Are you happy with your 2020 MBA?

[joeybuckets]

i ordered the base model MBA 2020 i3, and sent it back for the i5... to me the 100 dollar upgrade was a no brainer, plus i get the education pricing cause my wife is a teacher. So far so good. Got my i5 on Thursday. No complaints here.

 

[deeddawg]

Pretty soon we will all be using AC as summer is shortly coming. The heat factor won't be an issue.

Seems backwards. I heat the house to 72F. I cool it to 78F.
So during warm months it’s warmer inside than cool months.

That said, I’m in GA. We’ve already been using the AC on some days.

MBA remains lap comfortable

 

[armandxp]

So happy with mine. Went for the i7 and 16gb ram and couldn't be happier...No fan noise, no dead pixels. Works perfectly. My last 12 MacBook died after about two years of usage. Graphics chip or something on logic board fried. So, went without one for a couple years and just used my iPad Pro 11, which I also love! I only play around with photo editing, nothing intense, watching movies, web, stream, etc. Hoping to get at least five good years out of it....We shall see.

 

[Pugly]

I'm happy with it. I've been using it for a day.

I'm coming from a 11" though, and the experience is noticeably different. I used the 11" as a media device way more than I expected, I ended up using it the same way others use a tablet. The new Air fills that role perfectly... It's the best screen I own and the speakers are decent... I was surprised at actually hearing a little bass coming out of these.

I'm still setting up all my Logic Pro and plugins, but so far it seems pretty capable with this. I was prepared for the worst when the fans kick in, but the fans are much quieter and less annoying than the 11". I don't think they have gone full blast yet, but it's more of a rumble than a hiss... I did a Geekbench just to see and I got over 3000. I'll do some comparisons to the 11" i7.

I'm glad I went with the 16GB... I haven't really pushed this thing but I was always right up to the edge of using all 8GB before. I think the extra resources needed to push retina graphics would have made 8GB limiting.

It's great having a Mac laptop be this premium at the old budget price. Macs are always going to be expensive, but sometimes the price/value gets to a nice spot such as this. The 2018 Air's original price was a joke compared to this.

I'm going to miss the size of the 11" though, and hope Apple returns to that sort of product again... I'm sure people who love the 12" feel the same. I'm already feeling the limitations of this size, it doesn't fit in the same places. The screen is bigger, but it's farther away... so it's basically a wash. It doesn't feel thin and light, even though it's slightly thinner... it's barely noticeable... the reduced depth is the key the feel. The 11" feels like a wedge, this feels like a slab.

I do like having the full size function, modifier keys and arrow keys. And Touch ID is neat on a laptop. I think I like hinge based trackpad slightly better... but maybe I'm still getting used to the force touch.

It's great... I just wish it was the same size as the 11".

 

[RiaKoobcam]

It doesn't feel thin and light, even though it's slightly thinner... it's barely noticeable... the reduced depth is the key the feel. The 11" feels like a wedge, this feels like a slab.

It's great... I just wish it was the same size as the 11".

It's crazy even comparing the size/weight between the 2019 and the 2020. In either hand, the 2019 is noticeably thinner and lighter even though on paper not that much has changed.

My brother bought his 2019 MBP around and we compared the 2020 MBA to it - both felt far more slab-like than wedge-like. I guess the 2020 changes were to deepen the bottom chassis for the keyboard?

It's not a huge difference, but I can definitely see it pushing people into the Macbook Pro bracket.

 

[saulinpa]

Sent mine back after the rear TB3 port stopped working. Connector was loose.

 

[throAU]

The first being about heat and fans. Yes the Air can get hot if you actually look at temps.

Yeah not saying it doesn't. But the important thing while talking about lap use is how much of that heat gets put into your body.

 

[ayres]

I’m getting 6 hours of battery. I haven’t experienced this kind of constant charging since my 2004 Dell days. What gives, Apple?

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I’m getting 6 hours of battery. I haven’t experienced this kind of constant charging since my 2004 Dell days. What gives, Apple?

I found the same on my i5, about 9hrs on the i3. Mix of web browsing and streaming.

 

[Loog]

I loved the performance snappiness of of the i7/16GB/1TB but like @RiaKoobcam found it just ran much warmer and consumed battery far quicker than my 2019 i5. I don't consider myself to be a power user, just using this for general office (O365) with the off Fusion VM running from time to time.

I'm sure for most people they will be perfectly happy with their machine, but there is no mistake, compared to the previous model these do run much hotter and like a cheetah, great at sprints but have no long term stamina, even when the CPU is only running at moderate loads for prolonged duration. I appreciate people use machines differently but for me, stepping back to the 2019 model was the better choice for now.

I am considering the new MBA 10 gen base model as this is closer to the MBA spec I selected and also a little cheaper, 512GB is probably ok for me. I found that iCloud and OneDrive just used the space that was offloaded previously.

