Today’s inane image/video of the day:
Introduction
I had an itch to scratch [I wanted to start editing videos!], which led to binging on YouTube videos about the new Macbook Air/Pro with the M1 chip, which led to purchasing the new Apple Macbook Air with the M1 chip [I was actually so impatient that I walked 2 miles to Best Buy to purchase my new Macbook Air rather than wait for shipping from Amazon]. This was an unnecessary purchase and one that was done after being inundated with ads about just how incredible this new M1 Apple chip is. Yes, I fell for the marketing. But in my defense, my trusty Lenovo Yoga [this is the most updated Yoga 740] was approaching its 3rd birthday and I was getting frustrated with the lack of free Windows software for video editing. I wanted to try out YouTube as a new medium to share tips, advice, thoughts, and ideas and there did not seem to be a good way to edit the footage. Nor were there tons of tutorials available for more complex software. So, here we are.
[/excuses]
Anyway, I go through my unboxing and review of the product in my video above. I also break it down in my blog post below.
Value for Price
Stick with the $999 base model
What I got out of watching those countless review videos from YouTube [here’s one of my favorite ones] was that unless I really needed a powerhouse laptop or am worried about the processor being throttled… the Macbook Pro was just more expensive without a significant added benefit. This was actually one of the reasons I decided to delve back into the Macbook world – the <$1000 price range that wasn’t attainable in the past. Just 3 years ago when I decided to purchase a PC instead of a new Macbook, it was because I could get a better hard drive and better processor in a similar sized laptop for $750. In fact, my Lenovo Yoga is still going strong right now [AND has a touchscreen… WHY HASN’T APPLE ADDED A TOUCH SCREEN TO THE MACBOOKS YET?!]
Usability – the highs and lows
Battery life is awesome
In my preliminary testing of the laptop, I’d say that the battery life is pretty good – at least, it’s definitely better than mine 3 year old PC. Generally when I take my PC to work and just do emails or other basic work on it, I find that the battery was quickly depleted even before I started my first operating room case. This got to be frustrating as the computers at work… aren’t the most efficient [it takes forever just to load the Web app for Outlook].
The processor is amazing
I’m pretty impressed by the work this laptop has been able to do in iMovie and handling all of my simultaneous tabs on Google Chrome. Let’s be honest here, many of us have a tab problem and most of our computers are crying under the massive workload. My Lenovo has put up with my tab problem, but I’ve heard the fan whirring away far too many times. It’s almost weird to do processor-intensive work on the Macbook Air because of how quiet it is without a fan.
Where are the USB ports?!
One of the big NEGATIVES of the Macbook Air [and all recent models of Macbook laptops…] are the lack of USB ports. Yes, I get that they had to make a tiny, slim frame to entice consumers like me to purchase their products, but now that we live in pandemic times and everything is on Zoom… as a result, it’s so important to be able to use an external monitor, a mouse, or a keyboard. I ended up purchasing an Apple USB-C to USB adaptor as part of my original purchase. It just sucks that I have to decide between using my keyboard or an external mouse… [admittedly, I’m in love with the feel of the keyboard and have missed how luxurious the trackpad is on the Macbook, so perhaps I won’t need these items]
One workaround that has been nice in the Macbook Air is the ability to use Sidecar [which appears to already be pre-loaded on the Macbook Air with the M1 chip running Big Sur right out of the box] so that I can extend my screen using my iPad rather than another computer monitor. Now I kind of wish I had a bigger iPad screen…
In a Zoom pandemic world, the webcam is key
… Apple didn’t deliver in this domain, AT ALL. The actual camera itself hasn’t been upgraded from the 720p HD FaceTime camera that has been on these laptops for iterations. Yes, they did some work on the processing of the images [so, it’s like a built in IG filter for your face], but that doesn’t fix the overall grainy appearance of your face. For those of you doing virtual interviews, you might want to consider getting another webcam [or literally any other option on Amazon] to use [on the flip side, perhaps the grainy appearance will hide any of the pandemic pimples that have cropped up? anyone else been struggling with the pandemic pimples like me!?]. *Props to 4th year medical student & soon to be anesthesiologist, Elle Kaplan for pointing out the camera problem
Here’s a comparison photo between my Lenovo Yoga camera and the new Macbook Air with the M1 chip:
How about a touchscreen?
…still no touchscreen on these new Macbooks. Also means I cannot lay the screen completely flat or use it like a tablet, which I kind of liked on my PC. And there are certain buttons that are just faster to press rather than click on. C’mon, Apple, why are you holding out!?
