Why I switched to MacBook Air after 2 months
TL;DR: 16-inch Macbook Pro was just too big and bulky for me
I’m currently working as a Technical Account Manager in fast-growing tech platform-oriented business. To give a context - my career has been always revolved around customer-related highly technical work.
For the past 8+ years - I’ve been predominantly using Windows-based laptops for my work. Not because I wanted so but rather because of no other option 🤨. This time it was different. When starting in my current job, I was allowed to select whatever working tools I wanted.
I never been Apple nor Windows fan. For example, Over the years, I have had both Macbooks and PC’s. Phones were equally both Android-based from manufacturers such a Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, LG, HMD Nokia or Apple (legendary 3G or 8 Plus). But what I was always struggling with was the ecosystem. Or the lack of it. My devices never really communicated between each other.
That’s why having opportunity at work to freely select my tools, besides choosing iPhone 14 Pro, I decided to go with a MacBook Pro 16-inch version with M1 Pro silicon, paired with 32 Gb’s of RAM and 512 GB of storage in space gray. Colour was something I wasn’t sure of because I’m used to Apple’s traditional silver, so decided to give a try 😛
To give you a background - my typical work has been including various tasks, namely:
LOTS of calls/video calls
Data processing related: Data Analysis, Data Science, Scraping
Creating things: light coding, presentations, writing, messaging (a lot), calls
Information search: basically Internet-browsing 😊
Troubleshooting: exceptions and debugging APIs
My experience with a 16-inch MacBook Pro
16-inch MacBook Pro is a great workstation, no two words about. Gone are times where, if you needed to work on whatever demanding tasks such as 4K video editing, rendering, graphics or running huge Machine Learning models, you would go with desktop computer. MacBook Pro provides all that desktop-grade power in one slim (1.7 cm / 0.66 inch) package and weight of 2.1 kgs /4.7 pounds.
As in all the cases, using this MBP on every-long-day basis over few month period has shown both pros and cons.
First pros:
Battery life. Can you imagine that after first initial charge, I haven’t needed the bulky 140 watt charging adapter almost at all?
Of course, this partly due to USB-C displays I use which all have PowerDelivery function meaning ability to charge while transferring video/data output. But anyway – battery is LITERALLY unkillable!
I think, this is mostly because of completely all-new considerably more efficient Apple Silicon mobile architecture.
Display. This is something one has to see by themselves. It’s a gorgeous display! For me characteristics of this display translate in practical life as:
Max. brightness of 1000 nits = you actually see something even outdoors when sun shines
Screen refresh rate of 120 Hz = picture is butter smooth
Resolution of 3456-by-2234 = you can actually fit multiple windows side-by-side without sacrificing productivity
Which brings me to my only con…
Size. Over 2 kgs with charger adapter totalling around 2.4 kgs + physical size – this device won’t fit many compact day-backpacks.
At the end, the size was a deal breaker for me to switch. As a technical account manager, I’m very often on the move 🏃🏻♂️. On everyday basis this translates to switching between offices, meeting rooms and travelling to see the customers. This was the moment where my spine & back decided to say “we can’t take this anymore”.
The challenge is that besides carrying laptop, I have to carry sometimes additional peripherals such as mouse or keyboard. This adds up on size. But then there’s other life-things. What about workout stuff and pre-packed lunch? Oh, and at the end of the day occasionally one have to do some groceries as well 😊
So, by the end of the day your backpack is weighting around 10 kgs /22 lbs and that’s not fun nor ergonomical to commute almost 365 days per year.
After different evaluations I had a few options left. Both were compromises in terms of things such as power and display but were much more portable:
2022 MacBook Air 13.6-inch / weight 1.24 kgs or 2.73 lbs
10th generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14-inch / 1.12 kgs or 2.47 lbs
However, after comparing these two, it started to be clear that Macbook Air would be the choice.
Why? In my case:
Seamless integration with other Apple products. Again, stating that I’m not an devoted Apple-fan but...
iPhone 14 Pro & Airpods Pro. For example taking calls from computer. May sound like a little thing but it’s actually handy feature when using all day.
Airdrop-feature & notes syncronization. Again, these two are unbeatable features.
Passive cooling. MBA does not have fans. Complete silence. Believe me – this starts to make difference the latest 1 year after usage of laptop when those bearing balls start to degrade in actively cooled laptops like Lenovo.
Display. both MBA and Lenovo X1 carbon have good display options – Lenovo provides even OLED panel alternative but price was out of the range. However, MBA comes by default with 500 nits of brightness and has 254 pixels per inch while Lenovo provides peak maximum at 400 nits. Both displays run at 60 Hz.
Battery life. Again, thanks to all-new Apple M2 silicon architecture, energy efficiency and hardware/software optimization MBA is no brainer for easy-all-work-day-battery-life. I know, that 12th gen Intel processors used in Lenovo are considerably better compared to previous generations but are still miles away from Apple + considering other hardware/software optimizations.
I ended up selecting somewhat same setup as my 16-inch Pro:
M2 chip with 8-core/10-core GPU paired with 16 GB’s of RAM and 512 GB Drive. Oh, and color... this time midnight blue 🔵. I know, everyone on Earth 🌎 has been talking about this particular color to be fingerprint magnet but let’s give it a chance 😛
So there you have it. Time will show was this right decision for me. First-day notices:
Considerably lighter than MBP! Literally night-and-day
Charger is ¼ of a Pro-size and weight as well!
Display is very satisfactory although missing that 1000 nits of Pro-model
Wasn’t able to kill the battery after one long heavy work day of usage
Looking positive so far. I think, I will post some updates in a small review format after month or so of usage of this new MBA combined with iPhone 14 Pro.
PS. at the time of writing this post - there are rumours about potential new light 15.5-inch MacBook Air coming already this summer. If that’s true, that could be real gem combining new 3 nm M3 Apple Chip, lightweight design & big screen 😜.
Anyway, if you have any suggestions, questions or comments on my selection/reasons et cetera – write me, I’m happy to discuss the topic! 🙂
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