Originally published at: Three New Macs Complete the Apple Silicon Transition - TidBITS
With the release of the M2 Ultra-based Mac Pro alongside a new 15-inch MacBook Air and upgraded Mac Studio, Apple has completed its promised transition of moving the entire Mac line to Apple silicon.
Looks like youāll have to move up to a 10" x 15" manila envelope!
The 15" MBA is a very good deal. Otherwise equally specāed, the 15" Air is a mere $100 more expensive than the 13" model.
I wonder if the 15" MBA essentially spells the end of the silly 13" MBP. If people want the small form factor thereās the 13" MBA. If they want the $1299 price point thereās the 15" MBA. Done. Put a dagger in that TouchBar.
A look at the new Mac Studioās specs reveals no significant differences between the M1 and M2 Mac Studio models apart from the performance improvements, higher memory ceiling, and a newer version of Bluetooth, I see. They offer the same ports, wireless connectivity, and so on.
I donāt think this is quite right. The HDMI port on the new M2 Mac Studio supports 8K displays at up to 60 Hz (as do the two on the new M2 Mac Pro). The M1 Mac Studioās HDMI only supported one 4K display at 60Hz
Does anyone have any information about the fan noise on the new Mac Studio?
Did it get solved or not?
I would have gotten one a while ago to use in a music studio, but the fan noise was unacceptable.
Or put another way, you need to shell out at least $300 to get a similarly specāed low-end 14" MBP compared to the new 15" MBA. Thatās $300 for a better screen (and a couple more cores plus extra mem b/w). Sounds like a lot though when 13"->15" otherwise costs $100 on the MBA. I know which Mac Apple wants to sell most.
I would find it difficult to justify the expense of the Mac Pro over the Studio. Iāve a string of Mac Pros in my Apple history, two still doing dumb jobs on our network here, dispensing files and being available for legacy software. But really the only use case for the Pro is add-on cards to either intake or spit out multiple streams of video, a small market surely, but one I am glad it exists for.
Yeahā¦the 15 inch MBA doesnāt make a whole lot of sense to me. An MBA is supposed to be small and light and this one is bigger than a 14 inch MBP and .3 pounds lighter than that oneā¦you get more connectivity, better screen, and better processors in the MBP for pretty much the same money. Unless the 0.3 pounds makes a difference the MBP is a superior machine for just a little bit moreā¦but I guess it doesnāt have to make sense to me.
The base 15 MBA is 700 dollars cheaper than the base 14 MBP. Thatās a pretty major difference.
No mention of the Vision Pro???
As I noted in the introduction to the email issue, Iām still working out what to say and how to say it. Some of that is taking place over here:
Letās not forget that the M2 MacBook āProā 2022 wasnāt even āProā because it could only drive one external monitor. A colleague bought one at work and had to give it to another worker, because he couldnāt edit on something with only one screen. I wish Apple would be more careful with the way they name things. Caveat emptor reigns supreme in the electronics world; there always seem to be some spec that the buyer didnāt catch, that means the device is less than what they wanted. (How did I miss that my WiFi-only iPad Pro would lack GPS? smh)
Thank Youā¦
Great news.