How the MacBook Air saved the Mac

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Throughout Apple's history there have been many transformative moments; the 1984 Macintosh, the 1998 iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, etc. But one has gone almost totally unrecognized: the MacBook Air. In today's video we'll uncover the secret history of the MacBook Air, how it's initial failure pushed Apple towards a destiny with Apple Silicon. The humble lightweight laptop was never very powerful, but it changed the computer industry and Apple in a big big way.
Time stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:49 Original MacBook Air
2:42 Initial failures
5:46 Sponsored segment
7:42 Second gen MacBook Air
8:40 Apple Silicon seed was planted 12 years ago
9:57 Second gen updates
10:38 Third generation MacBook Air
12:50 Modern Apple
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[@Ashkevron]

That moment when Steve Jobs pulls the first MBA out of that envelope, has to be one of the best product reveals of all time. Props to the person who thought that up,

[@ImAFutureGuitarHero]

Also when he revealed the iPod Nano by pulling it out of the coin pocket in his jeans to show how tiny it really was

[@Lei_D]

@@ImAFutureGuitarHero So that was really for coins? Wow thank you, one of the great mystery of life is solved!

[@ImAFutureGuitarHero]

@@Lei_D I have no idea personally, thats what I've heard anyway

[@absk601]

@@ImAFutureGuitarHero it is a watch pocket back in the days when they had pocket watches with a chain

[@ImAFutureGuitarHero]

@@absk601 Ok yeah that makes sense actually

[@SilentEire]

I absolutely LOVE the M1 Air. It genuinely changed how I prepare my work and papers for college. Every other laptop I ever owned was an absolute pain to use but Air is just fantastic. It’s quick, quiet, affordable, and powerful. I know that I’ll probably need to upgrade to a more powerful system when I graduate, and get to work in my field but I plan to keep Air for basic tasks until it breaks; or maybe I’ll give it to a sibling. It’s an amazing device 💪👌

[@jameswaters5133]

Agreed. The M1 Air is the best MacBook for most people, especially now second-hand prices have got it down to half the price of the M2 Air. I love M1 my MacBook Air - it's the best computer I've ever owned.

[@tuckercoffin2164]

I never bought a Mac because they always seemed too overpriced for their intel chips. With m1 I was so amazed and I am still very happy to have this laptop

[@techtipsuk]

You talk sense sir

[@Maglcite]

@Jaquan Kelsor excuse me did you read reverse

[@BotanistOnDuna]

@Jaquan Kelsor windows is complete shit. since im a techy user, and a gamer, linux suits my needs best. but for the average person, a mac is the only logical choice.

[@londospark7813]

Apple Silicon made the Air viable for me. The price of a refurb M1 one (yeah, I'm tight) made it a genuinely good value for money laptop. Would never have considered an Air before that.

[@jameswaters5133]

Same. I was recently able to afford a second-hand M1 Air when I could never have bought a new one back in 2008.

[@craigfisher1937]

M1 Macs are stupid value now, I paid £600 for mine used in brand new condition with 10 months warranty remaining. For that money nothing else even comes close let alone competes.

[@christiantan5341]

arguably, M1 mba was peak macbook air

[@claudiuemanuell]

@@christiantan5341 Still is, I got mine some days ago and it's really good, it's my first mac ever and I love it.

[@beitie]

Writing this with my 2020 M1 Air. Love it! It's the first Apple laptop that I bought new, and I'm really glad that I get to use it and enjoy it. I am a pretty light user, mostly just web browsing, videos, and from time to time I use it to record audio.

[@peat381low8]

The 2018 MacBook Air was my first mac 💻 too brand new. Man was it light. Still lighter than the iPad Pro with keyboard or a MacBook Pro 13

[@EstelonAgarwaen]

The m1 air was my technically second, after a 4th gen ipod touch, apple device. it is a laptop that just makes sense in the market because it is not more expensive than other premium laptops and its performance and the overall package you get are great.

[@cash3612]

The M1 MacBook Air is the only Air I’ve ever purchased. It’s groundbreaking processor and phenomenal performance convinced me to finally buy a MacBook that didn’t say “Pro”…. and I have zero regrets.

[@bibasik7]

The 2010-2017 generation was the best in my opinion. It was and still is iconic. You can still find people using these out in the wild today. They had an easily replaceable battery, decent cooling (not a piece of aluminum foil), and a robust design.

[@thehobnob]

Especially the Haswell iteration - that’s when the battery life went from “impressive for something so thin” to “absolutely ridiculous how do you even kill this thing in a day”

[@jochenloscher2308]

I still use a 2011 MacBook Air which I bought for 250 € in 2017. It was deaf-mute when I got it. Bought a replacement used audio board for about 30 € which made it speak and hear again and still love and use it till this day. In the meantime Safari is pretty outdated, but with Google Chrome surfing the net is not a problem at all. Next will be a new battery. It's not going to retire anytime soon, even though my new MacBook Pro is so much more capable.

