So with the recent M3 update Apple has cleaned up its MacBook lineup quite a bit but even still
picking one can be tricky don't worry I've tested them all and hopefully by the end of this video
it'll be a little more clear which you should buy this is luk with Digital Trends and
before we get into it make sure to like this video And subscribe to our Channel it helps us out a ton
I'm going to get into the details of all these different MacBooks that are currently available
but before we do let's take a step back and see the big picture so getting right into it on the
surface there's really only two brands of MacBooks these days the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro
the air is the cheaper and more portable line whereas the pro is the larger and more powerful
where these two meet in the middle can get into a gray area but in Broad Strokes that remains
true regardless of which model you're looking at when you start to get into the individual laptops
though it gets far more complex there are actually six different MacBooks that Apple currently sells
three in each brand so let me list them all out for you starting down at the bottom in terms of
price which is the M1 MacBook Air that's followed by the 13in M2 MacBook Air and then finally the
15in M2 MacBook Air from there you have the M3 14-in MacBook Pro the M3 Pro or Max MacBook Pro
and finally the M3 Pro or Ma Max 16in MacBook Pro now that Apple removed the 13in MacBook Pro the
line is broken up into these two segments pretty clearly and there are no longer any clear options
that nobody should buy outright now it really comes down to finding the right MacBook for you
in terms of price and use case so let's get into that next so starting with the MacBook
airs the M1 MacBook Air is easily the oldest and most outdated laptop in the lineup featuring
not only a chip from 2020 but a design from 2018 actually Apple sells this thing for $9.99 but you
can find some killer deals out there it's commonly sold for under $700 and that Rock Bottom price is
really what makes me feel okay recommending it still even in 2023 there haven't been MacBooks
selling for this cheap in a long time and the M1 chip still holds up pretty well especially
if you just need something basic both in terms of performance and in battery life I wouldn't
however buy this at full price because Apple only charges an extra $100 for the M2 MacBook Air and
there's a pretty big difference in between these two this is not just a difference in performance
the M2 MacBook Air is a full redesign of its predecessor that's more modern and sleek in
pretty much every way it's thinner the bezels are way slimmer the keyboard is improved and
it even has that mag safe 3 power jack and of course the M2 MacBook Air does outperform the
M1 I just wouldn't put too much emphasis there on determining which to buy because if you're buying
an air you're not someone who's sitting in front of Final Cut or Pro Tools or Cinema 4D all day
these are machines that can dabble in some media and content creation but in general it's not the
right choice for those who do that for a living so when it comes down to it the M2 is more powerful
but if you've already decided that you're a better fit for the air your daytoday is probably going to
be impacted more by having a more mobile device with a better screen a better webcam and speakers
and keyboard all of which the M2 MacBook Air has so unless you find a mind-blowing deal and don't
mind an older looking laptop the M2 MacBook Air really is the way to go so then what about this
newest addition to the air family the 15in MacBook Air this one's interesting in a lot of ways coming
a full year after the 13-in M2 MacBook Air when configured equally the 15-in model is sold for
only $100 more than the 13-in model and that is going to be a trend you'll see throughout this
video because that is just the way app gets you to pay a little bit more and more and more and add up
to you spending a ton of money but what you're paying for in this case with that extra money
is pretty much exclusively a larger screen and I know the difference between a 13.6 in screen and
a 15.3 in screen doesn't sound like a lot but remember those refer to diagonal measurements
of the screen the 15-in MacBook Air really is a large laptop it might not fit well into a small
briefcase or on a tiny lecture hall desk in the same way the 13-in model will and it's certainly
not going to matter if you spend all your time dock to an external monitor anyways but for those
that sit at a desk all day and really could use that extra space for split view multitasking the
15-in MacBook Air is the way to go side note if you have trouble with vision for whatever
reason the 15-in screen really is a lifesaver the only caveat here is that it starts at a
higher configuration so you don't get the same option for a cheaper less powerful model with
just eight GPU cores instead of 10 but otherwise it has the same exact chip inside gets that same
incredible battery life and is almost nearly as thin it just might not be your ultimate travel
machine like the 13in model is now as we turn to the pro machines there's certainly a Line in the
Sand here however the two MacBooks that straddle that line are pretty close in function and it'll
require some close inspection to know which you should buy so if you're considering either
the 15-in MacBook Air or the 14in M3 MacBook Pro the middle of the road Macbook so to speak there
are some important distin to make but first off when configured both at 8 GB of memory and 512
GB of storage the two laptops are only $100 apart remember it's coming back again that $100 so as
of now what you're getting for that 100 bucks is two things first a much better xdr screen that's
brighter more colorful and faster with its 120 HZ refresh rate no laptop these days does HDR content
quite like this thing and the second thing you're getting is more ports you still can't connect to
more than a single display I know but you do get HDMI and an SD card slot more than anything of
course you'll get some much better performance though the M3 brings better multi-core and GPU
