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When Apple debuted its M1 chip in the new MacBook Air, the performance numbers the company shared were enough to believe that customers won’t need the Intel-based versions anymore. Well, Apple read our minds because if you visit the official page right now, there are only M1 MacBook Air models available to buy. It looks like Apple is finally waving goodbye to Intel chips, at least for its less expensive notebook.
New M1 MacBook Air Starts at $999, Offers up to 2TB of Storage
If you visit the M1 MacBook Air page right now, you’ll notice there are two models of varying specifications and pricing available. This means there’s no point in keeping the Intel-based models around. Even previous tests have shown that while Intel increased the core count on the 2020 13-inch MacBook Air, the thermals got to a point where users wouldn’t be able to do mildly intensive work on the notebook. Keep in mind that the Intel-based MacBook Air features an active cooling solution, and it still couldn’t keep the temperatures under control.
The M1 MacBook Air, on the other hand, ships with a fanless design, so Apple appears pretty confident that the 5nm M1 silicon will be able to keep its temperature under check while delivering the best performance possible. The company even showed presentations of the latest chipset dominating the charts in both power-efficiency and performance. Also, for the first time, the MacBook Air touts an 8-core part, and it will be able to tackle lots of processor-intensive applications.
The efficiency of the M1 MacBook Air means users will be able to experience around 15 hours of battery life. That’s way more endurance compared to the Intel-based models, so yet another reason why Apple decided to get rid of those versions. Sadly, if you were looking to add more RAM to your MacBook Air, that wouldn’t be possible. Apple has restricted its first lineup of ARM-based Macs to support up to 16GB of unified RAM.
Aside from that, it looks like the entire configuration is a win-win, considering that the Intel-based 13-inch MacBook Air was also offered at $999. This time, with the M1 MacBook Air, you have something significantly more powerful and efficient at the same time. It honestly can’t get better than this.
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