2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Gold (Renewed Premium)

IntroI purchased the M1 MacBook Air in 2023, and the experience has been great, albeit with some minor bugs introduced in macOS Sonoma, which were fixed in macOS Sequoia. Fast forward to March 2024, Apple replaced the base model M1 MacBook Air with the M2 MacBook Air. This now makes it an even greater time to purchase the M1 MacBook Air, as prices have decreased, making the price of admission more accessible to a wider audience. The power and performance that you get with an M1 MacBook Air are greater than that of a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel i9 processor. When that machine came out, it cost 5x the cost of the M1 MacBook Air. Let that sit in your head for a minute, and be sure to never question or doubt the power that the M1 MacBook Air possesses. As said in the slogan of the M1 MacBook Air by Apple, “Power. It’s in the Air.” That remains true in 2025, even with the release of the M3 MacBook Air. This machine is powerful enough to be used for audio, video, and photo production, and it won’t be reduced to typing documents and web browsing anytime soon.All Macs based on the modern architecture of Apple Silicon are fully capable of doing professional work regardless of needs, and the M1 MacBook Air is no exception. If you are currently on any Intel-based machine, the improvements in performance are night and day. If you are limited on cash, you no longer have an excuse not to purchase a brand-new Mac laptop. In addition to great performance, Apple Silicon is far more efficient in power consumption than its predecessor. Because of this, we are able to get “real” all-day battery life using the same battery, in the same chassis as the previous Intel-based MacBook Air. The chassis features the iconic wedge-shaped design with no sharp edges, making this machine comfortable to type on.SpecsThe M1 MacBook Air sports what Apple calls “Magic keyboard,” which is essentially a refinement of the “proper” keyboard that Apple has used all these years before the tragedy known as the butterfly keyboard was introduced. We get a 13-inch IPS LED backlit display with a native resolution of 2560x1600, 400 nits of brightness, wide color P3 gamut, and true tone technology. This is an improvement over the previous Intel-based Retina MacBook Air released the same year, which only featured an sRGB color gamut. These improvements enable photo and video editing with more accurate color grading to be achieved on the M1 MacBook Air. The 720p webcam features an “advanced image signal processor with computational video,” which enhances video quality over its predecessor.Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is also included in the M1 MacBook Air as opposed to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) in its predecessor. This means multiuser support (OFDMA) with support for up to 8 AP spatial streams and a max data rate of 9.6 Gbps. 802.11ax supports these performance benefits on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. In contrast, 802.11ac supported 4 AP special streams, a max data rate of 6.9 Gbps, and was only supported on the 5 GHz band. 802.11ax includes BSS (basic service set) coloring, which adds a field to the wireless frame in order to overcome interference associated with same-frequency cell coexistence, leading to increased capacity and stability over its predecessor. 802.11ax also uses less power than its predecessor, adding to improved battery life.The M1 chip features an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, a 7-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The notebook comes with a 49.9 watt-hour lithium-polymer battery and a 30W USB-C Power Delivery power adapter. Apple says that the battery life can last up to 15 hours when web browsing and up to 18 hours while watching Apple TV. That is an improvement over its predecessor, which provided up to 11 hours when web browsing wirelessly and up to 12 hours for Apple TV movie playback.Touch ID offers a convenient and secure authentication method, particularly when using your MacBook Air in public spaces where you may not desire your keystrokes to be recorded by unethical individuals.Desktop SetupAfter purchasing and using this machine in a proper desk setup, there are two things I have taken note of. The included 30W charger is underpowered when the MacBook Air is used in a "desktop" setup with an external display and SSD attached, as the additional power is drawn from the batteries during peak usage. The M1 MacBook Air has 2 USB-C ports. If you are using a non-USB-C based monitor, you will be required to use a USB-C hub with HDMI, etc., in order to use this device in a proper desktop configuration. Apple’s Multiport USB-C AV Adapter takes 6W of power for itself, leaving a theoretical 24W for the MacBook Air. macOS’s energy management is top-notch; however, when used in this configuration, processor and graphically intensive tasks will cause the MacBook Air to pull power from the battery in addition to that being supplied by the power adapter.The max power will be pulled initially, but after thermal throttling kicks in, the power requirements are reduced, and power is then taken exclusively from the power adapter. During the initial stage, coconutBattery shows 1-5W of