$200 dollars too get 8 more gigs of RAM should be illegal

repeat after me , if you've already got an m series laptop , you DO NOT NEED THIS

Marques is the only one that can call out Apple and still get invited and receive review units 😂

It's so refreshing to hear this from a tech guru like yourself! I remember back in 2010 I bought my first Apple Laptop - it was an "open box" MacBook Air from Best Buy for hundreds less than a new one. It gave me years and years of use and even was still very usable when I replaced it. Co-signing your advice 💯

Thanks for not being afraid of really calling out the ridiculous pricing of upgrading the machines from base. Everyone needs to share this video.

“M1 Air from walmart” - $699 BRAND NEW. I think thats really the way to go for anyone who just wants a mac and does most of their work in a web browser (lots of people)

Warching this on my M1 MacBook Air, still very happy with it. It is good to see the incremental improvements in each of these releases though, because when one replaces their M1 in a few years there will be a nice jump.

That was the most excellent approach in delivering concept. I have seen in a very long time. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

I somehow missed the fact that they released the m3 Mac air

My MacBook Air m1 is the best computer I have ever bought. Zero issues editing. Battery still incredible.

Your video's aspect ratio perfectly fits my Pixel 3a display.

Precise, clear, smooth. just an amazing explanation. I'm thinking to switch to apple even though i use to do 3d mainly. I was thinking about the M3 macbook pro max with 48 gb ram.

The Air is for people using 80% browser/office apps, 10-15% communication apps and 5-10% creative apps. My wife is using the M1 Air base model and the thing doesn't skip a beat. I have a M1Pro and we always use her Air for travel and even just looking stuff on the couch - the lightweight, size and insane battery life just can't be beat. I used to use it for photo editing, and I never-ever saw it struggle with 25MP raw images.

I have the base m1 MacBook Air and it still runs like butter. Probably won’t need to upgrade until M5 or M6

Bro your video's are mixed so well lol Out here watching your stuff on various studio monitors and it always sounds SO FIRE and the levels are SO ON POINT! Also, cool video :)

The wall paper is amazing

Still rocking my M1 Macbook Air 2020, and it has been great without any hiccups as per my usage. No need of any upgrade for me for a long time.😌

I've always loved Marques for being fair of explaining and calling out the companies like the Apple.

Thanks for the update and the onsite always a pleasure on this channel

always a joy watching your vids and production quality

I have an observation: I am a designer and filmmaker, I run a studio in Barcelona and for context my main rig is a custom built pc with a 5950x and 3090ti from a couple years back. Now, I bought an M2 Macbook Air, 512gb, 16gb of memory literally just for emails presentations and light work on the go, yet one day as I was on set offloading and SSD from our RED Monstro main rig and our Action shots form the BMPCC 6Ks, I tried laughing between me myself and I, to open a davinci resolve session and dump some of the RAW 5:1 8K footage and some of the 3:1 6K in a 4k timeline, pressed play and to my surprise, it didn't miss almost any frames. I added base convertion LUTs and you know what ? I still had smooth playback. To be fully honest I am still today blown away by how much more accessible handling RAW footage has become, but even more so by the M2 Air, that thing has no business being able to handle such files and yet it does.

I completed my entire doctorate (coding, modelling, data analysis, video editing to design experiments, and rendering some graphics for publication) on my base model M1 MacBook Air and it didn't miss a beat. There is only a small minority of the population that would actually need anything more. Don't get me wrong I always want a new toy but I wouldn't actually benefit at all by getting the M3.

I really love the honesty

We use a base spec M1 MacBook Air for our videos using Final Cut Pro. Still a fantastic laptop and never had any issues with it.

M1 Macbook Pro attached to 2 monitors through DisplayLink, running Geforce Now and 4K Netflix at the same time without any problem! It's now 3 Years old!

I never noticed but dammn the audio quality of your videos is incredible.

Love your reviews man, thanks for the honest tips

you are so real for this!!!!! thank you for helping us save especially in this economy!!

