Refurbished MacBook Air M1 is Good

 It's been about two years since the original M1 SoC was introduced to make Apple independent of outside CPU makers.  It's been a success and it's certainly upset Intel.

Having had Apple equipment since 1993, I've gone through the Motorola 680x0 to PowerPC transition, the PowerPC to Intel x86 transition, and now, the Intel to Apple Silicon (ARM) transition.

This is the most difficult transition because developers weren't sure what to do.  After almost two years, there isn't as much native software as I had hoped.  Being that Apple cut off 32-bit software with Catalina, I'm not sure why developers aren't more ready.

Game developers aren't really testing the waters.  The biggest current game I've seen is Life is Strange 2, which was ported by Feral Interactive, and published by Square Enix.  It seems to run well enough to believe that it is M1-compatible, not running through Rosetta 2 emulation.  However, Steam, GOG Galaxy, and Epic Games Launcher all appear to be x86 applications.

Creative software is quite different.  Capture One Pro by Phase One is native and so are Affinity Publisher, Designer, and Photo applications.  HitFilm Express from FXHome seems to not have a problem, though I haven't really tested it.

It looks as though Microsoft Visual Studio is compatible, if not 100% native. 

Bottom to Top, Top to Bottom

I've almost always had top of the line machines, but here I am with a MacBook Air.  Why?

It's powerful at a reasonable price.

Remember when US$1499 bought you a 15.4 MacBook Pro with integrated graphics and a dual-core CPU?  It wasn't that long ago.

I bought a MacBook Air 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage for US$1399, refurbished.

My previous MacBook Pro had a 3rd generation quad-core i7 with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.  My Omen by HP had a 7th generation quad-core i7 with 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage and it didn't seem much faster.

While I'm writing this entry, iStatMenus is telling me that the core temperature is 30 degrees C, which is in contrast to 44 degrees C on the Windows machine or 64 degrees C on the old MacBook Pro.  That old MacBook Pro could boil water.  When processing video, it would be at 100 degrees C.

Of course, there are many updates since 2012 besides the CPU and GPU.

The sound is amazing.  The display is so much better than the old 1440x900.  The keyboard is okay.  I liked the PowerBook G4 keyboard and none since have impressed me.

Change is Necessary

I bought a couple of cable adapters and an OmniCase Mini USB-C Storage Docking Station from JSAUX.  The company's products have been as reliable for me as products from Anker have been.

The OmniCase Mini is a unique product.  It has one USB type-C port, two type-A ports, an HDMI port, and slots for microSD and SD cards.  US$34.99 wasn't a lot.  It also comes with a type-C cable, and a few adapters, and a SIM card tool.  Obviously, if you're looking for a full-blown docking station, there are plenty from US$100 to US$500.  If you want an extra type-C port for power pass-through, you'll have to pay more than the US$34.99.

Equally useful and tiny is a Crucial X8 2 TB SSD that I recently bought.  It has a type-C connector, but also has a type-A adapter.

It may help to remember that the original MacBook Air came with one port--for charging, for connecting, for everything that needed a physical port.  The Dongle circus had arrived in town.

With two type-C ports, it's twice as convenient.

 Apple Succeeded

I'm slowly getting everything together, although it's only been about a week.  It took a while with previous machines.  I'm sure I'll be satisfied with this purchase.

Update 2022.05.22: This machine continues to impress.  The operating system is not where it needs to be and neither is vendor support for native applications.

Daily use without the power cable is amazing.  That 3rd generation quad-core i7 with GeForce 650M was constantly sucking power.  It was also a very good heater.

I haven't needed the USB-C hub as much as I expected.  I transferred most of what I needed the first two weeks.

I've tried a few more games, mostly through Itch.io and GOG.  They work well.  Steam itself is full of glitches, but that was also a problem for the i7 running Catalina.  64-bitness is not something Valve wants to do well.

Update 2022.06.06: The M2 MacBook Air was announced today.  It's more powerful and more expensive.  It can be configured with 24 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage.  That would be a plus.  In the past, some would complain that the machine they just bought last year was outdated and practically cry that it didn't work correctly any longer.  I don't do that.  This machine is a 2020 model and it's just fine.

I've had the machine over a month now and it took a while to get things in order but it is a wonderful computer that does most everything I want.  I want some good games for it but that will take some time.  Life is Strange 2 is the biggest title I have right now.

Update 2022.07.09: I'm impressed that they've got a newer processor out and it's better but it's a small improvement over the M1.  I priced what I have with the latest configuration and it was about US$600 extra over what I paid for a refurbished M1.  It's nice to have the latest and greatest, but this will last a while.

Update 2023.06.30: I was checking the prices on computers such as mine because of some pricing on the 15 inch version and I found the exact, same machine as mine for the exact, same price as when I bought it.

It's been a bit over a year that I've had my machine and the stage where I'm impressed regularly is finished.  It's very quick, for sure, but now, it's being filled and used regularly and I've got an interesting Windows 11 machine, also.

