I don't use an external display, so I can't help you there. I chose it due to the active cooling in case my workload requires a sustained continuous peak performance from the SoC.
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MacBook Air M1 as Primary Computer
- Thread starter flapflapflap
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Modern Macs don't work well with any monitor under 4K. Since Apple removed sub pixel antialiasing a while ago, no monitor under 4K can show sharp and readable fonts. With 4K and above you start getting HiDpi modes and it's OK.
Not hot, but little bit warmer.
4K is a lot of extra pixels to process even if you do just basic stuff.
My MBA runs at 26-33°C without external display and at 35-40°C when using with external 4K60 display, connected via USB-C.
I have better picture quality with 27@4K scaled to 1440p than with 27@1440p.
Especially text clarity/smoothens is important for me, because I work with documents a lot.
Many of this things are sorted out in macOS 12 Beta. I run macOS 11 again as I need it because Horizon don't have the client for macOS 12 yet. But even in latest Big Sur I don't have many issues.
No, the 4K display doesn't make a difference, the M1 chip itself in my MBA currently sits at 28 °C. Sure, the machine heats up when doing anything CPU or GPU intensive, but not in macOS itself (displaying and redrawing UI elements and running normal software like browsers or Pages).
The reason is very simple. Text size. I mean not the browser/Word document text size(because those are adjustable) but the interface and Mac OS font size is very small.
Let me clear things up:
1) I have a 27" 2k(1440p) display connected to my Air m1. The problem at first was the fact that everything was so tiny to read and watch. I could go around in browsers and text editors/pdf viewers by enlarging the font, but still my mac os buttons, folders appearance and names were too small at 2k resolution.
2) Since 2k was too small, i turned into 1080P. Now i had another set of problems. Either the picture is really bad and not sharp at all but i have fullscreen view. Or the picture is crystal clear at 1080p but i have big black bars at the left and right side of my display.
3) This is when i realized that only 4k monitor or above can perfectly scale to 1080p view with sharp image. So if you want your fonts bigger then 4k display running in 1080p mode will be your only solution. As for me, i got used to the tiny font of 2k so sticking with it and that is normal. If money is no constraint, i would prefer running 4k Display in 1080p for work and 4k for entertainment.
You're going to love the M1 MBA, and I doubt you'll notice much, if any, performance difference between that and your Mac mini. I have not been a huge fan of laptops in general in the past, but I feel like the M1 MBA has all the things I like the most about Apple's tablets and laptops all rolled up into one. It actually caused me to ditch my iPad Pro. Here's why:
--thin, light, and portable even WITH a keyboard attached (iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is pretty chunky and heavy.)
--performance is on par with iPadOS--click an app, it's open (for the most part)
--no fan noise, almost zero heat--mine has never gotten above room temperature
--battery life is amazing--no need to micromanage charges or plan ahead to be near outlets unless you're REALLY low
--the keyboard is back to normal and it's wonderful--I hate the butterfly switch keyboards
--runs all my "pro" apps and games without so much as a hiccup
I love this machine. I know laptops aren't the new hotness anymore, but I think we're about to see a new surge with the MacBook line. I'm interested to see how M1 and future iterations of M chips do in a normal economic environment when the global need to work from home isn't such a widespread issue anymore. I have a feeling Macs are just going to keep booming from here, at least for the time being.
--thin, light, and portable even WITH a keyboard attached (iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is pretty chunky and heavy.)
--performance is on par with iPadOS--click an app, it's open (for the most part)
--no fan noise, almost zero heat--mine has never gotten above room temperature
--battery life is amazing--no need to micromanage charges or plan ahead to be near outlets unless you're REALLY low
--the keyboard is back to normal and it's wonderful--I hate the butterfly switch keyboards
--runs all my "pro" apps and games without so much as a hiccup
I love this machine. I know laptops aren't the new hotness anymore, but I think we're about to see a new surge with the MacBook line. I'm interested to see how M1 and future iterations of M chips do in a normal economic environment when the global need to work from home isn't such a widespread issue anymore. I have a feeling Macs are just going to keep booming from here, at least for the time being.
I had a 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display which was 2560x1440 for years and the displayed content was never small. I'm not sure what is different since they are both the same resolution. I'm running my 4K display at 2560x1440 (HiDPI) right now on a 24" and everything is still very readable. I'm confused.
Well i guess it is a matter of personal preferences in the working habit. I work a lot with text, so prefer to stare at it comfortably. To be fair, internal M1 Air display has larger font than my external at 2k 27". It depends on will you get used to it.
Sometimes not everything which is superior is better for the specific scenario. 4k is far more superior than 2k, 2k is much better than 1080p, but still lots of people use either 1080p native displays at work or scaled 4k to 1080p.
If you work on graphics(photo, video) well there is 2k and 4k are better and feels comfortable, but not for text.
You can put a ceramic clutch into the racing cars. Ceramic clutch is far superior than the OEM clutch. But driving a ceramic clutch in the city is pain in the ... Because it doesn't have slow engagement, when you need to crawl 5-10ft in a traffic - it will either drive you fast with 15-20ft jump or not drive at all.
In system preferences->accesibility->screen, you can choose big menu-bar. In Finder you can adjust the font-size of the current folder (not sidebar) by pressing cmd+J. Tinker tool (https://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/screenshots.html) can adjust the size of various system fonts.
My M1 MBA (8 core/16GB/512GB) is currently my one and only Mac. When home, I dock it to a Thunderbolt dock which connects me to a 32” 4K display, gigabit ethernet, speakers (USB audio), a wireless mouse dongle, a Keychron K1 keyboard, and a Thunderbolt 512GB SSD for Time Machine backups. All with one TB cable.
Works perfectly.
Works perfectly.
Same here, but I have the MBP M1 16GB/256GB.
I did go with the 256GB because the 512GB was out of stock but also as I do have external name SSDS but I do also mainly use iCloud for everything. And as this M1 modal are the first one out I'm thinking that I will replace it within two years so.
I'm currently waiting for the 32GB and then I'll go for 1TB storage.
Anyway I'm loving the m1 and the Intel one I'll never go back to. I have intel computer from work and it's crazy how the fans are spinning and how hot it gets so I don't use it I only use my private one
Thanks all for the responses. I think I'll get a base MacBook Air M1 to use as my primary and eventually get the MX1 MBP. I've been testing the MacBook Air M1 and it's really impressive. If it wasn't for the Touch Bar, I think I would have paid more for the fans, brighter screen and slightly better battery life.
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