💻 Elevate Your Everyday with the MacBook Air!
The 2020 Apple MacBook Air Laptop features the revolutionary Apple M1 chip, offering powerful performance with up to 18 hours of battery life. It boasts a stunning 13.3” Retina display, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD storage, all in a sleek, fanless design. With seamless compatibility with existing apps and a commitment to sustainability, this laptop is perfect for professionals who value performance and eco-friendliness.
M**S
Staggeringly Good
I should start by saying that the MacBook Air (M1) is the best computer I have ever used. Heck, it's probably the best piece of tech I've ever used, seriously.I've worked in software and systems engineering for 20+ years, so I have used a lot of computers. I know what goes on 'under the hood' and I'm familiar the challenges of designing personal (or any) technology / computers. Engineering and design is largely about compromise - a more powerful battery will be heavier, as will a tougher case, stronger higher security usually reduces user convenience etc. These challenges are universal.With this MacBook, Apple have done such a good job that it's easy to forget that such compromises are necessary. Of course, they are still there, but the quality of design and workmanship makes them seem insignificant.A laptop designer must overcome the fundamental challenges of creating a powerful device, ensuring that it runs efficiently, and fitting everything in as small a space as possible. Apple have hit the perfect spot on all of them. The MacBook Air lasts me 10-12 hours on a single charge, it's as light as a feather, it performs fantastically and NEVER gets hot (hence the good battery life). It's an absolute pleasure to use and I couldn't recommend it more, no other computer I have used comes close.For a work computer I have a high-end MacBook Pro with a 16" screen, Core i9 CPU, 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. It's reckoned to be the best performing portable Mac, but it's also heavy, it gets super hot and is very noisy as a result. It certainly doesn't perform better than my MacBook Air and is often much slower. It's also more than twice the price of the Air, and given a choice I would always opt for the MacBook Air.The Air is very light and super fast; it's also super quiet, it never gets hot and the battery life is simply astounding. The people at Apple have worked miracles in improving MacBook technology and much of this success is due to the new M1 CPU - which is simply fantastic.From my perspective, there is nothing on the market which even approaches the quality of the McBook Air - it really is an amazing piece of technology. I'm never usually one to write gushing reviews, like this but in this case I feel the incredible quality of the product and the people who created it deserve recognition. If you fancy one and can afford it, my advice would be to go buy one, do not hesitate. Even if you were hoping to buy two laptops for the price of this one, don't. Just buy the MacBook Air - you will be completely thrilled and delighted with it. It really is an amazing piece of kit.
P**W
Read this if you have an original MacBook Air 13
I finally decided to upgrade from my 2013 MacBook Air and I'm very impressed with the M1 2020 replacement. TBH I can't really believe how good the old one is, but the trackpad got cracked, the battery was on its last legs and the screen doesn't quite measure up to modern standards. The M1 replacement is smaller, much faster, has a much wider soundstage (you'll notice the sounds difference immediately) and the screen is a beauty - not significantly brighter but far better definition. Everything is up and running within a day on the new machine - I don't push them hard but have started using a sailing simulator that only just worked on the old Air whereas its fast and snappy on the new one (admittedly it still got uncomfortably hot with all those electrons flowing). During the transfer of files I realised again how good the old one is, but I'm pleased I know have back up as well as the benefits of more speed and power.I was thinking about this for maybe two years but couldn't justify it to myself. Then the 2022 came along and the choice got harder so I put it off. There is about £250 or 25% price differential between the 2020 and the 2022 - not a huge amount, but then the key elements like memory size, weight, battery life, screen resolution are identical. There are differences, but they didn't excite me so I decided to take the budget route and I'm happy with that decision.There are very few things on Amazon that get 4.8 star average over high volumes of sails, and the M1 2020 deserves to be up there. Most people are delighted and so am I - most complaints are over cracked screens or refurbished replacements - take care and buy new with a warranty and we should be fine. Well done Apple for another great product - and a very reasonable price (it is 20% cheaper than what I paid back in 2013!).
A**N
Believe the hype
The short review for the new M1 MacBook Air is: believe the hype. Lightweight, powerful, cool and silent, coupled with ridiculous battery life make this the ideal laptop for the majority of users.The new M1 processor with integrated RAM and faster SSD is silly. Throughout my use over the last three months it has managed whatever I've thrown at it without issue, be it browsing the web in Safari, managing a spreadsheet in Numbers or editing photos in Pixelmator Pro. Apps launch before the Dock's bounce animation has finished, most impressively with the Photos app library of 1000s of images and videos. Even non-universal Intel apps launch quickly and run smoothly whilst being emulated in realtime. All of this with the MacBook running cool and silent.The battery life is equally impressive. I find that I have to charge the MacBook Air once or twice a week. Previously it would be every other day. Standby battery life feels reminiscent of an iPad.By stepping onto the past, the keyboard is a massive step-up over the divisive butterfly design used for the last few years. More travel and still stable, with a few new additions to the Function row for activating Siri/dictation, Spotlight and Do Not Disturb, plus the bottom left 'Function' key quickly brings up the Emoji picker. It retains Touch ID to unlock the Mac, enable Apple Pay purchases and unlock password protected documents. The trackpad continues to set the gold standard.The only real negative is the FaceTime camera. It is woeful, and that's being generous. Blocky and pixelated even with the extra processing power from the M1s 'Neural Engine' (especially in low light settings), it just doesn't cut it anymore and the extra bulk necessary to install an upgraded camera might be a sacrifice worth making in future updates.The M1 MacBook Air is impossible not to recommend. Apple's first toe into the water of using their own processors in the Mac has been a spectacular success, and the mind boggles and what kind of performance they'll pack into future models.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
2 months ago