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Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M1) · Photo source

Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M1)
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Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M1) · Photo source

Apple · MacBook Air

MacBook Air 13″ (M1)

Released November 2020

The first Apple Silicon MacBook Air is a fanless 13-inch laptop for everyday work, with M1, a Retina display and up to 16 GB of unified memory.

Model history · 14 models, 2008–2020
  1. 2008MacBook Air (Original)Compare
  2. 2008MacBook Air (Late 2008)Compare
  3. 2009MacBook Air (Mid 2009)Compare
  4. 2010MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010)Compare
  5. 2011MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)Compare
  6. 2012MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)Compare
  7. 2013MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)Compare
  8. 2014MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014)Compare
  9. 2015MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)Compare
  10. 2017MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)Compare
  11. 2018MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018)Compare
  12. 2019MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2019)Compare
  13. 2020MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)Compare
  14. 2020MacBook Air 13″ (M1)
Size
13.3″
Display
IPS LCD, 60 Hz
Processor
Apple M1
Memory
8 GB – 16 GB
Weight
1.29 kg
Battery
18 h

What reviewers say

Reviewers praise the large jump in performance and battery life, silent operation and smooth handling of older Intel applications. Both criticise the unchanged 720p webcam. The Verge also finds the first implementation of iPhone and iPad applications awkward, while Macworld would welcome a better display.

From macworld.com and theverge.com

Display

Screen size
13.3″
Resolution
2560 × 1600
Panel
IPS LCD
Refresh rate
60 Hz
Brightness
400 nits
Touchscreen
No
Display type
Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology
Pixel density
227 ppi
Colour range
Wide colour (P3); millions of colours
Screen finish
Glossy (Notebookcheck)
Display features
True Tone; 60 Hz refresh rate (Notebookcheck)

Performance

Processor
Apple M1
CPU cores
8
Graphics
7-core GPU or 8-core GPU
Memory
8 GB or 16 GB
Storage
128 GB to 2 TB
CPU
8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
GPU
7-core or 8-core GPU
AI engine
16-core Neural Engine
Memory type
Unified memory, configurable to 16 GB
Storage type
SSD; consumer models started at 256 GB, configurable to 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB. Apple's US education price list also lists an 8 GB / 128 GB model with a 7-core GPU.
Cooling
Fanless

Battery and size

Battery life (maker's claim)
Up to 18 hours
Battery capacity
49.9 Wh
Weight
1.29 kg
Thickness
16.1 mm
Width × depth
304.1 × 212.4 mm
Battery life detail
Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery
Charger
30 W USB-C Power Adapter
Materials
100% recycled aluminium enclosure
Colours
Gold, Silver, Space Grey

Connections

Ports
2 × Thunderbolt 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth
5.0
Webcam
720p FaceTime HD
Operating system
macOS
Port detail
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 up to 40 Gb/s, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; 3.5 mm headphone jack
External displays
One external display at up to 6K 60 Hz alongside the built-in display
Keyboard
Backlit Magic Keyboard; 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys with 12 function keys and inverted-T arrow keys; ambient light sensor
Trackpad
Force Touch trackpad
Speakers
Stereo speakers; wide stereo sound; Dolby Atmos playback
Microphones
Three-mic array with directional beamforming
Biometrics
Touch ID
In the box
MacBook Air, 30 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)

Configurations

ProcessorMemoryStorage
Apple M1, 7-core GPU8 GB128 GB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU8 GB256 GB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU16 GB256 GB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU8 GB512 GB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU16 GB512 GB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU8 GB1 TB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU16 GB1 TB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU8 GB2 TB
Apple M1, 7-core GPU16 GB2 TB
Apple M18 GB512 GB
Apple M116 GB512 GB
Apple M18 GB1 TB
Apple M116 GB1 TB
Apple M18 GB2 TB
Apple M116 GB2 TB

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Fanless aluminium enclosure
  • Up to 18 hours of movie playback, according to Apple
  • P3 colour display and Touch ID

Cons

  • Supports only one external display
  • Two USB-C ports, with no HDMI or SD card slot
  • Memory is limited to 16 GB

Closest rivals

Model
SizeDisplayProcessorMemoryWeightBatteryReleased
13.3″IPS LCD, 60 HzIntel Core i3, i5 or i78 GB – 16 GB1.29 kg12 hMar 2020
13.3″TN LCDIntel Core 22 GB – 4 GB1.32 kg7 hOct 2010
13.3″IPS LCDIntel Core i58 GB – 16 GB1.25 kg13 hNov 2018

Previous model: MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020). Newer model: MacBook Air 13″ (M2).

Sources

  1. support.apple.com/en-gb/111883
  2. apple.com/uk/newsroom/2020/11/introducing-the-next-generation-of-mac
  3. apple.com/education/pricelists/pdfs/Apple_US_Education_Institution_Price_List-1…
  4. notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-2020-M1-Entry-Review-Apple-M1-CPU-humbles-I…
  5. macrumors.com/2020/11/10/apple-m1-macs-available-to-order

Photo: cdsassets.apple.com

  • MacBook Air with M1 in gold, viewed from above with the lid open, showing Chinese-English keyboard legends: Apple

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