It is a weird time in the world right now. COVID has kept me home for over two months now, which makes it difficult to give the new MacBook Air for 2020 a thorough review. As such, I haven’t gotten to test the new MacBook Air outside of the house.

But what I have tested, I truly do like.

While this laptop is a great update to the MacBook line for me, it might not be the best update for everyone. This MacBook is an interesting entry into the portable Mac line. It fixes many of the issues that had plagued the Air line since it was reintroduced in 2018. The storage has been bumped up, the price has dropped, and it has become more powerful.

But is that enough to warranty an upgrade?

The Base MacBook Air

For the first time since Apple redesigned the MacBook Air to a modern design, you have processor choices. As I mentioned in my impressions on the MacBook Air 2020, I chose to go with the low-end model which sports an i3 processor and 256 GB of storage.

This year, Apple offers 3 choices of processors on the MacBook Air: dual-core i3, quad-core i5, and quad-core i7. Before I purchased mine, I had all intentions to order the middle of the pack i5. I thought it would last longer and do more processing. But in all honesty, I don’t really do that much on a laptop anymore. Any heavy lifting I do on my 2018 iPad Pro or 2019 27-inch iMac. All I would be planning on doing with a MacBook Air would be listening to music, writing, and surfing the internet. Most of that I do on my iPad, but sometimes you get to a website that just needs a real computer or you need to use an app that doesn’t have a feature you need.

So, when I ordered my MacBook Air, I opted for the base model. I figured that my MacBook Pro was a dual-core and it had done great for me for years. A modern dual-core processor would probably be fine for me.

Plus, my iPad Pro has really been my mobile computer (it’s not a computer) of choice for a long time now. I wasn’t sure that a new laptop would get that much use.

The Keyboard

Most reviews for the 2020 MacBook Air start with the keyboard, and for good reason. The keyboard on this computer is the best keyboard I have ever typed on.

For comparison, I’ve used many iBooks, MacBooks, Windows laptops (my work computer is an HP), and Bluetooth Apple keyboards, but I did manage to mostly miss the butterfly generation, although I did test out the MacBook Air when it was redesigned in 2018.

For me, the key travel on the 2020 Air is excellent. It doesn’t feel shallow and abrupt like the butterfly keyboards or an iPad screen and it doesn’t feel too deep like some mechanical keyboards. No disrespect intended to those that love the feel of those keyboards, it is all personal taste after all. I just felt like the key travel on this laptop is perfect for me.

The key travel feels similar to the keyboard on my 2013 MacBook Pro but it feels more stable. On my 2013 Pro and the Bluetooth Magic Keyboard, I can place my finger on the keys and shake my hand and the keys will wiggle. On the Air, they don’t. They feel sturdy.

It’s a weird thing to describe, but for some reason, it just gives me more confidence in the keys while I type. In fact, I wish that Apple would update the Bluetooth Magic Keyboard to feature these sturdier keys with the inverted arrow keys.

But these keyboards are still new and Apple really damaged its reputation with the butterfly keyboard. I don’t expect these Magic Keyboards to fail as the butterfly keys did, but it could take time to really rule them out.

If you were waiting on a MacBook Air without the troubles of the butterfly keyboard, I think you can jump into this model without too much fear that the keyboard might fail. Plus, you’ll get a more pleasant typing experience.

Speed

While you expect every generation of processors to improve upon the last, I’m not sure that is the case with the new MacBook Air. As I mentioned, my previous laptop was a MacBook Pro with a Retina screen from 2013. It’s a seven-year-old processor. I figured that updating to a 10th-generation Intel i3 would bring great speed gains.

Sometimes that is true, and sometimes it feels like the system takes a while to really get going.

When I get into my work and really start to type, the system is fine. I’m not pushing the processors very hard, so there’s nothing to really dig into. But when I launch an app or when there are lots of apps going at the same time, things really grind down to a halt. It is something that I experience on my MacBook Pro, but that computer is seven years older. I didn’t expect it from this computer. The new system is supposed to be twice as fast as my Pro in benchmarks anyway!

That said, most of the slow down comes from loading apps. Using apps feels smooth and rarely are there hiccups or slowdowns. If I had to do over, I might think about bumping up the RAM on my unit to 16 gigs, instead of the standard 8. It might help alleviate the loading delays.

Would I recommend going to the i5 chip for most people? I’m not sure. Many reviews have complained that the Air gets overheated when it gets under a heavy load, and there’s no real proof that it goes that much faster.

But does that mean this is a bad computer? Not at all. I think for most people, the i3 will be fine. If you do video or photo editing, you might opt for the i5 or i7, or better yet, the new MacBook Pro that came out recently as well. If you are just doing simple things, this MacBook does better than fine. I’m happy with it for what I do.

Battery

One area I feel like there MacBook under preforms has been battery.

