What should I buy MacBook Pro or MacBook Air?

Based on the description of your needs, I recommend the new MacBook Air and future-proof your investment with as much memory as possible to handle future upgrades.

Good luck! 👋🏼😉

Prices from Apple's U.S. Web site.

• $1399 – 13" M2 MacBook Air – 24 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 8/8/16 cores (custom order)
• $1499 – 13" M3 MacBook Air – 24 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 8/10/16 cores (stock model)
• $1699 – 15" M3 MacBook Air – 24 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 8/10/16 cores (stock model)
• $1799 – 14" M4 MacBook Pro – 24 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 10/10/16 cores (stock model)
• $1999 – 14" M4 Pro MacBook Pro – 24 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 12/16/16 cores (stock model)

The 15" M3 MacBook Air and 14" M4 MacBook Pro are almost the same price. Only $100 more for the 14" plain M4 MBP, and for that, you get a mini-LED backlit screen, a third Thunderbolt port, a HDMI port, a SDXC reader, a newer (and possibly somewhat faster) chip, and the ability to drive two external displays with the lid open.

The 15" M3 MacBook Air screen has 2880x1864 pixels (224 pixels per inch).

The 14" M4 and M4 Pro MacBook Pro screens have 3024x1964 pixels (254 pixels per inch).

Potentially more "workspace" – but at the cost of smaller text. If you adjust Displays Settings to make the text on the 14" MBP larger, then you'd probably find that the 15" MBA had the "workspace" advantage.

It sounds like the things that you are planning on doing do not require a lot of CPU or GPU power – unless, perhaps, you are planning on doing some gaming that you have not told us about. There, requirements vary widely – some of the more casual games would run fine even on the least expensive M2 MacBook Air, while others (especially 3D first person games and flight simulators) may want all the CPU and GPU resources you can throw at them.

I would suggest getting at least 16 GB of RAM – which now is the minimum on all new Macs that Apple sells directly. If you were still doing the creative work ("animations, music, photoshop/illustrator" to which you referred, you might have wanted more than that. But for what you are planning on doing, 16 GB would be enough – and 24 GB or 32 GB would be more than enough.

WIth this in mind, the things that drive your choice might come down to portability (weight, size), screen size, ports, support for external displays, and price. I.e., things other than raw computing speed.

Hey there.

I would recommend you the new MacBook Pro 14 inch cuz why not?

same price but same spec, but is way more faster.

and nah apple care is free for about 1 to 2 years on a new apple device. So just be careful

I always add AppleCare, no matter what.

I had to use it once in 2008 and saved $1,000 repair.

You also get priority service and it extends to cover your Apple branded accessories when used with your protected items.

AppleCare Plus coverage protects against accidental damage and not just an extended warranty (the base warranty does not cover accidental damage). In US dollars, If the screen is damaged or the case, it will only cost you $99. Without, repairing a damaged screen will cos around half the price of a new MacBook just for the screen not including labor which can vary widely from location to location. Also, any damage beside case or screen will cost a max of $250 dollars which is a lot cheaper than a new MacBook! Accidents can happen!