Is the M1 Air camera any better than the early 2020 Intel Air camera

[JamesGoodman]

A few months ago I bought an early 2020 Air for my wife, so she didn't have to keep lugging her 2017 air and charger to and from work. She actually still goes to work, at a school. The camera is clearly worse or works worse than the camera on the 2017 Air. I am sure this has been widely discussed. My question:

I have an early 2020 Pro and it is clearly better.

Is the camera (the image quality, the graininess) any better on the M1 AIR.

thank you.

 

[EastHillWill]

I think light plays a huge role in the quality of the M1 cameras, which is why the reviews vary. (Vary, but with the majority of the 'it still sucks' opinion.)

In good light I would say the M1 camera (on the Air, which is the machine I have) is noticeably better than the Intel Air (which I also have) and acceptable for even regular use. In anything other than good light it's pretty bad, with it getting worse as the available light decreases. Not sure if this helps!

 

[JamesGoodman]

It helps a lot. Thanks. Noticeably better is better. The problem we have at home in a NYC apartment is the light. I am in a room with lots of it, with a PRO. She is in a room with very little, with the Intel AIR. The thing that kills me is that it is not a problem on her 2017 AIR, her work computer. She can of course bring that home. But how did the new model have a worse camera, that's what I don't get, how did they let that happen.

 

[EastHillWill]

Yea, that's really messed up. I don't recall so I did a quick Google search and it says the '17 and '18 refresh use the same 720p camera. Maybe they actually used smaller hardware in the new form factor, or for some reason it just looks better on the pre-Retina screen? Whatever the case, this is really the only issue on an otherwise great product. It sucks that it could be the dealbreaker for some folks.

 

[JamesGoodman]

Yes, for some reason, same camera different look. Or different integration or something. The very nice and very pleasant Apple person my wife spoke to at length acknowledged that it got worse with the Retina Air.

 

[jerryk]

Any time you use a camera in low light you are going to get grain noise because of the amplification the camera does to the image pixels. A little work on lighting will do a long way in improving the camera image. Get a table lamp or better yet a table lamp plus ring light. Even a cheap portable light or two will help a lot.

 

[James_C]

I don't believe the physical camera is any different in the M1 air compared to the early 2020 Intel Air. However the M1 Chip has a new image signal processor (ISP). Apple says benefits include noise reduction, greater dynamic range, improved auto white balance, and ML-enhanced face detection. In other words the M1 Chip does make a noticeable improvement to the video quality, despite using the same camera.