 

[HighSierraCatalina]

The heat issues with this Macbook Air are totally overblown. Max Tech started a panic and unfortunately it has stuck.

I almost always use my 2020 i5 8GB Ram, 512GB SSD Macbook Air on my lap or lying down and am on it all the time. Only time I hear the fan or feel heat is if I play a game or try and watch 4K 60 FPS Youtube video's in Chrome which stutter and don't play properly due to Apple and Google having a codec war.

The fan did come on a bit more during the first few days of owning this laptop, however I believe it was due to indexing etc. Yesterday I stress tested by using Safari, Watching a 1080p Youtube video in Chrome, and running Mail and Microsoft Word all at once and there wasn't one hint of a problem.

Max Tech seems like a well meaning guy, but the fact he recommends everyone upgrade to 16GB Ram shows what his use case is like. He does not represent the typical person who would buy a Macbook Air. Note that Youtube reviewers tend to do a lot of video editing due to their work which would not be a typical use case for a Macbook Air.

Yes, Austin Evans denied the issue for example.

 

[armandxp]

I'm happy with it. I've been using it for a day.



I'm going to miss the size of the 11" though, and hope Apple returns to that sort of product again... I'm sure people who love the 12" feel the same. I'm already feeling the limitations of this size, it doesn't fit in the same places. The screen is bigger, but it's farther away... so it's basically a wash. It doesn't feel thin and light, even though it's slightly thinner... it's barely noticeable... the reduced depth is the key the feel. The 11" feels like a wedge, this feels like a slab.

I do like having the full size function, modifier keys and arrow keys. And Touch ID is neat on a laptop. I think I like hinge based trackpad slightly better... but maybe I'm still getting used to the force touch.

It's great... I just wish it was the same size as the 11".

I had an Air 11 and sold it when I got the MacBook 12. I wish I would have kept it. I absolutely loved that computer. The MacBook 12 I got would have been great but died about two or three years in. I may look for a cheap 11, just to have one. Though the 2020 Air is phenomenal. Not one complaint about it.

 

[vyruzreaper]

For the value, there is nothing better in Apple's lineup imo. Like most said, the thermals are what keep this thing back of being an A+ on performance for it's clas... It gets a B+ form me but thats ok bc the price makes it a A. The 13 MBP @1300 is 8th gen chips are horrendous GPU. the MBP @1800 has better screen brightness and colors, thermals, sustained performance BUT for the 1800 price we don't get a 14'' with smaller bezels (have you seen the equivalent HPs and Dell bezels?), crappy front cam, touchbar that adds frustration to some's workflow without F keys, no ARM, no mLED, no real innovation. I'd say wait until next year if you can but if you did have to buy today, get the MBA (unless you need for photo/video editing or anything within that range of "pro" apps - get the 13 4TB MBP or 16 MBP).

 

[Spinning Fan]

I have had the i5/16/256 MBA for a month now, and having used it as my "main" computer for the past couple of weeks, it works just fine for my use.. which is mostly office work (no photo or video editing, no gaming). No "beachball", no overheating>shutdown .. nothing that seems broken .. including dead pixels. The only source of complaint is that the MBA does not have TB ports on the right side (charging purposes).

As background, my last personal Mac was a 2015 11 inch MBA with 8G of memory, but I also use a MBP 13 2018 with i7/16 for work.

<Burst Quickness> Comparing to the 2015 MBA, it is noticeably faster on things like "bounces before MS Office apps open" and the opening of other apps. Compared to the 2018 MBP, the "bounces" etc. do not have a noticeable difference to me, so it is not a concern and I quite like the burst responsiveness of the MBA, especially when compared to the 2015.

<Sustained process /Load speed> I don't doubt that doing things like handbrake conversions on 2020 MBA would take much more time than the 2018 or 2020 MBPs, but as many of the YouTube reviews mention, the MBAs can perform these tasks fine, ... they just take more time than the Pro laptops.. which is by design. So, for somebody that may or may not do FLAC to mp3 conversions of 50,000 songs once in a long while, it is not a big issue, because these things (for me) are not time sensitive and the process (and the fans that go loud due to the taxing processes) can run overnight. With something like a PPT to PDF conversion, it happens quickly enough that I feel the "extra" time it takes to do it is negligible. YMMV obviously.
## I actually use an old 2014? Mini as a music/file server in my house, so the conversions usually take place on the mini, at night, when nobody is listening to music or accessing files.

<Fans> I had one instance of the fan going loud in the middle of a Zoom call .. which self-subsided after a while for some reason. In hindsight, I think it was the one-drive(?) MS app making a connection that did this, as it was right after I did an install of my MS Office. Nothing really since then, even though I am being hyper vigilant about the fans spinning. This will obviously differ based on one's use patterns.

