15-inch MacBook Air vs 14-inch MacBook Pro | Digital Trends

Apple has introduced a new member to its MacBook line, a larger MacBook Air model with a 15.3-inch display that uses the same base M2 processor as the latest MacBook Air 13. The idea is clearly to provide a larger laptop that retains the incredible thinness and lightness of the MacBook Air, but with more screen real estate to work with.

In this comparison, it goes up against the MacBook Pro 14, with a display that’s about an inch smaller diagonally at 14.2 inches. The thing is, the MacBook Pro 14 is in a whole different class when it comes to performance, with M2 Pro and M2 Max CPUs, as well as a stunning Mini-LED panel. Which is right for you?

Specifications

The MacBook Air 15 starts at $1,300 with an 8-core M2 CPU / 10-core M2 GPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina IPS display. It comes in at $2,500 with 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

The MacBook Pro 14 is a much more expensive laptop, with a starting price of $2,000 for a 10-core M2 Pro CPU / 16-core M2 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a Mini-LED display 14.2-inch Liquid Retina. Max that out, and you’ll spend a whopping $6,300 for a 12-core CPU/38-core M2 Max GPU, 96GB of RAM, and 8TB of storage.

If you don’t need the raw power of the MacBook Pro 14 and can live without the inky blacks and extreme brightness, then the MacBook Air 15 will save you a lot of money.

Project

As mentioned in the introduction, the MacBook Air 15 has adopted the same design as the MacBook Air M2. That is, it looks a lot like the MacBook Pro 14, only slightly larger in width and depth, but much thinner at 0.45 inches versus 0.60 inches. It’s also lighter at 3.3 pounds versus 3.5 pounds. Imagine a MacBook Pro 14 that has been placed on a cutting board and spread out a bit with a rolling pin and you’ll get the idea. Sure, that’s a good thing, because the slightly boxy look that’s now common across all MacBook models is elegant in its simplicity, and while it doesn’t stand out, it doesn’t have to. The MacBook Air 15 is more colorful than its sibling, however, as it comes in Starlight and Midnight colors to match Silver and Space Gray.

We haven’t tried the MacBook Air 15 yet, but we imagine it will have the same superior build quality enjoyed by all MacBooks. One thing we noticed with the MacBook Air 14 M2 is that being so incredibly thin, there’s an unusual curvature to the lid that you won’t find on the MacBook Pro 14, which is incredibly solid all around. It wouldn’t be surprising if there was the same kind of flex in the lid as the larger model given that it’s almost as thin.

The MacBook Air 15 has less connectivity than the MacBook Pro 14, with just two Thunderbolt 4 ports and an audio jack (like the 13-inch MacBook Air). Pro models come with three Thunderbolt 4 ports to pair with an HDMI port and a full-sized SD card reader. This makes the MacBook Pro 14 much more expandable. Both use MagSafe 3 chargers, saving a Thunderbolt 4 port for external use. The Apple website lists Wi-Fi 6 for the MacBook Air 15 rather than the newer Wi-Fi 6E listed for the MacBook Pro 14, and both have Bluetooth 5.3 support.

Since the MacBook Air M1 uses the base M2 CPU, it’s limited to just one external display up to 6K resolution at 60Hz. The MacBook Pro 14 with M2 Pro can drive two external displays, one at 6K/60Hz on Thunderbolt 4 ports and one at 6K/60Hz combined with 4K resolution at 144Hz if the HDMI port is used for the second display. The M2 Max model can drive up to four external displays, three at 6K/60Hz via Thunderbolt 4 and one at 4K/144Hz via HDMI. If you limit it to three displays, the HDMI port can drive one monitor at up to 4K/240Hz. The MacBook Pro 14 is the laptop for you if you need more than just an external display.

The MacBook Air uses the same Magic Keyboard as the rest of the MacBook lineup, so we expect its typing experience to be just as sublime as that of the MacBook Pro 14. And its Force Touch touchpad should be just as good and slightly larger.

Finally, both laptops offer 1080p webcams, with Apple’s excellent software providing a great picture for video conferencing. Both are also protected by Touch ID built into the power button.

Performance

The MacBook Air M2 uses Apple’s base M2 CPU, specifically the model with eight CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, with a 16-core Neural Engine. As such, it should deliver similar performance to the 13-inch MacBook Air we reviewed. The MacBook Pro 14 can be equipped with the M2 Pro or M2 Max with a variety of CPU and GPU core counts. Simply put, the MacBook Pro 14 is a much faster laptop.

To find some sort of comparison, we’ll use the MacBook Pro 13 M2 results as a proxy for now. It’s possible the MacBook Air 15 will be slightly faster thanks to potentially better thermals, but we’ll have to wait until we review it to be sure.

These results are by no means fair given that we reviewed the MacBook Pro 14 with the superfast M2 Max CPU, but they do show the delta in potential performance between the two laptops. The MacBook Air 15 may be slightly larger, but it’s likely to be nearly half as fast.

Screen

Another advantage of the MacBook Pro 14 is the 14.0-inch Mini-LED Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 3024 x 1924 (254 PPI), which offers superior clarity, brightness, color and contrast compared to the standard IPS Liquid Retina display of the MacBook Air. line. This includes the MacBook Air 15, which has a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina IPS display at 2,880 x 1,864 (228 PPI).

Again, we’ll use the MacBook Air 13 M2 display as a proxy and update once we’ve had a chance to test the MacBook Pro 15s panel. However, we expect the results to be similar.

Both displays should offer similar colors, both in terms of gamut and accuracy. But the MacBook Pro 14’s Mini-LED panel will get much brighter, especially for high dynamic range (HDR) content where it can approach 1,000 nits or more. It also has incredibly deep contrast that delivers inky blacks. The MacBook Air 15s display is likely to be excellent, but the MacBook Pro 14 offers a truly extraordinary experience. The MacBook Pro 14’s display also supports Apple’s ProMotion technology for a refresh rate of up to 120Hz depending on content. This will make for a smoother viewing experience than the MacBook Air 15.

Both laptops have six-speaker sound systems with force-cancelling woofers. They also support the same technologies, meaning you’re likely to get the same excellent sound from both, some of the best you can get in a modern laptop.

Portability

The MacBook Air 15 is both thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro 14. In fact, it’s the thinnest 15-inch laptop you can buy today. It will still take up a little more space in your backpack due to the larger display, but it won’t weigh you down.

The MacBook Pro 14 has a larger battery than the MacBook Air 15, a more power-hungry display, and much more powerful CPUs. Apple promises up to 18 hours of movie playback and up to 12 hours of wireless web use with the MacBook Pro 14. For the MacBook Air 15, Apple estimates up to 18 hours of movie playback and up to 15 hours of wireless web. We’ll have to wait until we can run our tests, but both laptops are likely to deliver long battery life.

Leave the MacBook Air 14 for the pros

The MacBook Pro 14 will be much faster than the MacBook Air 15 and have a better display. Of these things we can be sure. But it’s also much more expensive, equipped, and affordable for professionals who will be using it for demanding tasks like high-end photo editing and extreme video editing.

The MacBook Air 15 is a fascinating laptop for the rest of us. It should provide excellent productivity performance with a larger display that offers more room for multitasking. It’s just as thin as the MacBook Air 13, while being just a pound heavier. It is a better choice for most Mac users.

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