MacBook Air M1: What Real Users Say After Years of Use

Completely viable. It's still (and will continue to be) a great machine for years to come. Is it starting to show some age? Sure. But for 70% of the people out there, it'll be flawless. Don't fret. Enjoy your new purchase!

Well written review. I purchased mine 2 months ago for 749 and I am very happy with it.

There were two Airs released in 2020. Intel and M1. Make sure you get the M1!

It's a great computer! Speedy, silent and good build quality. If you can get it for a good price, then go for it.

I just upgraded from one to a Macbook Pro M4. It should be fine assuming you didn't pay too much for what you plan to use it for.

I have a M1 2020 MacBook (bought 2022) and it still works great, I use it for streaming and word processing stuff, I don't do gaming or photoshop. One feature of this MacBook Air is it's the last version that has a wedge design, which I prefer.

I have the same base model too. The only thing I don't like is the thicker bezels.

Of course it's viable for those stated reasons when even legacy Intel Macs could do the same. I'm a graphic designer and both my work and personal laptops are a 16 M1 Max 32GB and it still does the job.

It was announced Walmart would be selling those as new a while ago. You should still get the standard Apple warranty out of the box so it's a great deal. I still have my macbook air m1 from 2021.

Only M processors. You do not want any sort of Intel Macbook, only buy anything with m1, m2, m3, m4 in the name

I have a M1 with the 8GB RAM/256GB storage and it still runs really well, for use cases like you described.

Love my M1 2020 Air. Still runs like a dream.

One of the best MacBooks Apple has ever made. I love mine and use it 90% of the time over my MacBook Pro.

I am still using my M1 Macbook air for video editing, photo editing, web browsing, word doc. I have friends using M1 Macbook air for mobile app coding and programming.

I had one when it first came out, but sold it to upgrade to a MBP M1. Recently I've been traveling more so last month I picked one up for $600 with 16GB and 1TB. It is still a joy to use. It is so much lighter and easier to travel with.

I play Sims 4 and Diablo on a mbp M1 2020 and it runs smoothly. It's perfect for university work as long as you're not on IT studies that needs more computing power.

I still have my M1 MacBook Air and use it everyday as a bumming around the house laptop. Can play a few steam games, answer work emails, do light video editing. It's still great for what it is all these years later. If you get one make sure it has 16GB of ram.

I own both the M1 Air and M3 Air both base models and the M1 Air for general tasks is keeping up with the M3 Air. Despite the age, I don't think that Apple will be discontinuing the software updates of the M1 chips any time soon. I can see it still being updated 7 plus years from now because of how powerful it is.

I bought mine about 8 months ago and very happy with it. Performance wise it is very fast doing day to day stuff. It can also manage better than you might think with more demanding tasks. I also use Logic Pro for some small project music stuff and it does what I need.

My base M1 air is still faster, nicer and has better battery than the new laptop I was given for work this year.

I have a macbook air m1 with 8gb ram new, the thing is I don't understand how it can manage so many apps open together when my android phone with 8gb rams cannot have that many open at the same time. It's really good. If someone wants to buy a new one, then just go to apple and buy a 16 gb ram model.

It's easily my favorite device. Battery life seems to last forever, I've traveled across the country with this thing and it's light enough to toss in my bag or luggage. I edit some photos, create flyers in Photoshop, tons of Zoom calls, and transcribe audio and it's only slowed down twice since I've owned it.

I'm still using mine from 2020 - 16gb ram and 512gb storage. Does everything I need (word processing, streaming media consumption and wow) without getting hot ever. I'm hoping it will last another 4-5 years with a battery replacement.

I'm in love with mine. It's my first Mac OS device. Blazing fast, cute as hell. Amazing trackpad, amazing screen, amazing performance. Go for it, enjoy.

I love my M1 Air. I bought it at the beginning of 2022 which initially felt 2 years too late, but I haven't regretted it once.

Yes, it's still viable. Typing from mine now with Word, Excel, InDesign, Photoshop, and about 15 tabs open.

