Comparison Apple MacBook Air 15 2023 [MQKR3] vs Apple MacBook Pro 13 2020 M1 [MYDC2]

General device type.

In addition to traditional laptops, nowadays you can find varieties such as netbooks, ultrabooks, 2 in 1 tablet laptops and transformers. Here are their main features:

— A laptop. Laptops of a more or less traditional format that do not belong to any of the specific categories described below. The classic, most popular screen size in these models is 15.6 ". 13.3" and 14" laptops are considered compact, laptops with a 17.3" screen are large-format, and larger displays are found in advanced gaming models. At the same time, devices from this category are also very diverse in terms of characteristics and capabilities: they range from “typewriters” designed for education and home tasks, to high-end gaming solutions, and workstations and multimedia complexes.

— Ultrabook. High-end laptops that combine compactness, light weight and advanced features. The diagonal in ultrabooks ranges from 11 "to 14", the thickness of the case does not exceed 21 mm, while the internal equipment usually includes powerful processors, a large amount of RAM, fast drives like SSD and other similar solutions. In addition, many devices from this category are made in a characteristic stylish design and a...re also designed for the role of fashion accessories.

— Transformer 360°. Another type of laptop that can turn into a tablet. However, unlike the laptops-tablets described above, in this case, not a removable keyboard is used, but a special swivel connection of the upper and lower blocks. The design of this connection is such that the top of the device can be rotated 360° and placed face up on the keyboard. Thus, the transformer can be converted from a laptop to a tablet without removing the bottom half; this is the fundamental difference between such models and the “2-in-1” described above. This format of work is generally more convenient — no need to look for a place for the removed keyboard, there is no risk of forgetting or losing it; in addition, the mounting design usually allows you to use the device in the format of a “photo frame” — an inclined tablet on a stand without a keyboard. Thus, transformers have become more widespread today than collapsible laptops-tablets. Their disadvantages include the inability to reduce weight by removing the keyboard. The diagonal of such devices can be from 12" to 17".

— 2 in 1 (laptop-tablet). Laptops that can turn into tablets. In such models, the entire “hardware” (or at least its key components) is placed in the upper half, the screen is made touch-sensitive, and the lower half with the keyboard can be completely separated. From traditional tablets, which can also be equipped with keyboards, such devices differ in three main points. The first is more powerful hardware: in particular, most 2-in-1 models carry full-fledged laptop processors (up to and including Core i7), while tablets mainly use CPUs similar to smartphone chips. The second point is a larger screen size, usually 13 – 15". The third caveat is that the keyboard of a laptop-tablet can include not only a set of keys and a spare battery, but also some system components: a discrete graphics card, an additional drive, etc. .
In general, 2-in-1 models are more versatile than traditional laptops; however, nowadays they are much less common than another similar type of laptop — transformers (see below). This is due to the fact that the removable keyboard is not always convenient: when using a device in tablet format, it usually has to be removed; it is not always possible to find a place nearby for the removed keyboard; besides, it can be forgotten or lost through inattention. However, this design also has advantages: for example, if there is enough tablet on the road, there is no need to carry additional cargo in the form of the lower half of the device.

Diagonal size of laptop display.

The larger the screen, the more convenient the laptop for watching high-definition movies, modern games, working with large-format graphic materials, etc. Large screens are especially important for multimedia and gaming models. On the other hand, the diagonal of the display directly affects the size and cost of the entire device. So if portability is key, it makes sense to pay attention to relatively small solutions; especially since most modern laptops have video outputs like HDMI or DisplayPort and allow connection of large-format external monitors.

In light of all this, the actual maximum for laptops these days is 17"(17.3"); however larger devices (18") reappeared at the beginning of 2023. The standard option for general purpose laptops is 15"(15.6"), less often 16", a diagonal of 13"(13.3") or 14" is considered small by the standards of such And smaller screens can be found mainly in specific compact varieties of laptops — ultrabooks, 2 in 1, transformers, netbooks; among such devices there are solutions for 12 ", 11" and even 10" or less.

The resolution of the screen installed in the laptop — that is, the size of the screen in pixels horizontally and vertically.

Higher resolution, on the one hand, gives a sharper, more detailed image; on the other hand, it increases the cost of the laptop. The latter is connected not only with the cost of the displays themselves, but also with the fact that in order to work effectively at high resolutions, you need the appropriate filling (primarily a graphics card). This is especially true in games; so if you are looking for a laptop with a high-resolution screen that can effectively "run" modern games — you should pay attention not only to the characteristics of the display, but also to other data (the type and parameters of the graphics card, test results, the ability to work with certain games — see everything below). On the other hand, if the device is planned to be used for simple tasks such as working with documents, surfing the Internet and watching videos, you can not pay much attention to the “hardware” parameters: anyway, they are selected so that the laptop is guaranteed to be able to cope with such tasks on full resolution of the "native" screen.

