MacBook Air M1: After a year of use, a more mixed record than expected

I bought a MacBook Air gold 8GB/256/7 core GPU in early January 2021. The MacBook Air being my favorite, I've had half a dozen since the 2nd ^gen SSD version.

The review that follows is written from my point of view as an analyst and author. I do a lot of research and often have two dozen or more browser tabs open, plus Mail, Messages, Overview, and a dozen other apps open. I also edit videos and make video calls, but keep 25TB of storage attached to a desktop iMac for larger projects.

First, the good news

For over a year, my mobile workstation consisted of a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, with 64GB, and a Magic Keyboard. Whether in terms of performance or battery life, the iPad was excellent, with zero fan noise. It also allowed me to run almost any application I needed.

The MacBook Air does all of this and more, in a lighter, less expensive package. Performance is better. Twice the memory and four times the storage. It is very quiet and its battery has excellent autonomy. It also has a larger trackpad and screen. I also appreciate the flexibility of multitasking and window layout. There are also great I/O options with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4.

But depending on how you work, the latest Apple devices also have serious flaws: no Apple Pencil, no touchscreen, no Face ID, no 4k camera... the list of restrictions goes on. If none of these things are deal breakers for me, they may be for you. Personally, I miss Face ID, but Touch ID and Apple Watch unlocking help make everyday life more enjoyable.

No regrets with RAM

At Apple, each gigabyte of RAM costs an exorbitant price. However, the excellent performance of the 4GB iPad Pro gave me the confidence to buy the 8GB MacBook Air.

I wanted to test the capacities of these 8 GB of memory. So I tried one day to leave all apps, windows and tabs open all day. In total, Safari and Firefox each featured a dozen tabs, and Mail, Messages, Preview, Calendar apps, one or more Notes apps, Scrivener and Final Cut Pro, and utilities like Copyclip, iStat Menus, Magnet, Default Folder, Typinator, Thesaurus and a VPN were also open.

After several hours of adding workloads, I started seeing slowdowns on the machine. I closed a few apps I wasn't using and everything was back to normal. My conclusions are that 8 GB of RAM is quite sufficient for a particular user. But if you use the MacBook Air for your professional activity, then go for 16 GB instead.

Otherwise, save your money. The 13-inch MacBook Pro has nearly identical specs except for a 20% brighter screen, slightly better mics, 12% faster graphics, a few hours of extra battery life, and the Touch Bar. For a higher weight of 110 grams. For me, these improvements are not worth paying a 20-30% higher price.

Less good news

The iOS apps available on macOS work pretty well. For example, the LumaFusion video editor works well and costs a lot less than Final Cut Pro X. If iOS gaming is your thing, you'll find that touch interfaces don't transfer well to a trackpad and keyboard. Save your iPad for gaming.

Changing security settings to add kernel extensions is also a real hassle. Kernel extensions now require a restart or two and some unobvious navigation. This will become increasingly difficult as Apple improves the security of macOS.

Also note that screen brightness reduces battery life. Apple's silicon consumes power, but today's LED backlights do not. If you turn the screen all the way up, there's a noticeable reduction (two to three hours) in battery life. It's better than Intel's MacBooks, but it's why Apple is pushing microLED backlighting.

Finally, backups may not work at all. This is something professionals should be aware of: bootable backups are possible, but if your internal SSD dies completely, that bootable backup will also fail. I'm still investigating this issue, and Apple doesn't have a clear statement on this, but it could spell the end of third-party backup utilities. The workaround? A second Mac.

Source: ZDNet.com