I bought the new CHEAP Walmart MacBook
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
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Chapter Titles:
0:00 The Walmart MacBook
0:40 Unboxing
2:28 First Impressions
3:43 Battery and Performance
4:43 Value
5:11 Hardware
6:10 Gaming
7:39 Storage
8:27 Is It Worth It? - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
The message of this video is important. I worked in consumer tech retail for a long time. One thing you learn is - as a tech enthusiast what you want out a machine is far from what normal people want.
And this M1 Air actually provides MORE performance than what the average consumer will notice, let alone need.
Giving apple excuses for their overratedness.. because they discounted the previous versions. lol
@@compunerd It has nothing to do with Apple. This sentiment would be true for other expensive computers on discount.
Good value for a consumer is good value. Most consumers don't care if it's the latest and greatest if it does what they need!
Yep. I got my mother her computers, one is a fourth gen i3 and through the magic of not running Windows it’s just fine for everything. She also has a Chromebook with a Celeron J4005 and again through the magic of not running Windows, that’s a decent machine. But I want to highlight what a similar J4125 is equivalent to: a second gen i3. Would she even notice if I sneakily swapped her desktop for a 14th gen i5? Nah. The tricks are three: don’t use Windows, have enough ram (4gb is fine for Linux, browsers might disagree with that a little, 8gb is fine full stop, 16 is future proofing lol), and use an ssd, SATA is perfect.
i have one. did the thermal pad mod. even before the mod, it never made me wait, it chugs 1080p final cut and 30 chrome tabs for breakfast.
normal people are going to want more than 8 GB memory and apple could have put 16 for the same price
Got one with only 13 battery cycles off marketplace for $400. Feels like I found buried treasure
battery is easy to replace actually... you should memtest and smart ssd test because those are soldered and very difficult to replace as they are serialized to the motherboard :)
That is buried treasure
What matter is how much the SSD is used. Because it will be the reason why it dies and you canot replace it.
@@MultiNakirthe memory and ssd would be fine in it because it’s almost new if it’s only for 13 battery cycles. He won’t have to replace the battery for a few years 😂 and plus if it does die it doesn’t matter because it was only $400
Batteries age and lose life just as time passes by even when not "cycled"
The m1 MacBook Air is 3+ years old and is still very fast. I’m a graphic designer and do all my work on a base model m1 MacBook Air , it handles everything I do on it with only a few small slowdowns after I open 20+ tabs. It’s the laptop I recommend to anyone that wants a great, affordable machine.
Same here. I also do video editing and it is extremely capable. My only issues with them is the price gouging on storage upgrades (which I can’t stand having a machine with less than 1TB) and the other is RAM. After Effects (and Adobe apps in general) eats it up. It’s super fast ram but when your apps are using it as temp storage ram previews like after effects quantity is what you need and then the machine starts using the SSD as virtual ram. But even then it’s my recommendation for anyone wanting a computer to do everything but maybe the most specialized hardware dependent tasks.
@@heyjustj external ssd or network drives solve the problem
@@qui11Hi, curious about your comment. External SSD solves the swap problem or did you mean it solves the upgrade price issue from Apple when upgrading from the base model? Thanks.
This is probably one of the best laptops that was ever made.
💯
What's wrong with windows laptops of the same price they can be upgraded
@@HypeXesk most of them has soldered rams gpu and cpu so the only thing you actually can upgrade is the harddrive
@@furkanudmir550plus at this price point they will have crappy build quality (in comparison)
@@HypeXesk I’m a big Windows guy but bought this Macbook Air M1 years ago because it’s the only laptop that checks all the boxes for me.
No other Windows laptop can be this silent, power efficient, light, powerful, and compact to fit inside a small bag. Not to mention the build quality is great and not just an aluminum looking plastic
This is THE BEST M1 Macbook Air video review I have seen in all of TH-cam. Thank you very much, Austin!
