M1 MacBook Air Review from a Lifelong PC User: Worth the Switch?

Greetings humans!
Thank you for joining me with my review of the 2020 M1 MacBook Air. As the title states, I am a lifelong PC user and could have cared less about Apple in my past. (My previous videos touched on that one)
But, as most of you humans do, you grow and change and evolve and find the tools you need in order to get your job done.
Is this the tool I never knew I needed?
Tune in to find out my thoughts and spoiler, it's a fine tuned machine.
Be sure to subscribe and tell me about your experience when you made the switch, down below in the comments.
Have you been using Macs your entire life? Show some love! Like, comment and subscribe, and if you are enjoying my content, dinging that notification bell would be super groovy!
Thanks again for the support!
One Love.
====LINK TO PC/MAC PARODY ====
• Love Bytes

[@elizabethm5972]

The magic keyboard really is fantastic. Keys are a deal breaker for me when it comes to laptops, and I LOVE typing on these keys! Super responsive, barely any click noise; amazing experience... For me lol. Awesome review video 👏🏼👏🏼

[@jopatech]

This keyboard really is superb!

[@mrmartywaring]

I been using Windows since Windows 95 & I love it. However, when I got the M1MacBook Air, I was hooked! I still have a Windows laptop, but the MacBook Air reigns supreme among laptops

[@jopatech]

For what you get, I couldn't agree more! I still use my Windows laptop mostly for storage and as a backup for whatever reason. And I remember Windows 95! I was a kid of course and only cared about playing DOOM or DUKE NUKEM 3D 🤣 Thanks for the comment!

[@VegasGuy1975]

I’m a lifelong user of both windows and Mac platforms. When Apple released the first M1 series MacBook Pros, I was skeptical at first on their power vs battery usage claims. Then came the numerous reviews all over KZbin. And that got me way more interested. I ended up buying an MBP for myself, and can honestly say If Apple keeps up this pace in engineering I will never go back to a windows platform. I fact, the new M1 air was so good, that when released, I bought one for my wife, and one for each of my kids. What even more amazing is how the Apple ecosystem changes the way we as a family can work, share files, music, and just about anything else you can imagine. Welcome to the Apple ecosystem! May it be as enjoyable for you as it is for my family.

[@jopatech]

You definitely made a great purchase for you and your family! The M1 chip is a massive step in the right direction for computing. Thank you for this comment, it’s nice to know that you have used both for a long time and have been able to make an informed choice based off your experience. The M1 CPU has given other chip manufacturers a run for their money. Especially if these machines are rockin’ it in the many years to come. 💪 And thank you for the support 🙏

[@DanielHarrisCodes]

Certain aspects of the Apple ecosystem are annoyingly good for families. I know you can do it with file sharing services, but being able to hit share, and send a full res photo via iMessage, then the other person able to tap a single button in the chat to save to their iCloud. Sounds stupid if you’ve not experienced it. But having people mess about with file sharing sites is just a hassle - if WhatsApp let you send full res photos without a workaround (need to send as a document for full res on WhatsApp) it wouldn’t be such a killer feature for me.

[@jopatech]

@@DanielHarrisCodes the file sharing/air drop is so clutch, like you said, to get those files moving at any size and speed. The convenience alone for most people should be an easy, just gotta swallow the price if you’re on a tight budget. Thanks for the comment!

[@zaphodprefect6094]

Wait unti it goes wrong after your warranty has expired. Apple wont repair it and they wont let anyone else repair it either. Good luck.

[@jopatech]

@@zaphodprefect6094 guess we shall see what happens in the next few years 🤞

[@bryanmartin_]

Very nice video, Sir! Such a big leap from your old laptop! What an incredible switch! You earned a new sub!!! More videos to come! 🙌

[@jopatech]

Thank you very much! I used that old Acer until it got to nerve racking to open an app. I’m working on some new reviews so stay tuned! Thanks for the support 🙏

[@mrrolandlawrence]

well im happy with mine. i just updated from a 2017 mba. sold the old one, bought a new one - cost me $450. what a step up.

