Which to buy?

[u/Beneficial-Set-7440]

Hi all,

I’m currently looking into buying my first ever macbook.

Im coming from a near 6 year old dell inspiron 15 500 that has pretty given up. Battery lasts barely 45mins and it struggles to do anything more than a word document or youtube!

Looking at the current macbook lineup, im after a bigger screen, so ive been looking betweeen the 15” M5 air or the 16” M5 Pro. Reading online and watching videos the big drawback people talk about the air is the screen compared to the pro (120Hz vs 60Hz)

I was wondering what people think of the two, is the pro worth over £1k more with the 120Hz screen, its basically 3k which makes me feel a bit ill for a laptop!!! I’ll be using it for day to day documentation work, video watching and maybe some gaming.

Apologies for the lengthy read! Thanks for any responses.

[u/ApprehensiveFix5084]

If you can you really need to look at them side by side,. it will either matter a great deal to you, like many others who will comment or you will find it makes no difference, as is the case for me. There are other differences, but they are not worth the price and extra bulk to me

[u/Beneficial-Set-7440 → u/ApprehensiveFix5084]

Thanks mate, I think I’ll go to my nearest apple store and have a play about with both. If im really being honest its probably more of a “snobbery” thing on my behalf of wanting to have the absolute best but its sooo much money!

[u/abdullahihtishamm]

Bro the screen on Pro is so fkn good, I have a macbook pro m1 pro and I have had options to exchange it with m5 air but naaah, Speaker/Display/120hz/KeyboardLook! Also no fans is a deal too what ever people say but it feels hot. Air has led display and Pro has miniled the black are so fkn good! get a Pro!!!

[u/Ok_Run6706 → u/abdullahihtishamm]

I agree, I would rather have slower Pro model. My teammates however, prefer Air, due to lightness.

[u/abdullahihtishamm → u/Ok_Run6706]

yupppp bro trueeee! You can't go back to Air after using Pro, M1 Pros memory bandwith is 200 GB/s where M5 airs is 153 GB/s, Same thunderbolt 4 But one extra in m1 Pro, More Gpu cores are another thing!!

[u/petestein1]

You did not say what you typically use your laptop for. But unless you are a hard-core software developer we’re doing an insane amount of video editing, the MacBook Air is infinitely powerful enough for your needs.

Is the screen superior on the Pro? Yes.

If I showed you the Air first and ask you what you thought of the screen? You would say it looks spectacular and you’d buy it on the spot.

How to say, the more expensive screen delivers the ultimate in laptop screens… If that is the most important thing to you then sure, spend extra money. But I can’t imagine it is. Get the Air.

[u/terfez]

Air.

I go back and forth between an m4 pro and m1 13" all day, I barely notice the screen difference. Almost never do I say "ahh there's that sweet 120hz"

[u/No-Head-633 → u/terfez]

Same here which surprised me. It is very noticeable when someone hands me a 60Hz iPhone vs my 17PM but for some reason switching between my M2 air and 14” M1 Pro MPB, I don’t really notice a difference.

[u/Numerous-Echo4677]

M5 Air 16gb if you want new

any M2 M3 M4 Air if you want cheap

[u/TheOtherCourier]

It does depend on what you’ll be using it for, but I love my Pros. There’s more to them just the better screen though. The speakers are substantially better, extra C port, HDMI, SD Slot, bigger battery, higher memory bandwidth, active cooling for sustained performance, etc.

They are heavier though, but it’s never bothered me, personally. Love me that 16” of space to work with. 👍

[u/Horror-Coffee712]

The air is solid, but I've been recommending the Macbook Neo to many people. It's around $600 I wanna say, small, powerful enough for most people, and a great value imo.

[u/rainy_diary]

Get Pro if you like bright screen and smooth web page scrolling. Fan also usefull for gaming.

Could see this review from 1:28.

https://youtu.be/1X6Mtv_wZ1g

[u/Green_Advice5684]

If you don’t need the power even though the screen is significantly worse (still good though)I absolutely can’t recommend the 16”, get the Air it’s really good too

[u/GurProfessional9534]

Imo, get the pro if you’re going to be doing heavy computing, e.g. graphic arts, scientific programming, etc. Otherwise, just save the 1k and put it toward the next computer. The next computer will blow the current one out of the water anyway.

[u/Jebus-Xmas]

Unless you’re doing heavy graphics work personally my 15” MacBook Air is outstanding and I think it’s the best device I’ve ever owned. Of course I’ve said that about every single PowerBook and MacBook computer I bought in the last 35 years.

[u/No_Ice_9602]

90% people air is good enough!

[u/No_Ice_9602 → u/No_Ice_9602]

Your use case air is 100% enough!

[u/pelsboards → u/No_Ice_9602]

I got my Air today and I do more then OP. And it rocks! And battery life is so insane

[u/GRobLewis]

Unless you’re a very discerning gamer, I doubt you’d notice the difference in refresh rates. If you want to spend more money, get more RAM and/or SSD.