academic work (excel & 30+ tabs) - i5 Air vs baseline 8th gen MBP

[helix21]

I ordered a MBA i5 (knowing full well it's processor thermal limitations) for £1000 and am now tempted by the MBP 13" baseline model for £1200.

Currently use a 2016 Retina MacBook (fanless) which is just too slow for my needs now. It can't cope with multiple tabs, excel and a video conference all together.

I know there has been some negative feedback about it's 8th gen processor, but I am tempted by it because of its higher multi-core and better thermal design. Looking at Geekbench its

MBA i5 2020 10th gen - 1143 single | 2799 multi

MBP i5 2020 base 8th gen - 880 single | 3121 multi

My main use as is doing academic research - working with multiple PDF files and about 30+ browser tabs (use safari as much as possible, but sometimes have to use Chrome). Occasional large excel spreadsheets. Never any photo or video editing.

Main questions:

1. Is the higher multicore score + thermal design in the MBP worth it for my workflow?
2. How bad is the fan noise? I really like not having any on my rMB12

Note - I will only keep the laptop for a year or so. I am in a fortunate position that I will be able to get a 16" MacBook Pro from work next year, so just need something to tide myself until then. I will then sell the device.

 

[deeddawg]

My experience:

I've never had any need for that many browser tabs so can't comment on that aspect, but in my usage with a half dozen tabs, Mail, Photos, Lightroom, Luminar, Numbers, and even a chrome tab or two open, my 2020 i5 MBA remains silent and doesn't feel warm/hot.

Spent yesterday evening tagging/ranking/culling 600 photos in Photo Mechanic with safari & mail open and my MBA never felt warm in my lap. MBA remained silent.

When I export / convert a bunch of RAW photos I hear the fan (unobtrusive) for a half minute, then it goes silent again.

I'd suggest your workload would be fine with an i5 MBA. I'd also suggest buying from somewhere you're able to return to just in case - but be sure to give it a week to get everything all settled in. It'll be indexing and so on the first couple of days.

 

[helix21]

My experience:

I've never had any need for that many browser tabs so can't comment on that aspect, but in my usage with a half dozen tabs, Mail, Photos, Lightroom, Luminar, Numbers, and even a chrome tab or two open, my 2020 i5 MBA remains silent and doesn't feel warm/hot.

Spent yesterday evening tagging/ranking/culling 600 photos in Photo Mechanic with safari & mail open and my MBA never felt warm in my lap. MBA remained silent.

When I export / convert a bunch of RAW photos I hear the fan (unobtrusive) for a half minute, then it goes silent again.

I'd suggest your workload would be fine with an i5 MBA. I'd also suggest buying from somewhere you're able to return to just in case - but be sure to give it a week to get everything all settled in. It'll be indexing and so on the first couple of days.

Thanks, that's really useful. My main worry is it using multiple browser tabs. I can't justify spending the money to upgrade either machine to 16GB, which is probably more useful.

 

[deeddawg]

Thanks, that's really useful. My main worry is it using multiple browser tabs. I can't justify spending the money to upgrade either machine to 16GB, which is probably more useful.

Honestly, the browser tabs will either reload or if they've paged out to swap they'll reload from the SSD.

macOS handles memory really well, compressing lesser used stuff in physical memory and paging out the even lesser used stuff to the SSD swap file. You're not limited to the amount of RAM in the system, virtual memory will leverage space on the SSD.

In the old days with spindle hard drives there was a really noticeable impact when retrieving stuff swapped out of memory and to the HDD.

Today, with an SSD that reads at ~1.3GB/sec, the impact is going to be imperceptible outside of certain specific scenarios - which your usage doesn't get into.

 

[esphil]

Should be fine if you use Safari. When I geekbenched my i5/16gb I got 3300 multicore score fyi. If you aren't doing video editing or music production it should be ok. The fan noise was not a issue for me at all. Even if its at 5000rpm I could barely hear it. Even if temps go up alot you dont really feel it on the keyboard its pretty insulated.

 

[helix21]

Thanks both. It's the heat and fan noise that's getting me worried now... maybe something else colouring my judgement is that my MBA doesn't arrive until 29th May and I can get a MBP for 10th!

I've always ha da MBP and the one time I have gone for this 12"rMP I have regretted it for the ↓ power

 

[Moakesy]

For the performance difference alone I’d say it’s not worth changing.

however, you seem to be really wanting the new mbp.

if so, then go for it and enjoy getting it earlier as well.
Neither option will be so bad that you can’t last a year with it and you can look forward to the 16” next year

 

[deeddawg]

Thanks both. It's the heat and fan noise that's getting me worried now... maybe something else colouring my judgement is that my MBA doesn't arrive until 29th May and I can get a MBP for 10th!

