MacBook Air m1 in 2023 for Developers [Updated after 9 months of usage]

I just recently bought a macbook air m1 base varient with 8gb Ram and 256gb ssd. I thought it would be really helpful to share my view on it how it actually performs in 2023.

This laptop is 3 years old now and does it make sense to purchase now considering the other windows laptops?

I am not going to share the performance stats and comparisons as everyone knows about it now. I am going to share a view from the perspective of a developer who does coding daily, works on different tech stack, even as a college student handles variety of documents etc.

Before going in detail I suggest that this review is for someone who is student, a beginner to intermediate developer, freelancer or a windows user who is looking for budget friendly laptop with great performance.

Let’s get started.

Software I use:

1. Android Studio
2. Visual Studio code
3. Xcode
4. Docker

Tech Stack I work:

1. Flutter
2. Android Development
3. React
4. Express ( Node js)
5. Mongo Db

These are the some of the most frequent tools that I use but not limited to. I use figma, canva, web development using no code tools, low code tools, python for automation etc.

Android / Flutter Developer:

When I am doing Flutter development I am majorly using VS Code, An IOS Simulator is running, a Figma on browser, postman, bunch of chrome or safari tabs, sometimes a node backend server running locally also. with all these I haven’t seen a performance lag. It works really smooth and you won’t feel that you are using it heavily.

However the ram is not enough though. When all this is running it consume almost 100% along with swap memory. Thanks to fastest macbook SSD’s which makes it really fast.

Compared to my old windows laptop flutter apps runs at least 3 times faster. Loading time and response time is great. on battery windows gives huge drop in performance. While this doesn’t makes any difference whether on power or not.

I really see a huge difference in performance, whether it’s running a project, compiling or building apk or executable files, Loading Emulators, battery backup.

Battery:

The battery backup usually around 5 hours with all these continuously running. when you use normally like browsing, reading, watching movie it above 8 hours easily.

For web development it’s a really good machine and 8gb is enough for you.

However if you are looking it as a longterm primary machine, I would suggest getting 16gb model or latest mac M2.

256gb storage as a developer is enough initially. You can consider buying external ssd which can give you extra space and will save lot of money.

13 inch display however may feel small or fine. I am not having issues with it.

Pros:

1. Lightweight and strong build quality
2. Portable
3. Battery backup
4. Performance.

Cons:

1. Needs extra spends with accessories like USB hub, ssd.
2. Not able to upgrade ram or ssd.

Conclusion:

If you are strict on budget and looking for a machine who has great performance along with portability then go for it. Even if it’s 3 years old still latest windows machines are not able to deliver this type of performance.

I bought it during sale around $850. I also think that around $1000 there are some great windows options as well from Asus zenbooks or vivobooks.

Quick note: A manufacturing date on my laptop is latest which is from Aug 2023.

*Edit After 4 months of usage:

This is important update and I hope it will be helpful to you. During my early days usage in first two weeks laptop was heating a lot. I tried searching on the reddit and youtube and didn’t find any answer. I also thought that my model is problematic or manufacturing defects. However it’s takes time initially. It might heat on normal usage like watching movies as well in first month. After one of the usage it doesn’t heats like that. It will be only heated up depending upon actual usage.

Also battery backup is low during that period. I got around 5–6 hours battery backup in first month. after the Sonomo 14.2 update I am getting around 10–13 hours backup on heavy usage as well. Overall I am really impressed with the performance.

*Edit After 9 Months Of Usage:

Still working like a Charm. I have started Android development and now facing some issues. While it doesn’t lag but when you have android emulator running Up the 8gbs of ram isn’t sufficient. It does the job however android studio is very heavy software and requires high resources. But when you compare it to 8gb of windows laptop for android development I guess it’s far better. Like I believe the performance is like i5 12th gen 16gb ram laptop. But still if you are planning for long term android development, may be use google meet for code presentation or use video recording along with this may be you should think about 16gb version.

It doesn’t hangs but lag a little bit. But it gets job done very pretty than windows machine. I was doing android development back in 2020 with my windows 12gb ram, i5 8th gen, 2gb graphics machine but it was quite slow.

That’s about the update. Thanks for reading this article.

Battery Health: Reduced to 97% . As I continuously use it with monitor and always plugged in for charging. I do use Aldente for battery management. But I guess it’s reasonable to drop battery heath. No issues at all. Battery backup is still super more than 9 Hrs.

Thanks for reading!

Where to connect with me?

LinkedIn : https://linkedin.com/in/dhgavali

website: https://dhgavali.github.io/portfolio-site/