[@thiagotatagiba]

And upgradable ssd. The last generation that it is possible.

[@m-stat9]

also ports

[@brandonspies]

Most people give those bulky silver bezels crap today, but they really added to the durability of that machine. You can drop one on the corner and many times it lives. Even with crumpled corners. My kids are required to have a computer for school starting towards the end of elementary school. I chose 2015 MacBook Airs several years ago. I wanted cheap with AppleCare, they wanted small. win win. My son is in 11th grade and this school year, I just now replaced his still RUNNING air with a new MacBook. Over the years that thing has been USED and ABUSED. Dropped off desks with thumb drives sticking out the ports. Dropped on corners, hundreds of hours of papers written on it since 2015. Seeing the durability of these machines I got my younger daughters used ones. My middle child's was bought used efurbished on sale from MicroCenter for $350. It lived till last year when my daughter accidentally knocked a soda over on the table doing homework. I replaced it with a new MacBook, as she's in middle getting ready to enter high school and up till that moment had been the easier on her devices than even my son. I then found a used one eBay for $80 with a shattered screen and salvaged the screen of the water damaged Mac to make a usable computer. That computer today is now serving my youngest in elementary school. These things are cheap and just won't die unless you pour water on them and still excellent for Microsoft Office, google docs, and web browsing in education. An absolute shame they are starting to see end of support by Apple!

[@emilyquinn5047]

Love my M1 2020 Air. The finless design is a godsend for cramped studio spaces where your laptop may very well be 3 inches away from your mic. Nothing ruins audio faster than fan noises.

[@sxifster2144]

MacBook Air can be made for the case of the greatest price for performance over the last 2 years.

[@eurihub]

True!

[@lawsong6663]

Basically just the 2020 MacBook Air

[@bmwman1029]

I have a 2017 Air I bought for $250 on eBay and it' still absolutely smashes my everyday tasks. I absolutely love how beaaauuttiful it is and how nicely everything just works. As long as it can put me through community college I will be absolutely satisfied with this old puppy. Even though it's support is coming to a close with the release of Ventura, Monterey is such a great version already. Mac OS versions never really seem to age a whole lot anyway unless you're on Mavericks or older.

[@brentsmithline3423]

At its best with the M1 wedge design. Only thing fell Apple needs to look at using in all its products that do not have a fan is vapor cooling chambers. Loved the original wedge design of the MacBook Air when Steve pulled it out of the interoffice envelopes with string 10x13 I though I would get this in a heartbeat if I only had a need for a laptop. I did not have a need for a laptop so stayed with my desktop iMac. Even today I have no real need for a laptop. Thing was in March Apple did not come out with a basic M1 5K 27-inch iMac to replace my now obsolete 2014 5K 27-inch iMac with 2TB SSD. So I was looking hard at the M1 MacBook Air, and the M1 Mac mini. Why did I not purchase the Mac mini? Almost came down to flip of a coin M1 Mac mini, or M1 MacBook Air. Thing is with the M1 MacBook Air, and an external monitor like the Studio Monitor I can set these up in a two screen configuration if I want to. Also the M1 MacBook Air gives me the option to take it with me, and use remotely if I have the need. Thing is when my M1 MacBook Air becomes obsolete I will more than likely install a Linux distribution, and use it around the house as a content consumption device. So I purchased a MacBook Air M1 chip with 8‑core CPU, 7‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine, 16GB unified memory, 2TB SSD storage. Apple should not make any Mac laptop, or desktop with less than16 GB shared memory "Fight the swap!", and 512 GB SSD storage. After using my M1 MacBook Air since March with 16 GB shared memory, and monitoring it with iStat menus I see that I do not see it using swap at all, most all of the time. I hate swap so if you feel like I do that you want data to always be in memory for fastest access, and also cut down on the wear, and tear on your SSD storage purchase a Mac with 16 GB shared memory. My hope is that Apple keeps the Jony, and Steve M1 MacBook Air design around as a SE entry level marketing 101 $ 999.00 version of the MacBook Air. Just keep it with the previous version M series SOC for normals who just do things like eMail, surf the web, and watch your KZbin type clips.

[@bigbubba0439]

I have an M1 MacBook Air with 8 gigs of ram, 7-core gpu, and 128 gigs of storage (the last one hits me the hardest, since I hate having to constantly scour my system to make sure I don't run out of storage. My school chose the storage :(. ). I do frequently run into using swap, even when I'm not frying the machine playing Minecraft or anything like that. I'll have Word open, some tabs in Brave, and OneNote and To-Do and use like a gig of swap. Pretty annoying, especially since my specific computer probably has worse ssd performance because it has a single NAND chip like the M2

[@Cappyey]

@@bigbubba0439 how do you have a 128GB M1 MBA? The base storage amount is 256GB with two NAND chips, there’s no option for one NAND chip.

