It boots up impressively fast (another bonus of using the M1 chip), and we opened up numerous apps at once, and they popped open quickly. It runs the latest version of the macOS operating system, known as Big Sur, which has been built from the ground up to make use of the M1’s capabilities (you can also install Big Sur on older MacBooks as well), and the operating system feels fast and responsive. While the M1 is Apple’s first SoC (System on Chip) for a laptop, you may not think that – this is an incredibly accomplished bit of hardware, and the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) which uses it, offers one of the smoothest computing experiences we’ve enjoyed in a modern laptop. MacBook Air (M1, 2020) review: Power and performance Apple may not be a brand you often associate with value for money and ultra-competitive prices, but as the new MacBook AIr proves, maybe you should. We actually reviewed the £999 model, and we were incredibly impressed with the results, and that version undercuts competitors like the Dell XPS 13 by quite a bit. So, for budget-conscious creatives, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is an easy recommendation. That higher specced version features similar specs to the MacBook Pro M1 model, including an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, but the Pro has a smaller SSD of 256GB, and is £50 more expensive. The extra GPU core should give the MacBook Air a decent performance bump when it comes to graphically intensive tasks, and the extra storage space will be very welcome for digital creatives who need to store lots of large files. You can also buy a more powerful model for £1,249, and this comes with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Impressively, Apple has launched an updated laptop for the same price it was asking for the previous model – which itself was actually cheaper than the 2019 version! While the MacBook Air certainly can’t be described as a budget laptop, it still remains excellent value for money – more so, in fact, due to it offering improved specs at the same price.

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