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Still rocking an M1 Air - 2020 build. 8GB ram. No slowdown or deterioration at all. Battery health reports the battery max capacity at 84%. Best computer I'

Still rocking an M1 Air - 2020 build. 8GB ram. No slowdown or deterioration at all. Battery health reports the battery max capacity at 84%. Best computer I've ever owned, by far.

thiht 2mo ago
Same here, the thing is a beast
dave_sid 2mo ago
Same here. Got the same machine and feel the same as you about it.
gyomu 2mo ago
Same. It was borderline unusable on Tahoe to the point I had to downgrade it, but the Golden Gate beta brought it back to life. I’m only using it as a travel machine now, trying to hold on from upgrading it until I can get an Air with OLED display - hopefully coming in <24 months…
- jtbayly 2mo ago
  What makes Golden Gate usable?
  - gyomu 2mo ago
    They clearly did a bunch of optimizations, because working on my Xcode projects (and even basic every day use tbh) in 18.x was fine, on 27.x it’s mostly fine, but on 26.x it was a slog fest.
plasticeagle 2mo ago
M1 Pro 2021 16GB RAM Feels as snappy and impressive as the first day I got it. I never need to close apps, or reboot. I record multitrack audio on it without any perceptible latency. I write code on it. It's the best computer I've ever owned by a significant margin.
- Forgeties79 2mo ago
  Hmm same one but mine is clearly deteriorating lately. Lots of beachballs. I think I abused the SSD pretty badly though if I’m being honest. Loading and offloading large media files almost daily for five years lol
- ilamont 2mo ago
  I have one of these too. I can’t believe how long it’s performed at very high levels of use including two external screens and 10-15 memory intensive applications running concurrently, including three different browsers with multiple tabs open on each. I installed a new video editing application today and was apprehensive it would stumble, but it worked like a champ. The battery indicator is starting to show a decrease in performance. It won’t hold a full charge, but even when I’m without a direct power connection, I can still have it running for nearly 4 hours with Wi-Fi, 6+ without.
- crossroadsguy 2mo ago
  I have exactly this. Been trying to setup local models. I either end up with something that’s too big for my mac or too small.
- echelon 2mo ago
  MacBook is great hardware, but I really hate MacOS. It feels perpetually cellophane wrapped, and I don't like any of the window management. Finder is particularly awful too. You should be able to deeply tweak how window management works, but Mac won't let you do that. I'd run Linux on the hardware if it wasn't a hack.
  - Fuzzwah 2mo ago
    Rectangle solved my macos window management annoyances. https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ Not involved in dev of this, just a happy user
    - MattSayar 2mo ago
      I also enjoy rectangle, but struggle to find a good Finder replacement. Any recommendations?
anakaine 2mo ago
Also M1 Air 8gb, though not the daily driver. Bought second hand, the machine is still an absolute champ with no slowdown and is my go to machine when I want a calm space for writing.
- Ned_Williams 2mo ago
  Agreed, I loved my M1 Air!
emp_ 2mo ago
Great to hear! The absolute best Air Form Factor, I've debated a lot buying a used one because I dislike the square form of M2+ Air compared.
- sgarland 2mo ago
  Agreed. I have an M1 Air base model (also an M4 Pro), and hated the squared-off change for the M2. The wedge was the entire point.
InexSquirrel 2mo ago
Same here. Still using the original M1 as a daily dev pc. The portability and battery life are great. Biggest gripe is the limited number of USB-C ports...
waldothedog 2mo ago
Same, but MBP. Incredible machine, still has a lot of miles left
holiveros 2mo ago
Same here, my M1 Max 64GB beats the s*t out of my work-provided M5 16GB :P Best computer I've had in a long time.
- genghisjahn 2mo ago
  That’s what I have and love it. I have M(N+1) envy but I remind myself that my machine runs great. And it’s paid for.
xp84 2mo ago
I splurged for the 16GB version of this. Originally bought it for my spouse, and then replaced it with a refurbed M2 with 1TB of storage for reasons. So I took the "old" M1 Air. So far, can't come up with a reason to want to replace it. Not updating to Tahoe helps with that too.
- harry8 2mo ago
  > Not updating to Tahoe helps with that too. Apple - the absolute kings of planned obsolescence. Who else could do it so brazenly AND have a bunch of zealots who will now reply to this defending them and attcking anyone who points it out. Any industry not involving a computer they'd be in big trouble even with their massive (legal) bribes to politicians and fortune spent on legal teams.
  - transcriptase 2mo ago