[@bigbubba0439]

@@Cappyey That's what I'm wondering! I guess for education they cut down the storage so they can discount the MBA (so I think the 128 gig version is $899 instead of $999). When I go into the storage section of the computer it shows "[number of gigs used] out of 115 gigabytes"

[@Cappyey]

@@bigbubba0439 tbh $100 dollars isn’t worth losing half your SSD storage and speed, but they have to buy a lost of these so I get why $100 dollars equates to a lot.

[@bigbubba0439]

@@Cappyey I agree. After all, throughout our time at the school, we pay off the computers until when we graduate (which is when we have total ownership of the computers). It sucks that they cheaped out since I am always having to check to make sure I'm not running out of storage. That's my only major gripe with the computer

[@mariodasilva8729]

This is a great stepped review of the AIRs. Love the tech comparisons,... A right PROPER review! Thank you!

[@alanguile8945]

It has to be the M1 with 16GB RAM and 512 storage, a beast of a machine and I love the wedge!

[@Lupos-F]

Great video Luke. i personally am at my 3rd air. i changed my icebook g4 14" with a 13" 2010, but quickly realised that my wife's 11" was simply better for everyday use, and so i got an 11" too in 2012. i still think that was the real deal. powerful enough, VERY portable. i still miss it. when i finally changed it last year, NINE years after buying it, i got an m1. but it's too large, too heavy. everyone trying to open a 13"+ laptop in a cramped airline economy seat would've loved the 11" form factor and the

[@hr-qe6io]

I just purchased my first MacBook and it is the M1 Air. I was waiting for the 2022 version to come out but other than being beautiful, I could not really justify paying more for the M2 when according to reviews, the M1 still does the job just as well. Also, I got this machine on a discount so it was significantly cheaper than M2. I am a designer and I find that the Air can actually be suitable for professional use if you upgrade from the base model (you should). I love how fast, portable and light this machine is and absolutely quiet. Definitely a big change from my old windows laptop.

[@paulvanobberghen]

Still have and operate my 2017 MacBook Air, which I’ve upgraded to 512Gb of NVMe storage and I just love it. Not my main machine, but every time I’m using it, I have a smile on my face. I even start it, on occasions, just for the fun. And it runs Monterey quite well. No Retina display though, but I don’t mind much as when I use it, it’s mostly connected to a PJ anyways, and running Windows 10 in Bootcamp, which is not possible with M1 or M2 MacBook Air currently. My next Mac will be a M2 Pro Mac Mini with a nice 5K monitor, to replace my i5 2015 iMac.

[@theartistchair_]

The production quality is amazing

[@EcclesiaToday]

Thanks for the history lesson. You’re good!

[@daviddenoncourt757]

I had the 2013 MB Air for 8 years, incredible machine! Swapped it last year for the M1 MB Pro and it's quite the upgrade but the MBA served me well all those years!

[@vince51123]

For me, M1 Air is the best. Not as expensive as the new M2, but almost as powerful.

[@ImmortalChanger]

My parents were Apple users for most of their lives and always bought the MacBook Air series. They bought new Airs some months ago, one is an Intel 2020 (I think) and the other is the M1. Needless to say the M1 is SO much better than the Intel one, namely because of the thermal throttling in the latter. My dad, who bought the Intel one, reports thermal throttling, slow downs, and very loud fans and says his early 2015 works way better than the more modern one. I still have my mom’s previous Airs (late 2010 11 inch which barely works and a mid 2012 one which works great and I still use it) and it’s great to see that they revived the series with the M1 chip.

[@perdanakarim1]

I recently swtiched to MacOS with the Macbook Air M2 after decades of only using Windows machines. Dare I say this has been the best decision I've made so far. It has completely changed the way I do my work; I no longer need to worry if my machine is capable or not; all I need to do is simply try if it works or not on the Macbook Air M2. I chose the M2 over the M1 because since this is my first Mac, I might as well get the latest model while I'm at it. I've had this for over two weeks, and I have zero complaints. All I have are nothing but praises for this machine. Although the price of admission was steep, as day passed by it has proven itself to be worth every single penny. And this is just the base model too! The Macbook Air will surely be a staple for my future upgrades!

[@snappy4368]

Amazing video! I can tell you worked hard and did your research! My favorite is probably the second generation. They always just worked and got the job done, and I loved how light and portable they were. During there time the designs looked great, though looking back on it now i will admit the design is a bit dated (especially the bezles eugh). I did like the m1 macbook air, as the design looked pretty nice and it sounds decently powerful, and I really like the new macbook air as well, but I am hesitant to go new those laptops due to there fanless designs as I would rather have my ears blasted out with constant fan noise then have my computer thermal throttle from high heat. And another worry I have about the fanless macbooks is future use, as technology will move forward, and one day those m2 and m1 chips will start to become more stressed out by more intense programs in the future, and will heat up faster and more constantly, and the computers could thermal throttle like crazy at those times due to the lack of fan to help the processor keep up with the high load, and if i'm spending 1000+ dollars on a computer i def wanna make sure that's never a possibility. That's partially why I liked the second gen macbook airs better, because I'm pretty sure they have a active cooling system.

