Yeah, not having WiFi6 is a dealbreaker for me too. Otherwise I probably would have ordered it.
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2020 MacBook Air With Quad-Core i5 is Up to 76% Faster Than 2018-2019 Model Based on Benchmarks
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Yeah, not having WiFi6 is a dealbreaker for me too. Otherwise I probably would have ordered it.
sure, because trying to leave enough operating room on a 256gb drive with external storage hanging off your sole available port will never get boring.
Apple’s base models are always an optimistic tease and all resources need to be at least doubled to run anything without a beach ball or spinner. Get at least 512gb, 16GB and at least the i5.
If you take photos, have any kind of music library and more than a few years mail, 256GB on a phone is barely comfortable, let alone an actual computer.
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Doesn’t the i7 have hyperthreading and the i5 not? Also, isn’t the graphics better with the i7 option?
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I would personally go with the Core i5 and 16GB RAM. If she's not a power user she won't notice the speed difference between Core i5 and i7 but she will notice difference between 8GB and 16GB.
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For most people, this is what I would also recommend.
Per Intel, all Ice Lake-Y CPUs have integrated WiFi 6 (Intel Gig+) so perhaps Apple just has not turned it on yet.
The base MBA is for people who engage in web browsing, light document work, light photo editing and media consumption and its always done that job without issue. The vast majority of people will not need anything beyond the i3 though one might want to purchase the i5 for headroom. As for 512GB and 16GB ram this would be wholly dependent on workload and not required for the vast majority of consumers to whom the MBA is targeted.
I have a 60GB music library and a 20GB photo library. I've never bought anything larger than a base 64GB iPhone. Given how cloud storage works these days there is no need for mass amounts of hard storage for the average consumer. It's great that the base storage on the MBA is now 256GB.
The multicore benchmark of the i5 seems off...
If the single core speed is 1047, I'm surprised the 4x multicore speed isn't over 3000 unless it severely throttles with all 4 running.
If the single core speed is 1047, I'm surprised the 4x multicore speed isn't over 3000 unless it severely throttles with all 4 running.
Upgrade to the 16GB of DRAM, but not to the Core i7, the difference in speed (Base and Turbo) are neglible compared to how much the difference the additional DRAM would make for longevity, if that’s the overall goal. That said, 8GB wouldn’t be the end of the world for her.
There's another guy in the MBA forum saying the MBA i5 multicore is around 3300. Guess we'll see as more and more people get their machines.
I own it too and it's been performing great!
Happy for everyone else that upgrades from an older machine, though
Thank you for this pro tip.
I didn't think it was possible to get 256 GB with the i5 or i7. my 2014 11-inch MBA shipped w\ 256 GB NVME and I never even made a dent. (especially after I stopped backing up my iPhone in iTunes.)
truthfully I could get by with an m3, but I have never not gotten an i7. I see now from my 3014 MBA that splurging on the i7 was a mistake. 100 MHz single core clock boost is for $150 is not a good value, or necessary for my workflow. (my emails are already the most "beautifully rendered" e-mails around.)
the 2014 MBA has a very crappy, non retina display. and although I am loathe to add 0.42 lbs to my exceptionally easy to carry 11-inch MBA, looking at the non-retina 11 inch screen has really started to bother me as I find myself using it more and more on the go. (it has since I purchased it in October 2011 served as a mobile workstation, always connected 1st to a 22 inch Dell ISP and later to a 27 in TB display that maxed out at 1440p) with a Mighty Mouse at home (remember those? mine is still chugging along) and a Magic Mouse at work... and a Magic Keyboard (and Belkin keypad) in both locations.
I note 2 things from the tech specs:
1. the FaceTime camera is only 720p, it's 2020.. this should really be 1080p like the iPhone11Pro.. also..
2. officially they only support Wi-Fi 5... boo!
still what I was mostly waiting for was a return to the scissor keyboard and I true i7 processor.. but I get it, in the teeny-tiny notebook space, i5 vs i7 gets you very little. lesson learned.
and when you include the Education discount.. things get even more interesting. I think i'm going to take the weekend to weigh my options. 16 gigs of ram is a must of course. but 256 gig NVME and i5 with 2 TB ports and the pink color, b/c hey -- why not> -- MBA for life! (even if it's almost half a pound heavier than I want it to be 😩)
thank you again!
I like the new mba, nice to know that I can get a reliable mac again without both the touchbar and dGPU.
If only I could be shure of that all my favorite apps will continue to be supported on the next cpu platform. (I don't really need a new mba r i g h t now, so I will probably keep waiting to see how many of my apps will survive the ARM switch.)
If only I could be shure of that all my favorite apps will continue to be supported on the next cpu platform. (I don't really need a new mba r i g h t now, so I will probably keep waiting to see how many of my apps will survive the ARM switch.)
Here is the Intel CPU Spec Page for the i5 CPU.
ark.intel.com
Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel
Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.
ark.intel.com
Apple new 13” MBA start at $999 and it represents a good value as the entry model. People can expect the new 14” MBP to double the storage and start at $1299
Here is the Intel CPU Spec Page for the i5 CPU.
Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel
Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.
Finally not rehashed 14nm although I'd like to see a 7nm 15W 8 core/16 thread Ryzen 7 4800U option.
https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-7-4800u
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I don't know what kind of photos you take, but I have 11 000 photos, plenty of apps and videos on my 64 GB iPhone... With space to grow! ...And I question why I need 11 000 photos on my phone that I never look at.
I think 256 GB in a laptop is probably the sweetspot for most people. I have yet to hit the roof with my 256 GB Air, and it's mostly GoPro videos taking up space anyways.
We're all different though.
They won't. This is a rare boost, aided by Intel's move to 10nm being about five years late. More typical single-generation advances these days are 10-30%.
i7 is not necessary on a MBA for a non power user. 16GB RAM is good advice.
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The pinwheel is usually due to a lack of RAM rather than the CPU. The computer will start using the SSD as virtual memory once it runs out of RAM and the pinwheel is when it has to load softwares back and forth (much slower than physical memory).
If both are the G7 graphics then the differences in favor of the i7 are 300MHz higher turbo boost, 2MB more smartcache, 50MHz higher max graphics speed. Not sure if worth the $150 for most people. But... for the money you are paying might as well get it. I got the i7 on my 2014 Air and never regretted it. That machine is still chugging along.