MacBook Air vs Professional: Variations between MacBook Air and Professional

Apple at the moment sells two laptop computer strains: the MacBook Professional and MacBook Air. The MacBook Professional comes with a 14-inch or 16-inch show and the MacBook Air has both a 13.6-inch or a 15-inch show. And amongst these fashions are a good wider vary of specs.

On this article, we’re involved with the Mac laptops finest suited to common use: dwelling, scholar, and workplace work. There are 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional fashions powered by M4 Professional or M4 Max chips which can be higher suited to professional customers and have a lot larger costs, they usually aren’t included right here. However if you’re pondering your wants may prolong a bit additional on the professional facet, chances are you’ll have an interest to learn Which MacBook Professional or our information to all of Apple’s laptops.

We’ll be contemplating the next equally specced Mac laptops:

• 13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2 (launched July 2022)
• 13.6-inch MacBook Air, M3 (launched March 2024)
• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M4 (launched October 2024)
• 15-inch MacBook Air, M3 (launched March 2024)

For recommendation about the most effective MacBook, we even have a shopping for information, see: Finest MacBook: Which Mac laptop computer is finest? We additionally provide recommendation about how a lot storage, RAM and cores in How a lot MacBook do you really want?

Off to college? Learn our information to the finest MacBook for college kids.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional in contrast

Listed here are the 4 Mac laptops which have our consideration. We’ll evaluate design, specs, shows, worth and different options under.

2. Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

4. Apple 14-inch MacBook Professional (M4, 2024)

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Design

The design of the MacBook Air hasn’t modified since Apple revealed it in June 2022 and you possibly can have been forgiven for pondering you have been a MacBook Professional. Gone is the tapered edge for which the Air was well-known, changed with a extra uniform design. The MacBook Air continues to be thinner–albeit fractionally–however it’s also very barely bigger than the outdated model of the Air, due to the larger display.

Trying on the display you’ll discover the opposite obtrusive distinction within the new design: the MacBook Air has a notch just like the one which’s additionally seen on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional and iPhones. This permits the larger display and conceals a significantly better FaceTime digital camera, so it’s not a foul factor, though some individuals don’t like notches.

When you miss that tapered design that made the MacBook Air immediately identifiable it’s nonetheless accessible in case you purchase the M1 model of the MacBook Air. Apple now not sells this mannequin as a brand new laptop computer, however restricted M1 MacBook Air stock could also be accessible within the Apple Licensed Refurbished Retailer and you should still be capable of choose one up from a 3rd get together–see our round-up of the Finest MacBook Air offers.

If a 13.6-inch display isn’t large enough for you, Apple added a 15.3-inch MacBook Air to the lineup in June 2023. This bigger mannequin seems an identical to the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, and shares (principally) the identical specs, it’s simply greater.

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The 14-inch MacBook Professional is a bit chunkier and heavier than the 15-inch MacBook Air because of the followers wanted for warmth dissipation, whereas the Air is, unsurprisingly, wider and taller, due to the larger show.

Each fashions have a Contact ID sensor constructed into the keyboard, and six-speaker arrays (the 13-inch Air solely has a four-speaker sound system). The sound on the MacBook Professional is described by Apple as “Excessive Constancy,” by which we assume Apple is indicating it’s superior to the Air. Connectivity for each fashions is by way of Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E.

With the October 2024 MacBook Professional replace to the M4 chip, the 14-inch MacBook Professional now has a 12-megapixel digital camera with help for Middle Stage and Desk View. The MacBook Air nonetheless has the 1080p FaceTime HD digital camera. The MacBook Professional digital camera is significantly better, in case you’re involved with high quality for video conferences.

One other distinction between these MacBooks is the colour decisions. There are 4 colour decisions for the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch MacBook Air: Midnight (darkish blue), Starlight (gold), House Grey and Silver. The Starlight shade is paler gold, whereas Midnight is near black with a darkish blue hue. The 14-inch MacBook Professional with M4 provides solely Silver and House Black choices.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Dimensions

The 13-inch MacBook Air is lighter than the 14-inch MacBook Professional, as you’d anticipate, however the 15-inch MacBook Air can also be lighter than the 14-inch MacBook Professional.

• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M4: 3.4 kilos (1.55 kg)
• 15-inch MacBook Air, M3: 3.3 kilos (1.51 kg)
• 13-inch MacBook Air, M3: 2.7 kilos (1.24 kg)

Apple

The 15-inch MacBook Air is the most important of the M3 laptops, however as a result of it’s thinner, it weighs lower than the Professional. The 13-inch MacBook Air dimensions aren’t a lot smaller than these of the 14-inch MacBook Air.

• 15-inch MacBook Air, M3: 13.40 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches (34.04 x 23.76 x 1.15cm)
• 14-inch MacBook Professional, M3: 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches (31.26cm x 22.12cm x 1.55cm)
• 13-inch MacBook Air, M3: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm)

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Show

Listed here are the specs at a look:

• 13-inch MacBook Air M3: 13.6 inches diagonal, 2,560 by 1,664 pixels
• 14-inch MacBook Professional M4: 14.2 inches diagonal, 3,024 by 1,964 pixels
• 15-inch MacBook Air M3: 15.3 inches diagonal, 2,880 by 1,864 pixels

The MacBook Air has both a 15.3-inch or a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina show. The MacBook Professional comes with a superior 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR panel. The display on the Air is a bit greater, however the picture high quality is not so good as the display on the MacBook Professional–it nonetheless seems nice, although.

The 15-inch Air’s show runs at a decision of two,880 by 1,864, whereas the 13-inch provides 2,560 by 1,664. Each Airs have a most brightness of 500 nits, which is half of the Professional’s 1,000 nits in regular use, or a 3rd in case you’re operating HDR content material at a max of 1,600 nits. That is achieved by the Professional show incorporating mini-LEDs quite than the Air’s customary LCD display.

Maybe the most important distinction although is that the Professional options ProMotion, which means that the refresh fee tops out at 120Hz, once more double that of the Air’s 60Hz refresh fee. This helps preserve scrolling and animations easy and crisp. Any of those shows will likely be nice for on a regular basis use and lengthy hours of labor, however the Professional has the sting relating to options.

With the M4 MacBook Professional, Apple launched a nano-texture glass choice that has a matte-like end for $150. This selection will not be accessible on the MacBook Air, and if it’s worthwhile to minimize down the glare from the show, it’s a characteristic to contemplate.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Specs

All of Apple’s laptops are powered by Apple’s silicon. Amidst the MacBook Air and MacBook Professional choices are two generations of chip: the M2 within the $999 13.6-inch MacBook Air, an M3 within the 13.6-inch and 15-inch Air fashions, and an M4 within the 14-inch MacBook Professional that we’re contemplating right here (there are additionally M4 Professional and M4 Max MacBook Professional choices for many who want extra energy). To study extra about all of the Mac processors learn our Mac processor comparability and see how the M3 stacks up in opposition to all of Apple’s chips.

That is how the specs within the varied MacBook Air and the 14-inch MacBook Professional customary configurations evaluate:

There are additionally M4 Professional and M4 Max MacBook Professional fashions that we talk about in our MacBook Professional comparability and our Finest MacBook information.

When you look on the specs above, the closest comparability is between the $1,499/£1,499 15-inch MacBook Air and the $1,599/£1,699 14-inch MacBook Professional. The additional cash for the MacBook Professional features a higher show, yet one more Thunderbolt port, an HDMI port, an SDXC Card slot, a greater digital camera, and built-in followers to chill the laptop computer so it might probably preserve efficiency on lengthy duties. You might or might not want these options.

With a smaller finances the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2 (2022) seems like a great deal at $999/£999. The principle drawback with this machine is the smaller SSD, not simply because it’s smaller, but additionally as a result of the 256GB SSDs are identified to be slower. It nonetheless may be a good selection regardless of the SSD, as a result of that most likely gained’t matter to you if the apps you utilize aren’t often writing to the onerous drive.