[@YashAtishay]

I got a 2014 11" MacBook Air back when I was in college back in 2014, it still works; in fact am watching this on it. Now year given the battery life is crap and it's slow but her for zoom calls, watching KZbin and general computing this thing still kicks ass!

[@funny.onix_ar]

Watched This On My 2017 Gen. The Design Performance Wise Everything I Love It Sm!!

[@SPTSuperSprinter156]

I've got an 11" MBA, the same gen as the second from the left in your lineup. Mid 2015. I dailied it for a few years, still use it regularly. Battery still holds up great and in a pinch I can even use it to edit photos on the go. I really lament that Apple dropped this size, as it was one of the only netbooks worth having that had any measurable amount of power.

[@alexchiarelott8902]

Had the 2017 MacBook Air that I’ve been using for 4.5 years and just got the 14 base MacBook Pro. Insane upgrade… the old Air’s pre M1 are borderline unusable now

[@Nolongrused]

I have the 2019 MBA, with the i5-8210y chip and it is physically unusable, constantly thermal throttles, idles at 60% cpu after full factory reset, constantly crashes on sleep and cannot even run safari without getting to 100 degrees celcius cpu temperature.

[@bigbubba0439]

@@Nolongrused I've seen videos of that one, and it's crazy that you have to install a program to prevent turbo boosting just so you don't get the issue you're talking about (it's by MaxTech in case you're wondering). I think after like 2016 Apple slacked out with their products so they could have more resources dedicated to developing Apple Silicon, and to juxtapose their bad products from past years with an actually good product to get people on board with M1

[@Nolongrused]

@@bigbubba0439 I’ve already installed that program, and I’m still having the same issues.

[@bigbubba0439]

@@Nolongrused Odd. I don't have that computer, so I don't really know what else to say besides the typical "close programs your not using" type of stuff. Another recommendation I have is to install Macs Fan Control and run the fans at a higher speed to prevent thermal throttling. Look at MaxTech's video called something along the lines of "make macbook air run faster." It should be from 2019.

[@Nolongrused]

@@bigbubba0439 I have done that, factory reset, closed all applications yadayada etc etc. Need a new MacBook as the warranty was up 2 yr ago.

[@andykoeltz7778]

My first MBA was mid 2015 and it was just "ok" for me. I purchased the M2 MBA in August and have 100% fallen in love with this machine. I'm a huge fan of the design (never did care for the wedge design), the trackpad is responsive as ever, I love typing on this and the minimal design is exactly what I was looking for. I for one am a fan of the fact they left the "MacBook Air" logo off. For my workflow throttling hasn't been an issue. I bought the base model and again for my workflow (I'm in sales so I do a lot of spreadsheets, presentations, etc) I haven't noticed any issue with the read/write speeds of the SSD. I also store most of my content and files in the cloud and use CleanMyMac X so storage space hasn't been an issue (still have 194 GB available several months after purchasing). Granted I never used the M1, I feel like the M2 is completely justified in price to performance and look forward to using it for years to come.

[@jmal]

The 2nd-generation Air (mine's an Early 2015 13-inch) was my vital lifeline when I was in college. Saved my work, saved my grades, and saved my back. It's still alive, kicking, and serves as a decent daily driver since I gave it some new life in the form of a new SSD and battery. At some point, I'll have to say goodbye to it when the security updates stop, but even after that, it'll still remain the best laptop I ever owned.

[@Wojnar33]

I just recently got a 2013 11" one, and as a second or third computer it´s size and perfomance are really great.

[@aletskun3877]

I've had a 2013 11' model for almost 10 years now. I used it for college (I studied digital arts and design, so it got a lot of Photoshop and Maya usage), for illustration, for gaming and it has been awesome. Yeah, it show its age now, but I can still use it for web browsing, watching movies and maybe some light emulation. No regrets on this purchase, 10/10

[@CHiCguitar]

I remember seeing a few people who had 11" Airs when I was in undergrad and they were so light and portable! Adorable but WOW the tiny screen gave them a hard time multitasking.

[@chipandrews2892]

I still have and use my 2nd addition 11 inch Macbook Air. I have Parallels running so I can boot up Windows XP whenever I need to use my GS911 software to help me maintain my 2010 BMW 1200 GSA motorcycle. That laptop has lived in my side case for years and traveled from Alaska, wandering western Canada and all over the L48... without a hitch! That is, if you don't count the fact that the battery gave up the ghost and doubled in size a couple years ago. But a quick browse of the internet, I found a replacement battery on Amazon, tools to open it up at Walmart and 15 minutes to change out the battery. I love old macs and continue to use several of them well beyond what most people would stand for....but the older macs are very Linux friendly!

[@joshualebowitz]

Nice video. I still use my 2013 11 inch MacBook Air over my 2020 M1 MacBook Air. Prefer the form factor and the webcam is actually clearer as well.

