I got my FIRST Apple Product: M1 Macbook Air 2020
For the first 30 years of my life, I never owned an Apple product.
Not even an iPod.
What’s the big deal? Everyone has Apple devices…
I've always been a hardcore Windows PC user. By hardcore, I simply mean exclusive. And when smartphones became a thing, I hopped on Android immediately. The thing is, I gradually became a deliberate non-Apple user. I could throw out a bunch of reasons why I didn't/don't like Apple or why I didn't give in to the popularity of iPhones and cute phone cases, but I won’t. All you need to know is that for the first 30 years of my life, I never owned an Apple device. No, not even an iPod. And then one day, all of that changed.
My first three laptops
from the end of high school through college were various Windows laptops intended for note taking and general browsing. At that time, I didn't do photography, graphic design work, or video editing on my laptops because I always had a custom PC my brother built for me. When I graduated college in 2013, my family gifted me the ORIGINAL Microsoft Surface Pro. It was a huge deal to have a full PC in the form of a tablet that also addressed the needs of illustrators and photographers. I loved it and enjoyed retouching images and doodling on there. As time went on and I upgraded my photography gear (from Canon 7D to 5D MkIII), I found myself resorting to using my phone to edit images because my Surface Pro and even my PC at the time couldn't handle the full RAW images. So then, I went ahead and purchased the Microsoft Surface Pro 6...the base model. At that time, I wasn't filming videos and I assumed the new Surface would be able to handle my 5D MkIII images just fine. After a couple of months of heavier use, I realized it was still a drag to edit images on, and it starting to stunt my creativity. My brother replaced my old PC into a beast right around when I started Hijabs and Aprons, and I started using it for ALL of my photography and video work. Consequently, I barely used my Surface Pro 6 at all. And when COVID hit, I used my Surface Pro 6 even less because I didn't need to go anywhere. It just made sense to walk over to the next room to use my powerful PC.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2021.
I found myself wanting to reach for my Surface Pro 6 to edit photos and videos in my room or around the house. I wanted to keep working but wanted a change of environment, and being forcibly stuck at my PC desk for quick edits was uncomfortable. I wanted to be able to comfortably edit not just in terms of where I sat, but in terms of a smooth workflow. And especially when I start traveling again in the future, God willing. So I made a list of things I needed and wanted in a laptop.
Here's what I wanted in the new laptop:
Smooth Lightroom and Photoshop editing
Occasional video editing in Premiere (mostly short form content)
Color accurate screen
Basic functions like browsing and watching tv
Durable/High quality
I also wanted the new laptop to be lightweight/slim and look sleek and chic.
When Apple’s new M1 chip was announced, I kind of scoffed at it (I tend to be cynical when it comes to Apple, and I’m an AMD fangirl). But for some reason, I started looking up YouTube reviews of the new M1 Macbooks, and I threw the new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro into my list of laptops to research. The main laptop I was comparing to was the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 with the Intel chip (there's a Ryzen one too). The more reviews I watched for the new Macbook M1s, the more I considered getting one.
I considered how new the M1 chips are, and how (similar to the COVID vaccines) we don’t have long-term data for their practical use. Unlike the COVID vaccines, however, the M1 chips have been in development for quite some time and I trust that Apple has done its fair share of testing on them. I didn’t not trust the chip; but I was mildly concerned with apps and programs being “optimized” for the M1 chip. I quickly realized, however, that all the programs I regularly use and intended to use on the laptop were already optimized for M1 (or would be soon). Google Chrome, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Lightroom were already optimized as well as Notion, the app I use to take notes and plan my content.
Unfortunately I couldn't find enough support to back a decision in choosing the Surface Laptop 3 despite its sleek look. I won't lie, I was eager to get a new laptop sooner than later, so I didn’t want to wait for the Surface Laptop 4 either (to read/watch reviews on that). COULD I have found a Windows laptop that would perform the same as the M1 Macbooks for the same price? Maybe. But my mission wasn't to find the best Windows laptop for me. I wanted a laptop that was a trusted, overall workhorse.
I decided to get a new Macbook with the M1 chip.
First I compared the M1 Macbook Air to the M1 Macbook Pro. The specs looked extremely similar on paper. The only differences I noticed were the touch bar that is exclusive to the Macbook Pros as well as a CPU fan in the Macbook Pro. Considering the several reviews I had watched as well as my intended use, I decided I didn't need the fan and I also didn't want the touch bar. The little Apple cynic in me felt it was too froofy for me. When I first started looking at YouTube reviews for the M1 Macbooks, I kept hearing that the base model for the new Macbook Air was performing incredibly well for photo and video editing, so I had thought maybe to save money I should go with that model.
By the time I had decided I would get a Macbook, some news came out regarding overuse of the SSDs in the new M1 Macbooks due to swap memory. After doing some reading and consulting with my brother, I figured that IF the swap memory even is an issue, 16GB of RAM would help and should suffice. I didn't want to worry about storage like I have with my past laptops. Since I wanted to use the new laptop for photo and video editing and also want it to last me a long time, I went with the 512GB storage option. And as for the GPU, I went with 8 cores because…frankly I've never heard of 7 cores and didn't understand the difference between 7 and 8 in terms of practical, real life performance. I wanted to choose a laptop that would be slightly overkill for my current needs so that it would stand the test of time. Just because I'm home 90% of the time NOW doesn't mean I won't travel in the future and need a portable powerful editing machine.
My Configuration for the M1 Macbook Air 2020
8 core GPU
16GB of RAM
512GB of Storage
So there you have it! I got my first Apple product, and am happy to report that I have no regrets! So far I've been using it daily for writing and browsing. As far as my photo and video content, I've sparingly used Lightroom and Photoshop, and I used Premiere Rush for one short form video with 1080p footage.
If you have any questions, let me know down below or message me on Instagram and I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. And if there's any content you’d like to see in the future regarding any of my tech, please let me know in the comments on my YouTube video! Okay I think that's enough promotion of an Apple product to last me a lifetime. So, bye!