power being pulled from the battery, but then this amount is gradually reduced to 0W after a few minutes. The battery loses less than 1% state-of-charge during this process according to coconutBattery; however, this negligible amount is not displayed by the built-in battery meter, which will still indicate 100% SoC.At first, I had assumed that this would not be an issue, as I was advised by other “pros”. The M2 & M3 MacBook Air and many Windows-based notebooks conduct this same behavior out-of-the-box when pushed with their included charger connected directly to them. My mind was at rest regarding the matter until I saw my battery health degrading rapidly. After less than 5 months, macOS showed a battery health reading of 89%, and coconutBattery displayed a reading of 84%. I continued using the default charger until less than a month later when macOS displayed a battery health reading of 88%, and coconutBattery displayed a reading of 82%. I began to assume that my battery was defective and that I would have to return and replace my machine as it was less than 6 months old.Despite all the noise from other “tech pros” in the IT industry who claim that “your Mac can manage itself” and that using the underpowered charger is a non-issue, my intuition was telling me that due to power being pulled from the battery while plugged in, the battery health meter was incorrect and needed to be re-calibrated. Thankfully, I had already owned an Anker A2613 60W Power Port Atom III Gan charger purchased on Amazon in 2019 that I used exclusively to charge my previous Non-Retina MacBook Air. That Mac along with its battery is still going strong today, albeit with the unavoidable “Service Recommended” tag that only just came on in February of 2024. I swapped out the included 30W Apple power adapter for the 60W Anker. I then used it exclusively with the M1 MacBook Air over the period of 2 weeks, discharging to 0% and back to 100% at least 2 times per week. This re-calibrated the battery’s health sensors, and sure enough, the battery health reading in coconutBattery increased, thankfully. macOS held on to its 88% battery health percentage for the greater part of 2024, while coconutBattery reported an increase to ~85.2% up from the 82% it previously displayed.Battery TemperatureWhen charging from 1% SoC, battery temperatures climb to 38 ℃ when using the included 30W charger and up to ~40 ℃ with the 60W Anker charger. The max charging temperature for lithium-ion batteries is 45℃, and so this temperature is well within tolerances; macOS will automatically disable charging if temperatures reach that level. During sustained processor and graphically intense usage, the M1 MacBook Air’s battery temperature can be seen maxing out at ~45.5 ℃ until thermal throttling kicks in and consequently reducing battery temperature to ~43 ℃ while the task remains in progress. This is the “intense usage” temperature regardless of the M1 MacBook Air being used while plugged in with a full battery or while being used unplugged. The maximum discharge rate for lithium-ion batteries is 60℃, so once again this is within tolerances. When the task is completed, the battery’s temperature gradually cools back down to an idle temperature of ~36 ℃. Using the MacBook in clamshell mode surprisingly has little effect on its thermals from my testing. The thermal management of the M1 MacBook Air is very impressive for a fan-less device.ConclusionOverall, the M1 MacBook Air is an excellent machine in 2025, with its iconic, classy, and timeless design. It continues to demonstrate the real meaning of value and performance. Like I said before, the power and performance that you get with an M1 MacBook Air is greater than that of a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel i9 processor. When that machine came out, it cost almost USD$4000. Many professionals still use that machine till this date for work. In 2025, the slogan for the M1 MacBook still stands true today: “Power. It’s in the Air.”As an audio professional, I have completed several projects using a base model 2013 MacBook Air with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. Projects were stored on an external drive, and the internal drive used exclusively for the OS and its applications. That laptop is still running flawlessly today. Fast forward to 2023 when I purchased my M1 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Performance is flawless, and the value is unmatched. This laptop has been recommended by almost everyone in the tech industry over the M2 MacBook Air as the best laptop to buy in 2020-2024 until Apple removed it from their website. M2 runs hotter and is less efficient than M1, making its gains negligible in the chassis of a fan-less MacBook Air. With the M3 MacBook Air, Apple has improved upon the shortcomings of the M2 MacBook Air. They have brought back dual NAND chips for SSD speeds compatible with the M1 MacBook Air, and with the new 3-nanometer architecture of the M3, efficiency and thermal performance have improved. In my experience, the M2 MacBook Air is the one to skip. If you are looking for value and performance, get the M1 MacBook Air, and if you are looking for the latest, get the M3 MacBook Air. Both machines, in their base configuration, are fully capable of professional audio, video, and photo editing.

