Overthinking MacBook Air M5 vs Pro M5… need real-world advice 😭
Hey guys, I really need some advice because I’ve been overthinking this for months 😭
I currently don’t even have a laptop anymore.
My old 2011 laptop already died, and right now I’m only using an iMac Late 2015 5K… which has become SUPER slow for my workflow.
I’m currently deciding between:
- MacBook Air M5 — 24GB RAM / 1TB SSD
vs - MacBook Pro M5 (base model) — 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD
My current workflow:
- YouTube management
- Lots of Chrome tabs always open
- Slack / Notion / Frame.io
- AI tools
- Light-medium Premiere Pro editing (mostly talking-head videos)
- Photoshop thumbnails
- Some audio editing
But in the next few years, I also want to seriously learn:
- Video editing
- Photoshop / Lightroom
- Audio recording, mixing & mastering
- AI workflows/content creation
I’m not planning to do super heavy 3D/VFX work, but I do want something that can last me for years and grow with my workflow.
My biggest concern is the thermal throttling on the Air.
Some YouTube reviews make it sound like the Air becomes unusable because it has no fan, while other people say the throttling is barely noticeable unless you’re exporting/rendering nonstop.
So I’d love to hear from people actually using the Air M5:
Does it really throttle that badly in real-world use?
Does Premiere still feel smooth during longer editing sessions?
Would you personally choose Air 24GB or Pro 16GB for this type of workflow?
Any regrets choosing the Air over the Pro?
Trying to figure out whether the Pro is truly worth the extra money, or if I’m just getting influenced by tech YouTubers 😅