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Comment by icyfox | Hacker News Reader

I can't figure this one out either. The Air now has the same screen as the MBP 13", same processor, slimmer form factor. The air is also $100 cheaper than the MBP so that's not a justification. The only thing that is different on the specs page is the GPU count 10-cores versus 8. Why keep the 13?

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I'm guessing they can get slightly better sustained performance out of the 13" Pro than the Air because it has a fan? But still doesn't really seem to explain it. Unless they want to bring the Touchbar back to the other pros.. which hopefully isn't the case.

I feel like it's a business-driven decision to sell the 13" Pro. They can get rid of their Touchbar inventory, and I assume the margins on that one are ridiculously high, since it's a design that's been unchanged since 2016. Kind of like the iPhone SE that is repurposing the 2017 iPhone 8.

How much Touchbar inventory can they possibly have? And unlike the SE, which some people purchase because they like the form factor and low price, I feel like the only people who get a 13" MBP are uninformed about how it stacks up against the MBA.

I wanted to get a revamped MBP, but after seeing the horrendous stats (2 ports, no MagSafe, no SD/HDMI!) it was a no-brainer to get in line for the MBA, which is cheaper, lighter, and has more ports and a better camera.

Yeah the touchbar needs to stay dead.. hopefully this isn't it rising from the dead.

The Air can also be upgraded to the same proc spec as MBP.

Its interesting that they don't have the same screen. The Air is .3in larger and supports more colors?

Air 13.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1664 native resolution at 224 pixels per inch with support for 1 billion colors

MBP 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors

https://www.apple.com/macbook-air-m2/specs/

https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-13/specs/

An... extra 4 pixels in height resolution?

Like... they just found a manufacturer that already made these screens and didn't want to retool for Apple's order, or what? Why extra 4 pixels?

My guess is just different displays selected for products at different stages in their hardware lifecycle. The MBP shares a case dating to before M-series processors. The M2 Air is new hardware.

Don't forget that AppleCare and repairs (e.g., battery replacements) are cheaper for MBAs than MBPs.

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