After introducing the 15.3″ MacBook Air in early June, Apple reduced the price of the 13.6″ MacBook Air by €200, which now starts at €1,299 (256 GB) and €1,649 (512 GB). ) . In contrast, the MacBook Pro 13.3″ is more difficult to convince at its unchanged prices of €1,599 (256 GB) and €1,829 (512 GB).
The 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and 13.6-inch MacBook Air both come standard with the M2 chip and 8GB of RAM. The MacBook Air features a slightly larger screen (with the famous notch for the front sensors), a 1080p webcam (720p on the MacBook Pro), Bluetooth 5.3 (Bluetooth 5.0 on the MacBook Pro) and the MagSafe magnetic docking station in addition to the two USB-C ports. The MacBook Pro has the argument of autonomy with two additional hours (up to 8 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. for the MacBook Air), better cooling thanks to its fan and is the last Mac to integrate the Tactile Touch Bar instead of function keys.
The 13.3″ MacBook Pro and the 13.6″ MacBook Air
If you opt for the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro instead of the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, you will have to pay € 300 more for a slight plus in autonomy and a Touch Bar on the way to the memory, made by is gradually being abandoned by the developers while they give up the slightly larger screen. better webcam and connectivity of the MacBook Air. The calculations are not good as others would say.
The Touch Bar of the 13.3″ MacBook Pro
In an interview following WWDC 2023, two senior Apple executives were particularly embarrassed when John Gruber asked them how the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro could continue to find its place in Apple’s current lineup of computers. “It’s the entry-level MacBook.” “Pro, we’re proud of it, it’s very good, and if you still want the Touch Bar, then here it is,” Greg Joswiak (Vice President of Marketing) tried to summarize without anyone in the audience, not even John Ternus (VP of Hardware Engineering), who couldn’t help but smile broadly.
From 8:40 a.m
We therefore have the feeling that we are approaching the end that should have been announced long ago. Maybe there were leftover Touch Bars for sale? Anyway, there are rumors that Apple will release an M3 version of the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro against all odds: it was website 9To5Mac that launched the first one in March, and Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman now confirms that the future machine would be codenamed J504, and that’s all we know for now.
In terms of timing, the M3 chip has been delayed and is now talking about an early 2024 release. As with the previous two generations, expect a joint launch for the 13.6-inch MacBook Air and 13.3-inch MacBook Pro. It remains to be seen how Apple will revise its price sheet: we would imagine a simple disappearance of the Touch Bar, which would allow the prices to be significantly reduced and restore the attractiveness of this device, but in the end we would have closed something very special MacBook Air M1…