Secondary Mac laptop recommendations

[rdrr]

Really torn on an upcoming Mac purchase. We (Spouse and I) have a 15" 2017 MacBook Pro at home we use for our secondary laptop, and its time for a refresh. She works from home 3 days a week as IT System Admin, and use I it time from time to do some work and spreadsheets for personal use. I don't game anymore on a laptop, and prefer to stream on my phone or tablet rather than the lap warmer.

So I am torn on what to buy, and looking for advice. I am looking at a middle of the road 16" M3 Pro MacBook Pro, or high end 15" M2 MacBook Air. I feel I probably should buy the MBP over the MBA to ensure the longest tech life, but I am questioning if I really need the horse power.

Specs:
MacBook Pro
Apple M3 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
18GB unified memory
1TB SSD storage
16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display
$2699
Apple Care+ $399.00
$3098 + MA Sales tax

MacBook Air
Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
16GB unified memory
1TB SSD storage
15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
$2099
Apple Care+ $229.00
$2328 + MA Sales tax

 

[Aaronage]

MacBook Air seems like the best choice for the use case. You won’t notice the performance difference for light work, but you will definitely feel the weight/size difference

Might be worth waiting for the M3 refresh that’s expected soon?

 

[Cmaier]

MacBook Air seems like the best choice for the use case. You won’t notice the performance difference for light work, but you will definitely feel the weight/size difference

Might be worth waiting for the M3 refresh that’s expected soon?

Agreed. And while the MBP may last longer before it is obsolete, I doubt it will last $750 worth longer.

 

[Citysnaps]

Back in 2020 I purchased a 13" M1 MBA for couch computing and travel. For casual computing, news consumption, forums, and even processing photos in Lightroom it was great. I especially liked the light weight.

After three years of use I noticed that my eyes/vision would get fatigued (that I believed) lead to headaches. I attributed that to the smallish 13" screen. Early last year I purchased an M2 16" MBP in hopes of reducing the fatigue.

I *think* the larger screen helped - but can't say for sure. However...the extra weight is very noticeable. And while not a deal killer, it does weigh on my mind every time I move it around.

If I could have a do-over today, I would probably go with a larger MBA. Either the current M2 15", or would wait for the upcoming M3-based MBA that's supposed to be available soon. Who knows... it might even have a 16" screen. If so, that would be killer. If not, 15" would be OK for me.

For my uses, I really don't need the extra performance and ports of a MBP. I have a desktop Mac for that.