As for specific numbers, the resolution options that are relevant today can be divided into 4 groups: HD (720), Full HD (1080), Quad HD and UltraHD 4K. H...ere is a more detailed description of them:

— HD (720). This category includes all displays that have a vertical size of less than 1080 pixels. The most popular HD resolution in modern laptops is 1366x768; in devices larger than 15.6 ", 1600x900 is also often found. Other values quite exotic and are rarely used. In general, screens of this standard are now typical mainly for entry-level laptops.

— Full HD (1080). Initially, the Full HD standard provides a frame size of 1920x1080, and it is this resolution that is most often used in laptop screens from this category. However, in addition to this, other resolution options are also included in this format, where the vertical size is at least 1080 pixels, but does not reach 1440 pixels. Examples include 1920x1200 and 2560x1080. In general, Full HD displays provide a good balance between cost, image quality and laptop hardware requirements. Because of this, nowadays they are extremely widespread; matrices of this standard can be found even in low-cost devices, although they are mainly used in more advanced technology.

— Quad HD. A transitional option between the popular Full HD 1080 (see above) and the high-end and expensive UltraHD 4K. The vertical size of such screens starts from 1440 pixels and can reach 2000 pixels. Note that QuadHD resolutions are especially popular in Apple laptops; most often, such devices have 2560x1600 screens, although there are other options.

— Ultra HD 4K. The most advanced standard used in modern laptops. The vertical size of such screens is at least 2160 dots (up to 2400 in some configurations); the classic resolution of a modern UltraHD matrix is 3840x2160, but there are other values. Anyway, a 4K display allows for high image quality, however, it costs accordingly — including due to the corresponding requirements for a graphics adapter; in addition, to work with high resolutions, it can be more convenient to connect an external monitor to the laptop. Thus, such screens are used relatively rarely, and mainly among premium laptops.

Each series combines chips that are similar in general level, purpose, and often also in individual specific features. At the same time, most series include processors of several generations at once, which can differ significantly in actual characteristics. It is worth noting that until recently, laptops were almost exclusively equipped with processors from AMD or Intel - until in 2020, Apple introduced its own chip Apple M1(with updated versions of Apple M1 Pro and Apple M1 Max), Apple M2(2022) with productive chips M2 Pro, M2 Max and Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max(2023). Then Qualcomm entered the arena with its Snapdragon processors.

At the moment, the following series are mainly relevant in laptops:

— AMD Ryzen 3. The cheapest series of AMD chips in the Ryzen family (Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, Ryzen 9 and Ryzen AI...), using the Zen microarchitecture. In terms of general design, Ryzen 3 is similar to its older brothers, but half of the computing cores are deactivated. Nevertheless, it is quite advanced and is even found in ultrabooks.

— Ryzen 5. The second series on the Zen architecture is a more affordable alternative to the Ryzen 7 chips. Ryzen 5 chips have slightly more limited performance characteristics (in particular, a lower clock frequency and, in some models, L3 cache volume). Otherwise, they are completely similar to the "sevens" and are also positioned as high-performance chips for gaming and workstations. For more details, see "Ryzen 7" below.

— Ryzen 7. The first series of processors from AMD, built on the Zen microarchitecture. It was introduced in March 2017. In general, Ryzen chips (of all series) are promoted as high-end solutions for gamers, developers, graphic designers and video editors. One of the main differences between Zen and previous microarchitectures was the use of simultaneous multithreading, due to which the number of operations per clock was significantly increased at the same clock frequency. In addition, each core received its own floating-point calculation unit, the speed of the first-level cache memory increased, and the L3 cache volume in Ryzen 7 chips is 16 MB by default.

— Ryzen 9. AMD Ryzen 9 processors on the Zen microarchitecture debuted in 2019. The series became the top among all Ryzens, displacing Ryzen 7 from this position. First of all, the CPU line is usually used for professional tasks (design, video editing, 3D rendering), games, streaming and other high-load applications. The first Ryzen 9 models had 12 cores and 24 threads, in later ones this number was increased to 16 and 32, respectively.

— Ryzen AI. The Ryzen series of processors with artificial intelligence was launched in 2024. The first in the lineup was the AMD Ryzen AI 300 subfamily. It introduces the new Zen 5 computing core architecture, has integrated RDNA 3.5 graphics, and a powerful XDNA 2 neural processor with a performance of up to 50 TOPS (trillion operations per second). The Ryzen AI chips are perfect for a wide range of tasks — from everyday work to complex calculations using AI algorithms.

— Atom. Processors specially developed by Intel for mobile devices (including smartphones). Used mainly in ultra-compact laptops.

