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  Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023)

  Best MacBook for most people

  It's been a while since we've seen an everyperson's MacBook this big, but the MacBook Air 15-inch is big news indeed. It's got the capable Apple M2 processor and a six-driver speaker system for those personal movie nights.

  See at Amazon $1299 at Best Buy

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  Apple MacBook Pro 14in (M2, 2023)

  Best MacBook for professionals

  $1799 $1999 Save $200

  The latest MacBook Pro is in a class of all its own, packing in a menacing M2 Pro or M2 Max processor with behemoth GPU power. The HDMI port and SD card slot definitely add to that professional edge, too.

  See at Amazon $1799 at Best Buy

Apple is growing into 2023 with its first-ever 15-inch MacBook Air. If you aren't familiar with the MacBook lineup, you'd think that it'd make great neighbours with the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models currently available. But do they? Let's take a look.

In the years since the company discontinued its 2015 MacBook, the MacBook Air has stood as the standard bearer for most macOS users. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro has been an office favourite for many years with plenty of extra computing headroom against the Air. For the sake of comparison, we'll be taking a look at the gaps between the latest entry in the Air series and the MacBook Pro 14-inch. You can also take a look at our dedicated guide to MacBooks once you're done here for a complete picture.

Pricing, availability, and specs

• 	Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023)	Apple MacBook Pro 14in (M2, 2023)
  Storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB
  CPU	Apple M2 chip	Apple M2 Pro or M2 Max chip
  Memory	8GB, 16GB, 24GB	16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 92GB
  Battery	66.5Wh, 18 hours use, 70W charging supported	69.6Wh, up to 18 hours use, 96W charging supported
  Ports	2x Thunderbolt, 3.5mm	HDMI, SD card, 3 x Thunderbolt, 3.5mm
  Camera	1080p	1080p
  Display (Size, Resolution)	15.3in LED, 2880 x 1864, 224ppi, 500 nits	14.2in mini-LED, 3024 x 1964, 254ppi, 500 nits, peak 1,600 nits

The MacBook Air 15-inch base model starts at $1,299 or £1,399, while the max configuration is $2,499 or £2,599. The MacBook Pro 14-inch base model staarts higher a $1,999 or £2,149, and the max configuration is $6,299 or £6,549.

Well, that came down like a ton of bricks. Yes, the MacBook Air is already a somewhat pricey proposition at $1,299. You can customize RAM up to 24GB and solid state storage of up to 2TB to nearly double the price tag. But consider that with the MacBook Pro, you also have a choice of processors: the M2 Pro or the M2 Max. More than that, you can even get a GPU upgrade with eight more cores than the standard M2 Max setup. That and, oh, by the way, options for up to 96GB of RAM and an SSD with room for 8TB.

And we haven't even gotten to the substance of it.

Display

• MacBook Air 15-inch: 15.3in @ 2880 × 1864 (~227ppi), 10-bit color, 500 nits
• MacBook Pro 14-inch: 14.2in @ 3024 × 1964 (~254ppi), XDR, 120Hz refresh rate, up to 1,000 nits typical and 1,600 nits peak

The MacBook Pro features a mini-LED backlit display that supports XDR (Extended Dynamic Range). Not only is it more pixel-dense than the MacBook Air's, but it supports a faster refresh rate for smoother visual motion and higher peak brightness for stunning color reproduction. That said, the Air's screen is no slouch. Like the Pro, it can handle 10-bit color (that's one billion colors) and is equipped with True Tone technology for proper white balance in various ambient lighting conditions.

Design and build

• MacBook Air 15-inch: 1.51kg, 1.15cm thin, four colours
• MacBook Pro 14-inch: up to 1.63kg, 1.55cm thin, two colours

The MacBook Air, while 17% larger in surface area, is thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro. Of course, a lot of that comes down to the internal specifications and the accommodations made to support optimal performance in a relatively small form factor - yes, that means there's a fan in the Pro and not in the Air. And if that wasn't a stark enough point, you should know that an M2 Max MacBook Pro weighs about 30 grams heavier than an M2 Pro unit.

Both devices feature highly similar design language and hardware amenities. They have aluminum bodies, the Magic Keyboard is backlit and includes a Touch ID sensor, and the trackpad supports Force Touch. Their displays are "notched" in by a 1080p FaceTime camera. I would say both also feature the same six-driver sound system with force-cancelling woofers and Dolby Audio-capable playback, but the one on the Pro is rated as "high-fidelity."

The MacBook Pro has the leg up on the I/O front as well: it has three Thunderbolt/USB4 ports to the Air's tw,o and it also exclusively has an HDMI port and an SD card slot. Both have 3.5mm audio ports and MagSafe 3 contacts.

The MacBook Pro comes in Space Gray and Silver and the MacBook Air adds Midnight (black) and Starlight (gold) to the two.

By the way, if you're curious, the MacBook Pro 16-inch clocks in at 2.15kg.

Power, memory, and other specs

• MacBook Air 15-inch: Apple M2, 8/16/24GB RAM, 256/512GB and 1/2TB SSD
• MacBook Pro 14-inch: Apple M2 Pro/Max, 16/32/64/96GB RAM, 512GB and 1/2/4/8TB SSD

Apple's M2 is a great chip. It has an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. The M2 Pro has options for 10 or 12 cores for the CPU and 16 or 19 cores for the GPU. The M2 Max has a 12-core CPU standard and can go all the way to 38 cores for graphics. We'll say it again, though: the M2 is a great chip.

While both the Air and Pro are advertised to go as long as 18 hours on their batteries (22 hours on the 16-inch Pro), we should note that Apple supplies the former with a dual USB-C power adapter with charge rates of up to 35W on both. Customers can upgrade to a 70W charger for faster rates. Meanwhile, most buyers of the 14-inch computer get a 67W adapter. Those who get a unit with either a 12-core M2 Pro or M2 Max will be upgraded to a 96W block for fast charging.

To top it off, while both MacBook Air and Pro support Bluetooth 5.3, the Air has Wi-Fi 6 while the Pro gets Wi-Fi 6E. Not a killer difference there, but it does act as a sort of poetic cherry on top, doesn't it?

Conclusion

Clearly, you do get a lot for what you pay for with the MacBook Pro, but most users probably don't need all of those big numbers anyway. Final Cut Pro X is a perfectly decent video editing application that Apple has optimized for its own silicon and it works just splendidly on a plain M2 that you'll find on any MacBook Air, much less the 15-inch one.

If you do happen to spend a lot of time working on graphics-intensive tasks such as emulation or 3D design, Apple is definitely targeting you as a "professional" for the MacBook Pro in either size. Anything less than that? You're more likely going with the MacBook Air 15-inch.