Anyone coming from a 12” Retina MacBook?

[DaMax85]

Waiting on my order for a new MacBook Air M1 (8gb/256gb). I’m coming from a 2016 12” MacBook (8gb/256gb), which suited me just fine until my battery started to fail and I didn’t want to spend $200 to replace the battery on a 5 year old machine.

Has anyone else jumped to a base model M1 air from a 12” MacBook? If so, I’d love to hear how you are liking it, especially when running Final Cut.

Before the M1 chip, I always assumed my next Mac would be an Intel-based Air with 16gb of ram and 512gb, but I’ve since become much better with storage management and have more than half of my 256GB SSD still free. Plus, everyone says 8gb of ram is not the same on these M1 chips.

Decided to buy the cheapest model to see if it’s enough. I'm not interested in keeping a machine for more than 4 years so I don't want to "future proof." I'd just rather buy exactly what I need and not what I think I might need down the road. Plus, in 4-5 years, the displays, processors, form factor, etc. will all have been improved in re-designs anyway.

 

[sky87]

I have a 2017 12" MB (not for much longer - am passing it on to a family member), and just upgraded to a M1 MBA 16GB/1TB. (Not a base model MBA, but I did try out the 8GB/512GB MBA and what I put below is valid for that too!)

Things I do love about the M1 MBA compared to my 12" MB:
- The instant on - wow, this is amazing, I just open the lid and it turns on instantly! The 12" MB always took a while to wake up from sleep.
- Touch ID is great.
- Lack of beach balls. One thing that made me upgrade was that I started to get lots of beach balls on my 12" MB, so it's really nice to not see them now!
- Keyboard feels much nicer on the new MBA
- I actually rather appreciate the slightly larger 13" screen size
- Battery life - this is seriously amazing, and I don't feel like I have to keep charging the macbook now.
- How fast and smooth everything is now. The 12" MB was starting to stutter a bit.
- Bluetooth connection seems much faster. I use a Logitech MX keys that I connect to various devices, and I always had to wait a while when connecting to my 12" MB. With the M1 MBA it is almost instant, I can start typing almost immediately after connecting the MX keys to the M1 MBA.

I don't run Final Cut so can't comment on that.

So far, pretty happy with the upgrade to the M1 MBA. I could have lived with the 12" MB, but the M1 MBA was a very nice upgrade from it...

 

[Biscotti]

I've been on these forums lately because I have a 2017 12" MB that I love, but yeahhhh it's showing it's age or lack of power. 4K displays and the keyboard kills my fingers. I pick up my 2011 MBA to type emails sometimes because I dislike the keyboard that much.

Thank you for the reply sky87 - I think I'll be listing my MB this week and picking up a 8/7 256 or 8/8 512.

 

[katastropoulos]

Waiting on my order for a new MacBook Air M1 (8gb/256gb). I’m coming from a 2016 12” MacBook (8gb/256gb), which suited me just fine until my battery started to fail and I didn’t want to spend $200 to replace the battery on a 5 year old machine.

Has anyone else jumped to a base model M1 air from a 12” MacBook?

Hi, I did exactly this.
I like the base M1 Air a lot but miss the small size and weight of the 12" machine.
You can read my thoughts about it, here:

Using a MacBook 2017 12″ in the year 2020

This blog entry is about how usable a MacBook 2017 12″ is in the year 2020 as your main computer. The machine was first introduced 2017 and was sold until mid 2019. And this is when I bought …

ikarios.wordpress.com

Best regards, Janni

 

[Biscotti]

Hi, I did exactly this.
I like the base M1 Air a lot but miss the small size and weight of the 12" machine.
You can read my thoughts about it, here:

Using a MacBook 2017 12″ in the year 2020

This blog entry is about how usable a MacBook 2017 12″ is in the year 2020 as your main computer. The machine was first introduced 2017 and was sold until mid 2019. And this is when I bought …

ikarios.wordpress.com

Best regards, Janni

Very nice writeup! I also have the 16" base model MBP, which I really love and enjoy but yes, it's too big and heavy for my needs.

How did you 12" Push the 43" 4K? I'm assuming there are less PPI in a 43"? I have a 28" 4K that the 12" i5 struggles sometimes. Animations are laggy, and I multitask way faster than the computer.