Just got one as a secondary computer for similar ideas plus some light gaming and emulation, been great so far but I did get the 16gb ram and 1TB

If you're only using it for normal browsing, excel, word processing, then yeah it's more than enough. Even if you want to do some light video or photo editing or gaming. Don't expect it to do anything crazy tho. But yes it's a very capable device.

I should be telling you that it's not a great buy seeing how old it is and how unsure it is that it'll keep being updated for much longer, but for the life of me I can't. It's still a perfectly fine computer for a vast number of use cases, and some deals out there are just insane value.

I have had my M1 MBA 2020 since about a month after its launch. I had the battery replaced about a year ago and it's great for my needs. I'm not a developer so I don't need anything super powerful. I plan to have it another few years.

I sold it this year. Too slow for my needs. RAM is a bottleneck. Next time probably I'll get an M5 or M6 with more RAM

I traded my iPad Pro M1 (which was more expensive) for one. At first, I thought I made a mistake, but I quickly fell in love with it. I love using it for work, entertainment, and everyday stuff. The battery is definitely the best thing about it.

I have the m1 16/1tb. It's a fabulous snappy ultra portable little beast of a machine with a great battery life. Apple really upped the ante with this one. I also think the construction of the wedge Mac air is more solid somehow than the later new design MacBook airs but that's just an opinion.

had this exact model since its release, been absolutely bang on you'll have no issues

Great deal. Plenty of life left in that.

Using it from Jan 2023, paid $425.00, best money ever spent on a laptop

I've got one and I love it still. My trusty Air comes with me everywhere when I travel and its lightweight form factor is fantastic. Battery is down to about 80% but it still lasts a while. I even edit some holiday videos on Premier Pro and it does a great job, the rendering just takes a little time.

8gb ram is nothing these days, especially as web browsers today are so active in the background. You'll be limited in how many tabs you can have open while having the comp work with decent speed and if you're doing any design or video editing, the lag will suck

I recently got M1 as a treat for my birthday. Other than having to get used to MacOS, so far I love it, especially the battery life and how fast it wakes up. I use it mostly for browsing, some productivity stuff in excel, casting music to my bluetooth headphones and I simply love it so far.

I like my M1 MBA 13 8/256 but I'm giving it to my gf and buying the M3 MBA 15 16/512. The reason for the 16GB is because Thinkorswim and 4 desktops with 4 safaris running 5 tabs I'm swapping 13GB+ of memory sometimes more. The M1 starts to lag and screen freezes.

It's a 2020 model, but it most likely was manufactured late 2023 or early 2024. I bought my M1 in May this year, and its manufacture date was July 2023. I love my M1, it's a very capable computer. I have used it since late May and the battery health is still 100%.

I have a 2020 M1 MBA 16/512 and it still works like the day I got it. If I had of skimped and bought an 8gb M1 I probably would be looking to upgrade soon, but instead I paid just a little bit extra to double the RAM to 16gb and I'm extremely thankful for that decision I made.

I got mine in 2020 and still use it nearly every day. I love it and it still works like new. Today, I would only buy the 16gb over the 8gb.

My M1 Air was my only computer until Lightroom forced me to upgrade to an M4 Mac mini. It's still my daily driver at work though. Works as well as the day I bought it.

M1 still runs like a dream. Processes large Excel files easily as well. I'm so happy with this laptop.

I use to be a Macs are a waste of money Windows guy but after replacing my laptop with a M1 Air, I find myself reaching for that instead of booting up my PC. I only play games on my PC now.

I have an Air 2020, I use Photoshop and Lightroom, I only regret not buying it with more RAM and storage.

I have an M1 Air, 16GB / 512 GB SSD. I also have a Windows PC but this is my primary home machine. And it is still incredibly capable and enough for me. I do pretty much everything on it: browse internet, write docs, do spreadsheeting, tinker with my home network equipment, run the O365 suite.

I would not get 8gb ram in 2025, not going to last long. But good deal.