2020 MacBook Air vs. The Rest

**The Drawbacks of Apple's Ecosystem: A Personal Perspective**

As someone who genuinely prefers Mac OS over Windows, I've often found myself stuck with Apple's devices due to my affection for their operating system. However, this loyalty can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword. While I love the design aesthetic of Apple devices and appreciate the seamless integration with other Apple products, there are several reasons why I think using a Mac is not without its drawbacks.

One reason is that Mac OS is a wonderful operating system, but it's also a very specific one. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand, it allows for a cohesive experience across all of my devices. On the other hand, it means that I'm at the mercy of Apple's hardware decisions and design choices. If they decide to introduce new features or changes that don't align with my preferences, I have little choice but to adapt.

Another reason why I prefer Mac OS is its stability and reliability. However, this can also mean that I'm stuck with outdated technology if Apple decides not to upgrade certain devices. For example, six years ago, I had a friend who asked me for a laptop recommendation at the time. I recommended him a MacBook Air, which he loved. Four years later, when he was in need of an upgrade, I advised him to stick with Mac OS because it was all he knew and was comfortable with. However, this also means that if Apple decides to introduce new hardware or features that don't align with my preferences, I'm forced to adapt.

This is where the importance of freedom and choice comes into play. While I love Mac OS, using a Windows laptop gives me the flexibility to choose devices that better suit my needs. For example, I recently purchased the HP Envy 13, which offers many features that the MacBook Air lacks, such as Wi-Fi 6, faster processors, and more ports. This freedom is invaluable, especially when it comes to making decisions about technology.

**Why Choose a Windows Laptop?**

One of the main reasons why I prefer Windows laptops is their flexibility and freedom to choose devices that better suit my needs. Unlike Apple's ecosystem, which can feel restrictive at times, Windows offers a wide range of options from various manufacturers. This means that I can pick and choose between different devices based on their features, performance, and price.

For example, the XPS 13 from Dell is a fantastic device that checks many of the boxes I look for in a laptop. It has a beautiful display, a powerful processor, and plenty of storage options. Additionally, it's also very affordable, making it an attractive option for those who want a high-quality Windows laptop without breaking the bank.

