MacBook Air (M1 Chip)

2020, November 10

The MacBook Air with the M1 Chip, announced on November 10, 2020, and released on November 17, 2020, was a revolutionary product that marked Apple's transition from Intel processors to custom-designed ARM-based Apple Silicon. It featured a fanless design for silent operation, a 13.3-inch Retina display, and significantly improved performance and battery life over its predecessors.

Key Features and Ports

Apple M1 Chip: This system-on-a-chip (SoC) combined the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and I/O into a single chip, offering exceptional performance per watt and enabling the use of the Mac without a fan, so it runs completely silently.

Extraordinary Battery Life: It delivered a significant leap in battery performance, rated for up to 15 hours of wireless web use and up to 18 hours of video playback.

Design: It retained the classic thin wedge-shaped aluminum unibody design of its predecessor and was made from 100% recycled aluminum.

Connectivity: Ports were limited to two multi-purpose Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports (USB-C connector) which supported charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40 Gbps), and USB 4 (up to 40 Gbps). A 3.5 mm headphone jack was also included.

Other Features: It included a backlit "Magic Keyboard" with a scissor mechanism, a large Force Touch trackpad, Touch ID for secure authentication, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) support, and a 720p FaceTime HD camera with an improved image signal processor.

External Display Support: The M1 MacBook Air officially supported only one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz.