Apple announced its transition to ARM based chips from Intel at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Since then, the company has released the MacBook Air, the 13” base MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini – all powered by the new M1 chip. The company has named the new chip as ‘Apple Silicon’.
The M1 MacBook Air has been out for almost three months now. All the initial reviews of the product have been extremely positive. However, the long term review is the most important and the most crucial piece. I have been using the base variant of the machine for almost two months now. From my experience, I can say that the product is a major upgrade over the previous generation.
Same exteriors, new internals
While the exterior of the machine is the same, there are major differences on the inside. Of course, the chip is the most major change, there are other notable changes as well. The processor is very power efficient, as the company’s mobile SoCs have been for years – the gold standard of the industry. The efficiency also means that the new M1 MacBook Air does not generate any noticeable heat while has allowed Apple to not include a fan in the machine.
The other slightly noticeable difference from the previous generation MacBook Air has to be the (slightly) improved webcam. While it’s not in the league of 1080p cameras, it is a fair upgrade over the previous version. Apple touted its new ‘machine learning’ technologies which are able to improve the quality of the camera without requiring a new hardware system altogether.
Apple continues to sell the Intel version of the 13” MacBook Pro and the 16” MacBook Pro. However, the company is reportedly set to replace the Intel version with new Apple Silicon powered machines this year. The M1 MacBook Air has to be the best all-around laptop for casual use, period, at the moment.
