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MacBook Air 8-core CPU/GPU - 8GB RAM - 512GB SSD just arrived

DrSarah

DrSarah

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 24, 2020
122
123
Vlaardingen, The Netherlands
As the title says, the MacBook just arrived after I sold my MacBook Pro 2020 i5-10th gen/16GB/1TB laptop.
I was a bit worried about getting the Air over the Pro but I really hated the Touch Bar, the fan noise, the heat.

So far it is Amazing!
Geekbench 5 score GPU: 21187
Installing World of Warcraft now to test it out, I play that a lot.

As far for snappiness:
It flies!

Anything you want me to test out?
 
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DemNoir said:
But, all the professional pros here say 8GB is for losers.
Click to expand...

Professional machines are still mostly intel based while the m1 are the more entry level offerings.

But true, traditionally one would need a ton of ram for certain tasks, where the documents themselves are maybe a few GB in size already.
I’m keen to try drum sampling while playing live electronic drums, but the samples of the kits are often 8GB or more - curious to see how the performance would be.
 
Could you pls test the SSD speeds?

I watched the latest zollotech video and the MacBook Air 512 write was faster than the 2TB in the m1 Pro!
 
garethjs said:
Could you pls test the SSD speeds?

I watched the latest zollotech video and the MacBook Air 512 write was faster than the 2TB in the m1 Pro!
Click to expand...
here you go
 

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Thanks but why is the 512gb modules in the air so much faster...

In his video the air wrote at 3GB/sec and read st 3.6GB/sec

Dont tell me they are using different brand of SSDs
 
DrSarah said:
As the title says, the MacBook just arrived after I sold my MacBook Pro 2020 i5-10th gen/16GB/1TB laptop.
I was a bit worried about getting the Air over the Pro but I really hated the Touch Bar, the fan noise, the heat.

So far it is Amazing!
Geekbench 5 score GPU: 21187
Installing World of Warcraft now to test it out, I play that a lot.

As far for snappiness:
It flies!

Anything you want me to test out?
Click to expand...
FYI The Air will run hotter than the Pro and fan noise is not an issue in the Pro. I get your point about the Touch Bar though.
 
How much memory is available on your SSD. I do not mean space left or size of MacintoshHD drive, but entire raw SSD size. like in About Mac - Hard Drives - is it shown as 500Gb Flash like mine?
Bildschirmfoto 2020-11-21 um 14.56.19.png
 
How different does the new air feel compared to your old macbook? I also have the i5 MBP and these M1 macs are really tempting. Also, how much were you able to sell your 2020 i5 MBP for?
 
coffeeplease said:
How different does the new air feel compared to your old macbook? I also have the i5 MBP and these M1 macs are really tempting. Also, how much were you able to sell your 2020 i5 MBP for?
Click to expand...
Very different, in a good way.

1. It is extremely cool t otter touch, it does not get hot at all so far in my usecase.
2. no slowdowns opening anything.
3. i really like the wedged shape and even though it isn't a lot, it is a bit lighter.
4. The insta wake-up is hilariously awesome
5. I love that the Touch Bar is no more!

So far it is a great machine and everything I do on it works! Quick summary what I did:

1. Install all the apps I use besides Apple apps(Teamviewer, MS Remote Desktop, World of Warcraft, Magnet, daisydisk)
2. Watch video's on YouTube in 4K.
3. did some benchmarks to check if the performance is on par with other MacBook Air M1 Machines.

I sold the MacBook for 1550 euro's. I bought it for 2000. Since not everyone knew about the M1 Macs, I took advantage of that to sell it as quickly as possible. I think it was an alright deal though it was in Mint condition with box and receipt.
 
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DrSarah said:
Very different, in a good way.

1. It is extremely cool t otter touch, it does not get hot at all so far in my usecase.
2. no slowdowns opening anything.
3. i really like the wedged shape and even though it isn't a lot, it is a bit lighter.
4. The insta wake-up is hilariously awesome
5. I love that the Touch Bar is no more!

So far it is a great machine and everything I do on it works! Quick summary what I did:

1. Install all the apps I use besides Apple apps(Teamviewer, MS Remote Desktop, World of Warcraft, Magnet, daisydisk)
2. Watch video's on YouTube in 4K.
3. did some benchmarks to check if the performance is on par with other MacBook Air M1 Machines.

I sold the MacBook for 1550 euro's. I bought it for 2000. Since not everyone knew about the M1 Macs, I took advantage of that to sell it as quickly as possible. I think it was an alright deal though it was in Mint condition with box and receipt.
Click to expand...
Sounds like there aren't any downsides from you switching over to the M1 MBA? I also agree that having no touch bar is a plus. Getting back 75+% value of your Intel MBP is pretty good considering the performance is so bad compared to the M1 now. I told myself I'd avoid the first generation ARM chips and stick with Intel before switching over, but I may eat my words. Apple really outdid it with these new Macs. I'm thinking if I don't sell my Intel MBP now, it'll depreciate really quickly within the next few months.
 
coffeeplease said:
Sounds like there aren't any downsides from you switching over to the M1 MBA? I also agree that having no touch bar is a plus. Getting back 75+% value of your Intel MBP is pretty good considering the performance is so bad compared to the M1 now. I told myself I'd avoid the first generation ARM chips and stick with Intel before switching over, but I may eat my words. Apple really outdid it with these new Macs. I'm thinking if I don't sell my Intel MBP now, it'll depreciate really quickly within the next few months.
Click to expand...
So far for me, I have not had any downside yet. It is really a good machine.
Only issue that would come up could be the heat in a couple of years, but I could always re-apply thermal paste.
Besides, iPads go for years and years so I guess this chip can be seen the same way.

So far I am really impressed by the machine and I would suggest selling yours!
 
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DrSarah said:
Very different, in a good way.

1. It is extremely cool t otter touch, it does not get hot at all so far in my usecase.
2. no slowdowns opening anything.
3. i really like the wedged shape and even though it isn't a lot, it is a bit lighter.
4. The insta wake-up is hilariously awesome
5. I love that the Touch Bar is no more!

So far it is a great machine and everything I do on it works! Quick summary what I did:

1. Install all the apps I use besides Apple apps(Teamviewer, MS Remote Desktop, World of Warcraft, Magnet, daisydisk)
2. Watch video's on YouTube in 4K.
3. did some benchmarks to check if the performance is on par with other MacBook Air M1 Machines.

I sold the MacBook for 1550 euro's. I bought it for 2000. Since not everyone knew about the M1 Macs, I took advantage of that to sell it as quickly as possible. I think it was an alright deal though it was in Mint condition with box and receipt.
Click to expand...
I have a huge favor to ask. Can you download a trial of any of the Affinity graphics apps (Photo, Designer or Publisher or all of them!) and install it. Then launch it. How long does it take from when you launch it to when the splash screen for the app appears? If it's super quick, please reboot and then try launching the app again.

I'm having an issue with the Affinity app (Universal) taking a very long time to launch (17 secs to be precise). If I quit and relaunch, it's just a couple seconds. Reboot and launch = 17 seconds again.

If you have time, it'd be appreciated. I got mine from the App Store but I think you can download direct from their website also.
 
DrSarah said:
Well I just do not think I will need it. I have a beefy Windows computer which I can always acces remotely if I am ever in dire need.
I do not edit movies or work with giant documents and as I have seen on YouTube, the 8GB holds up amazingly.
Click to expand...
I just ordered and picked up the same model today :)
 
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