Is Apple MacBook Air M1 Still Worth In 2023

In 2020, the new Apple M1 chip overtook the performance of Intel laptop CPUs. Apple MacBook Air M1 is maintaining the performance and stability in 2023 as well. Macbook Air M1 chip is still running well in multi-tasking and business work and will work well for next 4-5 years. At present, MacBook Air M1 is available at a very low price in the offer, which customers are taking advantage of. But some customers still have confusion about M1 and M2, on social media some are giving advice about buying M1 and some are giving advice to buy M2. Also, Apple created a lot of confusion by slowing down the SSD speed in MacBook Air M2. The MacBook Air M3 will also be launched in September 2023, which creates confusion for those who bought the 3-year-old MacBook M1. Also, the 512GB SSD model in the M1 pro and the similar price of the Apple MacBook Air M2 creates confusion. All MacBooks are good, but which one would be right for you? The answer is in this article.

Apple MacBook Air M1 Specifications

MacBook Air M1 For Study

The MacBook Air M1 is great for 7-8 years of studying and should be able to last for a few more years. Because CPU usage remains normal for study work. This MacBook M1 will handle tasks like multitasking, notes taking, browsing, pdf and Microsoft Office in studies easily without interruption. It will run smooth and stable, which will help you get your work done quickly. About 18 hours of battery backup will also support you for a full day’s work on a full charge.

MacBook Air M1 For Daily Tasks

The MacBook Air M1 is also great with daily tasks as the optimized MacOS handles your entertainment, schedule, and other workloads in a stable manner. The MacBook Air M1 is overpowered for daily tasks.

MacBook Air M1 For Business

The M1 chip and MacOS both combine to provide a stability and performance boost. The MacBook Air M1 is the perfect laptop for business and analysis.

MacBook Air M1 For Video Editing & Music Production

The MacBook Air M1 with 8 Core CPU and 7 Core GPU is a great compact machine for 4K video editing, 3D rendering, audio editing and music production. It has a 16 core neural engine that can do 11 trillion transactions in 1 second with the help of machine learning (ML). If you are looking for a stable, secure and powerful machine in a low budget, then the MacBook Air M1 is for you. Even though this machine is 3 years old, but even today it is capable of doing 4k editing work.

MacBook Air M1 For Gaming

MacBook Air M1 is not made for gaming but still you can play light games. Its 7 Core GPU will run old games like GTA 5 smoothly. None of the Apple devices are made for proper gaming.

Read: – $800 Gaming/Editing PC Build

Performance:
MacBook Air M1 has 8core CPU and 8core GPU chip. The M1 chip outperforms the newer Intel 12th and 13th gen CPUs. Also, it is ahead of the new Windows laptops (Intel Core i5/i7 or Ryzen 7000series laptop CPU) in every respect. Capable of maintaining both speed and stability.

Features:
Tight security is available in MacBook Air M1 which keeps your storage and other apps data end to end encrypted.
It has fast fingerprint unlock which enhances apple pay and device security.
It has Dolby Atmos supported stereo speakers which are placed on both the right and left sides of the keyboard.
It sports a backlit Magic Keyboard and has a Force Touch trackpad that supports features like cursor control and multi-touch gestures.
It has 720p HD camera which is optimized by Mac OS for video calling and photos.
MacBook Air M1 works smoothly in the Apple ecosystem, it syncs easily with ipad, iphone, apple watch and other MacBook.

Display:
It features 13.3 inch (2560×1600) IPS retina backlit-LED True Tone display with 227ppi (pixel per inch) & 400nits brightness. Display is good for indoor work.

Design:
Macbook Air M1 comes with a thick back and thin front design when folded.
The laptop looks and feels very slim and premium to hold.
The Apple logo in the back center and the MacBook branding on the bezel below the display on the front.
The front design is similar to a typical laptop but the quality is good.
It weighs 1.29 kg, measures 11.97 inches in width and 1.61 inches in height from the front.
The laptop comes with aluminum build, the overall build quality is good.

