Last year I purchased an early 2020 MacBook Air. It’s the base model with an Intel Core i3 dual core processor. At the time I purchased the M1 Air was just around the corner. However, I couldn’t pass up the new-at-the-time Magic Keyboard. I have to say that keyboard was worth the upgrade alone. The new keyboard is so much better that my fingers thank me every day I use it.
However, it’s been almost a year and the M1 machines are out and the new MacBook Air is the machine you recommend to anyone who is looking for a new laptop. My older 2020 dual core Air seems almost… quaint. So what is it like to use a dual core Air in the face of more modern hardware?
Honestly, it’s fine. Is it fast as lightning? No. However, it more than gets the job done. My usage is writing, surfing, mail, and other not terribly taxing tasks. For that, it’s fantastic. the speakers are surprisingly good for music or podcasts. However, it shows its pre-pandemic roots when you do video calls or connect it to an external monitor. At that point the Air gets hot and the fans spin up in a vain attempt to cool it down. The built-in camera is at best a potato and while on calls everyone hears the fan.
To be fair, on the plus side the Air keeps me warm in the winter. Seriously though, it’s fine for most uses. Plus, the keyboard is still great.
Am I jealous of those of you who own an M1 Air? No. I’ll eventually upgrade, but for now it’s running the Monterey beta and it doesn’t seem to mind.
So in short, don’t be jealous of those who have the M1 Air. There will be plenty of time to get revenge when the new, more powerful MacBook Pro with more ports comes out. The rest of you will be green with envy!
This is BS. I am considering a lawsuit to those of us who purchased the earlier version of the 2020 Air and Apple could give a rats ass about us. Also, take note no advertising to include Apple ( look at their website ) state that the 2020 MacBook Air is an M1 Chip. Aka, Apple screwed us over and devalued our computer which is the same year . Why couldn’t Apple have waited to unveil the 2020 M1 in the Air in 2021 instead of this major upgrade I’m the same year. Who does this and the price is the same i paid for the considerably, less of a computer I paId the same $999 for earlier in the year. So much so, Apple is actually offering less $ to return and get an upgrade . This is unbelievably wrong and not the way Apple treats it’s customers. If Steve Jobs was still around he wouldn’t have allowed this atrocity to happen
Apple switched to their own silicon on Mac’s to save money. Knowing the Mac is not the future and iPhones, and Vision Pro is supposedly the future for Apple. Intel Mac’s had several pluses, they ran Windows, they were directly compatible with the PC world in many ways and nobody was really complaining about performance. Apple silicon is efficient, and performs well enough to claim it out performs Intel Mac’s. But, so what? Bragging rights go back and forth always have between Intel and AMD. Not everyone will see the benefit of a benchmark win in daily tasks. Do I like my M2 MacBook Air? Yes, but if I am honest not without some regression about what it is and what I have lost in the transition . I may not buy another Mac and always look at what is available and how it overall is of value to me. Apple has weak base models and worse their upgrades are downright robbery. Not to mention a SoC design isn’t all positives as anything fails your stuck replacing the entire board and possibly losing data.