I'll likely do as you did and sell the 12" for the MBA base.

 

[4sallypat]

I have both the 2015 and 2017 12" rMB that I love so dearly - we take them on our trips (before COVID) as they are the lightest and smallest Macs we have. Coupled with the smaller travel sized 18W chargers we take along, they are so much lighter than our iPad Pros which I don't take.....

The new M1 MBA is tempting but I am holding out to see if Apple will revive the 12" form factor...

 

[katastropoulos]

How did you 12" Push the 43" 4K? I'm assuming there are less PPI in a 43"? I have a 28" 4K that the 12" i5 struggles sometimes. Animations are laggy, and I multitask way faster than the computer.

I'll likely do as you did and sell the 12" for the MBA base.

Hi Biscotti,

43" is a really huge monitor when you are sitting in front of it and of course the ppi is much lower. So I set scaling to 1:1 (4096x2160) and I had no problems with the performance. The fonts were still Cleary readable for me in this size. Setting the scaling to any other value made a visible difference in performance and slowed the machine a little bit down, as you have noticed yourself.

It is the way macOS scaling works, it costs a lot of performance to first scale the image to double the scaling resolution and the back down to 4K.

Best regards, Janni

 

[Clix Pix]

I am keeping my 2017 12" maxed-out (512 GB SSD/16 GB RAM) MacBook for travel, as it just can't be beat for that, with its small size and light weight. I love the new M1 MBP, (1 TB SSD/16 GB RAM) though, too, for other uses around home, and prefer the keyboard, the second port (which is a real Thunderbolt port this time, as opposed to USB-C), and of course it is much faster than the 12" MacBook. I also appreciate the larger display, too.

That said, if and when they do release a 12" MacBook with an M1 processor, I'd go for that in a heartbeat, no doubt about it! What I am really waiting for now, though, is the M-whatever processor version of the 16" MBP, which I would purchase and use to replace my current 15" 2018 MBP. That machine is used as a desktop replacement, as I keep it hooked up to a Thunderbolt 3 LG display, primarily for photo editing and such.

 

[nph]

I have a MB 2017 as well and even with my new M1 Macbook I will keep it. Originally I was thinking to upgrade my iPad Air 2 to the new iPad Air but for the money I will keep my MB 12 for travel. It is so light and battery is still decent.
I tent to use my MBA for reading and bring everywhere and my iPad gets less and less use.

 

[DaMax85]

Picked up a SG MBA M1 (8GB/256GB) from Best Buy today. It's definitely heavier than the 12" MacBook, but the extra weight just makes it feel more substantial. Plus, the display is a HUGE upgrade. I would have kept it, but it was very wobbly (I notice this issue with quite a few MacBook Airs in the wild) and I had to return it because it just feels like a design flaw. Bummer they didn't have another one in stock otherwise I would have just exchanged it.

 

[jsamuelson]

I’m coming from my beloved first gen Early 2015 MacBook 12”. My favourite machine ever. But the final straw was when I got dropped from a Hangouts session and had major audio issues the other night...I sold some Bitcoin and ordered the base model M1 Air. Now just waiting for an Apple Silicon iMac redesign and I’ll be set for another five years or so.

 

[FilmIndustryGuy]

Waiting on my order for a new MacBook Air M1 (8gb/256gb). I’m coming from a 2016 12” MacBook (8gb/256gb), which suited me just fine until my battery started to fail and I didn’t want to spend $200 to replace the battery on a 5 year old machine.

Has anyone else jumped to a base model M1 air from a 12” MacBook? If so, I’d love to hear how you are liking it, especially when running Final Cut.

Before the M1 chip, I always assumed my next Mac would be an Intel-based Air with 16gb of ram and 512gb, but I’ve since become much better with storage management and have more than half of my 256GB SSD still free. Plus, everyone says 8gb of ram is not the same on these M1 chips.

Decided to buy the cheapest model to see if it’s enough. I'm not interested in keeping a machine for more than 4 years so I don't want to "future proof." I'd just rather buy exactly what I need and not what I think I might need down the road. Plus, in 4-5 years, the displays, processors, form factor, etc. will all have been improved in re-designs anyway.

final cut runs slightly better on the M1 Air compared to a MBP 16 inch from my tests. You can even edit off the battery and still have long battery life. M chips are great I im looking forward to getting a new 12 inch body M1 if that ever comes out. it will be the best laptop for travel.