The battery in my MacBook Pro had dwindled over the seven years use. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade to something newer. I could only use my Pro for a couple of hours away from the plug. I figured that the new Air would have a much better battery since Apple claims that it would have an all-day battery.

Realistically, I do get better battery life than the older MacBook Pro, but I’m not sure how much. I feel like sometimes just using it for an hour can drop the battery about twenty percent. I haven’t done any real word, outside of the house testing though. And honestly, much of my use has been using the Air outside in the backyard where it is hotter than inside.

After updating to the iPhone 11 Pro Max and getting such great battery life, I just felt like updating to the new MacBook would leave me feeling better. Plus, using an iPad for most of my portable work spoiled me to battery longevity.

Price on the MacBook Air 2020

One of the best things going for the MacBook Air in 2020 is the price.

Compared to the last generation model, the 2020 MacBook Air nets you a base storage bump from 128 Gb to 256 GB for a cheaper price than before. Plus, you’ll get a better keyboard that most likely won’t need replacing.

Apple dropped the base price of the Air (the model that I ordered) to $999. Of course you can customize it by adding a better processor, bigger storage, or more ram and the price goes up. But the base price is great for most people now.

Also, students and teachers can get a discount on top of the new cheaper price bringing it down to a starting price of $899!

Coming From an Older MacBook

I’ve probably over stated this in the review, but coming from such an older Mac has made the upgrade more worthwhile. If you have a new Mac, I’m not sure that the 2020 Air is that much of an upgrade unless you are just trying to get away from the Butterfly Keyboard.

That said, I really like the current design. The laptop is lightweight and works great for me. My use case if probably different than most people though. I also love the shape of the Air versus the Pro. The wedge shape makes it more comfortable when you’re typing since the straight edge of the Pro doesn’t cut into your wrists. Since the Air slopes, you can rest your wrists without pain.

Odds and Ends

I have moved to a mostly digital lifestyle. It is very rare when I have to plug in anything to my MacBook. I haven’t had any issues with the USB-C plugs on the computer since I don’t need dongles.

Many users miss MagSafe and I miss how easy it was to charge the laptop, but the USB-C isn’t bad. I do charge my laptop in a corner of the house where it is less likely to trip someone up though.

The trackpad is giant! It is also so nice to use. I have started to use my Magic Trackpad on my iMac more because of the gestures offered by macOS. It is so easy to get around the OS with the giant trackpad, and I never have issues with my palms touching it while typing.

While I like having TouchID on my Mac, I feel like it is clumsy to use versus TouchID on an iOS device or FaceID. I stumble when it asks me to enter a password, do I select the password and then put my finger on the sensor or vice versa. How come, on my iMac, I can just select which password I want entered and not have to authorize it in any way? Jumping between the iMac and MacBook makes this safety feature feel like it gets in the way more than it helps.

Using the MacBook Air for the month that I’ve had it has really made me enjoy using the Mac more. I had found iPadOS more enjoyable and easier to use. But I’m enjoying using macOS again. I’m not sure how much longer that will be the case though. I think the iPad would soon eclipse the MacBook.

The Future and the iPad

The title of my review mentions that this will probably be the last laptop that I ever buy. It is not because this laptop is so great that I will never get another laptop again, but because I think laptops, as we know it, are on the verge of dying.

I don’t want this to become a Mac vs iPad debate, but I think it’s true that iPads are becoming more exciting and modular. Apple has poured lots of new life into the iPad since 2018. It has a better processor than the Air (and better than most other PCs) and it has FaceID on it, which I find much easier to use than TouchID. Plus the iPad is more modular, allowing users to use it how they want.

Apple has even helped bridge the gap between laptop form with the iPad when it released the Magic Keyboard. The Magic Keyboard allows the iPad to have a laptop-like typing experience when you need it, and a tablet experience when you don’t.

The iPad also has a better webcam, for all of us that are having to teleconference from home lately.

What the MacBook Air excels at over the iPad is software. The software on the Mac is more mature than on the iPad. Many developers are pushing the iPad to go further, but there are many that still treat it as a lesser device. As apps begin to improve though, I can see myself moving away from my Macs and just using an iPad as my portable device. Or even creating an iPad workstation with a monitor, keyboard, and trackpad to replace my iMac one day.

Final Thoughts

This review is interesting to me. I didn’t mean to write a negative review, although I feel like it trends that way. In fact, I greatly enjoy using my new MacBook Air. I’ve been using it much more than my iPad since the pandemic started. In fact, it has made me appreciate macOS all over again.

The keyboard is the best keyboard I’ve ever typed on, while the rest of the machine is a great step up from what I had before.

But the future really looms over the product. I see myself upgrading to a 12.9-inch iPad in the future and getting the Magic Keyboard to go with it. I just hope that the apps that I use daily get more advanced.

But for now, I love this little laptop and if you are in the market for a new MacBook Air, I don’t think you can do wrong here.