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2020 M1 Macbook Air Initial Thoughts

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Durham, NC

As discussed in my previous post, I decided to trade-in my 2019 16" MacBook Pro and replace it with a new 2020 M1 MacBook Air. So far, I think making the swap was a terrific idea. Here are my initial thoughts…

Background (what I ordered)

The M1 Air Box
The MacBook Air Box.

To recap, I got the ‘second tier’ 2020 M1 MacBook Air (Silver, 8 gpu cores, 512GB ssd) and upgraded the RAM to 16Gb. I wanted to maintain the same RAM and storage that my MBP had. After an eternity (3+ weeks), the air was delivered.

What I Like

The M1 Air Side
Side of the MacBook Air.

First, lets start with the good. There is a lot to say here, but these are my main thoughts:

The instant wake is nicer than I thought it would be.
New tabs in my terminal lagged for some reason on the MBP. Not on the Air.

What Could be Better

My old MacBook Pro and the new M1 Air
The Air has thicker bezels compared to my old 16-inch MacBook Pro.

What’s… Different?

The M1 Air Keyboard
The MacBook Air does not have a touchbar.

There were a few things that were neither good nor bad, just different coming from an Intel 16" MBP:

Conclusions

The M1 Air with Coffee
The MacBook Air with my coffee.

This laptop has been remarkable. It reminds me of some of my previous portable laptops, like the x230 thinkpad and my x201e. That is a good thing. I loved both of those computers and their ability to be thrown in a bag on the go. It is a setup that pairs nicely with a powerful workstation, which I currently have. While the air has about the same footprint as both of those previous laptops, it is thinner, lighter, has more screen space, and is magnitudes more powerful. I can’t complain with that.

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Jenkins Parallel Stashing Traded my 2019 16" MacBook Pro for a M1 MacBook Air