Apple MacBook Air (13″, 2020)

8 reviews for Apple MacBook Air (13″, 2020)

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   I switched to Mac 11 years ago, and for that entire period, I had the same laptop, a Macbook Pro, late-2011 model. After the initial adjustment, it has been a great laptop for all of these years. I used it for school, work, online browsing, a few applications, and streaming videos. I have never gamed on my 2011 laptop. Of course, it slowed down considerably after several years, and software and hardware updates can only help so much with an older model. So, I finally decided to purchase a new laptop, and based on my research on recent macbook models, the price and value was right on this 2020 Macbook Air.

   GENERAL FEATURES: Switching from a Pro to an Air model is weird at first because the Air is SO thin and lightweight. It has an extremely slim profile. I have to be extra careful when I grab the laptop to move to another room. Like other reviewers have said, the screen extends almost to the edge with minimal bezel, which also means very minimal border, so you are getting a “larger” screen. I did not mind the thick bezel black border on my pro and have been used to it for so long, but I took for granted that it actually provided a lot of protection for my screen. The macbook air has almost no bezel, which in my opinion, is not ideal. Let’s hope it doesn’t drop or get off balance because there is basically no protection for the screen. My older macbook pro has fallen a few times on it’s corner or edge in 11 years and been fine, aside from minor cosmetic damage. But the larger edge and bezel came in really handy on the macbook pro when it lost balance and fell off the counter several years ago, but I quickly saved it by grabbing it by the screen and significantly reducing the impact when it landed [luckily not on hard floor]. Obviously not an ideal way to grab it, but it was a necessary save in that moment. The only damage was cracks through the top of my screen from the pressure of my palm, and some minor dent in the bottom of the laptop. Cosmetic damage, but thankfully did not effect the screen light, LCD, or anything else. I do not think the macbook air would survive this, especially how the screen is built.

   BATTERY: Upon opening the box, the battery life was already pretty high, and I decided not to charge it until the battery decreased to around 10-15%. I was still using my original macbook during the day for work, and the new macbook air during the evening for mostly online use and going through all of the system preferences and settings, and watching youtube in the background. Keeping that limited use in mind, I did not need to charge it for maybe 1 week. Great battery life thus far. I will likely be shifting to use this macbook air for work soon, in order to take advantage of the current OS, higher ram, and M1 chip, especially because I connect to virtual servers, which can take a toll on the ram and processor.

   SPEED/PORTS/BLUETOOTH: Compared to an older model pro, it has good speeds so far. I already knew that the number of ports have been reduced significantly, and that air has less ports than a pro anyway, so I purchased a thunderbolt adapter and a USB hub in advance to take care of that issue. So far, the thunderbolt adapter works fine to connect the macbook air to my Thunderbolt Display monitor. The bluetooth was able to connect to my ear buds, although pairing did take a bit longer than I expected. The bluetooth preferences do seem to be less detailed/less options than my previous macbook pro.

   CHARGER: ** In my opinion, the previous magnetic chargers were superior to the current ones. They attached via magnet, the indicator light was red while charging, and green when fully charged. Easy and convenient. The mag-safe charger on this computer requires an additional push to be plugged in fully. This is just like most electronic devices, so it is not a bad feature, just requires an adjustment. It is probably safer for the computer and prevents it from easily coming unplugged. However, there is no indicator light, so you can’t tell that it is plugged in and successfully charging unless you look at the battery status in the menu bar, and you also cannot see when it is finished charging just at a glance. You cannot confirm when the laptop is closed or on lock screen. You have to open the laptop, log in, and then check. Big bummer. **

   MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES: My previous macbook had a great feature: check the battery life at a glance with a quick push of a button while the laptop is still closed. After some additional research, I realized that apple removed the battery light indicator on the macbook pros many years ago, and that airs never had this feature. Big bummer. There is no way to check the battery life on this model without opening the laptop AND logging in, as the battery status in the menu bar on lock screen only shows the icon, but won’t show you the percentage until you log in. Not ideal at all.