I have this MacBook with the same specs. It completely outperformed my 2019 iMac with much higher specs but intel chip. Because of that I used it as my main driver from recording music in Logic Pro moving forward.
the real issue with the late gen intel macbook airs, was simply because apple wouldn't cool it at all, they were so determined to put a huge strain on the processor there was a case fan, NOT A CPU FAN (it was put so far away from the cpu) and before you say it I know I know they have to have heatpipes right? NO they literally put a tiny heat spreader and they had a fan in the case which wasn't even connected to the cpu and had basically no efficient way to suck in air so it would thermal throttle almost immediately. would the m1 processor outperform it with proper cooling? maybe but it would be almost on par.
should of gone for the pro went from a macbook pro 2012 with logic to this m1 but pro and should (last me another 12 years)
(airs are made too cheaply and have hardly any ram/bandwidth or storage for projects with multiple layers)
@@BaileyMagikz I got mine for 700$ with a case lightly used can’t really complain. I’ll be putting more into the next Mac mini I get though.
Same. Went from a $3400 2018 macbook pro to a m1 air, m1 air was faster, ran silent, lasts about 5hrs longer. Such a great little machine.
Simply They want to attach an mobile cpu to a laptop with some extra mah only. memory is the problem Ram is definitely ..phones with more Ram pays smoothy performance Attaching Mobile Cpu to processor will conserve more power And an 5nm technology 🙄
this video came at the perfect time Austin, thanks mate. Will be snagging one in the coming days as my laptop for uni, but think ill splurge the extra on 16gb to avoid the stress of 8 not being enough, and avoid having to upgrade again anytime soon
This is a 3 almost 4 year old laptop but to be fair Apple Silicon honestly has not changed that much for basic computer tasks over the last 4 years and they STILL start at 8GB/256GB in 2024. So in my opinion this is not a bad price for a brand new MacBook with a warranty
You have to be very ... challenged ... to give $700 for a 8/256 GB laptop in 2024 and call it a good deal 😁🤣
It's Good Genuinely Telling Its Good deal like simple work load stuff as compared previous gen Intel laptop it will outperform them 4 year ago there was no laptop 💻 at this price performance display is also appreciable
8GB RAM is simply not enough for more than browsing the internet
@@redpillsatori3020I mean it’s not great by any means, but it’s more than enough for most things… web browsing only is a bit of an exaggeration
@@redpillsatori3020You are absolutely wrong!! I'm so tired of people like you saying that 8GB is not enough. IT IS PLENTY for the majority of consumers buying a base configuration MacBook Air! If you are having memory issues then you bought the wrong configuration for your use case, plain and simple.
as someone who was thinking of buying an m1 MacBook air, all i can say is thank you Austin, you've got a new subscriber
The way people in 2020 with the M1 chip we’re going “THIS IS INCREDIBLE OMG I CAN EDIT 8K 60 AND THE SPEAKERS ARE BETTER THAN ANYTHING EVER” and now they’re calling it average is SO funny to me
Compared to other new macbooks
I edited 4k on my base model m1 MacBook Air and it did fine :0
IKR..... The speakers are way better on the M1 air than 80% of all laptops. When he said average I was like pfttt.... 🧐
When the M1 air came out in 2020 it was amazing and everything you said is still true but technology usually gets better... So yes in 4 years the new M3 Macs are better with better speakers...Who's making new iterations that are worse???
1. thats a macbook air not an the pro
2. if you actually paid attention people was going on about how much of an upgrade it was from the intel chipset (4+ years ago)
3. you can tell Max here is a cheap windows boy just from his comment
I've had my Macbook air for a couple years now, and I still absolutely LOVE it. Very fast, very dependable, long battery life.
My wife has had this same MacBook since 2020 and it's still going strong. Great computer!
The original M1 Macbook Air is still the GOAT. The slanted keyboard makes it easier on the wrist to type than the newer models. It can run any casual app (MS Office, Chrome, etc). Great to take on the plane to watch movies. You can't go wrong with it as your portable computer. My main computer is my Mac Studio.
That is kinda a good deal for that new/sealed Mac Book M1 base model, but I just got a better deal for a new/sealed Mac Mini M2 base model for $499.
I’ve been working daily in that same MacBook Air m1 for 4 years and it’s as snappy as the first day
Very helpful and fun review. For me, typical use would involve heavy word processing, moderate spreadsheet use, and lots of long Zoom calls in addition to web browsing, emails and watching videos. There are also some work related apps I use.
The fact that it has no notch in it should be a selling point! I love my M1 Air. I got it with 16gb or ram and 1TB SSD. It’s been great for about 2 years now.