UPDATE 3/8/2023: i bought parallels desktop and a windows 11 license. I need it to try a certain amount of things in IT, however, the performance when running windows in a virtualized environment (like parallels is) it gets seriously affected on the M1, something that didn't happen with intel processors. You notice the performance degrading (but not that much, maybe 10, or even 15% i risk to say) when switching between full screens and main desktop with windows (full separate screen, remember that there's an option to seamlessly integrate within your macOS). You kinda feel the stutter but i can see the M1 processor get in the way and prioritize the screen, and that's a good thing to re-prioritize tasks that are being done in one screen or another (take the word "screen" as full-screen apps or software that switches between desktop and full-screen apps or between apps). In my case, running windows 11 makes the mbp m1 run hotter than i'm really use to, but it does not affect battery performance as much as i expected!... weird, isn't it?... love it!If you're going to virtualize something, that isn't Windows, you shouldn't worry that much on this laptop. Just remember that's still have 8gb ram and usable 228gb, therefore, performance wouldn't be the same as bare metal.Still, other regular software from apple or safari (or any other browser), Office365, Adobe XD, Photoshop do not affect performance nor consume that much battery, although if you are a graphic designer or a photographer making a quick change could make you brighten your screen, in which may lead to higher power consumption, which also could be confused by software running.One bad thing that i found with heavy usage is that the keyboard gets "oily", meaning, it wears in time and amount of usage per day; funny enough, the aluminum part of the palm rest don't have any signs of wear.Another thing that i found is that the left speaker sounds like it broke when hearing at 70% volume, i don't know if that's fixable or not, anywho anyhow... i'm gonna stick with that because i rarely use it.One thing that i've also found is how i got used to the fact that this mbp m1 takes nothing to return from suspended state, why? Because no matter what other laptop i use (or desktop, for that matter), all of them takes a few seconds to access to their respective desktops and another few seconds to actually be productive (after booting software)... This one literally takes nothing to wake and start using it... that's why i'm not changing this laptop... and yes, even with its flaws... why? because in critical cases when i need to go somewhere and fast react to do something at work, i just do it! it takes me 0 seconds to wake up the mbp and enter another desktop via anydesk or teamviewer or ssh... this takes time on most windows laptops... i love it!I just wish this laptop was upgradeable... after all at the end of the day, it makes my life so useful and convenient despite the down side of it... what a masterpiece! i just wish i could do more and more with it, i feel limited... but happy!and by the way, i still stand on my original review.ORIGINAL:I believe i've found my unicorn because this particular macbook air still lasts an insane amount of time! Although i don't use it on full brightness, i regulate it a lot. Connecting several devices to it via bluetooth is transparent, but unfortunately, Apple made the macOS more inconvenient to handle in terms of simplicity.User experience on the macOS is weird, you know as a mac user where things used to be, then you have to relearn some things and it doesn't feel like home, the new normal isn't good so far.Keyboard is relatively quiet, also, there's the missing keyboard light on this iteration of the macbook air, why did you take (probably) the most useful key from us?! if you're watching a movie you have to literally stop the movie, go through the menu from above and turn off the keyboard lights, or if you're on a presentation and everything is dark, you just turn your screen light down but you can't with your keyboard because you need to actually stop paying attention to the presentation and go through the menu, inconvenient as heck!I know (and i'm very well aware) that there are some workarounds to change to the keyboard light again using a small software... but that isn't the end-game, the thing is that we shouldn't need an extra software or aditional configuration just to use something the macbook had for, literally, over 10 years!Speed on this macbook: you don't even feel it... everything is instant, nothing is slow, if something is, it's most likely the software or the website you're on, is that simple! If you're planning on using massive storage, you should use an usb-c one, not an usb-a through usb-c dongle, you will have a bottleneck, that's guaranteed.I haven't used it on games because that's why i have my pc and xbox for. However, if you're planning on developing software on it, just make sure your libraries fit within 228gb (the half of it is recommended for all ssd's) of storage, if that's gonna be an issue, then go for usb-c massive storage.Weight isn't a problem, it makes you feel like you're having a premium laptop on your hands, but not enough to make your bag heavier. Construction feels like you own something premium and well-made.

Came in perfect shape. I got the refurbished one but it feels like brand new, not marks, perfect battery. High quality! I needed to upgrade my 2014 one so I got this one and it is so much better and faster! I researched so much to find a good replacement that wouldn't break the bank and all signs pointed to this one. This is just for a use at home but that I can also do some work from home if needed. This is probably way better than I need so after 10 years I will replace it haha

La computadora vino como dicen, en un estado Premiun, vino con su caja original (aunque algo dañada la caja pero es lo de menos) la batería al 100% de su capacidad y lo único malo es el pago fácil con Apple Pay, parece que el dueño anterior manipuló la laptop con apps de terceros pero de ahí todo lo demás funciona exactamente como lo describen

The 2020 Apple MacBook Air with the M1 chip is just fantastic. It's super powerful thanks to the M1 chip, handling everything with ease. The battery life is incredible – lasts all day and then some! The Retina display is beautiful and sharp. Plus, it's so easy to use and works perfectly with my iPhone and iPad. Great performance, great battery, great screen, great value. Simple as that. Highly recommend!

This is a very good laptop, even if it was recycled. The design is simple and very good. The brightness is adjustable. The keyboard is nice and smooth. I thankfully managed to keep my laptop safe from scratches, dents, and failures. The price was worth it.