[@jopatech]

That’s a great trade-in price to pay for a new M1 MBA! It really is a huge step up.

[@TruthTactical]

I enjoyed the review brother. Keep the content coming.

[@jopatech]

Thank you very much!

[@kenze94]

Oo. Keep up the good work. I see the huge potential for this channel.

[@jopatech]

Thank you so much!!

[@shivamkrishn]

Been a windows user since DOS days (I was 4 years old) now planning to get M1, Can not be more excited

[@shivamkrishn]

Not so fair to compare this with your 50 years old HDD pc lol

[@jopatech]

@@shivamkrishn haha! It’s what I’ve been using for some time so it’s all I had. But it’s an amazing upgrade I will conclude. I haven’t had a problem with my M1 MBA so far other than a few stuffers on iMovie after an update. And that was once. And OMG, DOS as a kid was so much fun (games my dad would set up for me and my brothers🤣). You’re gonna like the M1!

[@PetePuebla]

Oh nice review!

[@jopatech]

Thank you so much! 🙏 🤘

[@raulgaming1000]

my first mba i never been happier then before its slim and powerful enough for my product design

[@jopatech]

That’s awesome! I’m glad we both made a good decision on our purchase 😎💪. It handles product design with ease I assume?

[@raulgaming1000]

@@jopatech yes sir i can save alot so i can invest other place ahhaha

[@jopatech]

@@raulgaming1000 saving time and money!!

[@DanielHarrisCodes]

The 2020 Macbook Air is one of those amazing tech sweet spots that only come around every once in a while. If you're happy with the older design like I am compared to the notch Macbooks then I think it's one of the best bang for your buck purchases anybody could have made. I personally got the 512GB model in late 2021 because there was a good offer on and that model gets the full 8 cores on the GPU (have no idea if it actually makes a difference it was just a good deal for 512GB at the time). I got the M1 Air over the Pro to avoid the touch bar as well

[@jopatech]

The Touch Bar was interesting to say the least. And yes, tech sweet spots don’t come around often, the MBA is one of those and I hope they keep this going for years to come. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. And as for the GPU cores, 7 vs 8 won’t be a bother to most average consumers, especially when 7 does enough on this magical machine!

[@jirikocman]

8core GPU will help with graphic tasks - gaming, video editing, video encoding, 3D Modeling. For general office work and for multimedia, you will most likely do not notice any difference.

[@jopatech]

@@jirikocman agreed 💯!

[@aliciasam5239]

@@jirikocman I do noticed a heating up when playing Roblox ( I enjoy playing fnf on it). It gets hot playing it

[@ame7165]

no mention of the speakers? that i think impressed me more than any other single thing lol also, it's crazy that these have sold new for as low as $799 during certain sales (USD). absolutely nothing can touch these at that price, or even remotely close to it. it's bananas

[@jopatech]

I completely forgot to add a speaker test! 🙈 ugh, thanks and nice catch 🤘. Well, the speakers really are amazing. I can have them blasting on max and hear it clearly with my kitchen exhaust fan running next to me as I’m cooking. Even on the old MBA, the speakers have always been really clear and punchy, with many improvements since the first generation. $799USD is a damn good sale price. And you’re right, at that price, it’s hard for the competition to even come close to where this Mac sits.

[@ame7165]

@@jopatech I have a friend who is here for an exchange program and they needed a laptop and I decided to buy her one. picked up a refurb 16gb m1 air. after playing with it a little, I really wanted one lol. I have a base 16" m1 pro, and while it has the horsepower if I need it, I normally do simple things that are just too hilariously simple for this much power and cost. it made me think: if they put this local dimming HDR display into a thinner and weaker machine of a similar screen size, I would go for it. like a 16" ultra thin with the original m1, but with the good speakers and good HDR display. going down to 13" would be difficult for me, and I'd be sad about losing the crazy display contrast, but everything else about the 13" m1 air is just perfect for my uses. also made me wonder if they'll ever put the m1 in the 12" MacBook. I had one and while it was borderline too slow, the m1 would wake that thing up and give it better battery life. would be a neat form factor and compelling for some strange specific use-cases I think the new pros are just so much thicker that I just would prefer a thinner machine with less power. I didn't realize how thick the new pros are until I touch the 13" m1 air. I''m all for a little extra thickness for crazy good battery life, but I think these are becoming desktop replacements lol

[@Final_Cut_FF]

Anything Intel is shit on previous Macs(laptops) These new machines are what laptops are suppose to be. Enjoy your new Mac.