The battery saver screen dimming is weird
After using the laptop a bit more, I realized that whatever is regulating this laptop’s screen brightness is a bit off sometimes. I get distracted sometimes and put my laptop down while looking at something at my phone and I found that the laptop screen would dim [I’m ok with that], but then when I’d pick the laptop back up, the dim screen wouldn’t light back up [ughh I hate dark screens], even after using the function keys to try to brighten it. So far, I’ve just had to close the lid partially and re-open it to make it light back up. Anyway, I just thought I’d share this quirk… I ended up finding something in the settings that I disable; hopefully this solves the issue!
iOS/Software
Are programs crashing because of the new M1 chip?
There was once a time when I would dive very deep into understanding the computers and software I was using. Now… I am busy and don’t bother. So my superficial understanding of the situation is that the M1 chip is Apple’s own creation and they have decided to get a divorce from Intel. As a result, many programs that were designed for Intel chips need to be “translated” to work on the new M1 chip. Certain programs have already made the switch [such as Google Chrome], but not all. As a result, “Rosetta” is a program that translates the programs to be able to be used on the new M1 chip.
What does this all mean?!
Well, my fear was that I would start downloading essential programs like the Microsoft Office suite and find that Word or Powerpoint would keep crashing. Or now that I use OneNote frequently for studying, that it wouldn’t be able to keep up. Or that my battery would literally cry under the weight of these programs. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised thus far that all of the programs I’ve downloaded thus far have been working well. I haven’t had anything crash… yet.
PC versus Mac
Am I going back to my PC?
Yes. Most of my programs and setup for integration at work are on my PC and generally are easier to setup with a Windows operating system rather than a Mac. While it won’t be rocket science to figure out how to load everything onto my new Macbook, I think I’ll try to keep this new laptop for the purpose of my creative outlets and use my PC for all of my work-related stuff.
Unsolicited Advice
Don’t make the mistake college-Amanda did made…
In my video, I reflect on a terrible time in my college career when my Macbook Pro completely crashed in the middle of finals week. I want you to know that Junior college student Amanda had no idea about the importance of BACKUPS. Now that it’s 2020 and everyone is stuck at home, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to backup all of your important digital files. After this incident in college, I immediately purchased an external hard drive and started using Time Machine religiously in order to have a backup of all of my work. I also used Parallels in order to run Windows on that Macbook pro [I was an engineer at one point… Macbooks really weren’t designed for engineers program back then] and would also use the Windows software to create a backup. A couple of years ago, I committed to Cloud backups and now use iDrive to back up all of my computers AND my phone. The iDrive service isn’t the fastest one available [I’m still backing up this new Macbook Air on iDrive… it has been 4 hours and only 50% of the total hard drive files are backed up… to be clear, I’m uploading ~40 GB of data into the cloud] but I felt like it was a reasonable priced cloud-based storage solution and is easy to use. I’ve also expanded on my iCloud storage to ensure that all of my precious photos and videos are backed up in a secondary location.
I invested in AppleCare
I used to get AppleCare for all of my devices [yes, every single phone], then I realized that I wasn’t one of those users of technology that would frequently rely on AppleCare. In fact, I never used it for the last two phones that I purchased it on [I’m the definition of a consumer that Apple can make money off of…]. But for this purchase, I felt that there was a higher risk of something going terribly wrong with the new M1 chip, so I decided to bite the bullet and purchase AppleCare. Having lived through the horror of going to the Apple store frequently for a hardware malfunction years ago with my first Macbook and YET AGAIN with my second Macbook during medical school, I have decided that it’s not worth the risk with this expensive of an investment.
Final Thoughts
Am I happy with my purchase?
Absolutely. This all being said, I associate Macbooks with a sort of status symbol – when I got my Macbook pro as a college student, I felt like it was a big splurge and while it definitely worked for me, I had a lot of headaches with it [prior to my Macbook pro, I had even more headaches from a never ending lineup of Dell laptops that failed miserably, so it’s not like the PC world really won me over]. My Lenovo PC has been working like a champ for me the last 3 years and had it not been for the: 1.) sudden urge to create YouTube videos [please let me know if I’m wasting my time with these videos, really… it’s okay to tell me to stick to blogging]; 2.) inner nerd in me that wanted to experience the power of this shiny new processor; and 3.) having an attending paycheck [yeah… I definitely still felt a significant amount of guilt surrounding the purchase…]; I would not have splurged on this purchase. Prior to this new processor, I would have hands-down said that a PC provided more value for your money, but I do believe that this new M1 chip is a game-changer. So, if you’re in the market for a new laptop, I highly recommend the Macbook Air with the M1 chip [don’t fall for the clearance sales on the Intel-based chips – those aren’t laptops that will maintain their value in the next few years!].
I’d love to hear your comments on this post and feedback on my YouTube video! Feel free to reach out on social media [comments are disabled here since it doesn’t provide enough of a forum for discussion].