The MacBook Air is more affordable and lightweight, making it suitable for general use and portability. It has fewer processing cores and less storage, suited for everyday tasks. The MacBook Pro provides more power and storage, better for intensive tasks like 3D rendering and engineering software, with a higher-quality display and longer battery life, but it is heavier and more expensive. If portability and price are your top priorities, go with the Air. If you need top performance for professional creative work, gaming, or heavy multitasking, and don't mind the added weight and cost, the Pro is the better choice. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (2022)
Excellent portability
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Excellent for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Excellent for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class battery life
Key differences
General Use
7.9/10
9.1/10
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
486.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
487.0 nits
15.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
17.5 Hours
10.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
9.4/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is excellent for general use, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
7.4/10
4.1/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
5.8/10
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.7/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is good for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is only fair.
The MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is better suited for 3D applications due to its more powerful GPU (Apple M2 Pro with 19C GPU) and higher screen refresh rate (120Hz), improving visual fluidity and detail compared to the MacBook Air (2022) which comes with a less capable GPU (Apple M2 with 8C GPU) and a standard refresh rate (60Hz). Additionally, the MacBook Pro's display is a Mini LED panel offering superior screen quality, although both machines come with high screen resolutions and color accuracy that aid in visually intensive tasks.
Engineering and Design
7.5/10
8.8/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
4.1/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
5.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is good.
The MacBook Air (2022) is equipped with an M2 processor and integrated graphics, which are capable but fall short of the raw power found in the more robust M2 Pro CPU and M2 Pro GPU of the MacBook Pro 16 (2023), which makes it better suited for more intensive engineering and design work that requires higher performance.
Content Creation
7.9/10
9.1/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is excellent for content creation, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.0/10
8.9/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
10.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) and Apple MacBook Air (2022) are both very good for software development, though the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
7.6/10
9.3/10
13.6in
SIZE
16.2in
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
486.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
487.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Apple MacBook Air for general use, AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Apple MacBook Air's screen offers high resolution and brightness, making it a pleasure to use for everyday tasks and video streaming, but it lacks the wider color range preferred in engineering and design. The MacBook Pro, with its advanced screen that covers more colors, serves engineers and designers who need to see accurate, vibrant colors for their work. However, for 3D applications where fast-moving visuals are crucial, neither MacBook offers a high refresh rate needed for smooth rendering, making them less ideal for gaming or animation.
Battery
15.0 Hours
17.5 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Excellent
Good
13.6in
SIZE
16.2in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
4.7 lbs
0.4in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has excellent portability, while the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$944
$2,050
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has a price of $944 and the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) costs $2,050.
"The Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry is a very good, but too expensive daily MacBook. The new MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly once again a very good mobile companion, but we are still a little bit disappointed on a very high level, which is definitely connected with the increased price point. The new chassis is extremely slim and the front edge is no problem during typing, but the bezels are pretty wide for a modern device and in addition with the vertical space required for the notch, the new Air has larger footprint than some Windows rivals."
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air (2022) or the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
By the numbers
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Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
74,295
Recommendations made
16,098
Consumer hours saved
About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.