MacBook Air M1 (2020) impressions after 6 months
MacBooks with an M1 chip is a game-changer for Apple. Because it ships with a new M1 chip that is manufactured by Apple. MacBook Air M1 is my first Apple laptop, but previously I have been working with powerful laptops like Lenovo, HP, Toshiba, Acer and, Dell. But actually, the MacBook Air has amazed me during the last six months. It has some cool and unique features. I am using a base model with 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD.
Extremely faster than Intel-based laptops
When compares to Intel-based laptops, I have zero doubts about the performance of the M1 chip. I used it as my developer machine with a number of heavy applications. I usually open many Chrome tabs, a few instances of IntelliJ IDEA with up and running Spring Boot services, VS Code with Angular up and running, Postman, PostgreSQL server, Redis server, and a few Docker instances as well. But my MacBook doesn’t care about the memory or the performance. I didn’t get any stuck situation yet, except when I was working on Safari, I got only one situation, but with Chrome it never happened.
Amazing sound quality
The MacBook Air M1 comes with stereo speakers with amazing sound quality. I have been using an HP EliteBook with Audio by Bang & Olufsen and Acer with TrueHarmony™. But MacBook Air will produce a clear and superb audio experience. MacBook also Supports Dolby Atmos.
Outstanding battery life
I get nearly 14 hours of battery life in normal usage, using it as my development machine. This is pretty enough for me.
Quite silent
The MacBook Air M1 comes with a Fanless design and SSD storage. So it is totally silent. The magic keyboard is also very handy when typing without noise.
It is a developer machine
Yes, this can be used as a developer machine. You may worry about the screen size, but you can plug in a monitor using a USB hub. The performance is incredible, no issues with it. Even though this is a Fanless laptop, I never experienced any heat problems.
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur will support you to work very efficiently without hassle. I have worked with Windows and Linux as well. Compared to both, macOS Big Sur is more powerful and very user-friendly. There are many applications in the App Store to be more productive.
Basic webcam
MacBook Air M1 is loaded with a basic 720p FaceTime HD camera. This is quite good, but it won’t make the best quality video calls.
Only 3 ports
MacBook Air M1 is packed with 3 ports, Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, and a 3.5mm Headphone Jack. One Thunderbolt port can be used for charging. This can be a drawback, but you can use a USB hub.
Finally,
I believe that MacBook Air M1 is a good choice if you are looking for a new laptop to use for programming. In my experience, MacBook Air M1 will make you productive, and save your time without stress. You know the performance is very important while we are programming and doing some development stuff. MacBook Air M1 will exceed your expectations.
Update 20th of November 2021
The OS has been upgraded to macOS Monterey Version 12.0.1.
Everything looks so good except the touchpad issue. As I heard many MacBook Air users are facing this issue. The problem is the touchpad is not functioning well as before. Sometimes it won’t recognize your touch, you may have to tap again. This is a huge breakpoint, because sometimes you may feel, it is better to click instead of touching. Up to now, Apple didn’t provide any update to solve this issue.