— Core M. Processors designed for portable devices (in particular, ultra-compact laptops) and featuring extremely low heat generation, allowing the use of passive cooling systems. They were introduced in 2014 as the first serial chips using the 14 nm process technology.

— Celeron. The most budget series in the modern line of desktop processors from Intel. However, the latest generations are equipped with integrated graphics.

— Pentium. Budget desktop processors from Intel, slightly superior in characteristics to Celeron, but not up to the Core i3. Also have integrated graphics.

— Processor. A line of entry-level processors that precedes the Core i3 family in Intel's modern hierarchy. These chipsets are found in entry-level laptops designed for everyday home or office use, as well as undemanding games.

— Intel Core i3 / Core 3. A series of entry-level and mid-range processors, the most budget-friendly in the Core family. However, in terms of characteristics and computing power, the processors of this line are superior to the Pentium and Celeron series (see above).

— Intel Core i5 / Core 5. A line of mid-range processors — both in general and by the standards of the Core family in particular. Most often, the processors of the series contain from 4 to 10 cores, and in terms of performance, they are between the relatively inexpensive i3 (Core 3) and the powerful i7 (Core 7).

— Intel Core i7 / Core 7. A series of high-performance processors from Intel. Before the i9, it was the most advanced in the Core family, but then it gave way to the "nine". Core 7 chips have at least 4 cores and integrated graphics.

— Core i9. Top-end processors released in 2017; the most powerful line of consumer-grade notebook processors at the time of their release, displacing Core i7 chips from this position. They have 6 cores and a large L3 cache.

— Core Ultra 5. A transformation of the popular series of mobile processors of the strong mid-range Intel Core i5, which received the Ultra prefix since the end of 2023 — when the Meteor Lake generation of chipsets debuted. The main feature of the Core Ultra 5 processors is a separate NPU, which gives advantages when working with AI models.

— Core Ultra 7. A pre-top series of high-performance mobile processors from Intel, which replaced the Core i7 family at the end of 2023 (with the advent of the new generation of Meteor Lake chipsets). A mandatory attribute of the Ultra models has become a neural coprocessor, responsible for accelerating the operation of artificial intelligence algorithms.

— Core Ultra 9. The most powerful line of laptop processors from Intel, released to replace the Core i9 family at the end of 2023. The premiere of models with the Ultra addition took place in the Meteor Lake chipset generation. A distinctive feature of Intel Core Ultra 9 is the presence of a separate NPU to improve the efficiency of using artificial intelligence models.

— Apple. A series of processors from Apple, which debuted in November 2020 with the release of the next generations of MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. In the initial configurations, they are equipped with 8 cores - 4 productive and 4 economical; the latter, according to the creators, consume 10 times less energy than the former. This, combined with the 5 nm process technology, made it possible to achieve very high energy efficiency and, at the same time, performance. It is also worth noting that the processors of this series are made according to the system-on-chip scheme: a single module combines a CPU, a graphics adapter, RAM (in the first models - 8 or 16 GB), a solid-state NVMe drive and some other components (in particular, Thunderbolt 4 controllers).

— Snapdragon. Snapdragon processors are essentially mobile solutions — they are traditionally installed in smartphones and tablets. Separate lines of Snapdragon chips have been released specifically for laptops (for example, X Elite on ARM architecture). Many laptops based on such processors are equipped with built-in LTE or even 5G modules. Their advantage is also high energy efficiency.

The number of cores in the laptop CPU.

The core is a part of the CPU designed to process one thread of instructions (and sometimes more, for such models, see "Number of threads"). Nowadays, in laptops you can find dual-core, quad-core, six-core, eight-core, ten-core, 12-core, 14-core CPUs. Also note that recently configurations with different types of cores as part of a single CPU are gaining popularity. Such chips are built on a hybrid architecture that combines high performance and energy-efficient cores. They operate at different clock speeds, have different amounts of pre-installed cache memory and are designed to solve different problems. In particular, such CPUs are found in Intel CPUs (from the 12th generation) and Apple.

Theoretically, more cores means higher performance, especially in parallel computing tasks or when processing multiple resource-intensive tasks at the same time. However, in practice this is true only all else being equal – that is, with a similar microarchitecture, clock frequency, cache volumes and other key parameters. Modern CPUs can vary greatly on these parameters – in itself, a greater number of cores does not mean superiority. This is especially true for dual- and qua...d-core chips: a mobile-level CPU (for example, Snapdragon, see "CPU series") with 4 cores may well be inferior in capabilities to a dual-core desktop series chip (like Core i3 or i5, which are often used in universal laptops with the "optimal" set of specifications for different tasks). When evaluating CPUs with two or four cores, it is necessary to look, first of all, at the general set of characteristics. But the presence of six, eight or more cores is almost certainly a sign of a powerful CPU. Such equipment is typical mainly for advanced gaming and professional laptops.

