[kikowi]

Do you have any hands on experience with 13" MBA vs 14" or 16" MBP? I will be working from AirBnbs and coffee shops for the most part this year (digital nomad) and I am deciding which Macbook to take for fullstack web development.

I am afraid 13" or 14" won't be big enough. I'm currently on 2015 15" MBP which is mostly fine and theoretically I am prepared to sacrificate some screen size for better mobility (smaller and lighter laptop).

[rz2k]

It depends on how much the screen size matters to you, though an iPad using Sidecar might be worth looking at for additional screen real estate.

I put off upgrading a 2016 13" MacBook Pro, thinking that the second iteration of the M1 would be worth the wait. I should have just gone ahead and upgraded earlier. The best thing about the upgrade is that it hasn't been an exciting at all. Instead, all of the minor annoyances of my older laptop went away. It's the same size and weight as my old 13" MacBook Pro, but there is no beachball, no fan noise, and the battery lasts forever.

I also like that it essentially looks the same as recent Intel MacBooks, so it isn't a special target for theft and doesn't look like I spent a ton of money on it.

Here's a side by side comparison.[1] I think the single core Geekbench numbers are often the most relevant to how fast they "feel".

One other note: How revolutionary will the M2 be? A lot of the star talent responsible for improvement in per core performance in the A14 (and M1) chips has been recruited away from Apple[2], so future progress might be slower as it has been for the A15.

[1] https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/?compare=...

[2] https://semianalysis.com/apple-cpu-gains-grind-to-a-halt-and...

[tedivm]

I have a 14 inch M1 and a 16 inch Intel- the M1 was primarily to test a bunch of ARM stuff. I've also had a 15inch for years.

My take is that the 16 inch is a bit too big to be conveniently portable (especially on airplanes, it's impossible to use there). I don't think the 14 inch is unreasonably small, but it is noticeably smaller than what I'd like. I use external monitors though and have no problem, and I'd much rather carry the 14 inch around.

One thing to note is that these are definitely on the heavier side for Apple, which is part of why I'm happier with the smaller one as my portable machine.

[ngngngng]

I was leaning towards the smaller models but because of availability and starting a new job I ended up with a 16" M1 Pro and I love it. Usually I prefer smaller items that I use daily but the screen real estate and battery life are worth it in my opinion. That being said, the specs on the base 14" and 16" are definitely overkill for web development. I've never had the fans turn on.

[turtlebits]

Just switched jobs and got a M1 16". It's definitely bulkier and heavier than the previous gen Intel 16". If you're not at a desk and doing web dev, I would say go for the M1 Air. It's plenty fast and very portable.

[cehrlich]

I've been working with a 13" MBA, coupled with a Lenovo 14" portable monitor. Obviously when I go to a coffee shop I leave the monitor at home. I like the setup.