Another reason why I prefer Windows laptops is their ability to adapt to changing needs. Unlike Apple devices, which can feel inflexible at times, Windows laptops are more forgiving when it comes to software and hardware compatibility issues. This means that if I need to upgrade or change my device in the future, I'll have a much easier time doing so.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, while I love Mac OS and appreciate its design aesthetic, there are several reasons why I think using a Windows laptop is a better option for me. The freedom and flexibility offered by Windows gives me the ability to choose devices that better suit my needs, whereas Apple's ecosystem can sometimes feel restrictive. Additionally, Windows laptops offer many features and options that are not available on Apple devices, making them a more attractive choice for those who want a high-quality laptop without being tied down to a specific operating system.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right let's talk about the 2020 macbook air so this was a relatively major refresh for apple this year there's three big changes the first one is the keyboard it's no longer running those terrible butterfly switches that were unreliable and not very tactile these are just it's a better keyword they're scissor switches they call it the magic keyboard same keyboard as the 16-inch macbook pro i believe in this keyboard the second thing we've changed is the processor so now the cpu and the gpu have been upgraded to the 10th gen intel stuff it's not like a massive difference it's significant but it's still a macbook air and the third one the one that's nearest and dearest to my heart is the value so this has dropped down in price by a hundred bucks and at that base price they've increased the storage to 256 gigs so overall it's a way better package this year than the macbook airs have been for the past couple of years and as a tech reviewer it's just an easy apple laptop to recommend for someone specifically looking for a kind of basic apple laptop now i've done some testing with the i5 version and the i3 version like this is the basic base model 999 i3 version this is the four core upgraded i5 version in terms of benchmarks this is faster it's got two extra cores multi-core benchmarks do better but in terms of regular use these feel identical like in chrome and safari i can't really tell the difference between them even battery life is similar i thought the i3 would last a little bit longer because it's got fewer cores but i'm getting around nine and a half hours for both of these now a lot of people would recommend the i5 over the i3 just because it's double the cores and it's only 100 more and i think for most people who can afford it i'd go with that recommendation as well like if you can swing that extra 100 bucks go for the i5 for the peace of mind but i think for a lot of people that aren't doing any kind of like processor intensive stuff like if you're just using your laptop for work or school and you have no real intention for editing videos or photos or playing games or even app development if you're just a light user i think you're gonna be safe saving that hundred bucks if that's something you're trying to do now i think the more important question here the more important conversation is how does this 2020 macbook air stack up against other devices like the i don't use the word competition but the other devices you might be considering if you're looking at the macbook air so the first thing that might come into your mind is last year's model the previous generation of macbook air the 2019 or 2018 model and these devices were still using the butterfly switches on their keyboards with their questionable reliability and just for that reason alone like forget about the cpu upgrades forget about anything else just that reliable keyboard makes the 2020 model that much better now unless you get this thing for like three or four hundred bucks off of the original price like maybe i'd consider them because they still have the keyboard repair program still has a couple years on that but i think for most people try to go for the 2020 instead of the previous two years okay uh next up 13-inch macbook pro this is a more complex discussion but the simple version is this the 13-inch macbook pro is a more powerful laptop it's got an older 9th gen cpu but because the thermal system in here is better it's just better equipped to remove heat like it's got bigger fans it's got better fans got bigger heat pipes it is going to perform better when you're pushing these systems hard for an extended period of time so if you're doing any kind of i don't know content creation or you're a developer that renders really frequently then the macbook air probably isn't your best option but the problem is this right now if you're looking at a more powerful 13-inch device from apple this is the only option and it's got a butterfly keyboard the older generation of keyboard so if you're asking for my recommendation it'll just be to wait use whatever you're using right now you've made it this far just wait until apple comes out with a replacement of the 13 it might be a 14 inch but a replacement of this with these new keyboards okay uh next device actually there's three for this one now these are windows devices and i think for some people who are interested in a macbook air these are not even part of the equation like they would never consider these for a bunch of reasons like one they may not like windows laptops maybe they've had some bad ones in the past and they hate them valid reason two you know maybe they like the design of a macbook the design aesthetic of apple devices really nice i get it and three and i think this is a big one these don't run mac os and i get it i get all three of those reasons i subscribe to all three of those reasons i genuinely do but i'm gonna bring up a conversation i think not a lot of people are having mac os is a wonderful operating system i prefer mac os over windows for a bunch of reasons but i actually use a windows laptop right now there's a problem with mac os that not a lot of people talk about because it's not something that is it's not something that comes out very easily and to tell you this i gotta go into story time so four years ago in like 2000 and no it was more than four years ago like six years ago 2014. i had a friend he asked me for a laptop recommendation