Live With It - 2020 M1 MacBook Air

2020 M1 MacBook Air

Specs:

13.3 inch 2560x1600 display

2.8 pounds, 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.16-0.63 inches

16 GB Memory

2 TB Flash storage

ARM-based M1 chip (AKA Apple Silicon)

720p Facetime camera

**At Apple’s Spring Loaded event on Wednesday April 20, 2021, CEO Tim Cook said sales of the M1-powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini now represent the majority of Mac sales:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/21/apple-silicon-mac-sales-intel/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

First announced:

November 10, 2020, availability started November 17, 2020

**Previous new MacBook Air announcement was just 8 months earlier in March 2020 (womp):

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21179157/apple-macbook-air-2020-announced-specs-features-keyboard

Gold color

**The sunsetted Macbook (2006-2019) first got a gold color in November 2016

- First impression, it’s not gold gold, it’s rose gold! I LOVE IT.

Performance

- As advertised, the M1 MacBook Air is very snappy. Rendering video and audio from programs like Premiere and Logic Pro X takes a fraction of what it does on my MacBook Pro.

- Not having a fan was weird at first for tasks that would normally always kick the fan on. It’s like the EV of laptops… is my Mac alive?

- Instant wake from sleep is a dream. Restarting is a cinch. Everything is just faster, even little things.

- Ability to run iOS and iPadOS apps is cool in theory, but hit and miss in reality. For example, United app works great, Airbnb app doesn’t.

Personal Stuff

- Because porting over local data to a new Mac is so easy, I’ve always just done that to have all my files handy. This time, I decided to start fresh. I installed what I needed to install and occasionally fire up the old MacBook Pro to grab a file. Feels much cleaner this way.

- Most of my important data is now in iCloud so that I can access what I need on multiple MacOS systems and iOS.

- I switched to Firefox as my primary browser. Obviously Firefox issues aren’t an M1 thing but I wanted to try something new.

- I am using my dock on the bottom (default) instead of left-vertical as I’ve done for years.

- Although the Air is very thin and light and the battery lasts all day through heavy use, I’ve taken it out of my house only once or twice. The pandemic has really put a damper on coffee shop afternoon hangs, and I haven’t been on a plane in well over a year.

Nitpicks

- Both USB-C ports are on the left-hand side, more cord action if your outlet is to the right. Not a dealbreaker but it sure would be nice to have one on each side.

- If you need more than 2 USB-C ports, you need to get creative with multi-port dongles. My old MPB had 4 USB-C ports and I used all 4 regularly (power, mixer, webcam, ethernet).

- No Touch Bar. Yes, I know most people hate the Touch Bar. But I used it a lot, in Logic specifically. I’ve memorized some keyboard shortcuts and can navigate fine, but it took a month or so. At least there’s TouchID!

- Facetime camera is 720p and widely panned for being subpar as the default cam. I have external webcam options so this doesn’t bother me much, but that also takes up a USB-C port.

Overall Thoughts

- Hands down the best Macbook I’ve ever owned, and the M1 chip gives the Air the power of a pro machine. Using my 2016 MacBook Pro now is like wading through quicksand.