[@banihakim2715]

Watched this on my M1 MBA. Gotta say it's my favourite laptop I ever owned so far.

[@davidmfriedman]

i LOVE my 2015 11" MBA. it was the perfect 'commuter' laptop living in my backpack... when i used to GO to work. still use it although i realize it's close to its 'apple EOL' and recently got a 14" M2 MBP refurb as my 2nd computer for work from home.

[@alexis0a]

My very first Mac was a MacBook Air 2010, the only thing I don't like at all was that the keyboard wasn't illuminated, but you can see the keys with the screen light, so a little cool, I was in love with such a light and portable computer, and yes, I used to carry on a envelope haha

[@MarkMcLenaghan]

I love my 2015 MBA I have a 1Tb ssd and life is good. It served we well when teaching online for over a year and is still going.

[@GiancarloCarccamo]

Great video

[@nathanreedy4380]

While I haven't ever owned a Macbook (or IMac) *Yet*, (Will be getting the 15" MBA & the M3 IMac's in 2023) it was for me probably the one that first got the M1 chip (the non-redesigned one) that one & the fact that it got the M1 chip & showed what a Macbook could really do (on A Consumer level) that was the one that raised my eyebrows & caught my eye & attention. While the redesign & the M1 to M2 was good & important, I personally think it was the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon M1 that was the biggest point in regards to the legitimacy & worthwhileness of Mac(s).

[@MinecraftMaster7400]

This Is Cool and Very Good to Know About Apple Laptops and MacBook and I Notice Alot Of differences.

[@DarkDezhel]

I had the 13” 2017 it was my first MacBook ever! And it was very cool and helpful sometimes, but it got really hot more often that I would like to… And now I have an Air 2022 M2, and even with the base model… oh man! I love it!

[@drjones694]

That was a really good video you should do another one like this for the pro

[@christiantan5341]

I used a 2018 macbook air for school -- it was HELL. It would throttle all the time, it was always dropping frames, the fans kicked up when you opened ONE app...The fans don't work on it anymore in case you were wondering. M1 was a comparative lifesaver! -- not sure about M2 which lacks a heatsink...would love a 14" or 16" MacBook Pro though (I wish 😅)

[@Inspectergadget69]

I had the 11 inch MBA from 2015 I think. It was hot property. It was super in Winter time for warming your lap. It had 4G RAM and a 128G SSD...in the end it had to go and was replaced by the M1 which was 100x better and a bit of a miracle...miracles do happen. Hallowed be thy name Steve

[@nayanpati7310]

I have MacBook Air 2019 model and I loved it. It is still working great with great battery life. Although m2 is game changer but back then I had this option. I did zoom calling all day, my college work and project, coding, movies everything it is working great. The only thing that I hate is butterfly keyboard. I am ok with typing quality but oh boy it always becomes sticky with little bit of dust. I have to put keyboard cover. Apart from this I loved it. Easy to carry, can watch movies on the go but in future I will definitely upgrade to silicon ones

[@ryanalencar]

Take care with ur screnn

[@RirtyDascal]

I love my M1 Macbook Air. It's still fantastic and still feels almost new in performance. Super snappy and I can't imagine needing more for my use case anytime soon.

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Nice video! But you really had me mad at the “music replaced for copyright reasons… we all know what it sounds like tho”. I _didn’t_ know what it sounded like… because I was 4 years old at the time lol! I had to pause this video and go on KZbin looking for “original MacBook Air commercial” to get in the zone!

[@DiegoJose-gx8bs]

The introduction of the M1 MacBook Air marked a turning point for me, as I no longer saw the MacBook Pros as essential. In previous years, I had always overlooked the Air and opted for the Pro models. I even held off on purchasing the M1 Air initially because I was intrigued by how Apple would innovate the Air's design with their M-series chips. Eventually, I decided to go for the M2 MacBook Air 15-inch, and I have never regretted that choice. It has been a truly delightful experience using this laptop every day.

[@TheOnjLouis]

I have the last 2020 Intel MBA by choice. I wanted something that I could still run VMWare on, but also still run Logic. It does both quite easily. I picked up the 512GB 16GB I7 version from Apple refurbished and don’t regret it at all. Yep, noisy old fan but when I’m playing live on stage with a full band, can’t hear it anyway. I’m not worried about running huge orchestrated projects on-stage, only one or two sounds at a time, so it handles that without issue. AT home I basically use an M1 Max as a desktop replacement with 64GB RAM and that’s my workhorse machine, but this gig machine doesn’t have to be anywhere near that. I specifically didn’t want an M1 Air because I do need access to windows for work sometimes, and don’t really trust the current M1 offerings that much for my needs. Of course I can make the Intel fall over if I try hard, but I do have to push it to make that happen. It’ll last another couple years I think, before I retire it.

[@tunimation777]

The M1 air was the pinnacle is my opinion as it offered an incredible price, and exceptional performance. I own one myself and it still performs incredibly well to this day. Also, it didn’t have many of the controversies the M2 air had with its slow ssd and such.

