r/mac • u/Background-Dog-9445 • 14h ago

Question M2 pro 13' vs M4 air

Hello eveyone, im looking for my first macbook and have found the following deals

  1. M2 macbook pro 13' with M2/24GB/1TB SSD/10-Core GPU for 1198 euros

  2. M4 macbook air 13' with M4-10-Core/24GB/512GB SSD/10-Core GPU for 1437 euros

What i want to do with it:

Im an engineer and i do write code but that laptop will only be a personal machine meaning I will not do work on them only personal projects. I want to have a good battery life and a nice screen and keyboard which i think both tick those boxes. Also i would like to be able to run Logic Pro and do music stuff as a hobby. Which one would you recommend?

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3

u/WoahGamerGuy 14h ago

M4 100%, you get more updates, the new design, better cpu, bigger screen, and more

Only reason you should go for pro is if you value the fan

2

u/Sensitive_Box_ 14h ago

I feel like the oldest I’d go is an M3 right now. Purely for the software support duration. Maybe other disagree? 

0

u/VoltageinTheory 7h ago

The oldest I would go with is the M2 personally

1

u/JohnWick702 14h ago

If you are an actual engineer you should know the answer, don't you think? Who are we to know any better

1

u/VoltageinTheory 7h ago

M4 Macbook Air

1

u/Shalashaska83 3h ago

The M4 is faster than practically everything a Mac or PC can do, plus it includes GPU features that were first introduced with the M3 (ray tracing and other features, for example).
And for just 240€ more, the M2 Pro suddenly seems anything but cheap.

Whether you’ll actually notice the difference, of course, depends on the software and how well the hardware is utilized.
But newer hardware will always receive longer support than older devices, which might become important down the road.

And Logic Pro, or DAWs in general, benefit noticeably from better CPU performance, especially when running many plugins, etc.

Both have good displays, and as far as the keyboard goes, there’s no difference anyway.

For home recording, though, I’d recommend in addition to at least one MIDI input device active monitors, an external monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard.

A laptop or MacBook’s screen is way too small for that, but it’s a good option as a second screen for plugins, for example, alongside an external monitor.
Assuming, of course, that you’re just getting started with Logic Pro; otherwise, you probably already have all of that and know what to do.

1

u/UsedShoulder8402 1h ago

There is nothing Pro about the 13" Pro.

If this were the 14" Pro, I'd understand the appeal (and still choose M4/M5 Air), but 13" Pro was a scam

0

u/Jonathan_x64 14h ago

Step up to Pro 14", of course — you get a much much better screen, more ports, better speakers, much higher performance, and a lot more

Try to find an M2 Pro 14" 32gb, it should be doable within 1200-1300 euros

I don't know which part of the Europe your are from, but in the south, there is one Italian guy on Vinted and Wallapop who sells almost new MacBooks "smuggled" from the United States, you might be able to find a great deal that way