   ——-
   Quick review for recently purchased product [during Black Friday]. I will update with a more detailed review once I have used it for a longer period.
   ***** Important Note: If you are on the fence about purchasing the “gold,” don’t get it. I had a silver MacBook Pro for many years, and I went back and forth for several days about the gold, especially after reading recent reviews and viewing customer images on multiple retailers that said the gold is closer to rose gold. I would disagree and say that the color is actually better described as dark blush pink or dark a reddish-mauve. Definitely not the look I wanted to have, and I regret not purchasing the staple silver, especially as I keep my electronics for many years beyond the ‘normal time.’ It would be a hassle and a lot of money to purchase the silver instead, since we cannot exchange in-store.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   i bought parallels desktop and a windows 11 license. I need it to try a certain amount of things in IT, however, the performance when running windows in a virtualized environment (like parallels is) it gets seriously affected on the M1, something that didn’t happen with intel processors. You notice the performance degrading (but not that much, maybe 10, or even 15% i risk to say) when switching between full screens and main desktop with windows (full separate screen, remember that there’s an option to seamlessly integrate within your macOS). You kinda feel the stutter but i can see the M1 processor get in the way and prioritize the screen, and that’s a good thing to re-prioritize tasks that are being done in one screen or another (take the word “screen” as full-screen apps or software that switches between desktop and full-screen apps or between apps). In my case, running windows 11 makes the mbp m1 run hotter than i’m really use to, but it does not affect battery performance as much as i expected!… weird, isn’t it?… love it!

   If you’re going to virtualize something, that isn’t Windows, you shouldn’t worry that much on this laptop. Just remember that’s still have 8gb ram and usable 228gb, therefore, performance wouldn’t be the same as bare metal.

   Still, other regular software from apple or safari (or any other browser), Office365, Adobe XD, Photoshop do not affect performance nor consume that much battery, although if you are a graphic designer or a photographer making a quick change could make you brighten your screen, in which may lead to higher power consumption, which also could be confused by software running.

   One bad thing that i found with heavy usage is that the keyboard gets “oily”, meaning, it wears in time and amount of usage per day; funny enough, the aluminum part of the palm rest don’t have any signs of wear.

   Another thing that i found is that the left speaker sounds like it broke when hearing at 70% volume, i don’t know if that’s fixable or not, anywho anyhow… i’m gonna stick with that because i rarely use it.

   One thing that i’ve also found is how i got used to the fact that this mbp m1 takes nothing to return from suspended state, why? Because no matter what other laptop i use (or desktop, for that matter), all of them takes a few seconds to access to their respective desktops and another few seconds to actually be productive (after booting software)… This one literally takes nothing to wake and start using it… that’s why i’m not changing this laptop… and yes, even with its flaws… why? because in critical cases when i need to go somewhere and fast react to do something at work, i just do it! it takes me 0 seconds to wake up the mbp and enter another desktop via anydesk or teamviewer or ssh… this takes time on most windows laptops… i love it!

   I just wish this laptop was upgradeable… after all at the end of the day, it makes my life so useful and convenient despite the down side of it… what a masterpiece! i just wish i could do more and more with it, i feel limited… but happy!

   and by the way, i still stand on my original review.

   ORIGINAL:
   I believe i’ve found my unicorn because this particular macbook air still lasts an insane amount of time! Although i don’t use it on full brightness, i regulate it a lot. Connecting several devices to it via bluetooth is transparent, but unfortunately, Apple made the macOS more inconvenient to handle in terms of simplicity.

   User experience on the macOS is weird, you know as a mac user where things used to be, then you have to relearn some things and it doesn’t feel like home, the new normal isn’t good so far.

   Keyboard is relatively quiet, also, there’s the missing keyboard light on this iteration of the macbook air, why did you take (probably) the most useful key from us?! if you’re watching a movie you have to literally stop the movie, go through the menu from above and turn off the keyboard lights, or if you’re on a presentation and everything is dark, you just turn your screen light down but you can’t with your keyboard because you need to actually stop paying attention to the presentation and go through the menu, inconvenient as heck!

   I know (and i’m very well aware) that there are some workarounds to change to the keyboard light again using a small software… but that isn’t the end-game, the thing is that we shouldn’t need an extra software or aditional configuration just to use something the macbook had for, literally, over 10 years!

   Speed on this macbook: you don’t even feel it… everything is instant, nothing is slow, if something is, it’s most likely the software or the website you’re on, is that simple! If you’re planning on using massive storage, you should use an usb-c one, not an usb-a through usb-c dongle, you will have a bottleneck, that’s guaranteed.

   I haven’t used it on games because that’s why i have my pc and xbox for. However, if you’re planning on developing software on it, just make sure your libraries fit within 228gb (the half of it is recommended for all ssd’s) of storage, if that’s gonna be an issue, then go for usb-c massive storage.