performance over the M2 around 20% faster in my testing that might sound like a pretty good deal
but here's the thing I don't know that the M3 alone gets you something that a pro would want
to use on a daily basis could get the job done but serious creative professionals are going to
be tempted by the upgrade to the M3 Pro or Max and I'll get to that and I will say there's a tradeoff
primarily in portability the 14-in MacBook Pro is 28% thicker and 21% heavier than the 15-in MacBook
Air despite the fact that the air is actually slightly wider and deeper but the pro really
is a bit of a chunker to be honest this is the chassis of a laptop that can handle a much more
powerful chip namely the M3 Max and that makes this feel like a bit of a trap of all the MacBooks
in the lineup this one feels like it has the most unclear demographic other than people who think
they want or need a Pro laptop but can't quite afford one not unlike the 13-in MacBook Pro it
replaced this is a better option in almost every way than that old thing but in the end it's for
that aspiring hobbyist the one that spends late nights and weekends working on their creative
projects this thing will likely be a stretch for that person to afford without giving them the tool
they need to go all in and that's why choosing between the 15-in air and the 14in pro requires
a hard look in the mirror about how you actually will use this device especially since an update
to the M3 for the air is at least a few months away if not more make no mistake though at some
point in the near future these two MacBooks will be closer to even footing in terms of performance
which will make that M3 MacBook Pro feel even more out of [Music] place [Music] and all that brings
me to the final piece of the puzzle the 14in and 16in MacBook Pros with either the M3 Pro
or M3 Max inside here's what I can unabashedly say the M3 Max is quite an accomplishment for
Apple the graphics in particular are the most powerful they've ever had even allowing you to
turn your MacBook into a pretty decent gaming machine on the side and I'm not kidding about
that I know there aren't a ton of games available right now but from a performance perspective it's
pretty great the M3 Pro though it's kind of a different story now very few have tested that
configuration as of now and we're going to see more and more testing to confirm all this in the
future but it's clear that the gap between the M3 Pro and the M3 Max has widened in this generation
despite the price difference remaining the same there's a performance bump over the M3 and M2 Pro
for sure and the M3 Pro gets you support for two external 4K monitors and that's a big deal and
more than that going for the M3 Pro MacBook Pro gets you access to space black now I know that
there are people out there who are willing to Fork over extra cash just to get space black and I get
it this is my favorite color of all the MacBooks by far too just know that if you are going for the
M3 Pro the performance upgrade is just not as big in this generation as it was in the previous one
so if you want that true high-end performance it's really all about the M3 Max and it really is worth
the money and even more so now that the M3 pro has been held back a bit and that is saying something
when the starting price is $3,200 for this thing but with Graphics that I tested at 50% faster than
the M2 Max this is a huge upgrade especially if you're doing anything that involves GPU rendering
and even more so if you're coming from the M1 or earlier so that's the chips themselves but
there's also two MacBook Pro sizes to choose from the 14in and the 16in and as always screen size is
a matter of personal taste and need if you want a bigger screen and don't mind the size and heft of
this 4.7 PB laptop there's no reason not to go for the 16-in model you won't see a huge performance
difference but it has better speakers slightly stronger battery life and it isn't forced to run
its fans quite as hard the larger screen is also good for reducing the feeling of the notch taking
over your entire laptop screen because it's less likely to get in the way with that bigger screen
personally though I do love the compact size of the 4 14-in model it's really become my
go-to laptop and it still blows my mind how much performance they're able to get out of this small
laptop now before we get to the end here a few closing notes on memory and storage apple is
notorious for charging ridiculous prices for both but especially for storage I mean it's great that
you can add 8 terab of storage on the M3 Max MacBook Pro but you're going to be paying an
extra 2,200 bucks for it that's the price of an entire new Macbook Pro and remember both
storage and memory are soldered on so you can't upgrade in the future that's why most people
will opt for using external storage rather than paying thousands of dollars for extra terabytes
now on to memory and this has become quite a controversy these days but Apple loves to talk
about how its unified memory means 8 GB on a Mac is actually equivalent to 16 GB on a Windows PC
and I know what they're saying but in most cases that probably won't be true it's just not hard to
fill up more than 8 GB of available memory with a fairly basic load in you know Google Chrome and
that's especially true on these Pro Models when you're going to be throwing a lot more at it and
a lot more at the same time I'd say that if you're getting an M1 MacBook Air or something like that
sticking with 8 gbes is probably okay but I'd say if you're going for any of those Advanced MacBook
Pro Models 16 GB is a minimum and 32 GB would be a nice upgrade for Creative Pros maxing out with
either 96 or 128 GB is for a very specific type of person and just as a rule of thumb you kind
of know who you are if you need that much memory there's much more that can be said about each of
these individual laptops obviously but I'm going to leave it at that for now cuz I want to know
which of these MacBooks you have and what was your biggest reason for choosing it and which
of these are you looking to upgrade to so leave me a comment down below and I'll see you in the next
one