T3 - UK (2021-07)

e M1 processor is a bit ofa monster, and Apple has putit towork

with excellent effect in its new line,including in this ultrabook

54 T 3 JULY 2021

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro vs MacBook Air

MACBOOK AIR

At first glance, the M1 MacBook Air doesn’t
do much to distinguish itself from the
throngs of other Apple laptopsavailable
right now. at’s by design, of course:
MacBooksareinstantly recognisable thanks
to their iconic brushed silver design and
black keyboard.
e chassis is largely identical to the
previous Intel-poweredAir,with no flashy
touch barto be found. e trackpad is nice
and broad, and the built-in ‘Magic
Keyboard’ feels great to use thanks to
sophisticated scissor-switches under every
key. e Retina display isgorgeous, with
excellent brightness and a higher resolution
than the Galaxy Book Pro.
Insidethis machine, though, Apple’s
ARM-basedM1 chip is thebeating heart of
what makesthe MacBook Air great. Intel
and AMD laptopsrunning integrated
graphics will be blown out of the waterby
the M1’s eight CPU and eight GPUcores, and
multitasking should be a breeze. Navigating
the OS and all yourfavourite software feels
smoother than ever.
is might be a lightweightultrabook,
but it’s got the performance to measure up

e overall build

quality of theAir

remains among the

best in the business

against heavier hitting laptops. Gaming is

• somewhat surprisingly – a valid option
  here. e M1’s single-core performanceis
  solidcompared to Intel-equipped
  competitors, but it absolutely dominates
  in multi-core workloads.
  e M1 chip works wonders for heat
  generation and batterylifetoo, making us
  feel bad for anyone who recently purchased
  an Intel MacBook Air, which can get hot
  and noisy rather toooften. Battery lifeisn’t
  quiteas good as the Galaxy Book Pro, but
  it’sa closecall. e M1 uses afanless
  thermalsolution, which makes it virtually
  silent. Samsung’s offering, on the other
  hand, does experience a bit of fanwhine
  under heavyloads.

Neither ofthese ultrabooks hasa touch

display, but the lack of touchcontrols is more

sorely felt on the MacBook Air than it is in the

Galaxy Book Pro (or anyother Windows 10

notebook). e screen bezel onthe Air is also

much chunkierthanthat found on Samsung’s

ultrabook, a hangover from older MacBook

designsthatwe think really needs tobe nixed

for futuremodels.

e webcam hereis a pretty bog-standard

720p affair, which is adequate butnot

impressive. Other than that, though, the

overall build qualityof the Air remains among

the best inthe business, witha sleek outer

casingavailable insilver, gold, or ‘spacegrey’

(it sounds better than just ‘grey’...).

With the M1 processor on its side, Apple’s

newest ultrabook decisively hasmore power

than Samsung’s competing model. It’s also a

bit cheaper at £999 to £1,199,althoughboth of

these laptopssit closer to the high end when it

comes to ultra-compact laptops. e Galaxy

Book Pro has superior flexibility, though,

running Windows 10 and offering greater

connectivity, as well assmartphone-

compatible features.

From £ 999 ,apple.com