Windows still is a pain, here and there, but it gets the job done.  macOS Monterey seems better, but not exactly bug-free.  I'm not comfortable with upgrading to Ventura, but I will probably go to Sonoma, instead.

Update 2026.03.03: Is it time to switch to the just-released M5 MacBook Air?

 I've been looking at the numbers and 24 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage would put it at US$1899, which isn't horrible, especially with the 10 CPU/10 GPU cores configuration.  My current machine has 8 CPU cores and 8 GPU cores with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage and that was US$1349.

The M1 MacBook Air is fine for everyday work but has become unable to keep up with graphics software and games. 

Google Nexus 7...in my house [and gone, twice]

A few things changed and I drove to Sam's Club and picked up a Google Nexus 7 tablet.  Unfortunately, they didn't have a case or sleeve for them, but they're still relatively new and they also didn't have cases or sleeves for the Samsung Galaxy tablets.


I sat down with a slice of pizza, a drink, and proceeded to start the tablet.  It was easy to set up, and I was in business quickly.  It remembered part of what was me, from the Android-based phone, but because they don't store apps information for deleted but still wanted apps, it couldn't tell me which apps to download or otherwise, help me decide.  (Surprise! They saved my history in the web/desktop version of Google Play and I was able to initiate downloads to the Nexus 7 from there! Well done!)

I went over to Target, thinking that they try to cover all bases (what an idiom!) but they had nothing relevant, either.

The tablet was charging on the way home.  My microUSB-based charger from my Android-based phone (and the previous phone) worked just fine, although it heated up more than usual.  I noticed that the battery has a similar mAh rating as the battery in my MacBook.  That's a lot for such a small device.

After I arrived home, I started downloading some apps, including Galaxy on Fire 2 THD (Total Harmonic Distortion came to mind immediately), which is apparently the nVidia Tegra version.  It must be just me, but it seems strange that you download a tiny (4 MB?) app, and after you start it, it wants to download another 507 MB, I believe.  This was priced as "Free" in the Google Play store but once you get to a certain point in the story, they want payment.

I thought back for a minute to the point where I added my card to Google Checkout about the time I got the Android-based phone.  A week or so later, I received charges on my Visa Check Card, directly affecting my checking account.  I really didn't want to repeat that with Google Wallet or whatever mechanism they're now using.  I'm not sure whether it's safe or not.  I'll likely succumb to the demand, but I won't be comfortable for a while.

The tablet performs admirably and the display is wonderful.  Japanese and Chinese are clearly rendered, which is generally difficult.  The Tegra 3 4+1 core CPU seems to keep things flowing smoothly and I'm sure that Jelly Bean (4.1.2) adds to the favourable experience.  However, I find that Android still seems put together by a committee.  It looks as though they've massaged it here and there and refined it otherwise, but it still seems such a beta test release of software.

Apps work smoothly and are launched quickly, which is a huge difference from my previous Android experience.  As I've thought in the past, version 4 is a good starting point for Android--what should have been the 1.0 release.  Where is the !@#$ screenshot combination?  I use the Power button and the Home button on iOS and I have a screenshot, but nothing on Android but getting a separate app.  Another thing that's bugging me: if they want to get rid of the menu button, why is the menu button still used so frequently, though it's just hidden to the side?

I'm sure it will be interesting in the future, but it's still going to take time to learn to work it correctly and well.  Google and ASUS, you did a good job.

Update: Wouldn't you know it, there are rumors that Google and ASUS will release a 32 GB model for a similar price in the next few days.  That kind of thing has happened more than once.  When I bought a Nintendo Wii, for instance, it was reduced in price 8 days from then.  I returned the Nexus 7 to Sam's Club and the associate asked me if there was something wrong with all of them because they were getting a lot of returns.  I doubt it would be because of the price/new configurations since they have a time window for returns.  They have great hardware but they're just not great with Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.x) so far.  Let's see what happens on the 29th.

Update 2: I returned the 16 GB version, with much trouble, to Sam's Club and they had it a few days later (around the 29th) for $199.99. I later bought the 32 GB version at Staples with their accidental protection plan.  Given that cases are almost non-existent at the moment, anything could happen.  Staples had both the 16 GB and 32 GB versions at $249.99, and the protection plan was not yet priced, so it had a placeholder of $9999.99, a bit much.  The second tablet is a bit creaky, as if it was put together more hastily than the previous tablet I had.  Still, it seems to fit my hand better than the new iPad mini.  I'm sure the iPad mini is a better experience overall, but I'm not expecting revelations with any tablet.  For most of what I'm expecting, the Nexus 7 tablet fits me.

The sad thing is that I returned the second tablet.  It thought I was in Cisco, Texas for some reason, several hundred miles from my actual location.  There were other minor issues with it, but it never worked all that well.  For what it's worth, I still believe it showed a lot of promise and I still have $9.99 in it for a game that was tied to the nVidia Tegra architecture, but oh well.