I am a public high school teacher that is currently using a 2020 MacBook Air M1 for 8-10 hours per day of classroom use. Everything I do is projected on a screen and the bulk of of work uses Google apps and Google Classroom. The M1 runs circles around my old i5 MacBook Air that I had been previously using. I never considered a new MacBook before until these M1s came out and changed my mind. I now want to pick up an M3 Air for personal use. Even the $699 M1s that Walmart is selling easily handles basic tasks for a non power user.

I just bought this and of course you have a video on it 😂 you have a video for everything !!! This is my first macbook purchase ever i’m excited!

I’m excited to get mine. I just ordered the 13” with a few bumps in specs. I’m coming from a 2011 MacBook Air which was the lowest spec available when I bought it.

Still rocking my M1 Air with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage; hasn’t given me not one problem since I bought it. Fantastic machine. Thought about upgrading to M2 with more storage, but for what?

Got procured an M2 at work earlier this year. It’s awesome and I don’t think I’ll need to upgrade in the next few years. Totally love it.

Love your jingle, that’s the first one I used for my crypto podcast a few years ago.

i had the m1 air for a few years, loved it. Upgraded to base model 15' air, seemed everything could only get better - surprisingly, not. Same work flow - zooms, tabs, etc. and I've had this thing crash and have to reset it multiple times already.

I have an M1 with 8GB RAM & 256GB Storage. I am this kind of MacBook Air user doing office stuff, watching videos, sometimes bigger Excel's and PowerPoints. For these use cases my notebook is fully enough. I am so happy and satisfied with the performance. I am not even thinking about upgrading in the next 2 years. But well, maybe I am the minority, but honestly - I don't think so :) I might be the minority in these comments. But not in the mass market.

I just recently bought a MacBook Air M1 to replace my Mid 2012 MacBook Air. I had a love/hate relationship with my MacBook Air but I never felt like I needed to upgrade to run basic tasks and I have an iPad and iPhone that I primarily use. It is running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 and I intentionally kept it at that version because anything newer would cause the computer to overheat and run slow. When I saw that Walmart had an M1 for only $699 I jumped on that deal. While I am enjoying the UI changes and new features over my old MacBook, it somehow still feels like I am using the same computer when doing the same basic tasks. Nonetheless, I am very happy with my purchase and hopefully it lasts me just as long as my first MacBook Air from 2012. Which in all actually is still in like new condition. I am very proud of that lol, I only ever had to reset it once and replace the battery once. Overall, I highly recommend the M1 for anyone on a budget who needs a computer for work, school or even entry level video production. M series chip is a huge upgrade from any intel based Mac.

I've been using M1 air 16 512 since release for development and design work. What a beast! I even have one of the newer models 16 inch but I still use the Air 99% of time

The transition from review to sponsor was pretty smooth

M1 Air is still amazing for professional software engineering with mid-scale compiling/builds/etc. The fact that you can get it for $650 is pretty wild. Plus it's repairability is pretty decent. I've replaced the battery and monitor myself no problem.

I went from an i5 Intel Mac to the 14in MacBook Air (not base model) and it’s been a complete game changer for me.

I went ahead and bought the 15in M3 because this is my first MacBook and so far I’m loving it

I'm watching this on my base model M1 Macbook Air. This thing is aging like fine wine, love it.

This feels like a classic mkbhd review. Refreshing

I'm a CS student from saudi, and this is my first time using iOs i was an HP user.. so 11 days ago i ordered the macBook Air M3 15inch with 16 RAM. I'm really scared and excited at the same time

thanks for the good advice. I'm going M2.

I opted to get the M1 Air 16 GB w/ getting an external SSD for storage, probably the best value for my buck. But Apple needs to up their RAM for their base models and the upgrades are so overpriced like everything they sell.

Been using the base M1 air for the past three years for studying programming and some lightweight app building in xCode and I've genuinely never had a single issue. Of course, I'd love the Pro, but it's wild how good the base Macbook air is.

You sir are the king of crazy call outs quite frankly 😉

Love my MBA 15" M2 base model. Does all my school work, word processing, media consumption, etc. perfectly fine. Everything else I just use my gaming PC.

Sir, I would just say that you would be/(are?) an amazing product manager. Great video!

