this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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41
I’m impressed by my wife’s m1 air. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world
22 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

My wife and I went on a short trip where I had to work. I normally use a windows desktop, but couldn’t bring that.

I used her base m1 air, and was blown away by how well it handled my work. Not just that, but it used significantly less ram and cpu power.

On windows my cpu usage is higher and my ram usage normally over 8gb. On here air, I was hitting around 6gb ram usage and the cpu was maybe around 15-20%

I am still in a little disbelieve that her laptop handed my work so much better than my desktop i7-8700 or laptop i5-11th gen intel handles it.

I’m totally picking up a MacBook this fall.

Now just need to decide between the air and pro, the air is probably fine, but I like the dedicated hdmi port as I will use it with a monitor a lot. Not sure if a usb-c hub will suffice.

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[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The 11th gen Intel cpus did not age well at all. They ran too hot, they were super inefficient at light work. They'd idle fine but as soon as you did something small, the fans would kick on and you suddenly had a half hour reduction in your battery life.

The M series laptops are fantastic and honestly, I don't mind USB hubs as much. Also if your phone supports USB c display out, you can use it with that. Unless if it's an iphone, then it's kind of scuffed. It does work and I have gotten actual work done with it.

[–] Melonpoly@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

11th gen was in many cases worse than 10th gen

[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Igpu was fantastic, when it worked. Single core performance was also good. I don't have any 10th gen Intel devices to compare to. Both 10 nm and 14 NM.

[–] Melonpoly@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

11th gen used more power to have very little if any gain from 10th gen. They were overpriced for what you got.

[–] FlatFootFox@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

USB-C docks/dongles generally aren’t that big a deal if that’s your only deciding factor. They work fine without any weird hiccups or behavior.

If you’re buying used, it’s worth noting that the earlier M1, M2, and M3 non-Pro/Max chips had some limitations with external monitors. The M1 and M2 MacBook Air only supported one external monitor alongside the Mac’s built in screen. The M3 Air could do two external monitors with the lid closed, or one external monitor and the built in. The M4 Air can do two external monitors and the built in display at the same time. The Pro and Max chips could always do two external monitors and the built in display starting from the earliest M1 Pro.

The big difference between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro is that the Pro has a built in fan. The Air will passively cool itself and might have to throttle your workload until the laptop cools down. The Pro can kick on the fan to help run heavy workloads longer. In practice it’s actually difficult to get a MacBook Pro to kick on its fan. Anything short of virtual machines or large video rendering can usually be done without the laptop getting so hot it would need to kick the fan on or throttle things. If you’re somewhat price conscious and aren’t pushing the machine’s limits, the Air’s definitely worth a look.

[–] wolfylow@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Have to agree with some comments here about the 14 inch MacBook Pro - it’s a lovely machine. I switched a couple of years ago after decades on Windows (I’m a software developer) and couldn’t be happier.

I seem to remember that you can use more monitors with the Pro than the Air, etc, so it’s definitely worth doing some research when choosing. Do you have an Apple Store nearby?

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m heavily leaning towards the pro, I’m going to buy it when i visit the states later this year unless tariffs raise the prices. Then I’ll get it locally.

I think long term, I’d be happy that I got the pro.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

I do basic video editing, transcoding, front end coding and graphics, and usually push my machine pretty hard. But not for really long stretches. It's bursty work, so an Air is ideal. If I were to need a desktop replacement I would get a 15" Air with 24 GB RAM.

Long compiles? Renders of 4k video over 30mins and on the clock? Get a pro.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

The M3 Air got an update to use two external monitors (with the primary off).

Love my M3 15” Air.

[–] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Apple silicon Macs are really great when it comes to battery life. If you already use an iPhone it makes so much sense.

I’m still on a 2014 Air. It’s doesn’t work near as good. But still does well enough for me.

There are legitimate complaints against Apple for its iOS/iPad OS AppStore practices, their former hardware upsell practices, their botched AI roll out, and their corporate practices in general. But there really aren’t any legitimate complaints about their hardware, software, or services.

[–] DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago

Given what a shitty cabal of arseholes Apple has become, it kills me how good my M2 Air is. It's a genuinely incredible bit of hardware.

[–] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The 14” Pro is a lovely machine.

I have a M1 Air and 2 M3 16” Pros ( for work).
The 16 is just too big. My partner has a 14” and it’s really nice.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

I was thinking about the 15 air, or the 14 pro.

I won’t be buying until around October this year, so maybe the m5 pro will be out which would be the deciding factor.

[–] Evilschnuff@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

I have the m2 air with 16gb ram and am really happy with it. I carry it in my bag everyday so the weight difference to the 14pro is importantly to me. But I have to say that I semi regularly forget to bring my usb c hdmi dongle to meetings. I am still leaning more towards the air since I can still do video cutting and coding much faster than on any other pc.

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've never owned a Mac, but that Mac mini puts all mid-range desktops to shame. Even a home-build on the same budget can't compete.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah it's been in the 'best deal going' category since it came out. Very capable yet fist-sized.

It's not just the low sticker price. It will save on electricity bills over its lifetime, and it is expected to be reliable like all the mac minis. Get less storage and add a nice fast external SSD drive to save money.

The base 16GB RAM is probably fine for most, but if you're going to try and get 8-10 years out of it, like a lot of Mac owners do, go for 24 or more.

It can do moderate gaming and the emulation and virtualization future looks good.

It is very possible to limit your interaction with apple, avoid the App Store, not get an apple account, limit the telemetry leakage somewhat, and run software that's open source or direct from its publishers.

Also: Asahi Linux will work. Eventually.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 week ago

I have an M4 Mini with 16GB and I don't think the additional cost for the extra 8GB is worth it. Save your money for another release. The 16GB version will last a long time, of course depends what you are doing with it.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

i was really impressed with M1 Pro i got from my employer. I never had a mac nor an iphone before.

Ultimately, i didn't not buy a mac when I had an opportunity because I didn't want to live i.a walled garden

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

The 14” pro is nice, but unless you’re buying an older model at a steep discount the base machines price is just insulting. Get a good USB hub and the air will be great.

As long as you get a good one that doesn’t overheat its HDMI converter chip you’ll be golden. Ideally buy one that’s just DisplayPort, those have been far more reliable for us at work.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It’s amazing that you can post that in a Windows community and get RAILED since they have their heads so buried in the sand they can’t see how good these machines actually are.

Glad you’ve noticed.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

The base M1 MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM was the woooooorst once I got a couple browsers open or something.

M1 Max MBP with 32GB of RAM was an overcorrection… but friggin unstoppable and recently cost half of its MSRP

16GB minimum pls OP justttttt in case! Hehe you’re def gonna find a deal, refurb or w/e, on whatever you choose!

[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Try emulating switch games on it. Works well