How long do you think the M1 MacBook Air will last?

[Nate455]

I think it can last at least 7 years, apple products are well built and last a very long time

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Fast forward to AS days, it at least seems like Intel has gotten left in the dust and the Computer wars are full swing (AMD has made huge strides, Qualcomm entering the market, and AS obviously out front). With this, it feels like the technology and CPU advancements are happening faster (or this could totally be my perception). But the faster technology goes, the faster older computers can show their age. We don't know what AI will look like 2-3 years from now, heck even 1 year. These changes have the possibility of making some of these newish computers not last as long as maybe some of the Intel ones did in the past.

I know exactly how AI is going to look like on my Air in 2-3 years...completely disabled..even though I have a 16gb machine.

My last computer was a 2012 MBP that I kept for almost nine years. I plan to keep my M1 Air just as long.

 

[PsykX]

I have an M2 Pro, but we still have an M1 MacBook Air and I find myself using it from time to time. It's still a solid computer almost 4 years after release. It will surely be good again in another 3 years, but this is the point where you'll most likely lose major upgrades support if you care about that.

 

[spcopsmac21]

Exactly what I was thinking. So far this laptop BARELY breaks a sweat, and when it does it's more of a symptom that it needs a restart more than anything else.

I believe that Apple Intelligence will put these machines to the test, however I can totally see Apple acknowledging this.

Yea the hardware will implode long before software updates stop rolling out.

These fully integrated machines will die much faster than their pre retina counterparts.

There are literally more 2009-2012 MacBook pros floating around than the retina series. The failure rate went up exponentially once Apple began integrating everything.

 

[sleeptodream]

Conversely, I’d also say be weary of hyperbole from others here based on their use case. If the AI aspects do not interest you in Sequoia then it may be worth just sticking with Sonoma, as a portion of your RAM will essentially be dedicated to AI. That may make your computer slower and trigger a kind of false positive that it’s a hardware issue. If you’re happy with performance as it is NOW, consider not updating the OS. If you want AI then you’ll probably bottleneck sooner than you otherwise would.

Another nice thing about macs is you can go back to a previous OS if the new one doesn’t work out, and time machine/icloud makes it super easy, just make a full backup with time machine before you update

I don’t think Apple will bork the millions of computers with M1 and 8gb out there, a lot of them are first time mac owners and I’m sure they want them to have a great ownership experience. I’m guessing AI will index a lot of the important info while you’re not actively using it, the way Photos does now.

AI will also be running on tons of iPhones with 8gb RAM that don’t even have the opportunity to use swap, so I think we’ll be okay for a bit

 

[MallardDuck]

I purchased my very first Apple product back in December 2023, it's this MacBook Air with an M1 chip, 8GB of RAM
By far, this is the absolute BEST laptop I've ever had in my life, it really is everything I have ever asked for.

Now that that's out of my chest, I wonder what you'll think about this particular laptop's lifetime. Having released in 2020, do you think it'll be sensible to upgrade soon-ish?

What are your thoughts?

Once you're on Apple Silicon, there's only two real reasons to upgrade:

1 - when it doesn't do you what you need it to
2 - when apple stops supporting it with security patches

I expect my niece (same machine as yours) to use her's for at least 5 years

 

[seanmcbay]

I’m still using a 2012 iMac that I unofficially installed Sonoma on that works relatively well.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

7 years:5 months:10 hours:23 minutes:14 seconds , before self destruction

 

[Queen6]

My 2011 15" MBP is still serving media, so I have few if any worries about the M1 MBP... Ultimately they are disposable products just a question of how you use them...

Q-6

 

[MrAperture]

10 years as long as your battery isn't toast.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

10 years as long as your battery isn't toast.

Replace the battery.

 

[abrahamw88]

I used a 2013 Air for almost 10 years and at that point I sold it because I just didn’t need it anymore. At that point it felt a bit slow but was fully functional without any issues and the battery still had around 75% of its capacity. That is remarkable.
As for the 2020 M1 Air, I would expect a similar or better experience considering how much more overpowered the M1 was than the 2013 Intel. Here’s to hoping!

 

[abrahamw88]

Replace the battery.

This. Surprisingly I ran a 2013 Air for almost ten years and it still managed to have around 75% of its battery capacity. Granted, I wasn’t pushing it hard or using it every day but it’s still remarkable.

 

[tornadowrangler]

2040 or bust!

 

[macfacts]

Yea the hardware will implode long before software updates stop rolling out.

These fully integrated machines will die much faster than their pre retina counterparts.

There are literally more 2009-2012 MacBook pros floating around than the retina series. The failure rate went up exponentially once Apple began integrating everything.

That is so sad to hear this is what people's expectations cause I was happy to get a used one to install gnu/Linux on it