There are different components that may decelerate the MacBook Air although. As a result of the Air is compact and fanless it’s much less in a position to handle warmth, and due to this fact might run slower with the intention to preserve cool in case you actually push it. If it’s energy you want then the benchmarks give a clearer image (MacBook Professional M4 benchmarks should not but accessible. We’ll replace this chart as quickly as we get the information. In your reference, you’ll be able to see how the remainder of the chips evaluate):

As you’ll be able to see from the scores above, the M3 shoots forward of the M2 and M1, actually it even scores above one configuration of the M1 Professional. However, if you really want a robust machine you may need to take a look at the M4 Professional MacBook Professional or store round for a M3 Professional MacBook Professional which it’s possible will stay on sale for a while despite the fact that Apple has discontinued that mannequin. See our round-up of the Finest MacBook Professional offers.

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RAM

All of the MacBooks showcased above include 16GB of Unified Reminiscence at their base configuration. The M1 solely supported as much as 16GB reminiscence, however the M2 and M3 chip carry an choice to improve to 24GB RAM. When you want extra reminiscence than that it’s worthwhile to look to the M4 Professional and M4 Max, which may help 48GB within the case of the M4 Professional and as much as 128GB for the M4 Max.

In October 2024, Apple up to date the MacBook Air in order that it comes customary with 16GB of RAM–it was 8GB earlier than. So, now all Macs begin with 16GB of RAM.

Our recommendation is to get as a lot RAM as you’ll be able to afford as you’ll be able to’t improve it later. See: Apple’s MacBook Professional reminiscence drawback.

Storage

Apple provides a 256GB storage choice on the entry-level for each the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air. The entry-level MacBook Professional begins at 512GB.

There are some issues about this 256GB SSD, with reviews that its SSD is as much as 50 % slower on learn speeds and 30 % on write speeds. We discovered that these observations have been certainly true once we ran our personal set of assessments utilizing Blackmagic Disk Velocity Check. This will likely matter if you’re utilizing apps that entry the SSD usually, however it might not make a distinction in typical use. For that reason, in case you can afford a 512GB mannequin we suggest that.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Battery life and charging

Relating to battery life these Macs are miles forward of the outdated Intel MacBook fashions. In line with Apple, the MacBook Air provides 18 hours battery life, whereas the 14-inch MacBook Professional provides a tremendous 22 hours (the identical because the 16-inch MacBook Professional).

In our personal testing, the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air battery lasted 19 hours. The battery contained in the M3 MacBook Air is similar as that within the M2 fashions so we didn’t anticipate any distinction in testing. now we have not examined the M4 MacBook Professional but, however will replace this text as quickly as we do.

In common every day use, battery life is simply as nice. It’s a bizarre feeling, opening up your laptop computer and doing work for 20 minutes and seeing that the battery proportion hasn’t modified even a single %, however that’s how it’s with Apple silicon. Clearly, battery life varies primarily based on what you’re doing, however for this laptop computer’s goal market–the on a regular basis dwelling and productiveness person–it’s onerous to suppose that you simply’ll ever should cost up earlier than the day is completed.

It’s not simply how lengthy the battery lasts that issues, but additionally the charging pace. Charging might be quick in case you use a great USB-C energy adapter. A typical 35W dual-port adapter can obtain a ten % cost in 10 minutes (30 % in half-hour). Apple’s 61W USB-C Energy Adapter will increase this to 72 % cost in half-hour. See our comparability take a look at of Apple’s M2 MacBook Air chargers in addition to the finest USB-C charger on your MacBook.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Ports and growth

Over time it’s felt like Apple has been on a mission to take away ports from Macs with the intention to make them slimmer and slimmer. This has been an obstacle for a lot of, though typically in case you want extra or totally different ports you’ll be able to simply plug in an adapter or a dock (learn: Finest USB-C hubs and adapters for Mac).

The older M1 MacBook Air supplied solely two USB 4 ports two USB/Thunderbolt ports, so a type of had for use for charging (as was additionally the case with the 13-inch MacBook Professional). Fortunately, with the arrival of the 2022 MacBook Air, Apple added a MagSafe charging port thereby releasing up the 2 USB ports so one doesn’t should be given over to charging (the additionally applies to the 15-inch mannequin).

