2020 MacBook Air Reviews Praise Magic Keyboard and Faster Performance at Lower $999 Starting Price

[triangletechie]

I have AT&T gigabit plan with about 30 devices connected to an Asus AC3100 router, which is a beast. My Macbook/iMac/ATVs consistently get 300-400 mbps down/up wirelessly. I'm in no hurry to upgrade my equipment to wifi 6.
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so it means its better to get the 16gb ram rather than the i5 because of throttling?

for simply future proofing I'd opt for 16 GB of ram and the i5. That is what I'm going to get.

 

[0279317]

WiFi 6 isn't just about speed. It helps in congested areas, has better range, and more throughput. I would suggest that the average user could benefit from WiFi that is better in every way. It will take time for routers to be replaced, but many people use their laptops for years and years.

It's enough to make me wait for devices with wifi 6.

 

[Jury]

It's enough to make me wait for devices with wifi 6.

WIFI 6 is rapidly growing as the new industry standard and Apple should revise the 2020 MBA as soon as possible for supporting the latest WIFI protocol.

 

[Falhófnir]

If Apple changed course and brought back scissor switch keyboard, what are the odds they'll bring back MagSafe?

Seriously, its removal is about as bad as going to butterfly keyboard. Ugh!

Well the iPad Pro's smart connector now does pass-through charging from the keyboard case, that's probably a very low level of power delivery though(?) so not sure of its utility to Macs, at least not until low power Arm models are available.

 

[Jury]

Well the iPad Pro's smart connector now does pass-through charging from the keyboard case, that's probably a very low level of power delivery though(?) so not sure of its utility to Macs, at least not until low power Arm models are available.

It's undeniably bad that the charging speed is too slow and APPLE is way behind in terms of fully recharge the device in under an hour instead of 2-3 hours.

 

[chucker23n1]

It's undeniably bad that the charging speed is too slow and APPLE is way behind in terms of fully recharge the device in under an hour instead of 2-3 hours.

Yeah, that's awful. They should probably close up shop.

 

[FrankCataldi14]

Very solid upgrade and good value for price. Can finally recommend this to friends and family. Getting a laptop under $1000 and not capping it at 128GB is huge. This along with the base spec updates to the Mac Mini, iPad Pro, and MBP 16 last year is a positive trend.

Doubling the storage was long overdue---I suspect the 13 inch MacBook Pro will get the same treatment.
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It's undeniably bad that the charging speed is too slow and APPLE is way behind in terms of fully recharge the device in under an hour instead of 2-3 hours.

Are there premium laptops that fully charge in an hour? I guess maybe there are, but of all the things to nitpick the Air on, charging time is not one I thought I'd see.

 

[mi7chy]

so it means its better to get the 16gb ram rather than the i5 because of throttling?

Wait for the refreshed 2020 Macbook Pro 13 with better cooling.

 

[derekamoss]

In a few months, you will be able to purchase a Magic Keyboard with built-in track pad for your iPad and then you would have your combo laptop/iPad.

Except it runs iOS....
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They literally just released that with the new iPad Pro and keyboard with trackpad. Granted together makes it more expensive than the MacBook Air.

Except for you know, iOS and all....

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

This video shows the Intel i5-1030G7

I guess still no heatpipe installed... design failure in the 2019 model:

(the black thing it the middle is the CPU heatsink)

If some has a pic of the 2020 model I would really like to know if Apple found the 10 Cents for a heatpipe in their budget for a 1k$ laptop.

 

[KPOM]

Doubling the storage was long overdue---I suspect the 13 inch MacBook Pro will get the same treatment.
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Are there premium laptops that fully charge in an hour? I guess maybe there are, but of all the things to nitpick the Air on, charging time is not one I thought I'd see.

It ships with a 30W charger, but will it charge faster with a 61W or 65W charger?
My work HP notebook charges in about an hour if I use a 90W charger.

 

[Mainsail]

I have a base 2019 MBA with the i5 1.6 ghz dual core processor, and it is fine for my simple needs: Safari, iWork, Mail, Messages, Calendar, Notes, etc.. The base 2020 MBA has a newer i3 10th gen 1.1 ghz dual processor. Is there any appreciable speed difference between these two processors? The only Geek bench scores that I have seen are for the 2020 i5 quad core processor, so I was wondering about the base models.

