MacBook Air (M2, 2022) vs MacBook Pro (16-inch, M1 Pro, 2021)
Quick look
| Figure | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1,2493launch price | £2,3994launch price |
| Chip | M2chip | M1 Prochip |
| CPU | 8-coreCPU | 10-coreCPU |
| GPU | 8-coreGPU | 16-coreGPU |
| Memory | 8GB5unified memory, base | 16GBunified memory, base |
| Storage | 256GBstorage, base | 512GBstorage, base |
| Battery life | Up to18 hrsvideo playback, claimed | Up to21 hrsvideo playback, claimed |
| Released | 15 July 20223ReleasedIn select Apple Stores; orderable online from 8 July 2022. | 26 October 20214ReleasedIn select Apple Stores; orderable online from 18 October 2021. |
| Security updates | Not available6Security updates | Not available6Security updates |
- Price
- The MacBook Air M2 is £1,249 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the MacBook Pro M1 Pro is £2,399 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK).
True to scale
Footprints from above, from Apple’s published dimensions, drawn to one scale and superposed. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.
Specifications
Each figure is from the source marked by its Mac’s name unless it carries its own small number, which links to where that figure was read.
Body
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 11.3 x 304.1 x 215 mm | 16.8 x 355.7 x 248.1 mm |
| Weight | 1.24 kg | 2.1 kg |
| Colours | Silver, Starlight, Space Grey, Midnight | Silver, Space Gray |
| Ports | Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack | Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, MagSafe 3 port, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, 3.5 mm headphone jack |
| Thunderbolt ports7 | 2 | 3 |
| Thunderbolt version | Thunderbolt 3 | Thunderbolt 4 |
| USB-A ports | No USB-A ports.8 | No USB-A ports.9 |
| HDMI | No HDMI port.10 | HDMI port |
| SD card slot | No SD card slot.10 | Yes |
| Headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
| MagSafe | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID |
| Touch ID | Yes | Yes |
| Touch Bar | Not available11 | No Touch Bar.12 |
Display
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | 13.6 in | 16.2 in |
| Resolution | 2560 x 1664 | 3456 x 2234 |
| Pixel density | 224 ppi | 254 ppi |
| Display type | Liquid Retina display | Liquid Retina XDR display |
| Brightness | 500 nits | 500 nits |
| Peak brightness (HDR) | Not available13 | 1,600 nits |
| Refresh rate | Not available14 | 120 Hz |
| Wide colour (P3) | Yes | Yes |
| Nano-texture option | No nano-texture display option.10 | No nano-texture display option.12 |
Chip and memory
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M2 chip | Apple M1 Pro chip |
| Apple silicon | Yes | Yes |
| CPU cores | 8 | 10 |
| Performance cores | 4 | 8 |
| Efficiency cores | 4 | 2 |
| GPU cores | 8 | 16 |
| Neural Engine cores | 16 | 16 |
| Chip options | M2 with 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU or 10-core GPU | M1 Pro with 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU15 |
| Memory (base) | 8GB5 | 16GB |
| Memory (maximum) | 24GB5 | 32GB15 |
| Memory options | 8GB, 16GB or 24GB5 | 16GB or 32GB15 |
| Memory upgradeable by user | No, as Apple documents16 | No, as Apple documents16 |
| Memory bandwidth | 100 GB/s | 200 GB/s |
| Storage (base) | 256GB | 512GB |
| Storage (maximum) | 2TB | 8TB15 |
| Storage options | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB | 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB15 |
| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engine |
Battery and power
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery capacity | 52.6 Wh | 100 Wh |
| Rated charge cycles | 1,000 cycles17 | 1,000 cycles17 |
| Video playback (claimed) | 18 h | 21 h |
| Wireless web (claimed) | 15 h | 14 h |
| Included power adapter | 30 W | 140 W |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
Connectivity
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | Wi‑Fi 6 (802.11ax) | 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| Ethernet | No Ethernet port.10 | No Ethernet port.12 |
| External displays (base) | 1 | 2 |
Camera and audio
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | 1080p FaceTime HD camera | 1080p FaceTime HD camera |
| Speakers | Four-speaker sound system | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers |
| Microphones | Three-mic array with directional beamforming | Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming |
Platform
| Specification | MacBook Air M21 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Shipped with | Not available14 | macOS Monterey18 |
| Newest macOS | macOS 27 Golden Gate19 | macOS 27 Golden Gate19 |
| Model identifier | Mac14,220 | MacBookPro18,1, MacBookPro18,221 |
| Model year | 2022 | 2021 |
Sources
Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (M2, 2022) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — All-new MacBook Air with M2 available to order starting Friday, July 8 ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils game-changing MacBook Pro ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (M2, 2022) - Tech Specs ·
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩Different Thunderbolt generations. MacBook Air M2: Thunderbolt 3. MacBook Pro M1 Pro: Thunderbolt 4.
↩MacBook Air (M2, 2022): No USB-A ports.
↩MacBook Pro (16-inch, M1 Pro, 2021): No USB-A ports.
↩MacBook Air (M2, 2022): No HDMI port. No SD card slot. No nano-texture display option. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: the Touch Bar was only fitted to MacBook Pro
↩MacBook Pro (16-inch, M1 Pro, 2021): No Touch Bar. No nano-texture display option. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: Apple lists no separate HDR peak for this display
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils game-changing MacBook Pro ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Pro model ·
↩
Not published by Apple
MacBook Air M2. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (M2, 2022) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — All-new MacBook Air with M2 available to order starting Friday, July 8, read 9 Oct 2026.
MacBook Pro M1 Pro. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user. Geekbench 7: the Mac chart's only 16-inch (2021) M1 Pro entry lists 10 GPU cores, not the 16 this Mac has, so no figures are shown (chart read 10 Oct 2026). Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications, read 9 Oct 2026.
If you own one of them
Whether to move is a different question from which is better. Each Mac has a page on it: what its successor changes (the newest Mac in its line where Apple sells one, otherwise the Mac this site treats as its replacement, which can be in another line), what it fetches and whether it still gets updates. Should I upgrade my MacBook Air M2 (2022)? · Should I upgrade my MacBook Pro M1 Pro (16-inch, 2021)?
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.