   Weight isn’t a problem, it makes you feel like you’re having a premium laptop on your hands, but not enough to make your bag heavier. Construction feels like you own something premium and well-made.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   The M1 “Air” laptop is all that most people need for general purpose use – it has 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of solid state disk and an excellent 13.3 inch screen – plenty for email, light word processing, light gaming, school work, light artwork, has a good built-in camera, microphone and speakers, etc. Mac computers come with an excellent complement of easy-to-use Mac software for general purpose use and, recently, Stacksocial has been offering a great deal on MS Office 2021 for Mac that extends that ecosystem to the Mac, too. It is fast, responsive, extremely reliable, and is very easy and pleasant to use. Most people only use 30 to 50 GB of “disk” storage (this computer uses much faster solid state disk – not less-reliable and slower hard disk). It is comparatively light and thin as laptops go and is easy to carry. The power supply is not clunky and attaches magnetically. All-in-all a good choice, especially at its current discounted price. The M1 generation of Mac chips is similar to but not quite as fast as the M2 generation but is architecturally very similar – there is little to fear that the M1 will become obsolete in the near future. The *one* drawback is that this computer has only 2 Thunderbolt ports for wired connections. Thus, if you want to have a hardwired Ethernet connection (faster and more secure) than the built-in WiFi, you need to buy an external Thunderbolt (not just a USB C-type) dock that includes an Ethernet port. Similarly, if you want to use the computer with a larger, say a 24 or a 27 inch screen you need to have an HDMI port on the dock. And if you have other kinds of devices that you use that have USB A connections the dock must have those, too. There are several reliable docks on the market, so if you need one, they are available. Just make sure that the dock has the kinds and number of ports that you need. I recommend this computer if you need a light and very portable general purpose Mac.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   If you are in the Apple ecosystem, this is the perfect laptop to round out your needs. I have watched a ton of YouTube videos before buying this older technology base M1 computer and they all say in 2023, it is still the best performance for the money. After owning it for a month, I have to agree. I like having all my documents, photos, links etc available on all of my devices and this integrated perfectly. It was also super easy to set up and use. I love the feel and quality of the construction as well. Just beautiful in the Space Gray.
   I purchased this on the school tax free weekend from Amazon without hesitation. The price here on Amazon is one of the best and the computer is brand new, just like buying from Apple. I have heard that they offer Apple products at a lower price/margin in the hope that you will purchase your accessories here as well i.e. mice, keyboards, cases, hubs, drive, etc. Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense. I can’t speak for the refurbished products, but this Apple laptop is brand new, factory fresh.
   This laptop has everything I need, and nothing that i don’t!

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   I love the fact that it is so lightweight and that it is so fast. It is compatible with all of my other devices and the battery lasts longer than any other laptop that I’ve used. The picture on this is flawless and I use it for everything because it is so user friendly. Would definitely recommend if you use a lot of images and editing for business or for fun. It’s just an all around great addition for my at home business.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   Glad I waited, got it at the lowest price I’d seen since I’d been looking around for one, I really like it, but it’s really big, somehow i thought it would be smaller, love the keyboard, this is not a touchscreen, for some reason I thought it was, but I looked up other MacBooks and that saw none of them had that feature, so I don’t know where I got that from, but with the specifications I figured this would be perfect for me since I don’t really do anything but surf the internet, watch videos and do YouTube, maybe some light gaming, it was packaged really well, very happy with the way it came, no dents in any of the boxes, it came in two boxes not including the Amazon shipping box, and even that was sitting it neatly at my door, the white Apple packaging and a brown one showing it has a battery inside, assuming that’s Apple as Well by the way it opened, was not damaged at all, this did not come with any offers like free trials, the only thing was that I had to charge it cause it didn’t have any battery power at all, so I didn’t get the experience like all the unboxing videos I watched when they opened the MacBook up and it would magically comes to life, I was a little disappointed at that and kind of wondered if this particular MacBook has been setting around since 2020, but that’s just a very minor thing, but it’s great, only had it for almost two days but definitely would recommend, also would recommend buying this item when it’s on sale since it’s an older model.

7. 

   4 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   When I first received my computer, I should have been elated. I was not, however, and thought of returning it. I wish I had. The finish is easily scratched; the setup shows that it was either built or registered in England and the photo shop doesn’t work as easily or as well as it should. Previously I had a stand alone Apple iMac computer which was wonderful. This Macbook Air with the M1 chip was listed at such a bargain price that I couldn’t resist. I wish I had returned it.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Joe Doe – September 6, 2023

   I bought myself this laptop for college and needless to say I’m really happy with my purchase. I think it’s definitely worth the $800 that I spent. The keyboard isn’t too noisy and neither is the trackpad. The screen is a good size. I would definitely choose this laptop over the ones that are 1200+. Though those screens may be bigger, I don’t find it to be worth it just because the only difference really is the size and chip. I think apple really succeeded my expectations with this laptop. The battery life and sound is awesome on it. I’m looking forward to using this laptop for college, I have no doubts that it’ll disappoint. Definitely recommend!! You really do get the bang for your buck.