MacBook Air vs Pro 14" and M1 vs M2 help

• • should I wait until Sept (some say late 2023) for the M2 Air and buy a basic new iPad for £320 whilst waiting? I do have my OH's old Windows 10 to help with some things that the iPad cannot do.

I have read that the M2 Air will be more square shaped like the Pro rather than wedged, be lighter, smaller, white keyboard with white bezels and thin bezels amongst other things which I love.

I would not make decisions on what the pundits try to predict. Apple has always been remarkably closed-mouth about new product introduction so whatever a third-party journalist posts/publishes is speculation. And sometimes wrong.

Get the gear that fits your current needs, not something that may or may not happen "down the road."

Grant Bennet-Alder has answered your questions regarding versions of macOS and Allan Jones has addressed your question about futures.

As far as the three Macs that you listed are concerned, FWIW here are my thoughts:

• If you have a current need for a working MacBook Pro, then waiting for an unknown future machine is a moot point.
• 8 GB RAM is not enough especially if you want to keep your new Mac for many years. Yes, it will run ... but if you do anything more rigorous than web surfing, email or watching videos you will find performance unsatisfactory. I suspect this is the reason so many Macs with 8GB RAM are on the used computer market.
• System requirements on future releases of macOS & applications always go up, not down. I suggest 16GB (or even 32GB if you can afford it).
• 512GB storage is ok but more is better. I suggest 1TB. What was your disk usage on your old MBP?
• If the 2020 models are brand new they would be fine; ditto if they are refurbished units directly from Apple. If they are used units from some other vendor, be sure to verify that they are fully functional with no problems and that they come with a warranty & return policy.

This chart from AnandTech shows the comparative graphics capabilities of the existing M1 models: M1 original, Pro, and Max. [The Ultra, found in the high-end Mac studio, would be essentially twice the Max.]

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Do not use 'what MacOS was shipped when the unit was new' as an indicator of ANYTHING. It should not be a deciding factor.

When various older computer were no longer upgradeable, it was always arbitrary hardware things that kept them from running the latest MacOS, such as 'processor could not do fast encryption instructions', or 'graphics could not hack the new way of drawing'.

Some features may not be available in MacOS released after a model was introduced, such as the way Bluetooth and graphics evolution has left certain MacBook Pro models behind for iPad screen sharing.

In general, there is no way of predicting when a newer version of MacOS will drop support for an older Mac.

Just to clarify, there is no such thing as a 2020 14” M1 MacBook Pro. The 14” MBPs were first released in 2021.

The 2020 M1 MBP was 13” not 14”. It also only had the regular M1 CPU, while the 2021 14” MBP has the M1 Pro or M1 Max depending on how its configured at purchased.

The 400 pound difference, is mostly because of the better faster CPU.

The 2020 MBA and 2020 13” MBP are mostly the same, though the MBP gets the extra CPU core as standard.

<< The 2020 MBA and 2020 13” MBP are mostly the same, though the MBP gets the extra CPU core as standard. >>

The MacBook Pro version also gets a cooling fan, so it does not have to rely exclusively on processor throttling for cooling. And the MacBook Pro version adds a Touch Bar (aka shortcuts bar).

Consumer Reports magazine has an interesting rule for Appliance Repair. They suggest that if the cost to repair exceeds half the cost of a new Appliance, you should buy a new Appliance.

Based on their logic, the repair for you old computer is not outrageous. But their rule is for Appliances, NOT fast-to-change computers..

You can always upgrade Big Sur to Monterey.

What you buy is largely dependent on: 1.) your budget, 2.) your computer and storage needs and 3.) cosmetic preferences.

Buy what's best for you.