[@jopatech]

Thank you so much! I have a friend looking at an intel based used MacBook Pro and suggested spending the extra few bucks to get the M1. And thank you! I’m enjoying it everyday! 💪

[@dianelopac412]

Worth the switch!!

[@jopatech]

I agree!

[@thomahammer9581]

I am still cranking away on a 2013 MacBook Pro running Big Sur 11.6.5. Also the latest update of the Mac office suite of Keynote, Pages and Numbers as well as iMovie. All were free with purchase and no update charges. I am retired and now 100% free of the Windows world. I still often Export Numbers and Keynote files to Excel and Powerpoint to share with friends and previous work people. Easy to do with few issues. I too want an M1 MacBook Air, but hard to justify. What I really love is the comparability with my iPhone 11 and iPad Air using iCloud; To paraphrase the Steve Jobs line; "a thousand songs in your pocket", I have all my computer files in my pocket. Some of which I can update on my phone.

[@jopatech]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - Some guy 😂 That is amazing to read! I'm glad you are loving your 2013 Pro and that fact that it is still up to date, useful and gets the job done. It kinda feels like a win-win situation tbh. Thanks for your thoughts! I really appreciate it 🙏

[@jirikocman]

Same for me, I bought Macbook Air year ago as my first Mac after 22yrs with Windows. I was shoping for laptop for my wife's as Valentine gift and I offewred her some nice 8 core AMD with 16GB RAM and she denied. Shie said me, that she doesn't want that crap, she wants Macbook. It hurts my pocket, but she is new Mac user too :) My wife and I transfered fully to Apple ecosystem in last year. That journey stars with iPad, which was cheapest one iOs/Android tablet supporting cable connection to TV/monitor. Using this device make me smile every day, so I Mac was next, then first iPhone and Apple Watches with Airpods to make whole package. Same for my wife. Oly one problem which I have with MBA ior just MacOS, it is Remote desktop for windows. I do not figure out how do WIN+TAB and ALT+TAB. I'm remote worker most of time and have to connect to Windows. We had Citrix Workspace for that, everything was fine, but our IT changed it to MS Workspace and when there is MS server between mMac and final windows station, I have problemws with using MacOS copy, cut, paste shortcuts as those sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. ANd sometimes I cant mark text with shift and navigation keys. That is problem somewhere in my work setup, as RDP on my local gaming PC works just fine. I bught just small and cheap tablet PC with Windows which is connected to 4k monitor as workarrond for that issue.. Anyway, I was surprised with your review qualitym especially for channel with just 200 subs.

[@jopatech]

Thank you for the detailed comment! I’m glad you and your wife are happy in the Apple ecosystem and that you found a work-around with the pc tablet. And thanks for the support! I wanna grow this channel and comments like yours help drive me! 🙏

[@jirikocman]

@@jopatech YOure welcome. Good content, subscribed.

[@yawnhiccup]

good job

[@jopatech]

Thank you!

[@anonymousprime948]

I’ve been using windows all my life tho i’m intending to use this as a student laptop

[@jopatech]

I think you’ll enjoy it! 😎

[@callmeNeno]

Thank you for being transparent! Are you considering using pages, numbers instead of Microsoft office 365 exclusively? Or you like it how it runs in macOS

[@jopatech]

Thank you very much! I’m going to stick with Office 365 because I’ve been with it for years and have a ton of things backed up on OneDrive. (1TB cloud) It’s a good deal and works across the family.