at the time i recommended to him a macbook air a very easy recommendation because apple's laptops were great then and windows laptops at that point in time were pretty much trash so he picked up the macbook air he loved it he got deep into the apple ecosystem he enjoyed it thoroughly and then four years later he's like hey man i'd like a i'd like an upgrade what's what's the next apple laptop that you would recommend for me should i get the new macbook air should i get the new macbook pros and that's when i was like well they got butterfly switches right now and they got some overheating laptops can interest you in a windows laptop because they got some really good stuff nowadays and he was like no absolutely not because mac os it was for him he he had decided that point that he was going to stick with mac os because that's all he had used for four years and that's all he was comfortable with and i get it i've been down that road but you see the problem here when you are enamored with apple's operating system particularly with their computers you're at the mercy of apple's hardware decisions their design choices like if they decide to make something weird one year you got to use it if they decide to make something great like this year like it's awesome everybody wins they got some great stuff everyone's happy but when they make butterfly switches and when they make trashcan mac pros that overheat you also have to put up with that hardware so when they do something weird there's really no other option and this year it's great but what if four years from now you know let's say you get into the apple ecosystem today you get the mac os and you're into it you love it because this thing's awesome four years from now what if they get rid of the keyboard what if they're like hey let's use these new laser diode touch sensitive magic pads whatever they call it i'm just making that up but the point being if they get rid of something or they tweak something in their hardware that doesn't jive with you you either don't upgrade your computer for years because you've got to stick with the old stuff or you force yourself to use it because there's nothing else there's truly nothing else that runs the operating system that you are so in love with so i bring up this anecdotal story and i bring up these three windows laptops because windows gives you freedom it gives you i hate to use that word like apple's trapping you but it gives you options it gives you choices so that if you don't like a particular device one year because they decide to make something weird you can go with a different company so this is the xps 13 this is the hp envy 13 and the surface laptop 3 from microsoft all three of these are priced very similar to the 2020 macbook air they're better in terms of hardware they have faster processors they have wi-fi six they have more ports they have better ports arguably because they have usb-a they have i mean there's a lot of stuff that's going great with these devices they have replaceable storage this does not um you get what i'm saying i'm not saying that this is a bad device at all in fact this is the first apple laptop in years that i would just be like you're gonna love it you're gonna love this device because it's so good but just be aware that when you go down that road if this is like you know oftentimes the laptop choice you make dictates what you end up doing with the other tech decisions with apple stuff in particular so just be aware be be informed be knowledgeable about what you're buying okay hope you guys enjoyed this video thumbs if you liked it subs if you loved it i'll see you guys next time i've done reviews for all three of these i believe on my channel okayall right let's talk about the 2020 macbook air so this was a relatively major refresh for apple this year there's three big changes the first one is the keyboard it's no longer running those terrible butterfly switches that were unreliable and not very tactile these are just it's a better keyword they're scissor switches they call it the magic keyboard same keyboard as the 16-inch macbook pro i believe in this keyboard the second thing we've changed is the processor so now the cpu and the gpu have been upgraded to the 10th gen intel stuff it's not like a massive difference it's significant but it's still a macbook air and the third one the one that's nearest and dearest to my heart is the value so this has dropped down in price by a hundred bucks and at that base price they've increased the storage to 256 gigs so overall it's a way better package this year than the macbook airs have been for the past couple of years and as a tech reviewer it's just an easy apple laptop to recommend for someone specifically looking for a kind of basic apple laptop now i've done some testing with the i5 version and the i3 version like this is the basic base model 999 i3 version this is the four core upgraded i5 version in terms of benchmarks this is faster it's got two extra cores multi-core benchmarks do better but in terms of regular use these feel identical like in chrome and safari i can't really tell the difference between them even battery life is similar i thought the i3 would last a little bit longer because it's got fewer cores but i'm getting around nine and a half hours for both of these now a lot of people would recommend the i5 over the i3 just because it's double the cores and it's only 100 more and i think for most people who can afford it i'd go with that recommendation as well like if you can swing that extra 100 bucks go for the i5 for the peace of mind but i think for a lot of people that aren't doing any kind of like processor intensive stuff like if you're just using your laptop for work or school and you have no real intention for editing videos or photos or playing games or even app development if you're just a light user i think you're gonna be safe saving that hundred bucks if that's something you're trying to do now i think the more important question here the more important conversation is how does this 2020 macbook air stack up against other devices like the i don't use the word competition but the other devices you might be considering if you're looking at the macbook air so the first thing that might come into your mind is last year's model the previous generation of macbook air the 2019 or 2018 model and these devices were still using the butterfly switches on their keyboards