I work with Macs for a living and the 15" MacBook Air is my favorite for day to day use. The blend of performance and portability can't be understated. I feel like the M2/M3 versions of the 13" and 15" Airs are what Steve Jobs envisioned when he introduced the line and really wish I could hear his thoughts on them.
Yeah, he would have not allowed the notch on them. Not without it having an actual function, Face ID or something.
Great insight on the m1 Mac Book Air. Always enjoy your video.
My wife and I each have one of these and love them. We're pro photographers, and for our workflow and editing, these base model M1 Macbook Air's are absolutely impossible to beat. This thing does photo and video editing better than my gaming computer. The M1 chip with the unified memory are what I feel like Photoshop/Lightroom are optimized for as those run like a dream.
Yeah right 🤣 Budget phones nowadays have more RAM and storage than this crap 😄
BH Photo & Video are selling the base 13" M2 Air for $850 at the moment. So an extra $150 for the M2 chip, and still $150 less than direct from Apple.
This thing is still more powerful than 80% of what the average buyer needs. This is awesome and I bet it’s going to boost Apple’s market share substantially
I Love Austin Evans Videos ❤
I’m glad made this video Ty
These machines are astounding, desktop replacement level machines for a vast swath of users. I hook mine up to a monitor, connect a dongle for my high end peripherals, and it’s a premium experience. Stunning value. Stunning long term usability.
thanks for this video i was deciding whether to get this m1 or newest one this month and decided to go with m1 😊
Great quote. Great words " it's to good to live and that I'd a dangerous place to be" so smart.
I ordered a refurbished M1 base, the week the M3 came out. The used market hadn’t adjusted yet but the business’ knew prices were dropping. I paid $780 ($CAD) about $560 ($USD). I was so happy and thought it would last 6 years for my minor uses. I thought $130 a year was a good price but even if it’s only 5 years I’m only at $156 a year.
Bonus, they sent me a 16g ram and 512G memory.
Recently bought a 2022 Zephyrus G14 new from Asus for $689. With the anime matrix. 16g/1TB. Hasn’t arrived yet but, FTW IMHO and no question if you game. Think the non-anime is still in stock for $799 now. $150 more, but, gaming and you can expand it.
Im rocking this thing since 2021 and its still as amazing as on day 1. Great Performance (Still rock solid on sonoma), Great Battery Life, Great Keyboard and Trackpad. I absolutely love this machine.
I have this MacBook and use it every day! I also love how I only need to charge it about twice a week, because it's so energy efficient!
Damn I did not know Austin was chill like that. Manual Miata is sick
I still use the M1 Macbook Air as my portable computer and its perfectly fine for doing general things
This is Austin! Great Video!
I daily drive this laptop just for the battery life and you don't have to plug in for maximum performance! My girlfriend's Zephyrus G14 struggles to with word files sometimes when it is not plugged in and it's a 2000 dollar laptop!
I have a 2019 MacBook Air, it was $530, and it is not that outdated, still runs the newest software, and preforms great.
the m1 air is still an excellent machine. If you're just doing the basics web browsing, light and occasional photo/audio/video work, its great.
Got one of these used a year ago and this has been an excellent general purpose machine. Great battery & trackpad, good enough keyboard & screen. My partner keeps "borrowing" it because it's a great experience
We absolutely NEED to scold Apple for the "8gb of ram on mac = 16gb on pc" bs. We have to actively point it out with every single 8gb macbook going forward
In this particular scenario at 700 bucks for a brand new MB, I will give it a pass. Great machine for the majority.
@@JimmyConway1990 nah. RAM needs to be upgradable, especially when it's shared between CPU and GPU. There's no excuse why Apple doesn't make their stuff upgradable anymore, even with storage. Once storage dies - and it *will* die because it's a consumable - all those neat laptops turn into useless bricks.
airs are made too cheaply and have hardly any ram/bandwidth or storage for projects with multiple layers in music for example
(so if you buy an air its your own fault if you buy, 8gb its your own fault its 2024 not 2010)
Agreed. They are manipulating consumers with absurb price upgrades for 16GB RAM and Storage. You pay a shit load for both.
