A MacBook Air equipped with Apple's unique chip M1 has appeared.It is said that it is fast and fast, but how to actually use it, Gizmodo's Citlin McGARRY reporter has reviewed detailed reviews, including benchmarks.
MacBook hasn't changed so much recently.Certainly, as the generation progressed, the specifications gradually improved, but the appearance and performance were almost the same.This new MacBook Air is not such a radical change in terms of design.But the contents are completely different from all the MacBook Air.A benchmark is faster than the latest Windows machine, which is much more expensive.
The SOC (System -On Chip) M1 made only for Mac for Mac was enabled.Roughly speaking, the M1 is made of 5nm architecture, 8 cores, 8 -core GPUs (but only MacBook Air base models are 7 cores), and 11 trillion in 1 trillion.The core Neural Engine is listed.In other words, apps and tasks with machine learning are faster than before.
M1 does not hit the latest chips of Intel or AMD.And the MacBook Air is much cheaper than such a competitive chip machine unless you upgrade RAM or storage.The MacBook Air, which has been highly evaluated, has evolved by M1?
M1 MacBook Air (2020 model)
What is this?: Apple's entry level laptop, which has been renewed with chips in Apple
Price: Base model starts at $ 1,000 (domestic price 104,800 yen).The review machine is $ 1,650 (domestic price 169,800 yen).
Favorite place: Awesome battery life, performance of light speed by M1, new convenient function key
I don't like it: Web cameras need upgrade, GPU8 core models are higher than the base model
Enjoyment benchmark
First of all, from technical places.The MacBook Air, which I reviewed, was 8 core CPU, 8 -core GPU, unpounted memory 16GB and storage 1TB, and the price was $ 1,650 (domestic price 169,800 yen).This is much more expensive than the $ 1,000 of the base model (104,800 yen), but the base model is 7 GPUs, 8GB for RAM, and 256GB for storage.
To be honest, I didn't get so excited even with the MacBook Air benchmark.But this time, it is different.
Last week, I implemented a benchmark on the MacBook Air CPU and GPU, and sent the results to the Gizmodo editorial department's Windows, Joanna Nelius, and saw the reactions.Saw.Then, every time I sent the test result, at least one of the following reactions came back.
"Sugai.
"Wow Wow Wow"
"What's this?!?!"
Mac tends to be such a reaction when you capture the heart of Windows life.But the M1 8 -core CPU is in charge of 4 cores, 4 cores in charge of efficiency, and it's really incredibly fast.There is a difference compared to the other 8 core chips.
In Geekbench 5, which tests the entire system performance, the new MacBook Air score is 1712 for single core and 7441 for multi -core.This means that it is much faster than the new DELL XPS 13, which is $ 1,500 (about 156,000 yen) with the latest Core i7-1165G7.The score of Dell XPS 13 was 1214 for single core and 3833 in multi -core.In addition, the Lenovo IDEAPAD score equipped with Ryzen 7 4800U with Ryzen 7 4800U was 1129 and 5478 with Ryzen 7 4800U, which was not extended to the new MacBook Air.
In the Cinebench R23, which is similar to Geekbench but can be more time -consuming and can be accurately grasped the performance of the CPU / GPU, the MacBook Air score was 1490 for single core and 6931 for multi -core.The Dell XPS 13 with 11th generation Intel chip and 16GB RAM was 1420 for single core and 4207 in multi -core.However, Lenovo IDEAPAD with AMD chip is slightly more than a single core 1061 / multicore 7225 and the new MacBook Air with a multi -core score.AMD is usually the top of multi -core benchmarks and heavy tasks, so this is a relatively expected assumption.
The time it took to convert the 4K video file to 1080p in Handbrake, which tests the GPU speed, the new MacBook Air was 8 minutes 52 seconds.Dell XPS 13 was not comparable to 17 minutes and 24 seconds, and even Lenovo IdeaPad was delayed to 9 minutes 04 seconds.
In Blender, which renders 3D images, the new MacBook Air was 6 minutes and 24 seconds for CPU processing and 7 minutes 54 seconds on the GPU.In Dell XPS 13, CPU is 9 minutes 47 seconds, GPU is 10 minutes and 50 seconds, CPU is 9 minutes 37 seconds and GPU is 9 minutes 09 seconds in Lenovo IdeaPad.The great thing about this is that Blender was running on the emulation software Rosetta 2 that moves the Intel -based Mac app.In other words, the new MacBook Air is much faster than the latest Windows machine, even if you have an emulator layer.
However, even if you have a good result in artificial benchmark tests and tasks that are common, MacBook Air has a common problem with integrated GPUs.The frame rate in the actual game benchmark was lower than the separate graphics card.When the bench marked on "Shadow the Tomb Raider", there was clearly rattling frame, but the cause was that the game was not optimized for M1, and M1 could not handle a heavy graphics game.I didn't know if it was.Nevertheless, this benchmark was set of 1080p and high, which was a acceptable frame rate of 32fps.
