Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Air It Is”.
A portion of today’s video is sponsored by opal, hey everyone Travis here, and this might be the best value Mac right now, let’s revisit the M1 MacBook Air in 2024 and see if it’s still worth it or not. The M1 MacBook Air came out in November of 2020, which is crazy. That time has gone by that fast already, but I’ve been using this machine every day ever since it released for the better part of the first two years of me using this computer. It was my everyday machine here at work and after the Mac Studio came out. I used it intend and with that, as my work laptop and honestly when this first came out, it exceeded expectations, because I was coming from a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro with a core I9 chip, and this computer could pull its own weight with its M1 chip. And now that it’s been a few years – and it’s had its successor with the m213 and 15-in MacBook airs Apple – still sells this M1 MacBook Air as its base level.
Machine Apple sells it at a price of $ 9.99. But if you look at other retailers like Best Buy, you can commonly see this on sale for $ 7.49 and for that price of 750 bucks. I really think that this might be the best choice for anybody. That’S looking to get a Mac in 2024.
That’S not trying to break the bank and when we’re looking at that sale price, it’s about $ 200 cheaper than the M2 version of the 13in and about $ 500 cheaper than the M2 version of the 15in, and this thing can definitely still pull its own weight. With everyday tasks being a breeze and even some light, creative work now, let’s talk about the design of this MacBook and it’s essentially a 2018 Intel MacBook Air with a apple silicon chip inside, and I still do appreciate the wedge shape that this has, which is a Nod to the original MacBook Air, the portability and size of this machine is on point and it doesn’t feel like a nuisance at all to carry around with me everywhere I go and in terms of age. I still think that this design holds up very well.
The keyboard and trackpad are very comfortable for a computer of this size and it’s definitely one of the better keyboards Apple’s made in the last DEC decade. The speakers are good with decent volume and Clarity, especially considering the fact that this machine is still very thin, and the port selection is what it is, which is just two USBC ports. I do appreciate that the newer model MacBook Air has brought back Mac safe, but considering that most things are USBC these days, it’s not that bad. If you use an external monitor with this Mac, like a studio display or an LG ultrafine, or you have a docking solution at your desk, that really takes care of the port problem. The battery life on this machine is really great, especially if you’re doing light tasks. This thing can last for a really long time, and the battery in this particular computer is sitting at 88 % battery health, which, over the last 3 years of usage, is pretty good.
The display on this computer is really great. It’S got 400 nits of brightness very accurate colors and it has a decent resolution of 2560 x600. The only caveat here is the fact that, if you’re, using the proper Retina Display scaling mode of 1280 x 800 to have double the amount of pixels on the screen with no scaling, the real estate on this computer could be a little Limited.
I would say the only really weak link of this computer is the 720p FaceTime camera, which has been around forever and that’s where a device like the Tad poll from today’s video sponsor opal comes into play. This is an incredibly small but very great webcam. That literally Clips onto the top of your laptop and in this case, significantly upgrades the quality of the webcam in this MacBook Air or any other laptop for that matter.
And when comparing the tadpole to the built-in FaceTime camera on the M1 MacBook Air, the quality is night and day so for those of you that do a ton of of remote work or video conferencing, this thing is super clutch. The built-in clip is very convenient and attaches right to the top of your machine, making it very easy to attach and remove and doesn’t have a large footprint in this tiny package is a Sony image sensor that provides very good image quality and, alongside that, a directional Microphone system that’s great for any sort of video conferencing. I do appreciate the fact that it has a built-in braided USBC cable, with a tie to keep things nice and tidy. Additionally, the USBC connector has a physical capacitive mute button button that allows you to mute.
The camera without having to mess with inapp controls for more info about the opal tadpole check out the link in the video description and be sure to use the promo code TLD for 25 % off. Thank you again to opal for sponsoring this portion of today’s video. Now that the design of the M1 MacBook Air is out the way, let’s talk, performance and look. This is a vanilla, M1 chip and I have to keep expectations realistic When comparing to some of the newer model Macs that have come out in the last few years. But this thing is more than capable enough for the everyday tasks and even packs a little bit of a punch to be able to do some light, creative work and when using this machine, apps launch very fast and are quick and responsive to clicks and keyboard input. It still feels really good, even after a 3 and a half years later, and another thing to note here is that this machine is a fanless passively cooled Mac.
So if you’re using it in a quiet environment, it’s super silent and you don’t hear those fans ramping up like some of those old Intel Maxs did. And yes, it does get a little warm if, if you’re pushing it very hard like doing some video editing or photo editing – or maybe even some like gaming on it. But it’s really only going to be where the logic board sits at the top half of the machine above the keyboard, and it’s not really that hot in comparison to some of the Macs of the Intel era. Now, with that M1 chip, it does include a neural engine – that’s 16 cores, as well as a media engine, but that media engine does not include any prores or av1 support. So if you are editing footage that was shot in h264 or HC, those codecs are accelerated, and here are some quick benchmarks on how this machine Stacks up to some of the newer Mac models. As this Mac is aging into its fourth year, I really haven’t.
Had the feeling that it’s that much slower than the other machines that have released after it when it comes to the basic level things price is very important to consider when buying a new computer in 2024 and and these computers can be regularly found for $ 749, Namely, at Best Buy or if you’re, looking open box or used can be in the low 600s for a student business user or a everyday user that needs a machine, that’s reliable and fast and doesn’t break the bank. This can do it for 750 bucks and if you consider the fact that you can toss in an iPad to go along with it for school you’re really around. That ,000 Mark editor Travis here, and I wanted to comment on the performance of this machine for editing. This video on this computer and, to be honest, it’s actually pretty dang good as per usual with our videos. It is fx6 footage in this case it is slog 3 edited in Final Cut Pro and we are using some plugins from motion VFX and it actually felt pretty decent.
I had Stevie jump in and scroll through the timeline and do a little bit of color correction. As well as throw in some plugins – and he even said that it didn’t really feel like he was editing on a MacBook Air, it felt as normal which his normal is an M2 Max MacBook Pro. The only things I found to be a little limiting was the fact that the screen is just it’s a little small.
So if you have an external monitor that takes care of that and the two Port situations, so one is dedicated to the Samsung T9 SSD and the other was bouncing back and forth between power and our card reader. But overall, if I still had to use this as my daily driver Mac, it could still do the job and if you can find one with 16 gigs of ram in it, whether it’s an old stock at Best, Buy or B .