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I’m a software engineer. Dumb to get a MacBook Air over pro if someone else is paying for it?
Question
I’ve just quit my job and am handing in my work laptop, which has been my only laptop for a number of years. My uncle has offered to buy me a laptop, and says money is not a factor. I wanted to get a MacBook Air. I’m a software engineer but have never done work on a personal device (since college) and don’t code for fun. I imagine if I get another job in the future work would always provide my a laptop. I’m tempted to get a MacBook Air for personal use because it’s lighter weight. What specs should I go for if price isn’t an issue? And is it dumb to not get a pro if someone else is paying? It is totally possible that I never end up doing development on this device and just use it for web browsing, but who knows.
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Get a MacBook Air. The benefits of the Pro won’t be any good for day to day uses, and the weight difference is noticeable when carrying it.
Plenty of programmers swear by the Air because they love it so much and love to use it daily like an addiction—and that's what matters. Your Uncle wants his gift to you to "spark joy," and for you to remember him by that feeling, so I say honor that as authentically as you can.
As far as specs—get at least 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. If money isn't an issue, get 24 GB RAM and 1 TB storage—more RAM the better for VMs. And get AppleCare+ (which comes in a $69/year option).
True - f**cking MacBook Air!
I'm a programmer who previously used Windows for over 30 years. I now use an M1 MBA as my daily driver and I love it!
16GB + 512GB is the lowest spec I would go for. M1 or M2 doesn't matter so much, most of a coders time is spent editing. A slightly faster build time is largely irrelevant.
I'd also go for 24GB if you have the money, but it's overkill at least for my workflow (flutter/mobile dev). That said, mobile emulators chew up a lot of RAM.
I never bothered with Apple Care, personally.
It doesn’t sound like you need a Pro, I’d get the Air. I’d spend the extra $100 for the M2 but beyond that get what you need.
I absolutely love my MacBook Air. I don’t think there is any reason to get the pro unless you have really demanding workflows. I recently was doing a little bit of video work, and my MacBook Air was able to encode the videos very very quickly.
The determination comes down to what type of development.
Web dev, iOS, android, enterprise Java, etc. should all be absolutely fine on a MBA(but if money is no object get 32gb ram and an m2 chip). Would those technically be “better” on a pro? Yes. Noticeably better? Probably not.
If you’re doing ML, game dev, etc. I think going for the pro might benefit you.
As with many things the answer truly is: depends.
Def get an air if you don’t program in your free time. The weight diff is huge. I used to even have a 15” and a 13” pro and just used the 13 for portability and travel while my 15 sat at home in clamshell mode.
I use an Air occasionally. It’s perfectly fine for programming. I even use it for rendering video sometimes.
I work in audio/video, and I also just chose the Air over the Pro model. It’s incredible what the Air can handle these days.
Amazon has MacBook air 15 m2 for sale $1045 get that