The benchmark of "CIVILIZATION VI", which was downloaded directly from the Mac App Store, was smooth like butter without lag.Turn time is 13.1 millecond, a 16 -inch MacBook Pro 19, slightly behind most gaming laptops.It's much faster than 2 seconds.The new MacBook Air is not a gaming lap top, so we don't review it for the game purpose, but I'm really looking forward to what will happen with a higher -end new MacBook Pro or an iMac where heat treatment is not so limited.
What is the actual feeling of use?
What will happen to this performance and actual daily use? The small moromoro is a big change. When the new MacBook Air opens, it stands up in an instant, and the nostalgic Apple jarn comes with the sound. In 2020, I came to feel nostalgic for a very small, normal thing, but this is one of them. The new MacBook Air is a fanless, but it doesn't get hot even if you move a benchmark to put a load on the processor. Even when it became the hottest, Mr. Hana 111 degrees (about 44 degrees Celsius, measured with an infrared thermometer), and the measurement site was the bottom of the housing after "Shadow the Tomb Raider" was pounded. The 13 -inch MacBook Pro, which I usually use, will be like a tank running with a roaring sound in the city if I open the chrome tab too much, so for me who is short, a quiet and cool new MacBook Air is the blessing of God. It is going to be.
The startup of Apple's genuine app is instantaneous, and the third -party app optimized for the M1 is the same.Opening the Pixelmator Pro and reading the photos was very quick.It seems that it takes a little time for all developers to support M1, for example, the M1 compatible with Adobe Photoshop is said to be in early 2021, but if it supports it, the world will change.
Open the Mac App Store with a new MacBook Air (or other M1 Macs with M1) and see the tab of the Mac app and the iOS app tab when searching for the application.If you don't have a MacOS version in the app you want to download and have an iOS version that supports universal apps, you can download the latter and use it like an iPhone or iPad.All iOS apps can not be used on a Mac, and there are some restrictions even if they can be used.For example, if you put a HBO MAX app on a MacBook and watch streaming videos, you can't adjust the window size.Netflix is not available as a Mac app or iOS app on the Mac App Store.If you can do this, you should be able to watch offline on MacBook, so I want you to do it.
Life changes with battery life
The biggest change in the new MacBook Air is a really huge change, but it is a battery life.The M1 is more powerful than the previous Intel chips, so the new MacBook Air battery life is ridiculous.The new MacBook Air battery has more than 14 hours in the video playback test, which is almost the longest in our recent years, and the exception is about Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7, which can only be bought in Europe.
What a feeling of this battery actually used was only 9 % after FaceTime with a friend for an hour.Even if you work for a long time in Chrome, which has a heavy battery, the new MacBook Air will not die.On the other hand, my 13 -inch MacBook Pro, which I just reviewed in May 2020, had only 8 hours and 10 minutes.When this corona is over, I need a machine that can be used for a day at the exhibition, or a machine that is OK even if I do not find a power supply while traveling, but the new MacBook Air (maybe Pro, maybe Pro).It seems to be satisfied with.
Function key is nice, camera is one step
There are some other new MacBook Air, one of which is a new function key.I am currently using a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, but I don't use Touch Bar very much.The new MacBook Air is added to three function keys, one is a Spotlight search, one is voice character input, one is a good night mode, and more convenient for daily life than Touch Bar.Instead, the shortcuts to LaunchPad and the brightness setting of the keyboard are gone, but there is no problem personally.
Another strange thing is that the image signal processor of the front camera has improved, and the image quality of the video phone has improved.Certainly, when I tried Facetime in a dark room, it wasn't as rough as before.However, since the resolution is 720p, it does not reach 1080p, which is the standard in recent Mac, including the new 27 -inch Mac.Now that teleworking has become a big part of everyday life, I would like to ask Apple to upgrade the camera.
If you like MacBook, it is inevitable to get the M1 version
But overall, the new MacBook Air is the best laptop I used.It is thin, portable, performance is amazing, and the battery life is at the level where you can change your life if you can go out again.And considering the value of upgrading to the M1, the cost performance is outstanding.It's not just the best MacBook Air, but it's a great way to make a farther than before.
I haven't tried the cheapest 7 -core GPU new MacBook Air yet, so I don't know what is different from the case of $ 1,250 (domestic price 129,800 yen) or 8 cores.A graphics task may be a bit slower, but if you think it's AIR than Pro for budget, you don't want any PRO -level speed anyway.
And what is fun and annoying is the existence of the new MacBook Pro.It is just a little heavier than the new MacBook Air, and is a little higher than the new MacBook Air (from 134,800 yen, 5,000 yen in Japan).I'm glad that both Air and Pro have M1, but it's also a reason to worry about which one to buy.I don't know how much the difference between the new MacBook Air and the new MacBook Pro, but it seems that the Pro is faster than Air because the PRO cools with fans.
It wasn't expected that 2020 would be a Mac year, but 2020 was an unexpected year.But it doesn't seem like Apple's laptop fans will buy M1 MacBook Air / MacBook Pro.
summary
・ The battery life is amazing.
・ Thanks to the M1, the performance has also been significantly increased.
・ If you think on the desk, MacBook Pro may be more affordable.
・ Function key is the best!
・ It is amazing that it is cool without a fan even if it is heavy processing.
