Recently, I asked myself: “Do I need a laptop?” I know it sounds crazy since everyone uses a laptop. So here’s my context. I haven’t used a laptop for personal use in years. I use a work laptop; but, my personal device of choice has been the iPad Pro for many years. Should I add a MacBook Air into the mix?
The iPad is probably the best device to consume visual content.
Anything related to reading the news or a book, watching movies, tv shows, and even live tv is unrivaled on the iPad. Another excellent use of the iPad is taking notes or using the Apple Pencil in general. I use an app called Notability. The iPad is my journal, where I draw diagrams and outlines for things, scribble ideas, and take notes from meetings, books, etc.
Certainly, those two things: visual content and note-taking, will continue in the iPad.
As 2020 progressed, I got more serious about establishing a format to help others. Since the iPad was my only device for personal use, I’ve done everything with it. I created presentations in Keynote or Powerpoint, papers, reports, and more in Word or Pages, and spreadsheets in Excel or Numbers. The iPad is very capable of all of them.
When I started to do videos, I used iMovie on the iPad to edit them. Thanks to the excellent processing power from the iPad, getting those videos processed was no issue.
So, while capable, some of the iPad’s limitations started to show. Have you tried to move a small object in a presentation? Or when editing a video, find precise points in the timeline? – using a touchscreen? It can be quite frustrating at times.
In my case, the “Do I need a laptop?” question was more about how do I incorporate a MacBook into my life. I found inspiration in my wife, Yunibe. She runs her own fitness consulting business, mostly from her MacBook Air, and she loves it. That played a significant role in my decision to get one. And then, Apple launched their laptops using their own silicon, paired with their new macOS, which makes them very similar to the iPad. That sort of closed the deal for me.
You can see the unboxing in the video, starting at 2:05. The base model costs US$999 and comes with:
- 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage
- It retains the same form factor and dimensions as its predecessor – only 2.8 lbs!
- Two Thunderbolt USB 4 ports and a headphone jack
- 30W USB-C power adapter
The star of the show in the new MacBook Air, of course, is the M1 Chip.
From Apple’s website: “Until now, a Mac needed multiple chips to deliver all of its features — including the processor, I/O, security, and memory. With M1, these technologies are combined into a single system on a chip (SoC), delivering a new level of integration for more simplicity, more efficiency, and amazing performance.”
It is paired with the newest version of macOS: BigSur, which has a ton of new features, but more importantly, is optimized to take full advantage of the M1 Chip.
After using the MacBook Air with the M1 Chip, a few thoughts:
- It’s Fast! The fastest laptop I’ve owned, and way faster than any work laptop I’ve used.
- It’s fantastic for average users and even light pro-users (browsing, emails, preparing presentations, documents, doing some video editing, etc.).
- App Compatibility is a non-issue. All the apps I used before worked just fine.
I want to single out Sidecar, a feature that allows your iPad to turn into an extra display for your Mac. If you ever need to have 2 and even 3 displays simultaneously, Sidecar is fantastic. And in a very Apple fashion: “It just works.” (see the video at 6:45)
Another shoutout to mmhmm. They make you more exciting and add a little joy to your virtual presentations. They create this virtual space, where you can share content more interactively (see the video at 7:14 to see what I mean). It’s fantastic, I’ve used it a few times already, and people have been blown away and very impressed with it. They do a great job taking advantage of the M1 Chip to optimize some of their features.
The MacBook Air with M1 Chip is very familiar if you are part of the Apple ecosystem, due to MacOS BigSur being similar to iOS and iPadOS. Even if you are not part of it, it is still straightforward to learn how to use it.
Should you get one? – If you are looking for a laptop, that is:
- Fast
- Easy to Use
- Relatively Affordable
And still delivers a lot of performance, the new MacBook Air with the M1 Chip is a buy.
Thanks so much for reading my very first unboxing/first impressions article. Please let me know how I did, don’t hesitate to leave your comments and recommendations. Connect with me by subscribing to our mailing list and via Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
All the best,
Jorge.