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Is the base model M1 MacBook Air worth the $150 over the i3 2020 MacBook Air?

Better value?

  • i3 MBA 2020 for $1000

    Votes: 2 3.2%

  • M1 MBA 2020 for $1150

    Votes: 61 96.8%
  • Total voters
    63
A

Adeapplephone

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2020
12
1
In your opinion, is the base model M1 MacBook Air with 7-gpu cores and 8 gigs of RAM worth the $150 over the older core i3 model?

I'm only using the laptop for web browsing, netflix/YouTube/music, word processing, and SPSS/excel data processing so nothing too demanding.
 
Adeapplephone said:
In your opinion, is the base model M1 MacBook Air with 7-gpu cores and 8 gigs of RAM worth the $150 over the older core i3 model?

I'm only using the laptop for web browsing, netflix/YouTube/music, word processing, and SPSS/excel data processing so nothing too demanding.
Click to expand...
There's no justification to buy the Intel Air at this point at all. The M1 model is vastly superior in every respect.
 
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In my case, yes. I'm actually trading my early 2020 i5 MBA for an M1 MBA. I'm losing some $$ in the deal. However, coming previously from a 2015 MBA, I found the early 2020 i5 performance lower, the case warmer and the fans coming on frequently. I use Zoom, Teams, VM Fusion (running Big Sure and Windows 10 VMs), Microsoft Office, Banktivity and TurboTax - not simultaneously, of course. :)
 
chrfr said:
You do realize you're not going to be able to do this with the M1 Mac, don't you?
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Yes, not in the near future anyway. I have an i7 iMac that can do that for now. My company migrated me to Citrix RemotePC so I don't need to run a VM any more to isolate my local network from VPN sessions to work.
 
dborja said:
Yes, not in the near future anyway. I have an i7 iMac that can do that for now. My company migrated me to Citrix RemotePC so I don't need to run a VM any more to isolate my local network from VPN sessions to work.
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That makes sense then. The 2018-2020 Airs were not good virtualization platforms because they didn't really keep themselves cool sufficiently. The M1 will be massively nicer to use for everything else.
 
chrfr said:
That makes sense then. The 2018-2020 Airs were not good virtualization platforms because they didn't really keep themselves cool sufficiently. The M1 will be massively nicer to use for everything else.
Click to expand...
Yes, that was an unpleasant surprise. My 2015 Air actually ran VMs better and didn't get as warm. 'Looking forward to the M1 which I should receive in about two weeks. I'll also probably be adding Xcode to the tasks I'll do on the M1.
 
Adeapplephone said:
In your opinion, is the base model M1 MacBook Air with 7-gpu cores and 8 gigs of RAM worth the $150 over the older core i3 model?

I'm only using the laptop for web browsing, netflix/YouTube/music, word processing, and SPSS/excel data processing so nothing too demanding.
Click to expand...

If your use case does not expand into video editing or other heavy activities optimized on the M1 + a lot of time away from the charger, any Intel processor can handle what you list. I would save the $150.
 
Another vote for the M1 as a former I3 owner. I3 was noticeably sluggish at everything in simple day to day use - browsing, task switching, opening apps, watching video. Heavier stuff was even worse (OOTP baseball would kick the fans on High). Just was never that happy with it.

I switched over to the M1 as an experiment, and it was immediately apparent how much better of an experience it is. The M1 seamlessly handles all of my tasks, without fans or lag. Battery is much better. It can handle the games that I throw at it. So much so, that I took the ~$350 loss to trade in and upgrade to it.
 
Last edited:
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the future is important for any investment,  will support the ARM M1 chip for maybe forever while the intel processors will be phased out in a couple of years. the M! will expand your  experience with using an iPad and iphone were everything is one platform and the drop off and syncing will be seamless.
Im lucky to still use my original MacBook air from late 2010 running Mojave because someone developed a patch whereas high sierra did not fulfill my daily computing needs and Mojave is a great OSX.
therefor i say get the M! for your future.
 
I'm in a similar boat. I can buy a mint used 2020 i5 for about $400 less than the M1 (both with AppleCare). One pro of going with the M1 is I could trade in my old laptop.
Any thoughts? Does $400 difference make the i5 a better choice for someone who really only uses it to surf the web, Zoom, and stream videos?
 
akonikui said:
I'm in a similar boat. I can buy a mint used 2020 i5 for about $400 less than the M1 (both with AppleCare). One pro of going with the M1 is I could trade in my old laptop.
Any thoughts? Does $400 difference make the i5 a better choice for someone who really only uses it to surf the web, Zoom, and stream videos?
Click to expand...
IMHO, it does. The M1 has great battery life, runs cool, fast and silent. Zoom and streaming video will crank the i5's fans up faster than you can say "MacBook."
 
akonikui said:
I'm in a similar boat. I can buy a mint used 2020 i5 for about $400 less than the M1 (both with AppleCare). One pro of going with the M1 is I could trade in my old laptop.
Any thoughts? Does $400 difference make the i5 a better choice for someone who really only uses it to surf the web, Zoom, and stream videos?
Click to expand...
If you can afford it - Yes. It’s just a better all around experience, even for day to day light usage (no lag, no fan w/Video, battery life, etc.). This is from a former 2020 i3 owner who moved over to the M1. I also spent roughly the same amount of money to upgrade my i3 to an M1.

Better question to ask: Why is this person selling their 2020 i5?
 
Short answer is Yes. For all of the reasons mentioned above. M1 is so vastly superior you'd be silly to go for the intel if you can afford the M1.
 
akonikui said:
I'm in a similar boat. I can buy a mint used 2020 i5 for about $400 less than the M1 (both with AppleCare). One pro of going with the M1 is I could trade in my old laptop.
Any thoughts? Does $400 difference make the i5 a better choice for someone who really only uses it to surf the web, Zoom, and stream videos?
Click to expand...
If you keep your devices for more than a year or two, I think it is worth it to get the M1. Cooler CPU will hopefully mean longer user life, not to mention speed which will help you get your workflow done faster.
 
For 'future-proofing' of OS, security updates and software, I'll say yes, even though your needs from your Mac aren't all that strenuous. Which is a pity, because there's nothing wrong with the Intel Air. Remember, a year ago, the last Intel version was Apple's newest product.

And you could save even more money by going to Apple's own Special Deals store - often picking up an Intel Air there. Mostly refurb'd (buyer's remorse returns, minor repairs, old stock) - they go thru individual inspection at Apple (arguably better than from factory), repair if needed, and are fully supported and can get AppleCare+.

Not yet seeing M1 Airs there - but its only a matter of time - so maybe you wait? Remember, this year's M1 will soon be the oldest, slowest version out there.
 
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