M1 MacBook Air Performance 2024 - With 50 Safari Tabs Open

How does the M1 MacBook Air perform in 2024? We test the performance of the M1 MacBook Air with over 50 Safari Browser tabs open to see how well the base model with 8 GB of ram holds up. Is 8 GB of ram too little for the average user on a MacBook in 2024? In this video find out how the base model M1 Air performs under load and if it still works good at the start of 2024. Should you still buy a M1 MacBook Air? Watch this video to find out as we perform a stress test on the M1 Air.

(The link above is the model of M1 Air we tested in the video)

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[lisamelting]

I don’t think I’ve ever had more than 4 tabs open at a time. Christ, after 3 tabs I would probably forget what I was working on in the first place.

[Mixali]

I Just purchased the M1 air as I was able to trade in my 2017 MacBook Pro for $300 at Best Buy. I considered spending a bit more for the M2 air, but I couldn't justify the cost considering the base model was still 8gb of ram. I am extremely happy with such an inexpensive upgrade as my old MacBook Pro was bad is just about every way. Love your channel, keep up the good work!

[eduardowatkinz]

Craig - I have a MacBook M1 Air, got it when it came out. Now I don't use it ever day as I have the Mac Studio M series and a Mac Mini Pro that I use for video editing, but I never had any issues using the MacBook Air M1 for any of my video and photo editing work flows. Granted I'm not exporting 4K video and I don't pretend to be a YouTube creator, (there must be a zillion out there today), and BTW it's the base model. And it can handle anything I can throw out it. I don't care about benchmarks, that's not real world for 93.5% of normal users. Thx for your video, and BTW, BestBuy has the MacBook Pro 14" M1 16GB unified memory 512GB SSD, which is a super performer, refurbished for $1349, or Apple has the MacBook Pro 14" M2 16GB unified memory 512GB SSD for $1599, 1 year warranty.

[francescofarina]

Thanks for another fantastic video, Craig. Your test only reinforces that my MacBook Air M1 exceeds my current requirements for usage. Thank you again.

[lisamelting]

I’ve used a pc at work and home exclusively since 1995. On a whim about 2 months ago I decided to buy a MacBook.

It’s easy for many people to think they need the latest l, greatest and most powerful machine.

I bought a basic M1 13”, sight unseen and figured that if it wasn’t good enough I’d just pass it off to one of my kids and buy something better.

I was honestly surprised at how good this machine is. Granted it’s only used for basic office work, but in this regard it blows away the windows competition at the price point of $750 I paid for it.

[asan]

Reviews on Amazon back up the claim, Thank you for posting. Craig!

[divyanshtewari]

Hey Criag. Im thinking to get a Macbook air but im really very confused between the M1 Air, M2 Air (either 256 gb or 512 gb if possible) and the M3 air but im not at all a heavy user. I would just use it for watching videos/browsing and nothing else probably.. so how much time (in years) do u think will the mac m1 provide me the best of its quality or shall I wait for the prices of m2/m3 to go down as i want to use the mac for several years without hesitating its performance😊

[erichill]

I sometimes kick myself for not getting 16gb on my M1 air even though I only use it for basic stuff. I honestly never have more than 10 tabs open with 1 or 2 simple apps.

I think a lot of people complain about these machines only having 8gb are still in the windows mindset. These things are so optimized that 8gb goes a long way.

[technotoad]

Great video! Very informative. I just got a brand new base model Air for $650, which I think is a steal, all things considered. Especially since I'm coming from a base model 2015 MBP running Monterey, and the difference is like night and day. Amazing what Apple has achieved with their M-series of chips.

[dimakonstanta]

Did the same with base M2 Air — maybe with slower SSD this will stutter a lot

[dadrock]

Could you do another test with complex web apps open? like google docs, clickup, behance, figma, canva etc.

[bernardussamuel]

Still Happy using Macbook Air M1 that I Bought in April 2023. I use it mainly for music production and video editing. I sometimes push my M1 Air a bit with many apps open and tabs open including Windows 11 VM (Parallels), and surprisingly my M1 Air still responsive even with some little but noticeable lags.

[Cville]

I never have more than five tabs open. Honestly how many people have 20+ tabs open at once? I sure it happens but I can't imagine why.
Maybe someone could enlighten me...

[irensaga]

My M1 Air is still going strong. It handles just about everything I try on it. The only time I see the swap usage go up is when the gpu is getting hammered.

I’ve played through all of Alien Isolation on it (on an external 1080p monitor) and it had no problems.

[geminibodyshop]

great video I got the m1 3 years ago this January 30th as a birthday present my wife got the ssd up to 512 and the 8gb ram but that gave me the 8core cpu and 8 core gpu, it dose everything I need photo edits, video edits just getting into that and even a bit of gaming
might move up in 2026 but not before

[SteveEmmerson]

Good test, like to see one with a MacBook Pro M1

[ramonmako]

Doesn't answer my question. I usually have at least 100 or ever 400 tabs opened in several groups in Safari along with watching video player. Old MacBook Pro Core-i5 with 16Gb RAM almost not working in this scenario. MacBook Air 16 Gb RAM work perfectly. But still a question if M1 or M2 with 8Gb can work with hundreds tabs in Safari?

[sharonb.]

Great video. You would think the results of ALL that testing done in 2020 on this machine would be permanently burned in our brains! Nope! I’ve read many recent comments complaining about the M3 MacBook offering just 8gb of “UNUSABLE” RAM! The M3 is even more efficient than the M1 chip! Did online banking and Amazon shopping suddenly balloon to unusable proportions?

[jcurtistx]

While the M1 is still quite a usable machine, if I were in the market I would spend the extra on the M2 for the improved design and longer Mac OS support. M2 MacBooks can be had for nice discounts right now.

[nunosantos]

Right now, I have a Mac mini M1 (8Gb RAM and 512Gb SSD) at the office and a Mac mini 2012 (Core i7, 16Gb Ram and 512Gb SSD with OCLP). I will replicate this test in the old Mac Mini I use at home.