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2016 base nTB 13" MBP (2.0ghz dual core) vs. 1.1ghz dual/quad core 2020 MBA

thadoggfather

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
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Curious how these would compare

my 2016 is still humming along, but man, now that we've hit $999 for 8/256, this is a viable laptop replacement should mine become not economical or the keyboard give out
 
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I'm curious about this too as I have the same machine. Mine is a 16/512 config though so I'm not sure if the quad core in the new MBA would be better than the extra RAM and storage in my current machine. I'll wait for some reviews but will probably end up holding on to my 2016 MBP until it has a major problem (or just gets sluggish).
 
It looks like its finally a very capable machine, with decent base specs at a good price, so I think its very much a viable laptop replacement for people who don't need a MBP.
 
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ascender said:
It looks like its finally a very capable machine, with decent base specs at a good price, so I think its very much a viable laptop replacement for people who don't need a MBP.
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If only it came in a 15" size I'd be 100% sold; as it is I suppose I might be interested in getting one for home use (where I'm only really doing one thing on screen at a time) to help offload my 15" Pro and stretch it out to work on as long as possible.
 
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ascender said:
It looks like its finally a very capable machine, with decent base specs at a good price, so I think its very much a viable laptop replacement for people who don't need a MBP.
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I think so too, just wondering how much a compute upgrade it is

I would hope at least some, even being lower clocked speeds because I think they can ramp up a lot in frequency as needed, from 6th to 10th gen Sky Lake to ... Ice Lake if I'm not mistaken?

--

MacBook Air may be my next laptop. I love the no touchbar :D I still don't want it after all these years
 
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I have the same machine, recently had an '18 quad core 13" (former employer).

The diff between the quad and dual is unmistakable... as a programmer, the nTB is showing its age, and as a programmer it's definitely a readjustment using it for side projects I'm taking on right now.

IFF a 14" MBP wasn't on the horizon, I probably would be picking up a quad MBA w/ 16 megs of ram and i7. I imagine performance would be very similar to the older quad MBP (for bursty loads, you really should be looking at the turbo speeds, even on a low TDP chip), which is totally sufficient for my type of workload a few years out, and more reasonable workloads for many years.
 
So I did a comparison between my 2016 MBP nTB with the base dual core 2.0 GHz i5 CPU (with 8GB RAM) and the new 2020 MBA with the i5 quad core using figures from this review.

Results:

Cinebench R20 (CPU test):
MBP: 710 (no thermal throttling, 91 deg C, sustained: 2.9GHz @ 19W, fan 3400rpm, but core utilization was only 66%?)
MBA: 863 (thermal throttled after 1 minute, 100 deg C, sustained only 1.7 GHz @ 10W, even with fan at 100%)

Unigine Heaven on extreme preset (graphics test):
MBP: Score of 210 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.6, max FPS of 17
MBA: Score of 209 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.5, max FPS of 16.5

So the MBA is slightly better in terms of CPU, but has the potential to be much better if cooling was improved, and very marginally worse in terms of graphics? I don't understand that because it is supposed to have much better G7 integrated graphics. Maybe Unigine is too old of a test?
 
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Quad core MacBook Air should be a much better choice now, especially with the reliable magic keyboard.
 
Falhófnir said:
If only it came in a 15" size I'd be 100% sold; as it is I suppose I might be interested in getting one for home use (where I'm only really doing one thing on screen at a time) to help offload my 15" Pro and stretch it out to work on as long as possible.
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Not gonna happen. Ever. That's not what the Air is about. The Air has always been a thin, light, ultra-portable 13" notebook and always will be. If you want a big screen, go for the 16" MBP.
 
lambertjohn said:
Not gonna happen. Ever. That's not what the Air is about. The Air has always been a thin, light, ultra-portable 13" notebook and always will be. If you want a big screen, go for the 16" MBP.
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Yes I'll buy the £2.5K H series based, dedicated graphics, videographer's screened MacBook Pro to type my office documents on, perfect solution :rolleyes: If it comes to that I suppose it will have to be, but Apple have made a lot of room underneath it for a cheaper and less powerful full sized consumer notebook by discontinuing the iGPU model which was formerly quite an attractive option for this sort of stuff.
 
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Ordered the base but with quadcore i5

the more I think about how tempting it is to trade in my 2016 to make it like half cost, I may just keep it even ikeep the MBA too

it’s been good to me even with flaws and all I have no other computers so having a spare / backup will always come in handy at some Point

plus really just don’t wanna deal with the headache of extracting all my data and apps on it on Sierra and win10 side boot camp which I use for a lot of random home brew. My 2016 can continue to be for that and I can start fresh with the MBA. That would probably quell any concerns I have of the screen not being fully up to pro level too ( brightness/ p3 color range) and give me another charger to have for my MBA.
 
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