@@elu9780It’s like saying your graphics card should have slotted RAM. There are technical reasons as to why that era is over when going to a high efficiency high performance SOC design. They need both good bandwidth (for the GPU) and latency (for the CPU). Putting it on package is a design advantage.
Slotted SSD, yes. Here they pulled a fast one. It is however wholly unrealistic for normal usage to actually wear down an SSD beyond usability within the laptop’s life expectancy. So if that’s their planned obsolescence, then they made a terrible plan. Random deaths due to controller issues do happen, though, so for repairability (or upgradeability) it’s a shame, but only a point minus for the scoreboard.
Still using M1 Pro base . Since launch absolutely no reason to upgrade yet
I used to 3D model, texture and animate on the base model MacBook Air. It truly is and was a phenomenal machine for its price point. I got it in 2020 for $800 being a student.
It's funny I'm watching this as I'm on break at my Walmart. Lol
These are gonna sell like crazy. Perfectly good laptop for a lot of tasks, i could see this being very popular for students.
The only entry level 256 Gb MacBook Airs that are worth buying are the M1 and M3 versions. This is because in the M2 MacBook Air the 256 Gb SSD is implemented using one flash module which is slower than twin 128 Gb flash modules in the M1 and M3 MacBook Airs.
I had a 256GB MacBook Air and the only thing I hated was that I couldn’t keep a lot on it, regularly having to manage my storage. To be fair though, I do keep a boatload of music on mine and hate streaming what I could play locally. Also, using mobile internet for streaming on a laptop sucks at times.
over here in France the 256gb model is over 800 € and the 128gb model is over 700€. It's cheaper but at that price I'd consier saving for a more recent one. Even if they are over 1200 € with the minimum specs. ( prices are so high because of the taxes included in the price and that sort of stuff. )
Lots of great points in this video. All of Austin's thoughts would suggest to me that there is absolutely no reason Apple should/would drop software support for this model, if in fact the performance difference between the M1 and M3 are as minuscule as he's indicating. That's my only concern, frankly, that Apple will only give this device a couple additional OS updates, before arbitrarily forcing it into obsolescence. Nonetheless, I'm heavily considering this over the M2 or M3, to replace my old intel MacBook pro 15 inch.
There is a big reason: Apple lives from fleecing the sheep 😁 And why would not they ? Apple consumers have one of the worst cases of Stockholm syndrome.
Actually was sold last march 2023 at Best Buy or Costco for 749.99. So 699.99 a year later is OK but not a give away price. M1 MBA is great for 90% of most users.
I'm gonna be honest. I thought Austin was wearing his shirt inside-out with how faded it is...
It's ok, we can't all be competent at identifying which side of the stitching you're looking at.
It’s an Alpha Tauri tshirt
$725 amazon with 512 GB SSD now
That renewed
Never buy Amazon Renewed. You will regret it.
@@c0rnd0g_19 absolutely and some asshole is always trying to ship it FedEx the worst people ever to handle any type of package
When was the Best Buy clip at 4:54 filmed? That specific SKU on Best Buy's website now shows the MBA at $999. :(
Love you Austin!❤❤
You can run Gamcube/N64/Switch/PS2 (maybe 3) games flawlessly via emulators, and upscale the graphics to 4k. The games look unreal now, and if you just like to game once in a while like myself that is a hell of a good deal for a macbook.
It’s really funny with this one using the old shell design from the last intel air. It made it cool a little better passively compared to the newer redesign I heard.
Picked up one of these in Dec. at Costco for $750 and I love it. I'm not a heavy user, so it fits my needs well. Your theory is that Walmart is helping Apple empty out some M1 warehouse; and when they're gone, they're gone. I read somewhere that Apple continues to make them. Not sure which is the correct story. If the latter, that's very interesting.
I've had my base model M1 MacBook air since early 2021 and it still works great to this day! I've never had any problems with it, the battery life is still good, and I have no intentions to upgrade any time soon. My boyfriend still uses my old 2015 MacBook pro so maybe this is a good incentive for him to upgrade for only $650
The Leap was from intel to the silicon M1 chip. I have never once had my M1 MacBook Pro slowdown. 8 gigs is sufficient for 90% of people. Yes, If you have 10 pages open and edit or do graphic design, than buy a 16g ram.