    Their “sorry this hardware is too old to run the latest macOS” seems entirely based on KPIs versus capabilities. There’s absolutely no reason a maxed out MacBook Pro from 10 years ago shouldn’t be able to run something like the ChatGPT or Claude app, because those seem to think they need a newer version of the OS and Apple has decided that a 8 core 3.8ghz i7 with 32gb of ram is obsolete
    - ChrisMarshallNY 2mo ago
      I run a 2012 MacBook Air 11” for Zoom meetings. It’s stuck on Catalina, but it runs fine. If I really wanted (which I don’t), I could probably hack it to run newer operating systems. I know there’s a few ways to do that.
      - harry8 2mo ago
        On an x86 laptop you run linux. Too easy. xfce if it's 4G ram. Can you do that with an M{1..4} ? You sure can't do it with an iphone. I own one an iphone 15. Was beautiful when new. Even now it has started on the path of suck. Apple have "upgraded" it to have a more frustrating touchscreen because they clearly think I should give them more money to keep the experience I bought. They are not cheap. Apple are the absolute kings of planned obsolescence. Zealots going for silent downvotws because there is no case they can make to the contrary. Not what downvotes are for, says HN but we're all used to HN being used like this by now.
testing22321 2mo ago
I bought a used M1 air with 16GB and 2TB a few years ago for $1000 CAD. It’s easily the fastest computer I’ve ever used, and I have no reason to upgrade. It chews through 4K footage and ten of thousands of RAW images off my cameras.
thisisnotclear 2mo ago
M1 air 2020 16gb ram - still working like its new
sriku 2mo ago
Same here. For tough compute, I spin up a machine in some cloud service, do what I need, and shut it down. Of course, its a different issue if you need power on the desktop right there, like for A/V/Graphics work.
stmw 2mo ago
Which MacOS version are you on, out of curiosity? Do others see the same software issues?
ablation 2mo ago
M1 Pro 32gb RAM. I still have absolutely no reason to upgrade.
- workmandan 2mo ago
  Same. It's a monster
- Quiark 1mo ago
  bad consumer
cahaya 2mo ago
Until recently my M1 Max 32GB 2021 was great until memory became the bottleneck. My M1 Pro 8GB lasted me less than a year bcs with Docker dev stuff made it sluggish. 32GB was great for years until AI assisted productivity got so high with Codex. Running 3 projects, 3 different worktrees, each either Docker compose or running/building Electron apps. So in this high AI era productivity my Mac is using insane amount of RAM and SSD space (bcs of all the worktrees)
s777 2mo ago
My M1 Air died a week ago after 4 years of use. The Apple store told me it would get less than a year of updates and replacement part availability from now, and the logic board despite being most of the laptop would only be warrantied for 90 days. Not sure why so many people here praise Apple's "longevity" which is clearly not good.
- rwyinuse 2mo ago
  The main problem with Apple's is the limited years of updates to MacOS, combined with less than ideal Linux support. I can easily install Linux on any Thinkpad, but I don't think it's yet easy for newer Macbooks. With Linux, a device can stay snappy far longer than Apple provides updates to MacOS. That's why my personal computer is old Thinkpad, I can thankfully use work-issued Mac for anything that requires more power.
- tpmoney 1mo ago
  Good news for you is that whoever told you that was almost certainly wrong. Apple considers a product "vintage" 5 years after it was last offered for sale, and "obsolete" 7 years after it was last offered for sale[1]. Parts availability is guaranteed until vintage status, and is generally still available until obsolete status. The M1 airs were available for sale as recently as march of 2024, so you have at minimum another ~3 years of replacement parts availability ahead of you. The timer starts from the last offering for sale, not when you bought your computer. Software updates might be more limited, we'll have to see. 6-7 major updates is about average for the Airs[2], but 8 and 9 isn't unheard of either and we're already at 7 for the M1s They were however right about one thing, out of warranty repairs are only warrantied for 90 days from Apple. [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air#Supported_operating_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air#Supported_operatin...
port11 1mo ago
M1 Air 16GB, and macOS Sonoma is definitely starting to weigh down on the hardware. I used to have Netflix, Civ 5, and a Simulator running with no visible slowdown. Nowadays Safari + Simulator is enough to make everything less snappy; and I no longer keep WebStorm open either. Anecdotal, but I do think they’re releasing heavier updates. Can’t imagine the M1 on macOS 26 does very well.