[@callmeNeno]

@@jopatech awesome 👏🏿

[@AlvonsiusAlbertNainupu]

@@jopatech Hi can you tell me does working with Office 365 apps (e.g Word/Excel) with file located online in the OneDrive is still slow? They have that problem few months ago.

[@jopatech]

@@AlvonsiusAlbertNainupu I personally have not found any speed issues on my end.

[@shopmilkdesigns]

Heyyyyy. I just got mine this month and switched from surface pro 6. 😛

[@jopatech]

That’s awesome! How are you liking it so far?

[@shopmilkdesigns]

@@jopatech it's life changing. I used to be tethered to the wall when working because my old laptop dies within 2 hours of work but now it can last 2 days with one full charge. That's really game changing.

[@jopatech]

@@shopmilkdesigns nice! The long battery life is key to mobile freedom 😂

[@ytuser13082011]

Laptops with screens smaller than 15 inch do not exist. Those are toys.

[@jopatech]

🤣🤣

[@untetheredmind9872]

The only apple tech I had before was an Ipad. After i saw some reviews for laptops around 1000usd I thought of giving it a try. The trackpad was a new experience. Thats what a trackpad on a laptop should be. I bought this for portability. The battery life isnt what i expected. It lasts about 8 hours or less for me. I might try clean my mac X and see if it helps with battery. I use only safari as my browser. Playing nba2k22 arcade lasts about 3-4 hours. My machine is the MBA M1 8GB|256GB| on my first month with it ive had 48 charge cycles. As there are days i use it for more than 12 hours for playing/microsoft word-excel/netflix-Safari tab/Photoshop2022 and about 1 day per week of non usage. Overall I think its a great purchase but based on usage i think its battery would only last about 3 years before I need to upgrade or pay for new battery.

[@jopatech]

That’s amazing! Haven’t games on my M1 yet, but I have an Xbox for that 🤣. Sounds like you push your machine pretty well and 8 hours doesn’t sound bad to me, personally. But I totally hear you and with how you use it, you can benefit from a bigger and/or better battery. Hopefully cleaning up the OS can help out your battery life. Thanks for the detailed and awesome comment!

[@untetheredmind9872]

@@jopatech its actually a pretty good machine for games. Apple arcade is great and all. Whats crazy is that you can play ps2 emulated games at 4k resolution even on this base model. On the first month i played mostly cities skyline at medium settings through steam.

[@jopatech]

@@untetheredmind9872 that’s so cool! I also love that game! Played it for years to just kill time or get lost for hours with infinite money turned on 😂

[@magnoliei]

Hi! Which configuration do you consider to have the best benefit/price ratio among the following: - MacBook Air M1, 8Gb/256/ 1000$ - MacBook Air M1 16Gb/2TB/ $1570 - MacBook Air M2 8Gb/256/ $1320 - MacBook Air M2 8Gb/512/ $1730 - MacBook Pro 14inch M1Pro 16Gb/512/ $1980 Prices are from Europe. Thanks!

[@jopatech]

Out of that list, I personally feel the M1 AIR with 16GB ram and 2TB or the M1 PRO would be a good bang for buck. Of course, it depends on what you will be using it for. All of these options can hold their own, and from what we know so far, be supported for many years to come now that Apple is using their own silicon. Hope that helps!

[@magnoliei]

@@jopatech Thank you for your prompt answer! I share your opinion... and I am divided between the two, because they come with 16Gb and with 512Gb, respectively 2Tb storage. I think that for 2022/23, 256Gb is far too little, for photos, 4k videos, etc. I intend to keep it for 6-7 years. I love the screen of the macbook pro 14, on the other hand I'm thinking about the portability of an Air with 16gb, a huge storage of 2Tb and cheaper by $400. I really don't know what to choose :) You won a subscriber in me and I will gladly follow your channel. Thanks!👍

[@jopatech]

@@magnoliei I haven’t had any issues with my base model Air, I don’t push it too hard at all, so it’s perfect for me. More storage would be nice, but I already have an external storage so that wasn’t a big concern for me. Thank you for the kind words and the sub!