[@bricksuntold]

I started to use Macs when I got a new laptop from work (M1 Air) and absolutely loved it! After few months of using it, I bought my own MBP M1 Max. Now my prior 16-core AMD Windows desktop stays switched off most of the time.

[@jefferyjones8399]

I have nostalgic feelings for the MacBook Air. My first Mac was the 2013 model and I used that computer almost daily until it eventually died. I squeezed as much usage out of it as I could. While it didn't quite make its 10th birthday, it served me well as a college laptop for writing, projects, storing music, streaming, and light photo editing. I remember being so frustrated with unreliable Windows laptops (Not to mention absolutely hating Vista and 8) that I gave up on them entirely. My previous laptop was this big, heavy Sony Vaio that starting failing after only a few years. I was a bit unsure since the last time I could recall using an Apple computer was the G3 iMac in elementary school. I liked using those well enough but we always had Windows computers at home. I looked at some product reviews, had some money left over from tax returns and bought it from the university tech store. When I got the Mac, I didn't own an iPhone yet either. While the first Apple products I had personally owned were iPods, it was the MacBook Air that finally convinced me to get an iPhone. Now, I exclusively use Apple products and I am enamored with my M1 machines.

[@lscossar]

I'm a MacBook Air fan, have owned several and currently have the 2020 M1. I occasionally look at older MBA's to buy for friends and family. Would you consider making a video about which used ones to look for and which ones to avoid. I watched the video you made like this for the Pro and found it useful. One curiosity I have about your apparent affection for MacBooks that are no longer supported by Apple. Perhaps you'd consider making a video about how these non-supported MacBooks are useful. Thanks for your great channel!

[@bwilesuk]

Can we just have a round of applause for the great morph-transitions

[@zachg9065]

Back on 2011, my high school switched from having crappy HP Mini netbooks to the 2nd gen 11 inch MacBook Air, everyone loved them and it was the computer that made me fall in love with Macs.

[@mymoodz]

I had a late 2015 version when I first switched to Macs. five years after that I bought a MacBook Pro 2020 (intel version) before the arrival of M1. The older computer is still being used by my brother and still works fantastically.

[@yashkatyan8214]

My first mac is the 2020 M1 air which i got for college almost an year ago and since then...even after surviving a fall..no complaints at all great machine even for demanding coding tasks like android and ios dev

[@ajrhodes3262]

The best MacBook Air I ever used was my 2013, 11 inch model I used in high school. It was a well built machine and it was reliable until Big Sur and then it had some real throttling issues even with a fan. I have a MacBook Pro 14 inch and it’s a really good model, at least in my opinion

[@ajrhodes3262]

Pardon my spelling, Luke. I tweeted at you regarding this comment on this thread lol

[@tomburke5311]

I never had a MBA; I always bought an entry-level M Pro. Yes, it cost more but it seemed to me to bring improvements that, at the time, were worth the extra cost. Last year I looked long and hard at the price and feature differences between the Apple Silicon MB Air & MB Pro, and decided to go all-in with a 14" entry level MB Pro (the differences between US & UK pricing for the latter helped with this decision). I appreciate the Air, and I applaud its success, but it's still Pro for me.

I had the 11 inch gen 2 at the same time I still had my 15 inch BTO Pro. And loved the 11 so much more :D After few weeks I left the Pro on my desk permanently and only used the 11 as a daily driver.

[@Marngel]

The 2018 MBA was actually the first Mac I ever got. Sure it was flawed, but I still thought it was a decent computer, definitely much better compared to the old Windows laptop that I had for 4 years which still had a spinning hard drive. Thankfully, I now have the M1 MacBook Air which is what the 2018 MBA should have been, but better late than never I guess. The M1 Air is definitely the best computer I ever had. Apple Silicon was really the last piece of the puzzle for the machine to be what Steve Jobs wanted.

[@upchur09]

I bought an 11 inch macbook air to take to uni. I absolutely loved that thing.

[@marcusfrederick5040]

I had the 2013 many moons ago when I was a teenager about to go to college. I loved it so much. The portability was perfect to carry to class, I couldn’t imagine lugging around text books and a clunky laptop during that time in life.

[@isaquedasilva9456]

I currently have a MacBook Air with M1 chip and Jesus Christ I LOVE THIS NOTEBOOK, and it's literally the best notebook I've ever had and I don't plan on upgrading it for a long time as it has excellent overall performance for everything I do, it has a great screen , sound, design, keyboard, price and I don't even need to mention the SSD!

[@andrewlau2939]

Hey Luke! One thing you should tackle in your channel is what do you think is the next step for the Macbook Air? With the transition to Apple silicon, have we reached the peak of the Macbook Air's intended marketing use as just "the daily user's mac"? I mean, we're at a point where people are complaining that the Air could go much further when it comes to productivity/ media creation. In the past, it was a no-brainer that the Air line wasn't built to be this way, but now people know that it can. What do you think will be the next big thing for the Macbook Air line?

