If you’re a professional graphic designer I would say “Pro 14” just because of the superior display alone (Resolution and colour).

You'll honestly be perfectly fine with the Air. Unless you're doing heavier workloads for davinci / ae that's where the Pro might be handy

Get a 24gb 1tb SSD Air for cheaper than the pro. The performance is almost the exact same until you start to heat saturate it if you say render videos for 20 mins straight or render 3d animations. Even then the performance is maybe only 30% less than the pro at max heat soak.

https://www.apple.com/mac/best-mac/ you’re welcome

But as someone who studied the same, get a Pro. You’re gonna need a fan.

Recommend Air for graphic design. It doesn't need fan in Pro.

Get Air with 24 GB Ram and 1 TB SSD.

I have MacBook Air M4 with 24 GB Ram and 512 GB SSD. After opened 50 tabs Chrome, Lightroom and Capture One on the same time it used 19 GB Ram. Ram used increase during intensive editing works.

If you're a graphic design human, then you'll discover pretty quickly how important power is in your rig.

I would pick a MacBook Pro for that reason alone if you really needed portability, but I would be considering an M2.

this heavily depends on ur budget. you can get an air (which is typically cheaper) and still be able to get through your college classes just fine. the only complaint i hear from graphic designers about the air is the external display support. for whatever reason that i’m not going to dive into here, the air only supports 1 external display at best. the pro has the capability to do 2 (i’ve found that the display link docking station works best for apple products and non-apple monitors - for both the air and pro).

if this were me, i’d personally lean towards the air rather than the pro. mainly just because it’s lighter, sleek, and fits in my backpack pretty snug. there really isn’t that much of a problem with the pro, and the pro does give u more capabilities (higher processor to choose, more RAM and Memory options, etc) but, as a person with a tight budget, i’m sure i’ll be able to get through work with 1 extra monitor (cheap 2nd hand, probs from surplus), an external hard drive for storage, and a docking station for more ports.

The new air with the M4 chip is an absolute beast. Unless you are planning on doing some seriously crazy stuff the air will be just fine. The M4 air is better than an M1 or maybe even an M2 MacBook pro.

You’ll probably need a MacBook Pro for the RAM. Double check with the campus store when their next Apple event is. Students and employees at the U don’t pay taxes on the electronics as the school pays them for you and the campus store offers different discounts. It’s one of the best Apple sales you’re going to find.

Look into surface pros !

If price sincerely isn’t an issue, the MacBook Pro is a better computer. The display in particular would be a noticeable upgrade.

However, from the perspective of performance, you will not miss anything of you go with the Air. It really comes down to a better display, extra USB-C port, better speakers and an SD card reader vs. $500. If you would pay $500 for those things, get the Pro. If you don’t care, the Air is phenomenal.

If you’re carrying it around the thickness and the weight between the Air 15 and the Pro 14 is MUCH MUCH more noticeable than the larger display of the Air. I exchanged my Air for the Pro due to the display alone for $100. Portability is FAR superior on the Air, weight feels wonky on the Pro compared to the Air, IDC what anyone says… the Pro feels less “solid” than the Air when carrying it to me, that extra inch of screen real estate just seems like more than an inch to me. That being said I know the extra inch is just an extra inch so I didn’t worry about that much at all and the display being ProMotion is really what made me want to go for the Pro. I wouldn’t have ever been unhappy with the Air though because that display is GORGEOUS! Just wanted the ProMotion and I tend to buy things I don’t need over things that would be more beneficial to me… I only use my this device for everyday usage and that’s it like emails, web surfing, YT, etc. Would benefit much much more from the 15” Air than the ProMotion Pro 14” but still keeping me Pro despite the Air having FAAAAR superior portability and a more than good enough display. Speakers on the Air are also totally fine for a large majority of people as well that aren’t using it for professional purposes but even if they WEREN’T anywhere near as good if you’re using your MacBook for things regarding audio you’re using a high-end pair of headphones anyway. I’ll still be keeping my Pro though.

I think we’re forgetting one vital part. I have a 14 pro but I wish I’d got the air purely for portability. I don’t use at a desk. If you’re using it primarily as a lap laptop or work machine on the road etc. the air would be better. The pro is too heavy.

Air.

If you aren't sure that you need a MBP, then an Air is fine for you. You might need a MBP if:

• the better color accuracy / calibration of the screen matters for your work (if you don't own an external device to color calibrate your screen, this probably doesn't matter),
• you hate 60Hz screens with a passion and refuse to use anything with them,
• you know you will use more than 16GB of RAM, and you can see this in memory pressure,
• your workload involves rendering, compiling, AI work, or similar that will put a continuous thermal load on the system, which means the fans are useful,
• your use case involves using the internal speakers on the machine, and getting external speakers or headphones isn't a better solution for you,
• you need the extra ports/ SD card reader, and having a hub isn't for you, or
• your work requires a Pro or Max processor.

If you don't fall into at least one of the above points, getting a Pro is just a personal preference. The Pros are a great machine, but the Air is amazing for what it does and costs less.

It's the same as to choose between car and the excavator. Both are vehicles but do different things.

MacBook is a computer and iPad is a gadget that pretend to be somewhat a computer which it is not. You can't run a Terminal on iPad nor install your own software without Apple intervention. So decide what you need and act accordingly.

I do not enjoy working on design projects on a laptop. If you must use a laptop being all on the Mac ecosystem makes my workflow much easier and I recommend it. If you’re carrying it around all the time, go for the air. The pro is SO MUCH heavier.

Hey there! For design work, I'd actually recommend stretching your budget a bit if possible. The MacBook Air (M2 or M3) with 16GB RAM would be a solid choice for Adobe programs. At your current budget of $500-$800, you might be looking at a refurbished model, which can be hit or miss.

