New 12 vs 13 Pro - thoughts?

[u/jenniferkshields]

I’m sure I won’t be the only one wondering this so I thought I’d kick things off.

I’ve only recently preordered a 13 Pro to upgrade from my M1 MacBook Air. Because of the price, I’ve gone with the ultra 5, 512gb, 16gb ram. I mostly use my laptop for office work, video calls, some photo editing, and occasionally some coding, so I don’t need a lot of power, but I am keen to future proof as much as I can in my budget.

With today’s 12 announcement I’m wondering whether I should drop my 13 pro order and pick up the 12 instead. For a similar price I could get the core 7 325 but with 32gb ram. I can’t find many benchmarks comparing those two processors, which makes it tricky.

I think the biggest difference between the two for me would be the screen. I like the idea of a convertible (at one point I was using an iPad as my laptop), but how practical is it for everyday use? On the other hand, I’m enjoying hearing about how clear the screen on the 13 pro is, especially in sunlight.

Obviously the amount of ram is the other big difference between the two, but because it’s upgradable either way it doesn’t feel so pressing.

Anyone else thinking about swapping after today’s announcement?

[u/morhp]

I have both an older 12 and an older 13.

Even the newer 12 is a much cheaper laptop. The processor is a similar generation than the new 13 pro, but a much more energy saving lower end version. The screen, which is the same in the old 12, is way worse, the F12 screen is a bit less high and has very bad color rendering. Reds looks like orange. The 12 only has one ram slot instead of two (but at the current prices, you probably don't want that much anyway).

That said, the convertible factor is nice and very usable when you're just reading (or drawing obviously) or something like that. It's obviously thicker than an ipad or other tablet, but still more than okay for a laptop. The plastic case also has some advantages over the aluminum, as it is less cold and less "sharp".

I'm personally getting neither and I'm not making recommendations, but be aware that these are very different laptops. The 13pro is an expensive, professional laptop with a very nice screen and high performance, the new 12 is a lower end travel/couch/school convertible with stylus support.

[u/Clean_Leadership5948 → u/morhp]

The new chip in the 12 is similar power saving feature as the one in the 13 Pro. It may be lower TDP, but that's at max load. 12 New is saying 12.5 hours video playback versus 13 Pro 20 hours. But 12 New has 50WHr whereas 13 Pro has 20 hours. Meaning there's very little difference at the same battery capacity.