

I can’t see myself ever wanting to go back to an Intel-based laptop

These M1-powered MacBooks are such a huge improvement in performance and battery life with virtually no negative baggage. Apple has taken a design like the MacBook Air, which it more or less perfected with the early 2020 refresh, and made it 10 times better. There is very little negative to say about these MacBooks. In our video review of the machine, we described it as game-changing.

Lower prices may be available from Apple’s official Amazon store. The machine can be specced up as far as 16GB unified memory and 2TB SSD for $2,049. M2 MacBook Air (2022) pricing starts at $1199 for the 8-core GPU with 8GB unified memory and 256GB SSD. M1 MacBook Air (2020) pricing starts at $999 for the 7-core GPU with 8GB unified memory and 256GB SSD. The 2022 M2 MacBook Air has a 10-core GPU option, up to 24GB of unified memory, and up to 2TB of SSD storage. SSD storage options are 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB. The machine is available with either 8GB or 16GB of unified memory. It’s available in two almost-identical versions, one with an 8-core GPU, the other with a ( chip-binned) 7-core one. The 2020 M1 MacBook Air is powered by an 8-core Apple M1 chip, comprising four performance cores and four efficiency cores. In 2020, the MacBook Air was one of the first three machines to make the switch from Intel processors to Apple Silicon in the form of the M1 chip. This gave the machine a Retina display, Touch ID, USB-C ports along with a design refresh with smaller bezels, a slimmer form factor, and lighter weight. In 2018, we saw the first major update to the then-elderly design. The 11-inch MacBook Air was discontinued in 2016, leaving only the 13-inch models. Its combination of affordability, portability, cuteness, and suitability for most people’s computer usage saw it become a hugely popular machine with everyone from students to senior business execs. By 2011, that had become the entry-level MacBook, replacing the plain MacBook in the lineup. In 2010, it was joined by an 11-inch model.