Pro tip: Keep an eye out for student discounts or refurbished models directly from Apple. They often come with a warranty and can be a great way to get a more powerful machine without breaking the bank. The M1/M2 Air models are still fantastic for design work and will definitely handle Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign smoothly.

If portability is key for college, the Air is perfect. But if you can save a bit more, the Pro models offer better thermal performance for longer design sessions. Just something to consider as you're planning your upgrade!

$500-$800 is really stretching it, that's basically iPad realm. MacBooks of that pricing are going to be older and soon aren't going to be able to run programs as the machine can't take newer OS updates. I also wouldn't get a PC in that range because you're going to lose hardware advantage even if you can run Windows 11.

That's a tough situation to be in.

Does it have to be a laptop/MacBook

I see posts daily asking, but personally I much prefer an actual desktop, portability tends is more a novelty and not a "must have" most of the time

PC's would come out cheaper, can get more bang for your buck, last longer, future proof to upgrade instead of having to buy outright again.

Although macs are industry standard, so you'll have to be okay with using them. There's very little difference between them now, shortcuts would be the most noticeable which you can change your keyboard setup anyway

I used to have a PC laptop then mbpro and now have an air (refurbished) and it runs adobe smoothly. Mind you, I no longer do graphic heavy work but I can run illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign simultaneously if needed on occasion. Depends what you'll be using it for but I'd still try get the highest spec you can afford. I do feel the screen is too small and appreciate a separate monitor for certain projects. (PC or Mac doesn't matter, I have both but prefer the UI on Mac).

I have the 13" M1 MBP and it is a very nice laptop. Personally I prefer the Touch Bar, once you get used to it, it is a really handy item especially in apps that have features to use it. I can't speak to the Adobe apps its been years since I used them.

I doubt that you will overly stress the M2 MBA, but the 13" MBP is still an excellent choice.

If I really needed a new computer I would go for the M1 Pro and get 16-32GB of RAM and 512-1TB if storage. That computer will do the job for years. I do not recommend any of the 13-inch MBP since it’s the old design, first generation and when it comes to the M2-model it has less power than the M1 Pro/Max.

If I did not need a new computer right now I would wait for the release of the M2 Pro/Max models.

Same profession and trying to make the same decision. Poking around on reddit today for some tips and struggling to tell the difference between the Pro M2 and Air M2. So, curious what you ended up with and if you're happy? One note though, is that I do have the budget for the 14" pro, but just can't tell if I need all of that for InDesign, Photoshop, etc. This would be my main computer.

> Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom, Figma

A MacBook Air with Apple Silicon is perfect for this. I have an M2 MacBook Air with 24 GB RAM and its been perfect for these apps (I don't use Figma but same thing). These MacBook Airs are 2x more performant in CPU than the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pros, and people were buying those to run these apps flawlessly, so you know the M4 chip can handle these apps with ease if its 2x more powerful.

> to learn and use After Effects

After Effects is CPU heavy, is my understanding, so it benefits from as many performance cores as you can throw at it. This video with an M2 Air shows it works perfectly fine until theres a complex project then theres a bit of lag. I don't know if there is anything in settings you're supposed to do to lessen lag during playback, or maybe there was insufficient RAM in the test model they used. But also, that's an M2 Air and you're looking at a more performant M4 Air so it will obviously handle that project better (M4 is about 50% faster than M2). And you're "learning" so I don't know that you will be working on complex projects or whatever will matter.

Since you're on a tight budget—and your main money-making apps are Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom, Figma—I say the M4 Air is perfect for you.

Regarding should you instead get the M3 Pro MacBook Pro, thats a bit more complex an issue. Assuming you're looking at the entry M3 Pro MBP with 5 performance cores, when looking at Geekbench 6, its actually 18% slower in single core, and 5% slower in multi core than the M4 MacBook Air. But it does have 20% better GPU metal score—although 20% better is not night-and-day better. What the MacBook Pro has going for it is the extra ports, the internal "ProMotion" display, and the two fans for active cooling. So if you want those things, get the MBP. If you don't, get the MBA.

But worry not—both models can run your apps on a daily basis.

Lol

lol

IMO, if there’s any possibility of video work or rendering, the M1 Pro would be worth it.

Also, if my SO got me a fricken MacBook Pro as a gift, I’d be putting a ring on that ASAP! Ha. Hope she loves it!

The MacBook Air M1 will do the job for the kind of work she is doing. It'll handle video up to a point. The only limiting factor might be screen size but you can always connect an external monitor. Well done.

If it’s $1079 including the upgrades then I’d get it. The perf. difference will be minimal for her tasks. The screen difference exists, however I don’t think it’s big enough to be worth the price difference. The extra portability of the Air is also nice.

If portability is a factor go with the air, but if this will mostly be stationary the pro may be worth the extra $

If she’s doing visual work, screen real estate and image quality will matter a great deal. For that reason alone I’d suggest the 14”, or even the 16” if she’s comfortable with that form factor.

I had to make a similar decision recently. However, I am not a Graphic Designer and do usually not push my devices to their limits. I went to an Apple Store and gave both machines an extended try, really trying to focus on the advertised features and differences, especially regarding the display. To be honest, I could not spot a difference that would have been big enough to justify the much higher price. In the end, I bought the Air and after a few weeks, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. It handles everything I throw at it like a champ, battery has been amazing, portability is great, I personally prefer its design and it has no fan, which is another big advantage to me personally. In the end, for her specific use case and taken the huge price difference after discounts, I would definitely recommend you buying the Air!

what did you end up getting and how has it held up?