I've always ha da MBP and the one time I have gone for this 12"rMP I have regretted it for the ↓ power

I'd suggest stepping out of MacRumors - which tends to be populated with propellerheads - and step away from youtube reviewers who want to get people to click on their videos so they get money.

Have a look at user reviews more likely from the more typical folks:

Best Buy: Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i5 8GB Memory 512GB Solid State Drive Space Gray Space Gray MVH22LL/A

Shop Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i5 8GB Memory 512GB Solid State Drive Space Gray Space Gray at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Best Buy: Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i3 8GB Memory 256GB Solid State Drive Gold MWTL2LL/A

Shop Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i3 8GB Memory 256GB Solid State Drive Gold at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) - Gold (Previous Model)

Available in silver, space gray, and gold, the latest MacBook Air features a stunning Retina display with True Tone technology, Touch ID, a backlit Magic Keyboard, and a Force Touch trackpad—all housed in a thin and light iconic wedge design made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. And with 11-ho...

www.amazon.com

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage, 1.6GHz Intel Core i5) - Space Gray (Previous Model)

Available in silver, Space Gray, and gold, The latest MacBook Air features a stunning Retina display with True Tone technology, Touch ID, The latest Apple-designed keyboard, and a force touch trackpad—all housed in a thin and light iconic wedge design Made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. And ...

www.amazon.com

 

[AirBud]

I always prefer saving money and using it to upgrade to a new laptop earlier.

You can do the same things on a MBA as you could a 13” MBP, so it’s a lifestyle choice. 200 Euros is 15-20% of a new laptop, and whatever comes out in the next 4 years will blow both of these models out of the water (presumably).

 

[helix21]

I'd suggest stepping out of MacRumors - which tends to be populated with propellerheads - and step away from youtube reviewers who want to get people to click on their videos so they get money.


Have a look at user reviews more likely from the more typical folks:

Best Buy: Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i5 8GB Memory 512GB Solid State Drive Space Gray Space Gray MVH22LL/A

Shop Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i5 8GB Memory 512GB Solid State Drive Space Gray Space Gray at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Best Buy: Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i3 8GB Memory 256GB Solid State Drive Gold MWTL2LL/A

Shop Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop with Touch ID Intel Core i3 8GB Memory 256GB Solid State Drive Gold at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) - Gold (Previous Model)

Available in silver, space gray, and gold, the latest MacBook Air features a stunning Retina display with True Tone technology, Touch ID, a backlit Magic Keyboard, and a Force Touch trackpad—all housed in a thin and light iconic wedge design made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. And with 11-ho...

www.amazon.com

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage, 1.6GHz Intel Core i5) - Space Gray (Previous Model)

Available in silver, Space Gray, and gold, The latest MacBook Air features a stunning Retina display with True Tone technology, Touch ID, The latest Apple-designed keyboard, and a force touch trackpad—all housed in a thin and light iconic wedge design Made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. And ...

www.amazon.com

This is excellent advice thank you.

I always prefer saving money and using it to upgrade to a new laptop earlier.

You can do the same things on a MBA as you could a 13” MBP, so it’s a lifestyle choice. 200 Euros is 15-20% of a new laptop, and whatever comes out in the next 4 years will blow both of these models out of the water (presumably).

Again, excellent advice thank you. Just trying to see if it works for the circumstances I need it.

Can either of you help me with this scenario? Have you tried to use video conferencing software and share your screen? This is exactly what drove my retina MacBook air to a crawl and I couldn't use it to present recently, which is what has spurred this on.

I have read the MBA also struggles with this as it gets hot video-conferencing and then crawls to a slow. Have either of you two experienced this?

 

[deeddawg]

Can either of you help me with this scenario? Have you tried to use video conferencing software and share your screen? This is exactly what drove my retina MacBook air to a crawl and I couldn't use it to present recently, which is what has spurred this on.

I have read the MBA also struggles with this as it gets hot video-conferencing and then crawls to a slow. Have either of you two experienced this?

My MBA is a personal system, so I'm using my work-provided windows laptop for video conferencing and screen sharing.

Two bits I can help with are these:

#1 - this site gives advice on reducing the cpu impact of Zoom and screen sharing by reducing the screen share frame rate. Note that the info predates the 2020 MBA, so it's likely a Zoom issue: https://makandracards.com/makandra-...100-cpu-load-when-screen-sharing-through-zoom

#2 - I have had a seven participant social group Zoom meeting on my 2020 MBA for forty minutes. I never heard the fan and I never felt it get warm.