Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
M1 MB Air - changed my view on laptops forever
- Thread starter BreakYurAnkles
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I will! I am almost certain I will be upgrading to the new Air whenever it comes out. I will let you know first--you get dibs!
I had a 11" 2014 MBA it was a great machine, but I needed more oomph so about a year ago I bought a 13" 16GB MBP (almost bought the AIR) however this is my on the move laptop (when not on the move it is docked), so I wanted a fan for operation out doors when it may be hot, or for extended crunching with my video editor or other apps. In any event the first gen M1s are quite awesome, there is a lot of power is this tiny laptop. Oh and it pairs nicely with my M1 12.9" iPad as a second portable monitor.
I did what I never thought I'd do again and just ordered myself a fully loaded iPad mini w Apple Pencil 2 and smart folio. It will be my notebook and TV watcher when I'm at my desk. I have an iPad mini 3 now that I find useless without Pencil support, so I'm going to try this for a couple of days and see how I like it. The Pencil is the only thing I have really missed about not having a current iPad anymore.
That is to be expected in smaller laptops like this. The small size makes it easier to carry around and use while on the go but in most cases once you are at your desk you will want to have a larger external monitor. the small screen is not bad for single-task work, but when you need reference material and to work with multiple sources, that's when you need more space. Any laptop is going to have this kind of limitation. Even 16" is not really enough so I value small size for portability.
When they are connected to my 27" monitor, both a MBA and a MBP are the same size.
the 13" older version of the air with the thiccc silver bezels was only slightly smaller than the 2016 15" MacBook Pro. tons of people owned that older version/design of the air and loved its portability.That is to be expected in smaller laptops like this. The small size makes it easier to carry around and use while on the go but in most cases once you are at your desk you will want to have a larger external monitor. the small screen is not bad for single-task work, but when you need reference material and to work with multiple sources, that's when you need more space. Any laptop is going to have this kind of limitation. Even 16" is not really enough so I value small size for portability.
When they are connected to my 27" monitor, both a MBA and a MBP are the same size.
that older design is actually a larger footprint than the current 13" MacBook Pro.
if they made that older footprint slightly larger it could be a 15" air (I can only imagine)
A lot of people have asked for a 15" Air and I think it would be a great idea. Partly for people who need a bigger screen when mobile. Also for people who mainly do single task work at their desk and don't need a secondary monitor.
15" would be nice. This M1 Air is my favorite laptop of all time. I get anxiety using my gaming laptop now. I've moved to the NVIDIA Now streaming service and can play high end PC games on my Mac (NVIDIA just released RTX 3080 servers and it's lovely). I don't have any other reason to use Windows now. Plus I get tired of my lap boiling. This laptop stays cold most of the time and barely warm during intensive tasks.
I've thought about doing the same for the games that I can't play on Switch or iOS. There are some pretty good games coming out this year that could tip me in that direction even further.
Honestly as long as your internet is fast and you rent the 3080 server, it looks phenomenal. I play most things with an Xbox controller. Not all games are on the service though, so you have to check NVIDIA’s website to see what’s on there. The service is like 100 dolllars every 6 months.
I purchased a 28" 4k HDR10 monitor. 100%SRGB should be getting it tomorrow.
Last edited:
I agree with you 100%.
I think we are on a similar page here also.
Your point about the hypothetical M1 beater from intel is a very good one. Intel need people to buy computers from all vendors that use Intel CPUs.
Also would Intel either develop their own OS or partner closely enough with MS so they could develop a version of Intel SoC Windows alongside the hardware?
My best guess is - no to that question.
Also Intel really do not need to worry about the individual Intel vendor market share. All Intel would care about is how much market share all the Intel vendors have collectively. Ie. making the same number of CPUs or SoCs, just shipping them to different vendors.
I agree that Intel doing something like this would have serious consequences and considerations that would need to be made.
Apple hardware only having one vendor, Apple itself makes things so much easier.
I was subscribing to your newsletter hook, line, and sinker, until my six week old refurb M1 MacBook Air started acting unresponsive and unpredictable tonight, it seems to be traced to the trackpad that will not let me “left-button select” anything. I can hobble by using a two finger select, to at least shut down the machine. Now to navigate having to return the M1 to Apple for diagnostics. Frustrating and a demerit against a previously near-perfect machine to me.
sorry to hear about that, but your situation still falls under one of my initial questions to be frank. (service? warranty?) things happen and sometimes bad units make it out into the hands of consumers (refurbs higher chances)
I found a deal on a Acer vg280k. I 100% agree with you on the 4k resolution at 27-28" matches the retina 2k laptop displays in clarity.