[@colinduncan9549]

is so cute

[@jopatech]

😊

[@stevepaulic1122]

Jopa of 2012 is needless to say.... terminated!

[@jopatech]

He won’t be back 😎

[@KevinMillard68]

your first 2 mistakes are the 8 gigs of ram and the 256 ssd drive the new mac os 12.4 just came out and it sucks over 4 gigs of ram to it self just to get to the desk top and the small 256 ssd drive is usless for the long term its not going to do you neither is the ram i would have gone to the max 16 gigs of ram and a 512 ssd which would get you easly 5 to 6 years before you need to upgrad again now if you dont mind being tied to the table you can install and external nvme ssd you wont see any where near the in built ssd for speed but you can use the external drive as a boot drive and hide the internal drive from your site but the ram needs to be at 16 gigs most people that bought the new m1s with 8x256 have fastly given them up to goto max ram and larger ssds you can see this from the thousands of the base models for sale used and even on apples refurbished part of their site as well. i also have the base model macbook air exactly like yours but mine is gold i bought it to prove a point to everyone but it does make a good emergency back up system should anything happen to my M1 mini which is a 16x512 setup i can not afford the down time but i can not reccomend any base model 8x256 m1 to anyone

[@jopatech]

Interesting! As I mentioned in my review, I'm a total noob to the Apple ecosystem and was not ready to spend a fortune on a computer, especially since I don't posses said fortune 🤣. So far I haven't had any problems and for anyone else in a similar boat as me would appreciate the base model as a stepping stone. If I need to upgrade down the road, I will worry about it then, but for now, I'm enjoying the heck out of it, problem and studder free! How are you liking your Mac Mini? I've always had a soft spot for tiny computers that just blow bigger things out of the water 😎

[@robertkemp185]

Not worth the premium cost for larger RAM or SSD. I use cloud storage via Office 365 not the confusing iCloud Just got my first MacBook Air M1 and it is a cut above Windows laptop

[@jopatech]

I have no problem continuing to use 365 and the terabyte of cloud storage. And I agree, there is just that little extra ‘umpf’ to it over Windows!

[@nightfury4283]

Would you recommend the base model to an IT student ?

[@jopatech]

If you are doing IT or anything major, I would step up and grab the extra GB of RAM with more storage. That alone can make a noticeable difference with your work. 👍

[@nightfury4283]

@@jopatech im kind of in a tight budget, would the base model be enough? Or would i be better of getting a legion 5 i5 10th gen with rtx 3050ti 165hz screen and 512ssd

[@jopatech]

@@nightfury4283 well s#!t that is also a very good laptop! 🤣 you need to do what’s best for your wallet and for your needs. I’m not familiar the demands of IT, but windows based systems (and a clear gaming beast) with that legion 5 should be very sufficient and for sometime. If the price is right, jump on that legion.

[@nightfury4283]

@@jopatech yeah, that’s why i can’t decide😩 well if i get the macbook air base model, I might be even have enough to trade in my phone for an iphone 11. So I’m really wondering if the m1 air base model would do the job and would last for 5+ years

[@jopatech]

@@nightfury4283 dig around online or check Reddit. There may some great recommendations there from IT students as yourself and if they find the base M1 MBA to be enough. I hope you can find something 💪👊

[@FearMechanism]

Ew, you use iMovie?

[@jopatech]

Indubitably!

[@FearMechanism]

@@jopatech There's other free options out there if you're interested in a fun learning curve.

[@jopatech]

@@FearMechanism thank you sir! I wanna get comfortable with iMovie for now and see what I can do. I may digivolve one day and make the jump to something else 😎🤣

[@FearMechanism]

@@jopatech Just a thought, if you need some guidance or wanna drive in style just let me know.

[@VegasGuy1975]

Statistically speaking, it’s very common for people to start with iMovie, and over time graduate up to Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Lumafusion, or a few others out there. iMovie is what I’d call a gateway in the film editing circle. Many enter through this gate, and the majority who do end up on one of the more advance platforms.