[@alanpaone]

my 2013 air had a bug that wiped the ssd and i lost a bunch of files, but it was so pretty and the battery life was completely insane, that era of airs was really hard to argue with

[@staterafukumoto]

haven't watched the video in its entirety yet, but apple tends to have this pattern with macs. a one-off tends to set the design language for the remainder of the lineup. i.e. how white iBook g3 (at least starting to) set the design language for the powerbook generation, the original air setting the stage for the unibody era, and the 2015 12" macbook setting the stage for the 2016 MacBook pro design language. for as important as the MacBook pro is, they never really tend to create their own design language. usually it starts with an air or something

[@HYUN295]

I'm watching on 2017Air :) I think it really great budget notebook!! not good display but glowing logo is still super cool

[@RobR386]

I use an M1 air, it was an upgrade from my mid 2012 MBP, I think it's best now, great battery life and it runs rings around my 2015 iMac 5K in performance.

[@nathan91217]

Undoubtedly, the best one is now. However, the first person in my family to get a Mac was my mom (off of my recomendation having used my friends macs) In 2011, she got a second gen 11.6" and to this day, we BOTH miss that thing. No, it wasn't a powerhouse. But it was so dang cute! and it did everything she needed. Which, at the time, was tricking out that farm on facebook.... What a time that was, eh? What I would pay for an m2 11' macbook air...

[@maxscapes430]

Luke I still have a powerbook G4 yjat I can't part with because it still works. Wisk Appl would introduce a modular line that would allow you to swap processors,add internal storage and ram. Even do it for the intel macs!!

[@eggnorman]

The M2 Air is probably the best it's been in quite a few years, all round. The second gen w/ MagSafe 2 is my favourite generation though.

[@AlexandruBurda]

I have a first version MBAir (yes, the one so much scorned in your videos 😅) with a changed HDD and a new battery, and the latest M3 MBAir reconfigured. I love them both. And despite the criticism, I consider the design of the first MBAir much more beautiful than that of the second generation. And it still makes a strong impression when I take out of the bag (😯😲😮 - I even tested the envelope stunt on my colleagues at work; they were stunned 😅). It was my professional workhorse for 10 years and it really did a fantastic job. 🙂 And is still capable of doing some things even now although "retired" (old but not dead). The new 2024 MBAir still has to prove himself in replacing my very old Mac Mini as my main computer. 😏

[@s7a2g65]

I love you and your channel. We need to join forces to enlist the masses to bring back the 12” retina with an M1 and the (improved) butterfly keyboard… Actually a, heptic feedback, touch screen keyboard. But THAT is something that nobody is ready for…

[@respect386]

I feel like I’m in tech class. And I love it.

[@jamesthompson3099]

I bought an M1 Air and love it. Ridiculously fast for my work and buttery smooth. Great battery and really portable. It is my second MacBook Air (my first was the 2nd gen) and is one of the best devices I have owned.

[@KaizerVilgelm]

Macbook Air 2nd gen (2014) was my first mac ever. One love forever.

[@olafb6445]

Hey Luke, I love all your videos and I watch them with passion but I’ve noticed that you never really give much attention to the 13” MacBook Pro. Seems whenever you talk Pro you go straight to 15” with dedicated graphics while the 13” ones get completely overlooked even though they are really good machines. Would love to see a video of going through the history of the 13” MacBook Pro ❤️

[@NapTuazon]

Love my M2 it does a great job so far migrating my ecosystem from MS to MacOS minimalist is now my new norm.

[@gogrape9716]

I am still using My 2013 MacBook Air 11 inch, 8 gig ram, i7 processor, and 256SSD. This laptop has been superb value and still on the job...

[@gagemitchell864]

I don't even own a single apple product but luke makes enjoyable content

[@adamw2030]

Watching with my 2014 11 inch!

[@Baluchishair]

Hey Luke, I'm in market to buy a 2011 iMac 27inch, for mostly graphic design work . Is it a good buy in my budget? I'm very tight and need it for photoshop and small iMovie kinda projects.

[@lindsay1971]

I actually love (IT procurement professional) the 2017 MacBook Airs running on Linux. I can purchase them for cheap, buy a fresh battery from iFixit, issue to staff and it's a nice zippy laptop that gets the job done.

[@JonTrott]

Dude, you taught me why new isn't best. I still believe it in the majority of cases. I'm typing on a MacBook Air 2015 (11") i5 8g model I bought for $100 and upgraded to a 1 terabyte nvme for $60 all in. So, $160 machine that is a wonderful little do this, do that, kickaround and keeps on ticking machine. Why would I spend $900 or more for a machine I cannot mod and which, while it will open a close things a second or two faster than this one does, won't really help me get more work done than I'm doing with this. For your video needs, sure. Go M series. For me? I have a Mac Pro 5,1 all souped up for video. This will do fine otherwise.

