Anyone Updated from a 2018 MacBook Air to a M1 2020 MacBook Air?

[omelet1978]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone that bought the MacBook Air right when it came out a couple of years ago were tempted to updated to the new M1 MacBook Air?

I currently have a 2018 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and a 512gb Hard Drive, and for day to day usage it works just fine for me. The M1 MacBook Air gets around 40% more battery life and is significantly faster which addresses 2 of my 3 main gripes about the Air. The third complaint is the large bezels which seem out of place in 2020 compared to the competition. My take on upgrading is to hold off and wait for the rumored 2022 MacBook Air re-design and see what they do with the MacBook Pro next year, but I was just curious as to what everyone on here thought and was doing?

 

[ghanwani]

I have a 2019 8GB/256GB which has the same processor as yours. I am most likely going to upgrade to the M1 mainly because of battery life. Trying to decide between 256GB and 512GB because I'm at 125GB today. 2022 is a long way off.

 

[lambertjohn]

I upgraded my 2018 Air to a 2020 M1 Air but the M1 Air doesn't arrive until Monday, the 7th. My 2018 is fine, and I actually like its keyboard, but Apple was willing to give me $550 for it in trade, so I went ahead and agreed to that. So that's where I am right now, just waiting for the new computer to get here. I'm going to check out the new computer on Monday and if it's everything people say it is, then I'll be a new M1 owner. If not, I can always back out of the trade-in deal and send the M1 back. Will report back if it was worth the upgrade. I imagine it probably will be: way faster CPU, better battery life, WIFIi 6, P3 gamut, improved keyboard, fanless cooling, etc. etc. With all those improvements, what's not to like about the new M1 Air?

 

[omelet1978]

After spending some time thinking about it I decided not to upgrade my 2018 MBA.

I have an iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard as well. I’m actually a lot more passionate about that device and decided to just use that a lot more and relegate the Macbook to necessary tasks that the iPad can’t do. Also, if i drop the iPad it’ll be there too.

I’m really hoping that with the 2022 MBA re-design they go all out and make it the Air just super small. Something similar to what HP did with their Spectre laptops which look pretty slick.

 

[Markgnyc2]

I just did this yesterday. This computer is blazing fast compared to the 2018. I don't do anything special, just web browsing and basic word processing and excel work. Everything opens up quickly, my web pages do not wait to load, I just can't wait to explore more during the week.

 

[lambertjohn]

I just did this yesterday. This computer is blazing fast compared to the 2018. I don't do anything special, just web browsing and basic word processing and excel work. Everything opens up quickly, my web pages do not wait to load, I just can't wait to explore more during the week.

What did you do with your 2018 Air? Did you trade it into Apple for credit toward your new Air? If you did, curious how it all worked out for you. I'm trading in my 2018 Air but haven't sent it in yet--waiting for my new M1 Air to arrive today before I do.

 

[Markgnyc2]

1 1 1

What did you do with your 2018 Air? Did you trade it into Apple for credit toward your new Air? If you did, curious how it all worked out for you. I'm trading in my 2018 Air but haven't sent it in yet--waiting for my new M1 Air to arrive today before I do.

I am going to hold it to make sure everything is OK with the M1 and I have no issues, then will most likely prep and give to my kids to use.

 

[Yesterday]

I went from '18 base mba to the base mba m1 and it's night and day different in speed. I could have held off on upgrading till gen2 m1 but so far no regrets as I no longer experience system lag.

 

[lambertjohn]

Got my M1 yesterday, the base model, and Yesterday is right, night and day difference in speed. Things are so much snappier. Plus the screen seems brighter and more colorful, and the keyboard has so much response to it. Also, this thing runs ice cool. So far, I'm loving my new M1, but if I had to go back to my 2018 Air, I could probably live with it. But let's hope I don't have to go back.

 

[roncron]

I got my M1 MBA on December 1. I also have a 2018 MBA which I loved (better than the early 2020 quad core MBA).

But I LOVE the M1 MBA like the brother I never had. I'm a professor and teaching has been mostly online since March; when teaching, I'm running Zoom, Safari with 5+ tabs open, MS Excel & PowerPoint, sometimes YouTube to show videos to the class, statistical software, plus I have external things attached to the computer: an external 4K monitor, an iPad I use with Apple Pencil as a digital whiteboard, an external webcam, plus an actual camera pointed at my (actual, physical) white board connected to the M1MBA via a HDMI capture card, and maybe one other thing I'm forgetting at the moment. All of this is very taxing on the 2018 MBA, so I got a 2020 intel MBP when they came out last April. (The 2018 MBA is still in the family.).

The intel MBP is a good machine, but I prefer the MBA form factor and I really don't like the TB. Plus, the intel MBP gave me 6-7 hours of battery life, which is decent, but the M1 MBA battery life smokes it. My wife needed to replace her 2013 MBA, so she is now using my 2018 MBA, I'm selling the early 2020 MBP, and I have this incredible M1 MBA which handles my heavy work load quite easily.

Also, the M1 MBA runs apps not optimized for M1 really, really well - including big-name apps like MS Office and obscure apps from independent developers.

Battery life on my M1 MBA is around 12 or 13 hours--less than promised, but every MacBook Air or Pro I've owned have delivered about 40% less battery life than Apple promised. 12-13 hours is about double the battery life I got on the 2018 MBA or the 2020 intel MBP.

Another reason to consider upgrading from your 2018 MBA to the 2020 M1 MBA is the keyboard. I didn't hate the butterfly keyboard. But the Magic Keyboards on the 2020 MBAs and MBPs are excellent IMO. Comfortable to type on, fairly quiet, I can type faster with minimal errors on the magic keyboard compared to the butterfly keyboard. I do a ton of writing (typing) on whatever computer I have, so the comfort and accuracy of the keyboard is a priority for me.

Lastly, the M1 MBA is a great value. I believe the starting price of the 2018 MBA was $1199 or $1299. The starting price for the M1 MBA is $999 (or $899 for students & teachers). That is crazy cheap for a machine that smokes the fully-loaded 16" MBP in benchmarks.

If you don't NEED a new computer, the 2018 MBA will still serve you very well. And there's a reason why you might hold off on buying a new one. In a year or so, Apple will release an MBA with a new form factor - smaller bezels and therefore a bigger display in the same size chassis - and by then, there will probably be an M2 processor with even better performance and/or battery life.