 2,199 1TB / 24GB $ 1,999 – – 1TB / 32GB – – – From $ 2,599 Personalized compilations Up to $ 2,499 Up to $ 1,999 Up to $ 1,999 Up to $ 1,999 up to $ 2,999
Difference between the conclusion of the MacBook Air and Pro
We hope it’s clear now which MacBook is right for you. If you need light to medium performance – and even some limited intensive needs, and prefer the lightest machine with a long battery life, the MacBook Air is best suited, starting at a reasonable $ 1,199 or $ 1,099 for students and teachers.
Apple has not shared exactly when it will release the new MacBook Air, except for “July” so far.
For those who want to save some money and have simple workflows (web, documents, media), the $ 999 M1 MacBook Air is still in the range.
But if you value the most power, active cooling for prolonged heavy workloads, a brighter screen, more ports, and more external display support, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is the way to go.
Although the 13-inch MacBook Pro has been refreshed with the M2 chip, there probably aren’t many people who need to buy it.
The main difference between the 2022 MacBook Air and the Pro is the included fans for the Pro and Touch Bar. But if you’re worried about performance and overheating, you should probably look at a 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro. And the new MacBook Air offers a lot …
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