[@JoeCastellon]

Not gonna lie, I really want to try those A40 🤩 As for the MBA, I never liked it until Apple updated it to use Apple Silicon. I've never had one though. I was thinking about upgrading to a Mac Studio + an M2 MBA but I feel that an iPad is a better option than a MBA for what I would want to do with it. 🤔

[@listentome2179]

I have been using a MacBook Air 2012 since 2012!! Awesome, I skipped the version without Magsafe! Now Apple brought it back. But I bought a MacBook Pro 16 instead of MacBook Air. Super duper happy now. 120Hz / magsafe / no butterfly keys / awesome

Remember that 2010 refresh of MacBook Air. I was in a market for a new MacBook back then and mistakenly bought MacBook Pro 13”. Just because it had backlit keyboard. Lol. MacBook Air refresh from 2010 didn’t have backlit keyboard. Original air from 2008 had, but it was missing at 2010. They brought it back just a year later. That resolution of 1440x900 was such a huge upgrade over 1280x800 on MacBook Pro. One of the worst decision of my life. :) and don’t get me started on SSD vs HDD.

[@HeTake123]

Apple did actually not start using NVMe until (and starting with) the 2015 models of Air/Pro/iMac. 2013 and 2014 used AHCI, same connector as the 2015 models ofcourse but a different protocol :)

[@kFY514]

I remember when the first MBAs came out. They were a laughing stock, especially in PC-centric circles. "Who cares how thin is the laptop", especially when it's so underpowered and have almost no useful ports? But I guess that was one of those moments when Apple tried something bold, even if barely useful at the time, to eventually push the entire market forward.

[@manoelfelipe2977]

No one is laughing now.

[@unicyclevideos]

I loved mine. I did a lot of development on it. I loved that I could grab it and run. In fairness, I also had an over built Mac Pro at home for larger tasks. Together they were amazing. My 1st gen MBA still works, but I've put Linux on it since it isn't supported anymore for updates of MAC OS. Yes, I still use my original MBA, along side of my M1 MBP. Apple silicon is sweet. I love my M1 even more than I did my MBA, but I did truly love it when it came out.

[@brandonspies]

I was this guy in the beginning as well. For the money at the time and up till recent years you got much more power for your dollar with a MacBook Pro as the Air used to be way more expensive for less or same specs. Then the price started to drop on the Air and specs increase. At least when you bought a new one. If you had the money you bought the pro, and if not the air. But the air still had enough HP to get what most people needed done. The price continued to drop and it was even lower in used markets. Suddenly it had a reputation as a workhorse as it has just enough power to get the job done for most industries and tasks. I bought my first one used on a steal of a deal. And while I still needed my Pro for some tasks I got about 75 to 80% of my work done on an 11in Air. For someone like myself it STILL made an excellent second machine for a road warrior such as myself. Suddenly 3/4 of the population can use one as a primary machine and 1/4 can probably use one as a secondary machine like myself. Then comes apple silicone and it increases those numbers even further. An air can most likely support 90% of people out there as a primary machine if they REALLY put in the effort to try it. My wife has moved from an air to a pro and back to an air with the performance improvements of apple silicone. I make a living off of a 2019 Mac Pro and 2021 14in MacBook Pro, and I could probably live off of an M1 air if I "absolutely had to!" It's crazy to see the bar change on this product line over the years!

[@FireFoxDestroyer]

this is like chromebooks

[@timwiesler6365]

@@FireFoxDestroyer Nah they're just bad Laptops

[@danandlaundry]

the one im using has the 2nd design. gets hot when gaming but what do you expect with a 7 year old laptop but under normal use like watching KZbin I see no problem

[@tecknodexter6840]

I recently went from my 2019 MacBook Pro 13inch and moved to a MacBook Air 13inch 2022 and it is one of the best things I've ever done

[@MegaDrainProductions]

Been using my 13", Early 2014 Air since 2015. Recently replaced the battery and the ssd with an OWC ssd. Good as new and even faster than before. Not an insane laptop by any means today, but very reliable.

[@CO8848_2]

No fan m1 air, that was revolutionary. No fan, 15 hour battery life, power of a workstation. M2 just doesn't change that much

[@imgranth]

I really liked the 11” whenever I would go to my grandparents house. super portable like my daily driver the 12” macbook

[@HiFiInsider]

where’s the 11” Air? I have mine still in new condition. i love the 16:9 display for watching movies.

[@DrewP11]

I have a 2015 macbook air with 8 gb memory and a Core i7 cpu. Very fast, and a great keyboard.

[@WhittyWhitts]

I’m just glad you didn’t get sponsored by RayCon Earbuds

[@brahsumatra]

Still using the 2017 Air.

[@jim7953]

My comments I'd keep up the great video, also I need to take of my imac 21.5 screen to take out the hard drive which tools you can recommend to do that on ifixit do they have hard drive to that I can replace. Want to keep this going for awhile longer until I can buy another one for my sister.