I still have my MacBook Pro from 2015. It still feels modern and works perfectly fine. MacBooks last a very long time
I have one too. I’m kind of pissed that I’ll have to get rid of it once Apple stops releasing security patches. Honestly, don’t use it much any more once I bought my Studio. WFH now so I’m one spot all the time. Been through 2 batteries though.
3:25 - after the release of the M4 iPad Pro, you are now aware that the MBP also has the word PRO abstractly emblazoned on the boxart
Reminds me of when I first came to MAC in around 2009 and you could get the standard Mac book for about £799
I agree.. m1A is probably fine for most.. I know from experience that 8gb doesn't cut it for me and while I've currently got an 18/512gb m3pro, I'll totally admit it's pretty overkill for my average day. Only got it due to finding an absolute killer deal. But an m1A with at least 16gb ram would probably do me just fine. I do make regular use of the extra ports supplied by the pro though.
How good was the killer deal and where at?
MB Air + external ssd was the best purchase I’ve ever made ❤️
Definitely worth it. The M-series notebooks have insane performance.
They're going to restock them. Keep your eye out on the 5th for more fun.
Costco was selling 13” M1 MBA’s for $250 off last year. My daughter bought one and it’s been a champ. My other daughter bought a 15” M1 MBA for about the same amount off. Apple just doesn’t drop their store prices.
One big downside with Macbook Air M1 is the single display output.
serious downside to productive when "docking" the device.
Austin's pronunciation of Walmart will never not be weird
The speakers are not just average, they sound amazing
I have the rose gold version of that same laptop. Got it when it 1st came out. Still going strong. I just hate the non upgradeable hard drive. Sooo, I have an external ssd on the back of my screen.
Only one thing that held me back from buying a refurb M1 MBA. MagSafe, I’ll go for M2 for this one
Which one would you get, the m1 macbook pro 16 inch with 16gb and 1tb ssd OR the base model M3 15 inch macbook air which cost 100$ less than the pro.
I don’t do any video editing. I use not one but 2 MacBook Air M1s. One for work and one for personal use both base model. Works like a charm. I also use a Surface laptop 4 with double the ram and a core i7. Performance isn’t much different really. All my laptops have 256gb SSDs cause I really don’t store much in them. No one should. Bought one of the MacBook airs new for $1000 and the other one sparsely used for $800. One still has warranty left.
Work Mac I use for packaging Mac apps and testing enrollment and policies with Microsoft intune. For the purpose it’s great. Modern architecture support latest is for years to come.
It’s an amazing computer. With all current continuity features it’s a perfect entry level machine for the ecosystem but it will go away and be replaced with the M2 model as a baseline soon I guess
Prior to my current M3 macbook, I'd only had Intel-based ones and found them to be slow and constantly overheating while doing just regular browsing. The M3 has no such trouble - the fans don't appear to have come on even once yet.
You are not wrong. But that was by design. Apple by design put crap non-performing thermal solutions on their MacBooks in the late Intel Era. The i9 CPU on Macs underperformed against i5 on normal laptops because of thermal throttling AND bad underperforming power delivery to CPU. This was noted by all serious reviewers at that time.
Many theorized that this was by design so that they can sell how better M1 chip would be. Almost all knew Apple will be switching to ARM soon.
Solid laptop. How many years of support left?
I'm still using my late 2013 MBP 😅
I just got my first Mac. A 2016 MacBook Pro & I love it!
Currently on sale at Best Buy for $400, just unavailable near me. M2 is on sale for $850, not a bad deal either
I am so hesistant on getting any apple computers...ive only used the aio desktops because my high school video editing/photoshop classes used them...and atm i habe no reason to get it because my pc is strong as it is...i mean a 5800x with a 7900 gre is amazing
Your video, along with a couple others, helped me make the decision to buy a MacBook Air M1 yesterday (9 April 2024 - Walmart $699.) It is replacing my 2015 MacBook Air 11 inch.
Thank you for your review
How was the upgrade? Happy with it?
I daily this computer at work and it's still great.