I have a M2 Macbook air with the base config and i will say Marques is spot on. I use it as my travel device and for browsing, and i run android studio and xcode projects on it from time to time. No issues. My main device is a gaming laptop and that does most of my heavy lifting when i need the additional power. Understanding what your use case is for a new laptop goes a long way in making an informed decision and spending your money wisely.

The "enabler" thing is quite true. I've been doing heavy coding for over 3 years with a base M1 Macbook Air and it's still going strong. It paid for itself hundreds times over haha

Got mine last week....will be using it for DAWs mostly...😉

Watching this on my base M1 from the last two years. I run docker for full-stack web development, edit photos and some basic videos and do all the other lightweight stuff anyone does. It's a beast and I couldn't go back to anything else. Due to the form factor, I don't even think I'll upgrade any time soon albeit my intention was to get the pro later down the line.

one i'll always appreciate about you Marques is that you don't encourage people to buy something they don't need. I dont have a macbook at all but have been looking into it and honestly, the M1 air's seem to be a great entry point while not breaking the bank.

I still have my "day 1" M1 MacBook with 16GB and have no problems, while I do not work with photo/video editing, for C++/Rust development it works great, I also leave tons of tabs and even different browsers open and the thing is super fast.

Great review and recommendation!

I’ve been coding games and websites for about a year now on the base M2 Air model without any problem. Love this machine

I actually agree with you that 8 GB RAM will allow any average user to do just the basics. The main problem I have with Mac computers, however, and what a lot of average users don't realize, is that you don't need to spend $1000 to do "just the basics". In my opinion, the M1 Macbook Air is finally at the price point it should have cost 2 years ago.

I've had a second-hand M1 Air 8gb/512gb for a couple of years. Apple's first bash at their own silicon is just jaw dropping. I had a 2018 MBP before and the M1 air just runs rings around it. An awesome piece of kit. To get one brand new for under $700 in the US is fantastic value, given the build quality, the materials and just how capable it is.

100%! I went for the M2 base model this past January. It it is my travel music and video production computer. I regularly mix over 24 tracks of audio with all the typical pro processing and I edit 6k footage with full grades on the regular. Phenomenal little notebook. I have always used external storage, so I already have a pile of drives. That would be the only part I would recommend. Cause 256gbs fills up fast with 6k files. Thankfully SanDisk and Samsung SSDs are cheeeeeap!

Really good video! Actually one of the best and most honest video. I feel like you can hold back sometimes, giving ur opnions about companies, but today u did great!!

I just bought an M1 base model from Walmart (Best Buy was sold out) and this is the first Apple product I've bought since 2016 and my first Mac ever. We'll see how it goes i guess.

Got an Air M2 spec'd up decently for some college courses, and it's been great as my first Mac. The minor boost in performance offered by the M3 is a nice option, but definitely not necessary.

I got the base spec M1 MBA last month for under £700 UKP. Absolutely fine for browsing, office, music and occasional media editing.

I use the M1 entry level MacBook Air for editing on Final Cut Pro using plugins etc, and for photoshop, Lightroom etc. and I love it 🥰- doesn’t slow my workflow. I use an external hard drive though.

Right on time

My goto guy for reviews delivers again!!

You are my god Mr. Brownlee. Your candor, advice, and recommendations helped me to decide on a Mac when money is tight. THANK YOU!

Side note, I’ve still got 13’ MacBook Pro 2013 with Retina display and it works like a dream for surfing and streaming! It never ceased to amaze me 😁

I'm a student and I'm still using 2017 MacBook Pro with 8gb of ram. It gets little hot under heavy load of homework over long period of time but other than that still works and does everything today that most students will need. Touch bar works, speakers work, like a normal regular laptop and surprisingly I'm still getting software updates. One thing is battery isn't great but that's expected as it's considered ancient by todays standards.

I just bought the Macbook Air M1 and have been absolutely loving it!!!

Amazing video!! Only Marques Brownlee can do a video like this!!

I have the M1 air with the tiny amount of memory and... it has never stuttered or slow down. it's great. obviously I don't do video editing.

I'm glad that the new aluminum treatment isn't all that much of an improvement, it makes me feel better about my m2. Just sad that I'm missing out on ray tracing, but I just emulate older games anyway (and also switch games flawlessly) so I'll get over it. I went with 16gb ram, and for an insanely thin and light 15" I feel like I got my money's worth.

