MacBook Air M1 Is Still the Best Mac for Most People

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On Monday , Apple unveiled its newest MacBook Air : the 13-inch and 15-inch Air, now powered by the M3 chip. Apart from dual monitor support and Wi-Fi 6E support, this is all an upgrade. If you know anything about the M3’s performance and understand the modern design of the Apple MacBook Air , then that’s all that’s new about these two laptops.

As boring as this update may be, it’s actually a testament to how good Apple’s hardware is right now. Barring any unexpected issues, pairing the excellent M3 chip with the great design of the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air is a winning combination. These machines will suit many, if not most, users looking to buy a Mac, as most of us don’t need the extra power and features found in the much more expensive MacBook Pro line.

But here’s the thing: Most of us don’t even need the extra power and features of the MacBook Air M3 or the similarly lightweight M2 Macs. In fact, most of us will still find the most value in the 2020 Apple M1 MacBook Air.

MacBook Air M1 is still a powerhouse

Apple’s flagship M-series Mac, the M1 MacBook Air, is still a fantastic computer three years after its release. In fact, any of the M1 cars still perform about as well as they did when first released. (I’m writing this on an M1 iMac, FYI.)

Much of this success is due to Apple’s end-to-end control over the hardware and software of its new Mac computers. Not only is the M1 chip itself still a powerful piece of technology ( it’s vastly superior to i9 Intel Macs ), Apple can also optimize macOS specifically for the chip, something it wasn’t able to do with its Intel lineup. . So, where Intel Macs began to struggle with new versions of macOS or lose features that new Macs enjoyed, the M1 feels like a new experience even today.

In terms of software support, the M1 doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. While Apple has a habit of supporting its machines for a while, it’s likely that Apple Silicon could break some records here, provided the company doesn’t end support for business reasons. Just take a look at the macOS Sonoma feature page : There’s exactly one feature that requires an M2 or later—the ability to connect hearing devices to your Mac. The MacBook Air released in late 2020 can support all the other new features of macOS Sonoma, so you won’t miss out on any of the latest macOS features by choosing the M1. We’ll see if Apple introduces more features this year that aren’t compatible with the M1 (perhaps some generative AI options), but for now the M1 is still about as supported as any other Mac chip.

To the point where you have to wonder if Apple regrets how good the M1 is: the company doesn’t even advertise the speed increase from the M2 to the M3, and quietly says that the M3 MacBook Air is only 1.6 times faster than the M3. MacBook Air M1 . This is probably why the company discontinued the M1 MacBook Air after releasing the M3 MacBook Air . It’s easier to sell you the M3 when the excellent M1 is no longer available in Apple stores.

This is a ridiculously good price

All of these benefits come at exceptional Mac pricing, with stores like Amazon regularly pricing the MacBook Air M1 at $750 , which is $350 cheaper than the base MacBook Air M3. These savings can be used in a variety of ways: Perhaps you’re looking to add an iPad 9 or Apple Watch Series 9 to your system . But I would say that if you want to close that gap between device prices, you’re better off going with the M1 Air with 16GB of RAM. While you can get by with 8GB of RAM, doubling it will ensure that you can get more things done on your Mac without crashing, and will likely increase the overall lifespan of your device.

It may be difficult to find a new M1 Air with 16GB of RAM, but updated and refurbished devices can offer the same benefits. For about the same price as a MacBook Air M3 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, you can get an M1 Air with double the RAM , and sometimes double, quadruple, or eight times the storage, depending on the retailer.

If you can use it, the M1 Air with 16GB of RAM will serve you well for some time and will likely be able to handle more tabs and tasks than the M3 Air with 8GB of RAM.

The MacBook Air M2 is also worth the money.

But let’s not discredit the MacBook Air M2. After all, there are advantages to buying something newer. First, the design language is more modern: the M2 MacBook Air is boxier, like the rest of the current MacBook lineup, while the M1 MacBook Air uses the tapered look that Apple Airs have had for years. The new Air has a cutout for a redesigned webcam and a display that’s pushed close to the edge, while the M1 has a larger bezel. Either way, it looks good, but it looks dated compared to newer devices.

MagSafe could also be a deal breaker: I’ll never understand why Apple abandoned the charging platform, but it’s back with the M2 MacBook Air. The M1 still uses USB-C only for charging, which is convenient since most of our devices use this standard. But magnetic chargers make sense , and that’s a great advantage of the M2 over the M1.

You also get a chip that is one generation newer. You’ll always get at least an eight-core GPU (the base Airs had seven cores), and Apple should theoretically support the M2 a little longer than the M1, but we can’t predict the future. Also, if you want a larger laptop, you’ll need the M2 since Apple never released a 15-inch MacBook Air M1. (Apple has discontinued the 15-inch M2, however.) Overall, the M2s are more modern, a little faster, and offer more features for certain customers.

In my opinion, the M1 still has a higher overall value when comparing dollars and cents, but now that the M3 is out, things change a bit. Apple has cut the price of the M2 by $100, so the M2 Air with 8GB of RAM now starts at the classic $999. This cost will rise as you upgrade the machine: you’ll spend another $200 to increase the RAM to 16GB, and any changes to the GPU or storage will only raise the price even further.

However, keep an eye on third-party retailers and refurbished marketplaces. As the M3 becomes Apple’s newest standard MacBook Air, stores should start cutting prices on the M2 MacBook Air, even if only occasionally. This hasn’t happened yet as the announcement was just made this morning, but you can find some good deals on refurbished M2 Airs. Amazon has a base model with a 13-inch screen for $879 . This is a great price for the M2 and all its benefits, and I imagine some buyers will be worth $130 for MagSafe, a better camera, a more modern design, and a slightly newer chip compared to the M1 Air.

Look, if you want the latest and greatest machines Apple has to offer, you can’t go wrong with the M3 MacBook Air. These will be great laptops, offering the most “Mac” you can get at the moment – at least without going into “Pro” territory. But when it comes to maximizing the value you can get from your purchase, this little 2020 MacBook Air is still the gold standard. (Sorry, Apple.)

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