Battle of the MacBooks: Should you buy the new MacBook M1?

28 June 2021

It’s never been harder to decide which laptop to buy ever since Apple released the MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Pro M1, both of which make use of the powerful, next-generation M1 chip.

What is the M1 Chip?

Apple is slowly transitioning away from the Intel chips it has been using in MacBooks since 2006.

The new M1 chip is currently powering the new generation of MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro M1, and Mac mini. As Apple’s first chip designed specifically for the Mac, the M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning. Battery life is also 2x longer than previous-generation Macs.

Macs and PCs have traditionally used multiple chips for the CPU, I/O, security, and more.

However, the M1 chip integrates all these technologies into a single system on a chip (SoC). The M1 chip is also the first personal computer chip built with the 5-nanometer process technology and has 16 billion transistors, the most Apple has ever put into a chip.

Comparison between the MacBook M1 and the other MacBooks

But do you really need that new Mac with the M1 chip? Let’s take a look at how the newly released MacBook M1 fares against other products under the MacBook line-up.

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MacBook Pro M1 VS MacBook Air M1

The most notable difference between the MacBook Air M1 vs the MacBook Pro M1 would be the weight difference of 110g, Touch Bar, higher-quality microphones, and most importantly, internal cooling fans appearing on the MacBook Pro M1 and not the MacBook Air M1.

For general users who are simply browsing the web, watching videos, and doing some light photo and video editing, the MacBook Air M1 is good enough.

However, for those who are planning to run graphics-heavy programmes for long periods, they will be better off with the MacBook Pro M1. The MacBook Pro M1 is great for these users as it also comes with an 8-core graphics processing unit (GPU) in its entry-level configuration, compared to the base model of the MacBook Air M1 that only comes with a 7-core graphics processing unit (GPU).

 

	MacBook Air M1	MacBook Pro M1 (13-inch model)
Price	HK$7,799	HK$9,999
Retina Display	13.3-inch Retina display	13.3-inch Retina display
Compute	8-core Apple M1 Chip	8-core Apple M1 Chip
Memory	8GB 16GB	8GB 16GB
Storage	256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD	256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD
Battery Life and Power	Up to 15 hours wireless web   Integrated 49.9-watt-hour lithium‑polymer battery 30W USB-C Power Adapter	Up to 17 hours wireless web   Integrated 58.2-watt-hour lithium‑polymer battery   61W USB-C Power Adapter
Keyboard and Trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard, Touch ID, and Force Touch trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard, Touch Bar, Touch ID, and Force Touch trackpad
Ports	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Size and Weight	Height: 0.41–1.61cm Width: 30.41cm Depth: 21.24cm Weight: 1.29kg	Height: 1.56cm Width: 30.41cm Depth: 21.24cm Weight: 1.4kg

 

MacBook Pro M1 VS other MacBook Pros

	MacBook Pro M1 (13-inch model)	MacBook Pro 2020 (13-inch model)	MacBook Pro (16-inch model)	MacBook Pro 2016 (13-inch model)
Price	HK$9,999	HK$16,999	HK$18,999	HK$13,928
Retina Display	13.3-inch Retina display	13.3-inch Retina display	16-inch Retina display	13.3-inch Retina display
Compute	8-core Apple M1 Chip	Up to 4-core Intel Core i7	Up to 8-core Intel Core i9	Up to 2-core Intel Core i7
Memory	8GB 16GB	16GB 32GB	16GB 32GB 64GB	8GB 16GB
Storage	256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD	512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD 4TB SSD	256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD	256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD
Battery Life and Power	Up to 17 hours wireless web   Integrated 58.2-watt-hour lithium‑polymer battery   61W USB-C Power Adapter	Up to 10 hours wireless web   Integrated 58.0-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery   61W USB-C Power Adapter	Up to 11 hours wireless web   Integrated 100-watt-hour lithium‑polymer battery   96W USB-C Power Adapter	Up to 10 hours wireless web Integrated 54.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery   61W USB-C Power Adapter
Keyboard and Trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard, Touch Bar, Touch ID, and Force Touch trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard, Touch Bar, and Touch ID, Force Touch trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard, Touch Bar, Touch ID and Force Touch trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard and Force Touch trackpad
Ports	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports	Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports	Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports	Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
Size and Weight	Height: 1.56cm Width: 30.41cm Depth: 21.24cm Weight: 1.4kg	Height: 1.56cm Width: 30.41cm Depth: 21.24cm Weight: 1.4kg	Height: 1.62cm Width: 35.79cm Depth: 24.59cm Weight: 2.0kg	Height: 1.49cm Width: 30.41cm Depth: 21.24cm Weight: 1.4kg

 

Our Verdict

It is tough choosing which MacBook to buy, with some models using the custom M1 chip and others using the Intel processors. Here’s our advice:

MacBook Air users – If your MacBook Air is 3 years old or more, it’s worth making the switch over to one of the new M1-based MacBooks. Even newer MacBook Air users will benefit greatly as the M1 chip transforms the MacBook Air M1 to an almost pro-level, with a great boost in performance and battery life. 

MacBook Pro users – For owners of older MacBook Pros, the new MacBook Pro M1 is still an upgrade from the Intel-based MacBook Pros. For owners of the newer MacBook Pros, however, it may be harder to justify buying a brand new MacBook Pro M1. The MacBook Pro M1 is absolutely faster than the previous models, but it isn’t exactly the best use of your money unless shorter wait times matter a lot to you.

Windows users –Apple is not exactly known for providing value-for-money computers and laptops but the low-cost M1 MacBook Air certainly gives Windows users a run for their money. The new generation of M1 MacBooks are suddenly not only on par with Windows equivalents for media and professional tasks, but also superior in many other areas.

Starting from HK$7,799 onwards, the new M1 is highly recommended for everybody, save for the most Mac-resistant shoppers.