with their questionable reliability and just for that reason alone like forget about the cpu upgrades forget about anything else just that reliable keyboard makes the 2020 model that much better now unless you get this thing for like three or four hundred bucks off of the original price like maybe i'd consider them because they still have the keyboard repair program still has a couple years on that but i think for most people try to go for the 2020 instead of the previous two years okay uh next up 13-inch macbook pro this is a more complex discussion but the simple version is this the 13-inch macbook pro is a more powerful laptop it's got an older 9th gen cpu but because the thermal system in here is better it's just better equipped to remove heat like it's got bigger fans it's got better fans got bigger heat pipes it is going to perform better when you're pushing these systems hard for an extended period of time so if you're doing any kind of i don't know content creation or you're a developer that renders really frequently then the macbook air probably isn't your best option but the problem is this right now if you're looking at a more powerful 13-inch device from apple this is the only option and it's got a butterfly keyboard the older generation of keyboard so if you're asking for my recommendation it'll just be to wait use whatever you're using right now you've made it this far just wait until apple comes out with a replacement of the 13 it might be a 14 inch but a replacement of this with these new keyboards okay uh next device actually there's three for this one now these are windows devices and i think for some people who are interested in a macbook air these are not even part of the equation like they would never consider these for a bunch of reasons like one they may not like windows laptops maybe they've had some bad ones in the past and they hate them valid reason two you know maybe they like the design of a macbook the design aesthetic of apple devices really nice i get it and three and i think this is a big one these don't run mac os and i get it i get all three of those reasons i subscribe to all three of those reasons i genuinely do but i'm gonna bring up a conversation i think not a lot of people are having mac os is a wonderful operating system i prefer mac os over windows for a bunch of reasons but i actually use a windows laptop right now there's a problem with mac os that not a lot of people talk about because it's not something that is it's not something that comes out very easily and to tell you this i gotta go into story time so four years ago in like 2000 and no it was more than four years ago like six years ago 2014. i had a friend he asked me for a laptop recommendation at the time i recommended to him a macbook air a very easy recommendation because apple's laptops were great then and windows laptops at that point in time were pretty much trash so he picked up the macbook air he loved it he got deep into the apple ecosystem he enjoyed it thoroughly and then four years later he's like hey man i'd like a i'd like an upgrade what's what's the next apple laptop that you would recommend for me should i get the new macbook air should i get the new macbook pros and that's when i was like well they got butterfly switches right now and they got some overheating laptops can interest you in a windows laptop because they got some really good stuff nowadays and he was like no absolutely not because mac os it was for him he he had decided that point that he was going to stick with mac os because that's all he had used for four years and that's all he was comfortable with and i get it i've been down that road but you see the problem here when you are enamored with apple's operating system particularly with their computers you're at the mercy of apple's hardware decisions their design choices like if they decide to make something weird one year you got to use it if they decide to make something great like this year like it's awesome everybody wins they got some great stuff everyone's happy but when they make butterfly switches and when they make trashcan mac pros that overheat you also have to put up with that hardware so when they do something weird there's really no other option and this year it's great but what if four years from now you know let's say you get into the apple ecosystem today you get the mac os and you're into it you love it because this thing's awesome four years from now what if they get rid of the keyboard what if they're like hey let's use these new laser diode touch sensitive magic pads whatever they call it i'm just making that up but the point being if they get rid of something or they tweak something in their hardware that doesn't jive with you you either don't upgrade your computer for years because you've got to stick with the old stuff or you force yourself to use it because there's nothing else there's truly nothing else that runs the operating system that you are so in love with so i bring up this anecdotal story and i bring up these three windows laptops because windows gives you freedom it gives you i hate to use that word like apple's trapping you but it gives you options it gives you choices so that if you don't like a particular device one year because they decide to make something weird you can go with a different company so this is the xps 13 this is the hp envy 13 and the surface laptop 3 from microsoft all three of these are priced very similar to the 2020 macbook air they're better in terms of hardware they have faster processors they have wi-fi six they have more ports they have better ports arguably because they have usb-a they have i mean there's a lot of stuff that's going great with these devices they have replaceable storage this does not um you get what i'm saying i'm not saying that this is a bad device at all in fact this is the first apple laptop in years that i would just be like you're gonna love it you're gonna love this device because it's so good but just be aware that when you go down that road if this is like you know oftentimes the laptop choice you make dictates what you end up doing with the other tech decisions with apple stuff in particular so just be aware be be informed be knowledgeable about what you're buying okay hope you guys enjoyed this video thumbs if you liked it subs if you loved it i'll see you guys next time i've done reviews for all three of these i believe on my channel okay\n"