RAM & Storage: 8GB & 256GB (Starting Variant)

Ports & Buttons:
2 Thunderbolt 3(40Gbps)/ 2 USB Ports (40Gbps + 10Gbps)
3.5mm audio jack
charging jack

Connectivity:
bluetooth 5.0
WiFi 6

Battery & Charging:
49.9Watt Battery & 30Watt Charger

Colours:
Gold, Silver & Space Gray

Apple MacBook Air M1 Pros

• The M1 chip is stable, fast and secure.
• The exterior design is attractive.
• There is dedicated hardware security.
• Price is good.

Apple MacBook Air M1 Cons

• 3 years old.
• Display design is outdated.
• Camera is 720p.

Read: – $600 Gaming PC Build

Apple MacBook Air M2 Specifications

Performance: MacBook Air M2 has 8 core cpu, upto 10 core GPU and 16 core neural engine. Works well in tasks like 4k video editing and 3D rendering.

• Features:
• MacBook Air M2 offers ProRes, ProRes Raw & ProRes (Encode/Decode engine) which plays a good role in video editing softwares like Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro.
• The special thing in MacBook Air M2 is that its quad speakers are placed under the keyboard, so that the sound is heard from the keyboard.
• There is a notch in the middle of the display which makes sense as notifications appear on the left/right side of the desktop/laptop.
• Inside it is a 1080p FHD camera which gives better quality with the help of software optimized.
• Apple Pay and device security are strengthened with the help of Touch ID (fingerprint reader).

Display:
MacBook Air M2 features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina 2560×1664 LED-backlit IPS display with 1 billion colors, True Tone technology, and 500 nits of brightness. The display is good for indoor work, less visible in direct sunlight.

Design: MacBook Air M2 comes with boxy uniform design which is visually appealing.
The MacBook has the Apple logo on the back and is clean on the front.
It has a bezel less Notch display which adds to its beauty.
MacBook Air M2 weighs 1.24Kg. But its body is strong and gives a solid and premium feel when held in the hand.

• Ports & Buttons:
• Magsafe 3 charging port
• 2 Thunderbolt 3/ 2 USB (3.1 Gen 2 + 4.0)
• 3.5mm audio jack

• Connectivity:
• bluetooth 5.0
• WiFi 6

Battery & Charging: 52.6Whr battery & 30W charger (inside box). 67 watt charging is also supported, for which the charger will have to be bought separately.

Colors: Space Gray, Midnight, Silver & Starlight

Apple MacBook Air M2 Pros

• Being a new model, more updates will be available.
• MacBook has the latest Notch design for the first time.
• The M2 chip has support for ProRes, ProRes Raw (Decode/Encode) which is helpful in video editing.
• Uniform design and premium body.

Apple Macbook Air M2 Cons

• Compared to the previous M1 model, the M2’s SSD speed is half as low.
• Not for gaming.
• Price is high.

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Apple M1 Chip Vs M2 Chip

According to Apple the M2 chip is 1.4x faster than the M1 chip but in reality only 20% CPU and 30% GPU faster. However, the M2 chip is an optimized model and is stable. The Apple M1 was the first chip to have some bugs that were fixed in the M2. Apple M1 chip has support for 8 core CPU and upto 8 core GPU. But the M2 chip has support for 8 core CPU and 10 core GPU. The Apple M2 chip has support for ProRes Encode/Decode which the M1 chip does not. Both the 5nm chips are optimized and perform well with no fan heating control. Both have 16 core neural engines, but the M1 has 16billion transistors while the M2 has 20billion transistors. The M2 chip has support for up to 24GB memory and 100GB/s memory bandwidth. Both the chips have up to 2TB storage support. Both the chips come with hardware level security which keeps the user’s data protected. Overall M2 chip is minor better than M1 chip.

Read: – Elon Musk Buys xAI

Apple MacBook Air M1 Vs Apple MacBook Air M2

We compared design, performance, display, features, ports & buttons, connectivity, battery & charging with conclusion.

