The latest edition to the Macbook Air line-up launched in November 2020, along with the latest Macbook Pro and Mac Mini, creating a milestone in computing technology, thanks to the shiny new ARM-based M1 chip. This new architecture means that the software that usually runs on your Intel or AMD-based system won't work natively on your new Mac, which could cause issues in workflow. However, Apple, intuitive as always, has a solution which we will discuss.
While ARM-based architecture's transition might have growing pains initially, it provides substantial performance increases on applications designed for ARM-based processors. In its key-note, Apple threw around many baseless claims about previous-gen performance increases and windows laptops in the same 'class' as the Mac. Still, now we have actual real-world benchmarks and use-cases we can explore - and it's impressive.
For all of the hardware improvements inside the machine, however, the design of the Mac remains the same as the previous model, with larger bezels and a relatively larger body compared to other ultrabooks available in the windows line-up, such as the regularly-compared Dell XPS 13. We won't further discuss the aesthetic or construction of this Mac for this review, but you can read more about it here.
Let's begin by talking about the new M1 chip that changes everything for the Air. It's an ARM-based chip, the same kind of processor architecture that you will find in mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Apple has created in-house processors for their mobile devices for a long time, with their iPhones and iPads boasting the fastest benchmarks among all of their competitors. Most tech-enthusiasts attribute Apple's mobile devices' class-leading performance to the fact that the pipeline is created and managed almost entirely by Apple themselves. They design the chip architecture, create the software that it runs on, then the device itself. This process allows the software to talk to the hardware more efficiently as the design doesn't have to fit thousands of devices or contain anything that it doesn't need.
Now, with the M1 chip designed in-house by Apple, the Macbook Air benefits from the same development pipeline benefits, along with Apple's extensive experience in developing world-class ARM-based architecture. As ARM has been used typically for mobile-based processors, it also has tremendous power-consumption advantages over traditional desktop-class processors. Lower power consumption is excellent news for laptop battery life and thermal performance - so much so that the Air doesn't need a fan.
As for battery life, the trusty-benchmarkers at Tom's Guide tested both the intel-based 2020 Macbook Air and the new M1 variant and found the results pleasing to those who spend extended periods away from a socket. While the intel-based Air chugged away for a respectable 9 hours and 31 minutes in Tom's Guides' real-world-use battery life test, the M1 variant managed an incredible 14 hours and 41 minutes, 5 hours and 10 minutes more.
The benchmarks aren't only remarkable for power consumption and thermal performance, though. They extend both into synthetic performance benchmarks from Geekbench and Cinebench and directly into real-world use cases in applications supported natively by ARM-based architecture. There are conflicting reports from sources that are biased to one platform or another, with Intel releasing benchmark statistics that put the i7 in a favorable light against the M1, and of course, Apple's own in-house claims, but third party reviewers such as Tom's Guide tend to favor the M1 when comparing native running apps substantially.
But earlier, we spoke of growing pains, and they are an issue. As we discussed, M1 Macs run ARM architecture, meaning that anything that has not been designed explicitly for ARM is emulated by the Mac, using Apple-developed software named Rosetta II. This software is really good at what it does, giving Intel-tier performance to most emulated software, and more importantly, ensuring that your new Mac can run pretty much any software that you need it to until developers such as Adobe start making their products available natively.
However, some emulated products are not running up-to Intel speeds at this moment, such as the current version of Adobe Photoshop. Still, Adobe does have a beta version that you can use, which will vastly improve the performance of its products in the meantime, but as with any beta version, you might run into kinks.
This laptop is one of the best choices for consumers who want to join the Mac family, perhaps to sync with their other Apple devices or those who wish to have a super-reliable, long-lasting workhorse that is completely silent. It also comes in at a great price, the same as the base version of the last model, at $999 or $899 with the student and education discount. This Mac is sure to get better over time, too. With Apple's influence in the creative and tech world, more and more companies are sure to design native ARM-based applications in the future. Essentially, this covers everyone who doesn't need a laptop with a dedicated GPU, such as the 16" Mac, or a windows-based machine for a specific purpose.