Intro I 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. Specs The 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 Setup After 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 Temperature When 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. Conclusion Overall, 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.