Hi Marques, Thanks for saving us alot of money ❤ means alot !!!

I bought an M1 MacBook Air base model when it was released. Now that I’m a graphic design student doing design work I’ve considered upgrading only to get 16GB memory and 512GB storage. For now I’m doing fine but I do worry about storage.

I'm super happy with my M1 Max MacBook pro. I think I'll wait until about M6 or M7 to upgrade.

I have my base M1 air, for almost 3 years now, never had issues with. Just use it casually, wont upgrade til it breaks.

One thing to keep in mind when buying previous gen models with Apple is they are closer to the OS update cutoff. If staying with the current OS for years matters to you, Macs get around 5-6 years from when new before they stop getting the big named updates. They still get security updates for a while longer but some features like what syncs with the iPhone etc can get dropped.

Very helpful and useful insights. Thank you!

Glad to see Marques finally calling out Apple for their crazy prices

This man is so advanced he did a promo so quick and subtle I didn't even notice but I noticed.

I'm still using my base M1 MB Air and my Apple refurbed M1 Mac Mini w 8/512. For my use, it's fine though there have been times I've wished for the 16g of ram. Still, very functional as I'm NOT a heavy user. I do like the new design, just not enough to upgrade. Good Vid.

I've been editing all my videos (4k/6k footage, color grading, effects, transitions) on an m1 16/256gb air (with the thermal mod) with no big issues. FCPX does crash from time to time, but it recovers everything exactly where I stopped, and manages to do everything I need it to. An upgrade however will definitely be great once I decide to spend the money.

I just picked a base m3 air up and I love it. I upgraded from a 2018 macbook air. One of the big reasons I didn't go with the m2 is because of the SSD. I need fast speeds for my work. 8gb sounds like nothing but for what I'm doing it is significantly more than enough for me.

I have the M1 Base model and love it, as you said for people who just want to browse the web and watch movies, tv shows as a content consumption machine it's perfect!

Marquez here's a video recommendation + request: make a windows creator laptop reccomendation video! Maybe. You're one of the world's biggest creators, and I don't see myself buying an Apple product really -- the stuff's too restrictive, too overpriced ("Think different" has become "think locked in", or "think give us more money") -- so would love to see that video from you. Think about it :)

thank you for this thorough and honest review. i am a MacBook Air user eversince because i find MB Pro way too much for my budget. nonetheless, i am happy with it. Thank you 😊

The Wal Mart thing is not leftover stock of the M1 MacBook Air. Apple is continuing to make them just for WalMart (they've never stocked Macs before) and they start at $700. It's a pretty interesting development and great deal on what's still a solid machine.

The fact that people actually overpay for what should be a base spec is insane

Got the M2 8&256GB recently for school. Works for my basic needs.

watching this video on my Macbook Air 2017. It was 128GB when I bought it in 2017 but I upgraded the SSD to 1TB. Still works like a charm for me. I just use it for my studies.

I got a M2 MacBook Air in August of 2022 for college, mainly for normal school use (docs, chrome, etc). It’s still really good.

I love your honest reviews. The fact that you know that these brands watch your videos and you’re still brutally honest is one of the best things about your channel. Thanks for always keeping it real and informed 🔥🔥🔥

Still using my m1 MacBook Air. No problems with workload like Pixemator Pro editing or render. Even finalcut or Xcode work fine. M1 MacBook is a steal in my opinion.

Base spec is very much usable. I use a base m2 air and as an undergraduate student I have a ton of safari tabs open, multiple pdfs, excel, word, goodnotes, spotify and maybe a few other things here and there open. I also like to program on my bed while airplaying to my tv to use it as a second monitor, and as long as you’re not running multiple vms and/or intensive AI workloads, then this will be a good computer for what you need.

I love my M1 MacBook, an absolute beast for everything I use it for, its just perfect little go to computer, no complaints so far!

I wonder if Apple staggers the M3 introductions for inventory management-with a big initial buy, you need to stock up, and that will take longer if you have to build up stock for every product at the same time.