I was early to being a believer in Apple Silicon and bought my wife an M1 MacBook Air when they first came out. It is a CHAMP. Probably the best value in a computer I’ve ever owned as far as longevity of its performance in the market. For gaming we play demeo with on it and my iPad Pro with cross play to our Meta Quest 2 vr headsets and it handles that great. Same with great performance for a lot of emulation. Sure you’re not going to play any of the newest AAA games on steam, but classics up through Xbox 360 and even many PS3 games is impressive and that is a HUGE library of games available to play on M1 Mac’s. Controller support is great too. So if you go the emulation route you really have a LOT to play on a very capable machine.
You are the best Austin ❤
This is my daily driver! I use it to DJ and serato runs smooth as always. I bought it when it was recently released 2nd hand for $700. Great return on investment!
best value for money Macbook period.
I have that same macbook and we all know all macbooks after the M1 chip are super fast but the battery life... only the M1 version is worth the money.
By now, M2 and M3 are pretty much the same as AMD when it comes to battery drain speed. So, for more money you have less battery and processing power isn't even worth the extra money.
I have friend who use this spec and never complained. I think when all you do is email and Microsoft office and watching videos it doesn’t really need the extra RAM or storage..
Just bought one at Wally World. Can’t wait!! I need it for school and browsing the net and TH-cam. Apple on a budget woo 🎉😂
i bought a 2017 macbook pro last year for 150 dollars because they said it had a bad power supply and bad battery. its the 13 inch and i wanted that one specifically because the 13 inch can upgrade the SSD and its got 16 gigs of ram. i know it cant be updated officially but my 2011 macbook pro is still working after upgrading to a SSD and i think i have 8 gigs ram in that one and its upgraded past its official macOS . when the 2017 macbook pro got here it had no charger but i used my switch charger until the next day when i got a actual charger. it showes service reccomended on my battery but it holds a charge for more than 3 hours on battery while watching 1080p youtube videos. i was dissapointed the apple logo no longer lights up but i still have the 2011 for that and im blown away how thin the new macbook is. im pretty sure the 2017 whole laptop is thinner than just the screen on my 2011
In terms of value to the dollar, I’d say it’s the greatest laptop that has ever been made.
I still use mine daily as a full time photographer and it still does it’s job fine .😊
I just worry about how long you will be able to update it. Bought a mac desktop for our elderly mom in 2019 that was a 2017 model. Memory is hardwired in and cant be upgraded, so It now cant run any more updates. I don’t feel safe with her doing her banking on it.
I agree, this is an important consideration when buying a machine that is three or four years old. You’ll need to replace in three or four years if updates are required for your purposes.
i bought a m1 mac air off a pawn shop for $450 dollars AND the specs are 8gb ram 500gb ssd and it works FLAWLESSLY. Now i was skeptical at first and after using it daily for 3 weeks, its been phenomenal! It runs RE4 remastered 60fps at med settings and I can use FL Studio at its full potential and get up to 32% cpu usage! Now sometimes it bottlenecks but that is because of the 8gb of ram but honesty, it feels like a 16gb of ram PC! If you are looking for a cheap macbook just get a 2020 m1 chip off a pawn shop but do beware 😅 just make sure everything is running perfectly and trust your INSTINCT!
P.s. my macbook solos my old laptop acer nitro 5
If you done testing, could you send it up? XD Nowhere to be found for this price in the Netherlands.. and my macbook pro 2012 just died :(
I game on GeForce now with my MacBook Air and honestly it’s great. Using gaming monitor it’s even better
I just got a used m1 aur for 475€ and use it for photo editing and i love it sofar. For the price it's the best laptop for stuff like lightroom and photoshop.
i have been using one for quite a while and all it needs is a external nvme ssd dock for me and i have a inland pro 2tb in the dock i use and store most stuff on it
I was hoping u would help me decide between the 79 INsurance that supposedly covers everything vs the applecare+ that covers everything but for 159$
The M1 air is a hidden gem great deal!
but what's sad is that a 2024 $1599 M3 MacBook Pro comes with the SAME 8GB or RAM from the 699 Walmart one
My 2015 mbp still handles ALL modern tasks and has ZERO issues….and I can run windows 👍
I got my M1 Air base spec when it released. It's still blazing fast, I'm using it for everything from editing 4k videos for work to playing AAA games at work (on low settings ~900-1280p)
got my m2 air yesterday in midnight. any game recommendations to really test out the power of the base model?