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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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Maybe.
If the CPUs are in fact the 1030NG7 and 1060NG7, you'll get:
- 9% higher clock
- 8.5% higher boost
- 33% higher cache (hmm!)
Only benchmarks will be able to say how much the added cache helps. Other than that, I really don't think this is an upgrade you'll notice in practice.
Yup. This CPU in particular is a much newer microarchitecture, a new process node, improved graphics, faster RAM, …
Despite the lower clock rate, it will be much faster in practice no matter which option you pick.
That is obviously up to you, however, in my opinion if she is not a power user...the MacBook Air would be perfect.
The battery life between the new MBA vs. the 16" MBP is exactly the same. Both are rated UP TO 11 hours, and the new MBA beats out the current 13" MBP.
I still say upgrade to the i5, and 16GB RAM and save yourself $1,300 (vs. the base model 16" MBP) or $900 (vs. base 13" MBP) in the process.
The upgraded MacBook Air to the specs I listed above costs $1,499 and that is without doing any SSD upgrade.
The base model 16" MacBook Pro is $2,799 and the base model 13" MacBook Pro is $2,399.
Unless your wife needs powerful dedicated graphics, I just do not see why you would buy a MacBook Pro for her when she is not going to use anywhere close to the max power of that machine. I think the New MacBook Air will be perfect for her!
Obviously just my opinion, but let me know what you finally decide! Have a good one, be safe, and God bless during this global pandemic!
it’s actually $1299
It is possible to produce a replaceable model if Tim Cook isn't a greedy man.
Apple has soldered DRAM in the MacBook Pro since 2012, the MacBook Air has always had soldered DRAM, MacBook since 2015, and soldered storage on the MacBook Pro since 2016, MacBook Air since the 2018 refresh and the MacBook since 2015. Apple is not the only company that solders it’s storage, they won’t be the last. Even when Apple has replaceable PCIe storage, the blade was proprietary and not m.2. This is just not how Apple operates.
We don’t pay for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS or tvOS upgrades. We don’t pay for any of the applications that are built-in to those operating systems, iWork is free, the development environment is free even for those not paying to be developers. Developer membership no longer costs what it used to cost. All these free things add up and the employees that work on these products and others that Apple doesn’t realize revenue from have to get paid somehow, right? Retail Store employees have to get paid, right?
Hardware sales pay for those employees. Apple is Dell and Microsoft combined and things work differently. Neither Microsoft nor Dell have any sort of significant retail presence.
Too many people around here expect Apple to survive and THRIVE on Dell margins, so that they can get a cheap Mac that they can upgrade themselves with bargain basement Shellshocker deals and then when things don’t work as expected, will expect Apple to make it all better for them. If that’s what you expect or want, please just go buy a Windows PC because trying to project PC market economics onto Apple is simply a fool’s errand.
You might not like Tim Cook, but Apple is where it is because of his business acumen.
I am sorry but SOLDERED STORAGE is ridiculous! Storage needs to be expanded. Storage dies. Why should I replace whole logic board cause ssd died? Why can't I upgrade ssd once I hit the limit? EU should step in and ban this anti consumer behavior
Yup. It's 1990s' clone mentality all over again. Some company comes in, does it cheaper, and Apple's platform dies alnog the way.
We don't need to feel sorry for the richest corporation on earth, but this has been a major part of their business model for decades: the hardware is more expensive in part because it helps fund the software. Take it or leave it.
I would prefer if Apple standardized on their own storage format that was removable and that the user could easily get swapped out at the Apple Store and re-paired to the T2 chip by an Apple Genius or even via phone support, but that is not what Apple has chosen to do.
I do not and will not support Apple being forced to add in an m.2 slot into their computers by the bureaucratic blunderbusses at the EU. Stop thinking that stuffed suits have an inkling of what consumers need and want and can respond thoughtfully. They can’t, don’t and won’t.
Apple lowered the upgrade costs for their storage tiers last year and they really aren’t that bad. A little planning and thinking ahead is all a user needs to do to decide if 256GB is enough or if they really need 512GB.
I’ve recently gotten to the point where 256GB is really not enough for a base machine anymore and I now know that I need to start at 512GB. Some elementary logic should apply here for everyone. People blindly thinking they need 4TB, when they only need 256GB seems to be a common mistake by quite a few people in these forums.
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Amen.
I’ll take my chances with Apple, having seen and run every version of the equivalent on the other side of the aisle and been left wanting every time.
Well I need 1TB at minimum AND who know if I will need more later? So I should pay for 2TB crazy price storage?
If you want a MacBook Air instead of a Windows laptop, then, yes...it's no different than buying an iPad or an iPhone. Or get yourself an external SSD. This is part of the deal with Apple.
Well at least with NAND becoming cheaper over the last year, Apple is lowering the prices of SSD from crazy crazy to just crazy. For instance, here is the pricing of the i3/8GB/2TB Mac mini since itintroduction:
$2,399 Oct 2018
$2,199 Mar 2019
$1,799 July 2019
$1,599 Mar 2020
But realize, if Apple chose to restructure pricing and lower all their upgrade prices, the price of the base machine would go up to offset the drop in profit. The way you get a $799 mini or a $999 Air is by having relatively expensive upgrades.
Imagine all the people whose Macbook are stuck at Apple for repair. If it was removable they can move SSD to spare Macbook, input encryption authentication and continue work. Before anyone says it's too thin to accomodate SSD storage the Surface Laptop 3 and even the 0.28" Surface Pro X have it.
This thing is amazing. I can't stop looking at it. About 15% slower CPU performance in multicore than my 2013 15" MBP w/2.3GHz. But 2x SSD speed, 2.5x'sh RAM speed, TB3 vs TB2, can drive a 6K monitor, 1.5lbs lighter, for less than $2k? I want it!
As a professional photographer, it should handle everything I throw at it for remote computer needs at a shoot. While I heard video rendering 4K video will work, and will do much better than my current MBP, I'd rather leave that to the serious desktop machine I want to have in the office. 😉
Again, Apple knocks it out of the park on this one...
As a professional photographer, it should handle everything I throw at it for remote computer needs at a shoot. While I heard video rendering 4K video will work, and will do much better than my current MBP, I'd rather leave that to the serious desktop machine I want to have in the office. 😉
Again, Apple knocks it out of the park on this one...
Samsung NVMe is just as fast as the one used in MBP device IF NOT SLIGHTLY FASTER and can be user-replaceable if Apple wasn't using a proprietary connector for locking out third party vendor and customer. It's a fact that you can’t deny it.