Still rocking an M1 Air - 2020 build. 8GB ram. No slowdown or deterioration at all. Battery health reports the battery max capacity at 84%. Best computer I've ever owned, by far.

thiht 2mo ago

Same here, the thing is a beast

dave_sid 2mo ago

Same here. Got the same machine and feel the same as you about it.

gyomu 2mo ago

Same. It was borderline unusable on Tahoe to the point I had to downgrade it, but the Golden Gate beta brought it back to life. I’m only using it as a travel machine now, trying to hold on from upgrading it until I can get an Air with OLED display - hopefully coming in <24 months…

jtbayly 2mo ago
What makes Golden Gate usable?
- gyomu 2mo ago
  They clearly did a bunch of optimizations, because working on my Xcode projects (and even basic every day use tbh) in 18.x was fine, on 27.x it’s mostly fine, but on 26.x it was a slog fest.

plasticeagle 2mo ago

M1 Pro 2021 16GB RAM Feels as snappy and impressive as the first day I got it. I never need to close apps, or reboot. I record multitrack audio on it without any perceptible latency. I write code on it. It's the best computer I've ever owned by a significant margin.

Forgeties79 2mo ago
Hmm same one but mine is clearly deteriorating lately. Lots of beachballs. I think I abused the SSD pretty badly though if I’m being honest. Loading and offloading large media files almost daily for five years lol
ilamont 2mo ago
I have one of these too. I can’t believe how long it’s performed at very high levels of use including two external screens and 10-15 memory intensive applications running concurrently, including three different browsers with multiple tabs open on each. I installed a new video editing application today and was apprehensive it would stumble, but it worked like a champ. The battery indicator is starting to show a decrease in performance. It won’t hold a full charge, but even when I’m without a direct power connection, I can still have it running for nearly 4 hours with Wi-Fi, 6+ without.
crossroadsguy 2mo ago
I have exactly this. Been trying to setup local models. I either end up with something that’s too big for my mac or too small.
echelon 2mo ago
MacBook is great hardware, but I really hate MacOS. It feels perpetually cellophane wrapped, and I don't like any of the window management. Finder is particularly awful too. You should be able to deeply tweak how window management works, but Mac won't let you do that. I'd run Linux on the hardware if it wasn't a hack.
- Fuzzwah 2mo ago
  Rectangle solved my macos window management annoyances. https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ Not involved in dev of this, just a happy user
  - MattSayar 2mo ago
    I also enjoy rectangle, but struggle to find a good Finder replacement. Any recommendations?

anakaine 2mo ago

Also M1 Air 8gb, though not the daily driver. Bought second hand, the machine is still an absolute champ with no slowdown and is my go to machine when I want a calm space for writing.

Ned_Williams 2mo ago
Agreed, I loved my M1 Air!

emp_ 2mo ago

Great to hear! The absolute best Air Form Factor, I've debated a lot buying a used one because I dislike the square form of M2+ Air compared.

sgarland 2mo ago
Agreed. I have an M1 Air base model (also an M4 Pro), and hated the squared-off change for the M2. The wedge was the entire point.

InexSquirrel 2mo ago

Same here. Still using the original M1 as a daily dev pc. The portability and battery life are great. Biggest gripe is the limited number of USB-C ports...

waldothedog 2mo ago

Same, but MBP. Incredible machine, still has a lot of miles left

holiveros 2mo ago

Same here, my M1 Max 64GB beats the s*t out of my work-provided M5 16GB :P Best computer I've had in a long time.

genghisjahn 2mo ago
That’s what I have and love it. I have M(N+1) envy but I remind myself that my machine runs great. And it’s paid for.

xp84 2mo ago

I splurged for the 16GB version of this. Originally bought it for my spouse, and then replaced it with a refurbed M2 with 1TB of storage for reasons. So I took the "old" M1 Air. So far, can't come up with a reason to want to replace it. Not updating to Tahoe helps with that too.

