The release of the gen 1 MacBook Air 2020 with the M1 chip was a phenomenal release and had even better sales reports. The installation of the M1 chip instead of the Intel core processor made this the first line of silicon MacBooks that were made all in house. This chip has cut down on overall processing time in every Mac and even made the MacBook Air a fanless design. With this new fanless design the laptop is lighter and does not overheat. Along with the chip upgrade, the microphone has been upgraded with background noise cancellation and the FaceTime camera got a better light tone update. The programmer made our day with the switch back to scissor switch keyboards from their predecessors, the hated, butterfly switch keyboard. On top of that, the trackpad is a force touch and is 1.5 inches bigger than the other leading laptop brand. 

With the power the M1 chip gives to the new MacBook, we now have almost all the power the MacBook Pro has, which is amazing. This model has an 8-core CPU which is the fastest in any laptop and makes 8k video editing 3.5x faster than the previous model. With this CPU, graphics for video editing or gaming is 5x faster than the last MacBook Air model. Now we get 6 more hours free of charge on the new 18-hour battery life and we get the powerful features of macOS Big Sur. This also includes new privacy updates, new design aesthetic, and extraordinary app updates like the new connectivity of iPad and iPhone apps on MacBook. 

Now with all this power, you would think there would be more new functions that everyone will use, right? You are right, there are new functions for everyone like the instant wake, unified memory, and a 2560 by 1600 retina display with a 25% more color gamut. We also were given true tone technology, meaning the notebook automatically adjusts the white point to the color temperature of your environment. In addition to that we have an HD camera for sharper images that shows more details with shadows and highlights, and that includes a three-microphone array that hones in on your voice and cancels out background noise. The most popular feature is the new touch id. You can unlock your Mac, use Apple Pay, open password protected websites and documents and make purchases on the Apple TV app with your finger. As an extra bonus, apple is giving everyone who buys a new MacBook one year free of Apple TV, so this deal just keeps getting better no matter who purchases this. 

Although a few things we miss is all the connectivity we had with USB ports, SD card ports, Apple has gotten rid of those and made dongles to replace them with. So now we have the option of 2 or 4 USB-C ports with purchase of a dongle. Not an optimal solution. It is anywhere from $10-50 for a dongle depending on what connectivity you need, but you can get these anywhere from the Apple store with your MacBook purchase or a campus bookstore. 

Honestly, I can look past that for everything else this laptop has given me. With education pricing you only pay $899 for the best laptop in the game. This is all a big step in the right direction, and I am very excited to be a part of the wave of new technology my laptop forged the way for.