If I were to upgrade from the 2019 base model to the 2020 base model, it seems like the two main advantages of the 2020 model would be: 1. 256GB storage vs 128 GB storage, and 2: the magic keyboard vs butterfly keyboard. The only disadvantage of the 2020 model would be slightly greater weight and thickness.

Do I have this right??

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I have a base 2019 MBA with the i5 1.6 ghz dual core processor, and it is fine for my simple needs: Safari, iWork, Mail, Messages, Calendar, Notes, etc.. The base 2020 MBA has a newer i3 10th gen 1.1 ghz dual processor. Is there any appreciable speed difference between these two processors? The only Geek bench scores that I have seen are for the 2020 i5 quad core processor, so I was wondering about the base models.

If I were to upgrade from the 2019 base model to the 2020 base model, it seems like the two main advantages of the 2020 model would be: 1. 256GB storage vs 128 GB storage, and 2: the magic keyboard vs butterfly keyboard. The only disadvantage of the 2020 model would be slightly greater weight and thickness.

Do I have this right??

I think the graphics in the 2020 are noticeably better.

 

[FrankCataldi14]

It ships with a 30W charger, but will it charge faster with a 61W or 65W charger?
My work HP notebook charges in about an hour if I use a 90W charger.

That's a good point.

If it will fast charge with higher W charger, buying a larger brick (which are not inexpensive) will give you a faster charging capability.

 

[mi7chy]

I think the graphics in the 2020 are noticeably better.

That doesn't mean much when it's showing single digit frame rate on Unigine and is worse than AMD SoC.

 

[chucker23n1]

I think the graphics in the 2020 are noticeably better.

The CPU performance will also be much faster.

(But I still recommend getting the i5 for another $100.)

 

[Queen6]

I guess still no heatpipe installed... design failure in the 2019 model:
View attachment 900320
(the black thing it the middle is the CPU heatsink)

If some has a pic of the 2020 model I would really like to know if Apple found the 10 Cents for a heatpipe in their budget for a 1k$ laptop.

Apple know what they are doing. The Y series processors are very much power limited, high boost clock frequencies are simply not sustainable unlike some H series CPU's. I own a W10 UMPC with an i7 processor (4.1GHz) and it reacts exactly the same with an active cooling system.

Should be no surprise, Apple has always been OK with high temps and leaving performance on the table for the trade off of quiet operation. I suspect the same as when the fan was max'd out the CPU temp was not impacted which implies the same indirect cooling solution.

Q-6

 

[PickUrPoison]

Is the 4K iMac really a good value?
Maybe I'm just spoiled because I haven't used a spinning hard drive since the debut of the MacBook Air in 2008 (12 years of SSD!). But doesn't the 4K iMac even come with a 5400rpm (not even 7200rpm) drive? I've seen so many people that are sad the first time they boot it and notice how slow it is.

Yeah, that HDD is an absolute joke. But you acn easily run an external SSD via thunderbolt or usb 3.

A 4K monitor of that quality + the computer itself for that price is an incredible value.

A storage upgrade is worth getting. Either +$100 for the 1TB Fusion drive if you need the space or +$200 for the 256GB SSD. Personally I would also get the 16GB RAM upgrade for +$200 because I tend to keep my computers for a long time.

It’s similar to the base $999 Air, where the $100 quad-core is also worth getting. Sure there are those who don’t really need a quad-core and would rather save the $100, but if you’re going to keep a computer for 5-7 years, it would be kind of crazy not to spend an extra few dollars per month for the i5 quad-core upgrade and 16GB RAM imo.

 

[falainber]

What's "magic keyboard"? Did the previous generation MBA also have "magic" keyboard? Do Dell laptops have "magic" keyboard? Who came up with this BS: Apple or the press?

 

[PickUrPoison]

Disappointing that even the i5 is throttling under load. Not sure who is to blame, Intel 10nm that's not much of an improvement over 14nm or Apple gimping the 2020 Macbook Air so it doesn't cannibalize the Macbook Pro since fan is ineffective at full speed? I'd like to see how the 7nm 15W Ryzen 7 4800U would cope in comparison in this chassis.

No one is to ‘blame’ since it doesn’t thermal throttle. Like the 16” MBP, the i5 Air actually exceeds its rated frequency spec by 30+%.
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What's the point of using intel 7-12w CPU if the temperature reaches 90c and the thermal is very bad on the MBA whether if it is running 2-4 cores.

There’s nothing wrong with the CPU running at 90-100°C. It’s rated for that.