harry8 2mo ago
> Not updating to Tahoe helps with that too. Apple - the absolute kings of planned obsolescence. Who else could do it so brazenly AND have a bunch of zealots who will now reply to this defending them and attcking anyone who points it out. Any industry not involving a computer they'd be in big trouble even with their massive (legal) bribes to politicians and fortune spent on legal teams.
- transcriptase 2mo ago
  Their “sorry this hardware is too old to run the latest macOS” seems entirely based on KPIs versus capabilities. There’s absolutely no reason a maxed out MacBook Pro from 10 years ago shouldn’t be able to run something like the ChatGPT or Claude app, because those seem to think they need a newer version of the OS and Apple has decided that a 8 core 3.8ghz i7 with 32gb of ram is obsolete
  - ChrisMarshallNY 2mo ago
    I run a 2012 MacBook Air 11” for Zoom meetings. It’s stuck on Catalina, but it runs fine. If I really wanted (which I don’t), I could probably hack it to run newer operating systems. I know there’s a few ways to do that.
    - harry8 2mo ago
      On an x86 laptop you run linux. Too easy. xfce if it's 4G ram. Can you do that with an M{1..4} ? You sure can't do it with an iphone. I own one an iphone 15. Was beautiful when new. Even now it has started on the path of suck. Apple have "upgraded" it to have a more frustrating touchscreen because they clearly think I should give them more money to keep the experience I bought. They are not cheap. Apple are the absolute kings of planned obsolescence. Zealots going for silent downvotws because there is no case they can make to the contrary. Not what downvotes are for, says HN but we're all used to HN being used like this by now.

testing22321 2mo ago

I bought a used M1 air with 16GB and 2TB a few years ago for $1000 CAD. It’s easily the fastest computer I’ve ever used, and I have no reason to upgrade. It chews through 4K footage and ten of thousands of RAW images off my cameras.

thisisnotclear 2mo ago

M1 air 2020 16gb ram - still working like its new

sriku 2mo ago

Same here. For tough compute, I spin up a machine in some cloud service, do what I need, and shut it down. Of course, its a different issue if you need power on the desktop right there, like for A/V/Graphics work.

stmw 2mo ago

Which MacOS version are you on, out of curiosity? Do others see the same software issues?

ablation 2mo ago

M1 Pro 32gb RAM. I still have absolutely no reason to upgrade.

workmandan 2mo ago
Same. It's a monster
Quiark 1mo ago
bad consumer

cahaya 2mo ago

Until recently my M1 Max 32GB 2021 was great until memory became the bottleneck. My M1 Pro 8GB lasted me less than a year bcs with Docker dev stuff made it sluggish. 32GB was great for years until AI assisted productivity got so high with Codex. Running 3 projects, 3 different worktrees, each either Docker compose or running/building Electron apps. So in this high AI era productivity my Mac is using insane amount of RAM and SSD space (bcs of all the worktrees)

s777 2mo ago

My M1 Air died a week ago after 4 years of use. The Apple store told me it would get less than a year of updates and replacement part availability from now, and the logic board despite being most of the laptop would only be warrantied for 90 days. Not sure why so many people here praise Apple's "longevity" which is clearly not good.

rwyinuse 2mo ago
The main problem with Apple's is the limited years of updates to MacOS, combined with less than ideal Linux support. I can easily install Linux on any Thinkpad, but I don't think it's yet easy for newer Macbooks. With Linux, a device can stay snappy far longer than Apple provides updates to MacOS. That's why my personal computer is old Thinkpad, I can thankfully use work-issued Mac for anything that requires more power.
tpmoney 1mo ago
Good news for you is that whoever told you that was almost certainly wrong. Apple considers a product "vintage" 5 years after it was last offered for sale, and "obsolete" 7 years after it was last offered for sale[1]. Parts availability is guaranteed until vintage status, and is generally still available until obsolete status. The M1 airs were available for sale as recently as march of 2024, so you have at minimum another ~3 years of replacement parts availability ahead of you. The timer starts from the last offering for sale, not when you bought your computer. Software updates might be more limited, we'll have to see. 6-7 major updates is about average for the Airs[2], but 8 and 9 isn't unheard of either and we're already at 7 for the M1s They were however right about one thing, out of warranty repairs are only warrantied for 90 days from Apple. [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air#Supported_operating_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air#Supported_operatin...

port11 1mo ago

M1 Air 16GB, and macOS Sonoma is definitely starting to weigh down on the hardware. I used to have Netflix, Civ 5, and a Simulator running with no visible slowdown. Nowadays Safari + Simulator is enough to make everything less snappy; and I no longer keep WebStorm open either. Anecdotal, but I do think they’re releasing heavier updates. Can’t imagine the M1 on macOS 26 does very well.