- There are two things that I wish Apple would
have done differently with the M1 MacBook Air. And then there was one thing that I regret doing when I bought mine. You see, when the
MacBook Air was released, I was skeptical because
I had a bad experience with an older MacBook Air. So a few years ago, we were developing a web-based application and we needed to test it on macOS. So I ran to the Apple Store. I bought a MacBook Air. And from day one, that laptop
was massively underpowered. So when Apple released the M1 MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with a
fairly similar price point, I was ready to be underwhelmed. And now, more than one year later and with two new MacBooks released, I wanna share my M1 MacBook
Air experience with you, tell you who I think it's a good fit for, and then also what
configuration I would recommend. One obvious consideration
when shopping for a laptop is portability. It doesn't matter if you're
gonna use it for work, if you're a student who
has to carry their laptop with them everywhere they go, or even if you're just gonna
be using it around the house. Portability matters. For the past year, I've used this laptop around the home, when I'm out and about, and
then when I've traveled, and the size has been great. I love how light and slim the body is and then at the same time, there's no flex to the keyboard plates, so it feels solid. Some laptops that I've used
have this flimsy feel to them and I always think that
I'm gonna break something. So with this laptop, I feel like I have the best of both world. It's really thin. It's light and portable. And then at the same time, I don't have to be super
careful about how I handle it or if I just throw it in a backpack. I also feel like the size of the display has worked really well for me. It's 13.3 inches which is the
same as the M1 MacBook Pro. And we now also have the 14-inch
and the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the larger and better displays which certainly have their advantages. But if I put aside my creator workflow and look at this as
more of an average user, I think the display size is
right in that sweet spot. It's a Retina display with a
resolution of 2,560 by 1,600 and 400 nits of maximum brightness. So it's not the brightest
display that Apple makes. And if you're looking for
something a little bit brighter, then you'll need to check out the 13, 14, and 16-inch MacBook Pros which have a slightly brighter display. And I'm saying slightly brighter because they all have a maximum
of brightness of 500 nits for SDR content. For most of what I do, I haven't really noticed a
major difference in brightness. It's there, but it's not like
you can't see the MacBook Air and then the other three
are like incredibly bright. So, the difference is nuanced. Now, if you're watching HDR content, then the 14 and 16-inch MacBook
Pro can go all the way up to a thousand nits of sustained brightness and 1,600 nits peak brightness. So you're getting better dynamic range and a higher contrast ratio. These displays are also
Liquid Retina XDR displays, so they're powered by mini LEDs and they have 120 hertz
adaptive refresh rate, which Apple calls ProMotion. You may already know this, but that means that the displays can slow down the refresh
rate down to 24 hertz when you're viewing content or anytime there is a
static image on the screen, and therefore it could save battery life. Then, if you're navigating around macOS, if you're opening and closing apps, if you're scrolling,
gaming or watching content, they can bump that refresh
rate all the way up to 120 hertz for a more fluid and responsive user experience. And here's why I'm telling you
about these newer displays. Because are they nicer? Yes. They are bigger. They provide more real
estate to work with. And if I had them side by side, I prefer the 14 and the
16-inch over the MacBook Air. But I've never once looked
at this display and thought, "Oh, my God. It's just not good enough." And unless I'm gaming, 120
hertz is like a nice to have more than a need. Now, if you're looking
for a larger display, then that's a different
conversation altogether and you should take a look
at these newer models. But keep in mind that even the base model
of the 14-inch starts at more than twice what you
can get the MacBook Air for. Now, regardless of which MacBook you get, whenever you're dealing
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more content for you. Now, one of the concerns that I had when I first got the M1
MacBook Air is the ports. And I had a few thoughts here. So first, there are only two ports. Second, they're only Thunderbolt ports. So, no USB-A. And then third, both of the
ports are on the left side. Now, when I evaluate a piece of tech, I do my best to keep in
mind who it's designed for. And at the end of the day, it's not important to me
what you go out and buy, I just hope that I can provide you with enough information and perspective so you can buy what will work best for your needs and budget. The reality is that the
majority of the target audience for this laptop isn't likely
to need more than two ports. Like, most people don't
attach any accessories at all and are simply gonna use one
of these ports for charging. A small percentage of people will add an accessory
every once in a while. And in that context, I think that two ports are enough. So my main issue, if
you wanna call it that, is that they're both on the same side. And it means that I can only charge it or attach accessories from the left which isn't always convenient. I think it would have been better if they put one on each side. In that way, they're not
really adding functionality, but they are improving
the user experience. And while I'm okay with two
ports on the MacBook Air, I wasn't okay with two of
them on the MacBook Pro because that device is being
marketed as a Pro device. Now, personally, I do
need more than two ports, especially if I'm gonna use
one of them for charging. So, I appreciate the
additional options we get on the 14 and 16 MacBook Pro models with three Thunderbolt 4
ports, an SD card reader, and an HDMI port. So again, the two ports will work great for the overwhelming majority of users. And those who have a
more demanding workflow can either use a hub or upgrade
to a larger MacBook Pro. If I had a second wish
for a MacBook Air upgrade, it would be to have MagSafe. I like the fast charging and I liked the protection that it offers in case one of my dogs goes
flying through the house and pulls the cord. Now, two things that definitely
don't need an upgrade are the keyboard and the track pad. And I've typed a ton on this keyboard. I used it at my desk, on
my lap, on an airplane, sitting in bed, and it's