Design: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

The main difference between the MacBook Air M1 and the MacBook Air M2 is the design. Apple has given the Macbook Air M2 a uniform boxy design, with the Apple logo on the back enlarged and the MacBook branding removed from the front. While the MacBook Air M1 follows the typical style, the front is thinner than the back. It has the Apple logo on the back and the MacBook branding on the front.
The MacBook M1 has visible speakers on either side of the keyboard, while the MacBook M2 has speakers under the keyboard that are not visible. Modern notch design bezel less display is available in MacBook Air M2.

Performance: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

MacBook Air M1 has 8 Core CPU, Upto 8 core GPU and 16 core Neural Engine. Whereas MacBook Air M2 has 8 core CPU, upto 10 core GPU and 16 core neural engine. M1 has 16 core neural engine with 16 billion transistors while M2 has 20 billion transistors which helps in machine learning. Overall MacBook M2 is almost 20% faster than MacBook M1. MacBook Air M2 supports hardware level ProRes (Encoding/Decoding) which is helpful in video editing and rendering while MacBook M1 does not have it.
The SSD speed of the MacBook Air M1 is twice as fast as that of the MacBook Air M2. Apple has reduced the SSD speed of the MacBook Air M2 to draw attention to the MacBook Pro model’s.

Display: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

The MacBook Air M1 sports a 13.3-inch display and 400 nits brightness, while the MacBook Air M2 sports a slightly larger 13.6-inch display and 500 nits brightness. Both the displays have 2K resolution, Retina, IPS and True Tone technology. The display of MacBook Air M2 looks more attractive with notch design and liquid retina. The MacBook Air M1 has a Backlit-LED display.

Features: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

• Hardware level ProRes (Encode/Decode) is available in Macbook Air M2 while MacBook Air M1 does not have this feature.
• The SSD speed of MacBook Air M1 is twice that of MacBook Air M2 which can attract customers towards MacBook Air M1.
• Overall M2 chip is 20% faster than M1 chip.
• The Touch ID (fingerprint scanner) of the MacBook Air M2 is slightly larger than that of the MacBook Air M1.
• Upto 10 core GPU model is available in MacBook Air M2 whereas max 7 core GPU model is available in MacBook Air M1.
• The MacBook Air M2 weighs 1.24kg and the MacBook Air M1 weighs 1.29kg.
• The MacBook Air M2 has a 1080p webcam while the MacBook Air M1 has a 720p webcam.
• The MacBook Air M1 has dual stereo speakers while the MacBook Air M2 has quad Dolby Atmos stereo speakers placed below the keyboard.

Ports & Button: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

Mage Safe 3 Charging Port (Only in M2 Model)
Display Port (Both Models)
2 Thunderbolt 3 Port/ 2 ( USB 4 (40Gbps) + USB 3.1 Gen1 (10Gbps) ) (Both Models)
3.5mm Audio Jack (Both Models)

Connectivity: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

Same WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are supported in both.

Battery & Charging: MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

MacBook Air M1 has 49.9 Watt-Hour battery and 30 watt charging. While MacBook Air M2 has 52.6 watt-hour battery and upto 67 watt charging.
The 10 Core GPU / 512GB SSD variant of MacBook Air M2 gets a 67 watt charger in the box.

Read: – Is AMD Ryzen 5 5600x still worth in 2023

Conclusion – MacBook Air M1 Vs MacBook Air M2

The MacBook Air M1’s SSD speed is twice as fast as the M2 model, which is why users upgrading from the MacBook M1 to the M2 are unhappy. Also the M2 variant is $200 costlier than the M1 variant which is not worth it features wise. However, the MacBook Air M2 Notch display looks modern and boxy in design, which makes it different from the M1 variant. Apart from this, the M2 chip has a dedicated ProRes (Encode/Decode) feature which is not present in the M1. Battery backup of both M1 and M2 is also same. In the end, according to Hiterview Opinion, taking MacBook Air M1 as compared to MacBook Air M2 is appropriate for those who have a low budget. If someone likes the new hardware and Notch design, then he can buy MacBook Air M2.

Colour: midnight (blue/black), starlight (new)