If anyone else is thinking the same thing, I would highly recommend getting a monitor that has high color accuracy as well (if you use your M1's built in display along with a external monitor) because its really annoying if the 2 displays aren't closely matched and you switch your view back-and-fourth between the 2 displays FWIW.
Last edited:
24 hours later the issue resolved itself and the MBA is working fine. The trackpad lets me select everything correctly. The only thing I could possibly connect to it is, I returned home and connected my Bluetooth apple keyboard to my Mac mini to start the process of prepping my MBA for a return to Apple for diagnostics, and the MBA started working fine just after I hard-wired connected the Apple keyboard to the Mac mini. (Related? or Random chance?) I think random chance because the MBA was working fine yesterday until around 6pm, and I did not have the Apple bluetooth keyboard with me when I was at a different location yesterday when the MBA started acting odd and threw a bad diagnostic code for the Trackpad. I reran the diagnostics just now and it showed No Issues. Argh.
definitely keep that in your mind moving forward. if you're in warranty/return/exchange timeline and it happens again, I would exchange it ASAP.24 hours later the issue resolved itself and the MBA is working fine. The trackpad lets me select everything correctly. The only thing I could possibly connect to it is, I returned home and connected my Bluetooth apple keyboard to my Mac mini to start the process of prepping my MBA for a return to Apple for diagnostics, and the MBA started working fine just after I hard-wired connected the Apple keyboard to the Mac mini. (Related? or Random chance?) I think random chance because the MBA was working fine yesterday until around 6pm, and I did not have the Apple bluetooth keyboard with me when I was at a different location yesterday when the MBA started acting odd and threw a bad diagnostic code for the Trackpad. I reran the diagnostics just now and it showed No Issues. Argh.
I have AppleCare+ into 2023, maybe longer since I'm paying annually and not all at once! Oh I won't be forgetting to watch things haha. Unsettlingly random...
Now my M1 MBA is back on my good list.
Although, while Messaging with Apple support today, my 3 week old iPhone 12 mini's screen went black for 2-5 minutes while I could still hear the tech texting me.... It returned on its own thankfully. WTH. Both are refurbished items. ?
Now my M1 MBA is back on my good list.
Although, while Messaging with Apple support today, my 3 week old iPhone 12 mini's screen went black for 2-5 minutes while I could still hear the tech texting me....
It returned on its own thankfully. WTH. Both are refurbished items. ?
UPDATE:
I have since switched to a 13" MB Pro M1.....
my brother has a 14" M1 pro and got a deal on a 13" pro M1 (because I was raving about my air's performance and incredible battery life on M1) and he wanted to trade me his 13" M1 pro for my air straight up. (he wanted a air for ABSOLUTE ZERO chance of fan noise)
performance wise its the exact same specs 8-8-8 512 SSD.
ive had it for 2 days and its dead on same experience (other than shape and Touch Bar). performance is the same. battery life is comparable (13" pro is better but not everyday life changing difference). Screen brightness is noticeably (but not game changer) brighter outdoors, air is still completely usable outside and plenty bright.
Fan noise is non-existent, gets barely warm like my air. I use it hooked up to a 28" 4k 60hz monitor for many hours a day (4-5) + Retina display, running iMessage, safari 4-6 tabs, YouTube 4k PiP stream, iTunes. still doesn't break a sweat. Fan is inaudible.
the weight distribution is actually *more* balanced with the pro since the battery is bigger and closer to the palm rest.
But even then, if I were buying another one, I would go MB Air M1 100% and save the extra $ or put the savings towards more Ram and/or bigger storage.
I have since switched to a 13" MB Pro M1
.....my brother has a 14" M1 pro and got a deal on a 13" pro M1 (because I was raving about my air's performance and incredible battery life on M1) and he wanted to trade me his 13" M1 pro for my air straight up. (he wanted a air for ABSOLUTE ZERO chance of fan noise)
performance wise its the exact same specs 8-8-8 512 SSD.
ive had it for 2 days and its dead on same experience (other than shape and Touch Bar). performance is the same. battery life is comparable (13" pro is better but not everyday life changing difference). Screen brightness is noticeably (but not game changer) brighter outdoors, air is still completely usable outside and plenty bright.
Fan noise is non-existent, gets barely warm like my air. I use it hooked up to a 28" 4k 60hz monitor for many hours a day (4-5) + Retina display, running iMessage, safari 4-6 tabs, YouTube 4k PiP stream, iTunes. still doesn't break a sweat. Fan is inaudible.
the weight distribution is actually *more* balanced with the pro since the battery is bigger and closer to the palm rest.
But even then, if I were buying another one, I would go MB Air M1 100% and save the extra $ or put the savings towards more Ram and/or bigger storage.
Last edited: