Apple’s new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini with the Apple-designed M1 chip are now available to order on Apple.com and through the Apple Store app, and they will be available in stores starting next week.
The new MacBook Air starts at $999, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,299, and the new Mac mini starts at $699.
The M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro appear to be very similar owing to their shared processor, form factor, and keyboard, so should you consider purchasing the lower-cost MacBook Air, which starts at $999, to save money, or do you need the higher-end MacBook Pro, which costs at least $300 more? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two Apple Silicon MacBooks is best for you.
The Apple Silicon M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are very similar in terms of specifications. Both devices sport the same M1 processor, 13.3-inch display, Touch ID, and ports, as well as most other hardware features.
The main differences are the display brightness, Touch Bar, microphone and speaker quality, two extra hours of battery life, and active cooling system that set the machines apart in favor of the MacBook Pro. For casual users, this means that the additional $300 to upgrade to a MacBook Pro may be difficult to justify, especially without knowing the exact performance benefits at this time.
If you do want the best performance, battery life, display brightness, and speaker and microphone quality, the MacBook Pro is the better option. The MacBook Pro is therefore best current option for those who want the most out of their Apple Silicon laptop.
Likewise, users who intend to perform a lot of graphics-based tasks should skip the MacBook Air entirely and buy the MacBook Pro because the eight-core GPU MacBook Air configuration is only $50 less than the MacBook Pro. However, this is only the case if you don’t need more than 256GB of storage, because a storage upgrade would further push up the MacBook Pro’s price.
While the performance difference in real terms between the two MacBooks is yet to be seen, the MacBook Air appears to be the best option for most users. The MacBook Air offers a compelling feature set at a more affordable $999 price. We will revisit this recommendation after we see real-world performance of the two machines. The new MacBook Air and Pro are available to order now.