 

[PickUrPoison]

What's "magic keyboard"? Did the previous generation MBA also have "magic" keyboard? Do Dell laptops have "magic" keyboard? Who came up with this BS: Apple or the press?

It’s not a magic keyboard at all, it’s a Magic keyboard 🙂 Apple has used that trademarked brand name for certain keyboards for 4-5 years. And no, Dell cannot (and must not) use the Magic keyboard name—unless they want to lose a lawsuit for trademark infringement.

It’s similar to Apple using the term Retina for some of their displays. There’s really no reason to get upset, it’s just a brand name.

 

[Queen6]

No one is to ‘blame’ since it doesn’t thermal throttle. Like the 16” MBP, the i5 Air actually exceeds its rated frequency spec by 30+%.
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There’s nothing wrong with the CPU running at 90-100°C. It’s rated for that.

Is typical behaviour for a Y series CPU, expecting one to run at full Turbo is simply not realistic, even with the far more powerful H series processors few notebooks can sustain full Turbo for prolonged periods. If anything is off it's the industries sales & marketing tactics, setting the users up for disappointment. I recently revived one of my old working 15" MBP's a notorious 2011;

In 2011 Apple advertised the 15" MBP as a 2.4GHz in actuality it will Turbo up to 3.5GHz and hold a sustained 3.1GHz across all cores on OS X 10.12, here similar to advertised battery runtimes of the past Apple under promised and always over delivered. Today Apple has fallen into the trap of specifying unrealistic numbers, max Turbo will never be sustained, especially on a Mac and battery runtimes are best circumstance, not realistic usage and that is the crux of the issue.

As long as peoples expectation of the MacBook Air is sensible the new Mac very likely wont disappoint, more the opposite. My old work Mac's generally end up in the hands of the family and one of the first things I do is remove any temperature monitoring apps as they only serve to raise questions. You wanna see hot try a 2011 15" MBP with Radeon dGPU 103C isn't an exaggeration under full load, close to 9 years on it's running perfectly and likely will continue to as long as the dGPU holds up. This machine was used professionally and hammered, literally left for days on end rendering, abused by several other users up to and including gaming on it. This ROG gaming notebook rerolled as a workstation is set up for maximum performance, I don't monitor the temperature and don't care as I know the computer can deal with it.

What I will say negative, is Apple's approach to cooling can and does result in overly hot chassis which in some climates can be uncomfortable to work with as the keyboard deck heats up. I'll be the first to say that Apple has made a mess of the Mac in recent years, however Apple looks to getting back in the game as no doubt reputation & sales have suffered...

Q-6

 

[Tozovac]

One criticism that Haselton offered is that the new MacBook Air continues to have a 720p webcam, with many customers wishing that Apple would offer a 1080p front-facing FaceTime camera on its notebooks.

Assuming that front-facing cameras on a MacBook are used mostly for FaceTime and not creating movies for the bigscreen, a question for those customers is: what is the advantage to paying up for a 1080p or higher webcam on any MacBook other than “better than last year” bragging rights? Most every review or article on TV’s suggests very marginal/limited improvement for 1080p over 720p for screens 50 inches and smaller. 1080p in a MacBook would seem as equally an unnecessary bit of Apple tax as would paying up for .010” smaller thickness than the year before on an already acceptably-thin notebook. Except of course for those many Apple customers using their MacBook Air’s webcam to film a documentary destined for the bigscreen about them running an ultra-marathon, where every once counts.

Kudos to Apple’s continued trending back towards function over form with the keyboard and 256 gb base.

 

[mazz0]

Huh, I had no idea they put such weedy processors in these things! An iPad Pro must roftstomp them!

 

[johannnn]

A storage upgrade is worth getting. Either +$100 for the 1TB Fusion drive if you need the space or +$200 for the 256GB SSD. Personally I would also get the 16GB RAM upgrade for +$200 because I tend to keep my computers for a long time.

It’s similar to the base $999 Air, where the $100 quad-core is also worth getting. Sure there are those who don’t really need a quad-core and would rather save the $100, but if you’re going to keep a computer for 5-7 years, it would be kind of crazy not to spend an extra few dollars per month for the i5 quad-core upgrade and 16GB RAM imo.

Only problem is that i5 + 16GB RAM is $300. That’s a lot of money for people that buys a computer for $999.
I honestly think it‘s better to buy the i3 with 8GB, and sell it in a few years and buy a new low tier Air.