probably the best keyboard that I've used on any laptop. I actually really liked
that the MacBook Air is slightly thinner in the
front than it is in the back because there's a slight lean forward. And the keys are nice and big, they have a good amount of spacing, and the switches themselves
have nice feedback for a laptop keyboard. Now, a lot of times when
you're working on a laptop, the keyboard is sort of a
concession you have to make in order to gain portability. But if you're someone who
like me does a ton of typing, you're going to really appreciate how comfortable this
keyboard is to type on. After a year of typing, I
wouldn't change anything about it. And while I like the larger function keys and the larger Touch ID on
the 14 and 16-inch models, those two things are
definitely not reason enough to upgrade. Now, the trackpad has also been great. And while the MacBook
Pro has a larger one, the one in the MacBook Air is plenty big and it's pretty much as good as it gets. Now, another super important
consideration for me is battery life. Because I'm using this laptop a lot when I'm not in the office and I don't like to
worry about battery life. I mean, who likes using any
type of electronic device and then having them continue to look up at that battery percentage. The MacBook Air is rated for 18 hours, and I easily finish a full day
without having to charge it. Now, of course, that depends
on what you're doing. You can't edit and render
videos for 18 hours, but for a typical day
of work, web surfing, and content consumption, I never really think
about having to charge it. It's not as good as
the 13-inch MacBook Pro which is like the king of all laptops that I have in the studio
as far as battery life, but it is still really good. And this is also super
important to me when I travel, and I'm not sure when I'll
have access to a power source. Now, I think we can all agree
that laptop cameras in general are not good. And that's probably a function of them not really having to be. I mean, everyone's walking
around with much better cameras in their cell phones, and the ones on our laptops
are pretty much only being used for Zoom meetings. So is the 720p camera on
the MacBook Air great? No, it's not great. But for a 720p camera, it's actually pretty good. And while I definitely
think that the 1080p cameras on the 14 and 16-inch
MacBook Pro models is better, it's got higher resolution and better low light performance, it doesn't actually change anything for the way that I use it. And lighting is by far
the most important factor in determining image quality. Moving on, if you use the speakers on your laptop, these actually sound quite good. So you can definitely watch
movies and enjoy the audio. They aren't good as the 14 or 16-inch which are the best that I've
heard so far on any laptop, but here's why it hasn't
really been an issue for me. So I pretty much always use
headphones with my laptop because there are usually
other people around. And if I'm in the office
or in a downstairs studio, then I either use my main workstation or I connect to dedicated speakers. Now, let's talk about the
configuration options, I'll tell you about the
mistake that I made, and then I'll give you my recommendations. I know that this is a confusing
purchase for a lot of you, and I do my best to read my comments. So if you still have questions once you're finished with this video, just drop them in the comment
section and I'll try to help. The M1 MacBook Air has
two base configurations. And both come with the M1 chip, so you're getting the same eight-core CPU and eight gigabytes of unified memory. But the first option comes
with a seven-core GPU and 256 gigs of internal storage for 999. And the second comes
with an eight-core GPU and 512 gigs of internal
storage for 1,249. So you're getting an extra
256 gigs of internal storage and the additional GPU core for 250 bucks. Now, I'm using the prices
from the Apple website, but you can usually get better pricing by using the links in the description. So the average MacBook Air user is never going to notice the difference between a seven and an eight-core GPU. So that should not be a
reason for you to upgrade. And depending on what you plan on doing, you may or may not need to
upgrade the internal storage. If you're just using this
to surf the web, email, social media, and then watch content, you can get by with 256 gigs. But if you're going to be
installing some larger apps and you're already going
to upgrade to 512 gigs of internal storage or even more, then you might as well
pay the extra 50 bucks for the additional GPU core. Now, the mistake that I made
was only getting eight gigs of unified memory. And the reason I did that
goes all the way back to the beginning where I was just expecting
to be underwhelmed by this MacBook. But in reality, it's got a super powerful
and efficient M1 chip, a light and portable form factor, a great keyboard and
track pad, a nice display, and excellent battery life. So for how I use this laptop, it should easily last me
for the next five years, maybe more. And the only thing that I
can see being a real issue is that I may want more RAM. So if I had to do it over again, I would've gotten 16 gigabytes. Now, personally, for this laptop, I don't need a lot of internal storage. I don't do things like backup
my photos and video files because I use iCloud. And even if I did store
those things locally, I would just get an external SSD which would have a much higher capacity for a fraction of the cost, but also be able to access
it from other devices. Keep in mind that you can't
upgrade the unified memory or the internal storage, so make sure that you get
what you think you'll need for the life of this device. In a situation like mine, there's nothing I can do
other than get a new device. The unified memory is
built right into the chip and there's no way for me to add any. Now, unless you're looking
for a Windows machine, I think that the M1 MacBook
Air is still undefeated and it's the best value for most users who are looking for a MacBook. Sure, there are more powerful options in the new 14 and 16-inch
models of the MacBook Pro. But if you don't need that
additional processing power or the larger display, I think the other advantages are tempting but don't add enough value to justify the significantly higher price. So this is the first time that I feel comfortable
recommending an entry-level MacBook. And now that you watched
my one-year review, you should check out how the
14-inch MacBook Pro compares to the 16-inch. Click on my face to subscribe. Hopefully, this video is helpful. You know what I always say, "Buy it nice or buy it twice." Good luck and see you soon.