 

[DaMax85]

final cut runs slightly better on the M1 Air compared to a MBP 16 inch from my tests. You can even edit off the battery and still have long battery life. M chips are great I im looking forward to getting a new 12 inch body M1 if that ever comes out. it will be the best laptop for travel.

Had a 12” retina. I still think it’s the nicest looking laptop Apple has ever made and the portability was fantastic. But now that I have an M1 Air, I could never go back. Chip aside, I’m enjoying the bigger, brighter, sharper display, extra port, better camera, better speakers, better keyboard, and Touch ID. It felt big and clunky compared to the 12” when I first bought it, but now it feels like the sweet spot. I imagine the next redesigned Air will have smaller bezels which could put a 13” screen in a 12” form factor, but I reckon it’ll be a beat before an Air redesign. (The Air was last redesigned in 2018.) I could see a new color or two though! Would love to see a slate grey color like we had on the iPhone 5, or maybe a stone/cream.

 

[jmoore5196]

Still have my 12", circa 2017. I ordered a refurb M1 MBA when they hit the refurb store; the only upgrade was a 512GB SSD. Thus far, I'm not particularly impressed with the M1; running Adobe CC apps via emulators is for the birds.

The battery life is certainly nothing short of astonishing, but if you're in a situation where you can plug in most days, this feature alone isn't worth the cost of the MBA.

I'm debating sending the MBA back to Apple and sticking with my 12" until the M1X debuts ... if it ever does. The new MBA is a lovely machine, but no lovelier than the previous iteration in my opinion.

 

[jsamuelson]

Still have my 12", circa 2017. I ordered a refurb M1 MBA when they hit the refurb store; the only upgrade was a 512GB SSD. Thus far, I'm not particularly impressed with the M1; running Adobe CC apps via emulators is for the birds.

The battery life is certainly nothing short of astonishing, but if you're in a situation where you can plug in most days, this feature alone isn't worth the cost of the MBA.

I'm debating sending the MBA back to Apple and sticking with my 12" until the M1X debuts ... if it ever does. The new MBA is a lovely machine, but no lovelier than the previous iteration in my opinion.

Compared to my original 2015 MB - my new M1 Air is like night and day. Let's just say I used to reboot my machine and then go and make a cup of coffee while it was starting up again. Not any more!

 

[jmoore5196]

The 2017 is only marginally better, so the gap isn't quite 'night and day' - but almost. I decided to keep the M1 MBA; I'm sure it will make as good a travel machine as the MB has been.

 

[xraydoc]

Traded in a 2015 retina MacBook m5 for my M1 MacBook Air. The MacBook was so, so slow. Unbearably so, even with a fresh install of Catalina. And the battery had turned to crap after 5 years. The MBA is a bit bigger but the speed difference is so remarkable that the change in size is worth it.

Also no longer using a 13.5" Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 (quad core i7 + dGPU model). The little MBA is snappier, much lighter and has easily 2x the battery life even when the SB2 is in Intel's Battery Saver mode. The SB2 is resting softly on a shelf.

 

[jsamuelson]

Traded in a 2015 retina MacBook m5 for my M1 MacBook Air. The MacBook was so, so slow. Unbearably so, even with a fresh install of Catalina. And the battery had turned to crap after 5 years. The MBA is a bit bigger but the speed difference is so remarkable that the change in size is worth it.

Also no longer using a 13.5" Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 (quad core i7 + dGPU model). The little MBA is snappier, much lighter and has easily 2x the battery life even when the SB2 is in Intel's Battery Saver mode. The SB2 is resting softly on a shelf.

My battery, amazingly, was in really good shape. And it ran Big Sur acceptably well, but any multitasking brought it to a crawl...I didn't have time for that! It's going to my daughter as her uni machine to replace an old Air.

 

[slpslee1]

I just passed my 12" MacBook down to my son anticipating a move to the M1 chipset. I currently have an early 2020 MBA. It's nice, but now I miss that little MacBook. I actually did replace the battery in it because it was such a fast, competent computer. Now I think I'll just hang on to this one until the new Pros with the Magsafe adapters and real function keys drop... if they do... but then I'll miss the form factor and portability of this one. 🤣