The 2020 M1 Air gets my vote for the best buy right now.
(Image credit: Future)
It's a bit of a running joke in the office, but I love my M1-chipped MacBook Air. Due to my job, July means searching for the best Apple Prime Day deals, including discounts on the mighty Air, and I'll happily blurt out my feelings for this slender, powerful laptop to anyone who will pretend to listen. In fact, I like the Air so much, I've got a prediction – it's gonna win Prime Day, and for a very good reason. Stick with me.
Now, I get that Prime Day isn't a competition, and that people buy what they need (or want), and that might not be a 13-inch Apple laptop. But winning Prime Day is when the best product gets the best relative discount. And so: I think the MacBook Air is the best laptop for the majority of users out there; right now it's on sale for a record-low price of $749 at Amazon, down from $899; therefore – it wins.
It probably has all that you need
(Image credit: Future)
A quick clarification. I'm not talking to the majority of creative pros here. Video editors and 3D artists will need more than the M1 chip has to offer. The 15-inch M1 Pro onwards will do you right (which happens to also be on offer right now). Not that the M1 Air is a lettuce. It handles my day-to-day use that involves tens of tabs open, 4K video streaming, and photo editing all going at once.
(Image credit: Future)
The bottom line is the M1 MacBook Air is unbelievable value for money, and it's still, in 2023, fantastic tech. Sure, in Apple World, the M2 Ultra takes the biscuit, but you have to ask yourself: do you need that power? The capabilities of PCs has sky-rocketed in recent years, but the work most people are doing on them hasn't really.
Of course, we like shiny new things, and we'll always be intrigued by the massive new potential of this year's latest offering. But for the majority of people out there, who want a thin, light, super-portable, capable laptop with oodles of style, the MackBook Air, at its current price, is hard to beat.
Beren has worked on creative titles at Future Publishing for over 13 years. Cutting his teeth as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, he moved on to edit several creative titles, and is currently the Ecommerce Editor on the most effective creative website in the world. When he's not testing and reviewing the best ergonomic office chairs, phones, laptops, TVs, monitors and various types of storage, he can be found finding and comparing the best deals on the tech that creatives value the most.