The clock speed of the processor installed in the laptop (for multi-core processors, the frequency of each individual core).

Theoretically, a higher clock speed has a positive effect on performance, as it allows the processor to perform more operations per unit of time. However, in fact, the capabilities of the CPU depend on a number of other characteristics — primarily on the series to which it belongs (see above). It even happens that of the two chips, the more performant in the overall result is the slower one. With this in mind, it makes sense to compare by clock frequency only processors of the same series, and ideally, also of the same generation; and the laptop as a whole should be judged by the complex characteristics of the system, as well as by the results of tests (see below).

GeForce graphics cards from NVIDIA: RTX represented by RTX 2060, RTX 2060 Max-Q, RTX 2070, RTX 2070 Max-Q, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2070 Super Max-Q, RTX 2080, RTX 2080 Max-Q, RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti, RTX 3060, RTX 3060 Max-Q, RTX 3070, RTX 3070 Max-Q, RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 4050, RTX 4060, R TX 4070, RTX 4080, RTX 4090 ; MX1xx represented by MX110, MX130 and MX150, MX2xx(MX230 and MX250), MX3xx(MX330 and MX350),...MX450, GTX which represent GTX 1050, GTX 1060, GTX 1060 Max-Q, GTX 1070, GTX 1070 Max-Q, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Max-Q, GTX 1650, GTX 1650 Max-Q, GTX 1650 Ti, GTX 1660 Ti, GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q and. AMD also offers video cards Radeon 520, Radeon 530(535), Radeon 540X, Radeon 610(625, 630), Radeon RX 550 (550X, 560), Radeon RX 640, Radeon RX 5500M, Radeon RX 6800M and Radeon Pro.

Note that all the above models are discrete. Actually, for a configuration with discrete graphics, it is the model of a separate video adapter that is indicated; if it is supplemented by an integrated module, the name of this module can be clarified by the official characteristics of the processor.

It is also worth mentioning that this paragraph does not give the full name of the model, but only its name within the series (the series itself is given separately - see above). However, knowing the series and model, one can easily find detailed information about the graphics card.

The capacity of the drive installed in the laptop. If there are several separate drives (for example, HDD + SSD, see "Drive type") — this item indicates the volume of the most capacious drive (in our example — HDD).

A larger drive allows you to store more data, but it also comes at a higher cost. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the price also depends on the type of media: for example, SSDs are much more expensive than hard drives of the same volume. So it is best to directly compare drives of the same type with each other. As for specific volumes, the most modest figures are typical for configurations with pure solid-state memory — SSD of one type or another or eMMC (see "Drive type"): among them you can find solutions for 240 – 360 GB and even 128 GB or less . Hard drive capacity actually starts at 480 – 512 GB ; 1TB storage capacity is average, and the most capacious modern laptops are equipped with storage of 2TB or even more.

Technology for direct wireless communication between various devices, in particular for connecting speakers, headphones, for transferring files, etc. Version plays a key role in Bluettoth's abilities. In modern realities, Bluetooth wireless protocols below revision 4 are no longer relevant. More about them:

— Bluetooth v 4.0. A fundamental update (after version 3.0), which introduced another data transfer format — Bluetooth Low Energy (LE). Bluetooth LE allows you to significantly save energy with such a connection.

— Bluetooth v 4.1. Development and improvement of Bluetooth 4.0. One of the key improvements was the optimization of collaboration with 4G LTE communication modules — so that Bluetooth and LTE do not interfere with each other. In addition, this version has the ability to simultaneously use a Bluetooth device in several roles.

— Bluetooth v 4.2. This version did not introduce fundamental updates, however, it received a number of improvements regarding reliability and noise immunity, as well as improved compatibility with the Internet of Things.

— Bluetooth v 5.0. Version introduced in 2016. The key innovations were the further expansion of the possibilities associated with the Internet of Things. In particular, in the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol (see above), it became possible to double the data transfer rate (up to 2 Mbit / s) at the cost of reducing the range, as well as quadruple the range at the cost of redu...cing the speed; in addition, a number of improvements have been introduced regarding the simultaneous work with numerous connected devices.

— Bluetooth v 5.1. Update of the version described above v 5.0. In addition to general improvements in the quality and reliability of communication, this update has implemented such an interesting feature as determining the direction from which the Bluetooth signal is coming. This makes it possible to determine the location of connected devices with an accuracy of up to a centimeter, which can be useful, for example, when searching for wireless headphones.

— Bluetooth v 5.2. The main innovations in this release are a number of security improvements, additional power optimization in LE mode, and a new audio signal format for synchronizing parallel playback on multiple devices.