These provide a considerable bump in power over their smaller sibling. Once you step up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, you go beyond the base M1 and step up to the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Ports: Three USB-C Thunderbolt, HDMI, SDXC card reader, MagSafe charging, and headphone jack.RAM options: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB (top option only available with M1 Max).Storage options: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB.The more powerful 60W charger can also help the computer from running through its battery faster than it can charge under heavy load. So, if you’re planning to edit any media, record podcasts, or do anything else that requires considerable computing power, that will likely come into play. Because the Pro 13 has a built-in cooling system, it will perform better under heavy load for longer periods of time. That little bit of extra bulk also makes room inside the MacBook Air 13 for cooling fans, something the MacBook Air lacks. The keyboard does, however, have a physical “escape” key to go along with it. It was controversial on previous generations because it replaced the traditional row of function keys with something less reliable. For the extra money and a little extra weight, the MacBook Pro adds the controversial Touch Bar above the keyboard: a dynamic, touch-sensitive screen that displays dynamic controls depending on what app or program you’re using. The 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pros share a ton of similarities when it comes to hardware like the M1 processors and the displays. If those specs look familiar from the MacBook Air, you’re correct. It comes in three colors, including the familiar silver and space gray as well as a pinkish gold color that makes it stand out from its bigger siblings. It’s still ultra-portable, it’s just considerably faster now. It’s just over a half-inch thick at its chunkiest, but it tapers down considerably at the front edge. I’ve done hard photo editing in the notoriously greedy Adobe Lightroom Classic for several hours before it started to feel toasty.ĭespite the extra power and battery life of up to 15 hours with mobile web usage, the Air still stays plenty slim. Despite its lack of cooling, it still churns out surprisingly fast performance and stays relatively chill (literally) thanks to the hyper-efficient Apple architecture. The MacBook Air doesn’t have any built-in fans, so it runs completely silently. It hasn’t been refreshed since that redesign and still only offers a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt ports, both of which can attach peripherals or deliver a charge to the computer itself from a 30W USB-C power adapter. The 2020 MacBook Air was one of the first computers to employ Apple’s M1 chip, which gave the super-slim notebook a huge boost in just about every metric.
Because Apple controls every component of hardware and software design, the parts all work together with unprecedented efficiency.
The M1 encompasses almost all the major components, including the central processor, graphics processor, machine learning core-even system memory. It doesn’t simply replace the old Intel Core CPUs from previous models. The company stopped relying on Intel to make its processors and struck out to create its own system on a chip called the M1. The M1 era of Apple laptopsĪpple laptops changed substantially starting in late 2020. Apple has seriously stepped up the quality of its laptops in recent years and choosing the right one for your workflow and lifestyle isn’t as simple as it once was. If you’re in the market for an Apple laptop, you’ve probably spent a fair bit of time trying to navigate the MacBook Air vs.