The MacBook Professional options much more ports. On the 14-inch M4 MacBook Professional, you get three Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI, and a SDXC card slot.

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Audio and digital camera

The MacBook Air provides a 1080p FaceTime digital camera, which is superior to the 720p FaceTime digital camera on the now-discontinued M1 MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Professional.

The 14-inch M4 MacBook Professional has a 12MP Middle Stage digital camera that routinely retains the person within the middle of the body. The digital camera additionally helps Desk View, which may present the desk house in entrance of the laptop computer. That is an improve from he M3 MacBook Professional, which had the identical 1080p FaceTime digital camera because the MacBook Air.

The 15-inch MacBook Air has a profit over the 13.6-inch MacBook Air mannequin: if incorporates a six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers, in comparison with a four-speaker sound system. Apple describes the speaker system within the 14-inch MacBook Professional as a high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers, indicating that’s is superior to that within the 15-inch Air. Apple additionally refers to a “studio-quality three-mic array with excessive signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming” within the 14-inch Professional, whereas each Air fashions provide solely a “three-mic array with directional beamforming”.

All Mac laptops provide a 3.5mm headphone jack. 

MacBook Air vs MacBook Professional: Worth and shopping for recommendation

When Apple launched the M3 model of the 14-inch MacBook Professional in October 2023 it changed a less expensive 13-inch MacBook Professional with M2 chip. The 13.3-inch MacBook Professional began at $1,299/£1,349 for the 8-core GPU, 256GB SSD model and rose to $1,499/£1,549 for the 10-core GPU, 512GB SSD model. Now, with the M4 14-inch MacBook Professional, you must pay $1,599/£1,599 for a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 512GB SSD entry-level laptop computer. That’s fairly a leap from $1,299/£1,349 of the MacBook Air.

With no ‘finances’ MacBook Professional accessible the MacBook Air is the one choice for these in search of a discount. In case you are in search of the most affordable choice the $999/£999 M2 MacBook Air would seem like the clear winner. However the beginning worth of the MacBook Air M3 is just $100/£100 extra. Our recommendation is to spend the additional cash in case you can afford to or search for a deal that reduces the M3 MacBook Air to a worth you’ll be able to afford.

The value of the MacBook Professional is larger, and on on a regular basis duties it performs the identical because the MacBook Air, nevertheless it does provide higher efficiency on lengthy, CPU-intensive duties, like picture and video rendering and comparable duties. (To not point out the higher display, HDMI port, and SDXC Card slot.) At simply $100/£100 greater than the 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 and the identical 512GB SSD, it truly represents good worth for cash.

We suggest getting the most effective machine you’ll be able to afford on the time of buy since you gained’t be capable of improve down the road, this may increasingly require you to improve the RAM and storage earlier than you make your buy.

The opposite issue that could be vital to you is the display measurement, which is the place the MacBook Air is the clear winner, but when you’ll plug your Mac into an exterior show at any time when you might be at your desk this shouldn’t be a choice breaker. See our round-up of the finest shows for Mac, additionally keep in mind that it may be sophisticated utilizing multiple exterior show with some MacBooks.

So which MacBook must you select? In case you are on a finances it needs to be the MacBook Air and also you gained’t be disillusioned. When you want a bit extra energy than the Air can provide the M4 MacBook Professional will see you good. However in case you want much more energy you’ll should fork out for the M4 Professional or M4 Max MacBook Professional fashions.

Fortunately, you don’t should pay full worth for a MacBook Air or MacBook Professional, try our finest MacBook Air offers and finest MacBook Professional offers articles for the most effective reductions accessible.

Lastly, a phrase of warning: in case you see a lower cost on an Intel MacBook we strongly suggest that you simply don’t purchase it as Apple is unlikely to help Intel Macs for for much longer. Learn: How lengthy does Apple help Macs.

We additionally take a look at how the MacBook Air compares to the iMac and the way the MacBook Air and Mac mini evaluate individually. We additionally enable you select the Finest Mac in our purchasing information.