<Heat> I don't doubt that the MBP has better thermal design, and that goes to the sustained performance difference. However, where I differ from many in experience is, I think the MBP 2018 runs warmer on the lap than the MBA 2020 does. I am guessing that this is due to the better thermal design of 4TB MBPs, where the 4TB MBPs have slits on the side of the bottom case for ventilation purposes and heat from the vents (which, again, contribute to a better performance of the machine) make the MBPs feel warmer. Again, this will differ based on use patterns, but for me personally, doing the exact same tasks on MBP and MBA, I thought the bottom case of the MBA ran cooler than the MBP 2018.

I will likely move my "main" personal home computer back to a Surface Book 2, due to the larger screen, having the MBA as a mobile computer, but I would not have a problem using the MBA as my main going forward either.

 

[deeddawg]

(unless you need for photo/video editing or anything within that range of "pro" apps - get the 13 4TB MBP or 16 MBP).

Can't speak to video editing, but for hobbiest/prosumer-level photo editing, my i5 MBA does pretty well. The only area where I think there's a notable difference with the MBP line is in sustained CPU load performance -- generating a bunch of previews upon import, RAW file conversion on export.

As for screen / color gamut - most photo work in my experience is done with the sRGB gamut anyway since that's what most of the world uses - Adobe RGB tends to be done more for magazine type work (CMYK process), thus IMHO a P3 display doesn't present an advantage for photo work. I find my MBA is very usable for core culling/tagging/cropping/tweaking work and a pro/prosumer could save any color-critical final adjustments for when they have a wide-gamut external monitor. Probably not what I'd suggest as the sole computer for a pro, but certainly a very viable adjunct mobile system for someone using an iMac or MBP16 in the office.

 

[cawgijoe]

Been using my MBA for a week now and love it. It's my first Mac. I got tired of buying cheap HP's or Dells. It's been quiet and fast. I love the build quality, nothing like aluminum instead of plastic. No heat issues so far. I don't use it on my lap. We have a coffee table that has a top that lifts up towards your seating position. So far, a happy Apple purchase.

 

[Jimmy James]

You also need to look at what "they" mean when they say it "gets hot".

Most (if not all) of the reviews I've seen referenced focus on the CPU temperature reported by whatever software is being used.

Rarely is there any mention of case temperature.

When I'm using the system, I'm not touching the CPU. I'm touching the case. That's what's important IMHO

I‘m into outdoor activities and use high powered flashlights. I want the casing to get hot, as it means there’s a thermal path from the led to the case, where it can be dissipated. If it’s not getting hot to the touch at higher output it probably means the heat is trapped in the head and the led will fail prematurely. Comfort issues aside I think there is a direct correlation here.

 

[sundialsoft]

MBA arrived today. Nice looking. Space gray i5/16/1tb. I heard the fan which was pretty quiet during the transfer process from the old MBA. Connects to my external LG 4k display (which charges too). Happy so far. It's early days.

 

[deeddawg]

I‘m into outdoor activities and use high powered flashlights. I want the casing to get hot, as it means there’s a thermal path from the led to the case, where it can be dissipated. If it’s not getting hot to the touch at higher output it probably means the heat is trapped in the head and the led will fail prematurely. Comfort issues aside I think there is a direct correlation here.

Flashlights don't have a fan to draw air across the CPU and exhaust that warmed air out of the casing.

Passive cooling != Active cooling.

I believe at lower fan RPM the MBA fan remains inaudible to most. So I wouldn't assume perceived silence means no airflow, and thus waste heat transport out of the case.

 

[vyruzreaper]

Flashlights don't have a fan to draw air across the CPU and exhaust that warmed air out of the casing.

Passive cooling != Active cooling.

I believe at lower fan RPM the MBA fan remains inaudible to most. So I wouldn't assume perceived silence means no airflow, and thus waste heat transport out of the case.

I did a lot of real world testing last night. I was able to run Safari and Opera (chromium browser) with 5 tabs open each, with the Last Dance streaming to my ATV, all while surfing the web and watching embedded videos and/or TY simultaneously . The temps ranged from 65-85C, fans never surpassed 3500rpm. My sense is that fans don't make an audible noise until 4.5k+ rpms.

I still cant figure out how to use video conferencing apps without 100C and 8k rpm fans -> with slack and google docs open -> instant 100C CPU and 9k rpm fans. With eveything closed besides the VC app -> takes about 10-20 minutes before I see 100C and 8k rpm fans.

In any case, I feel like the air is a "pro lite" these days. It can do it if you can handle a little heat and fan noise. Im Ok with that (esp since I have a iMac) however video conferencing isnt a Pro activity - wish I could run that with slack and docs open at the same time with no fan noise. Hopefully the heatsink shim mod will solve that.

 

[deeddawg]

My sense is that fans don't make an audible noise until 4.5k+ rpms.

Nice to know. I've not installed any of the measuring programs since I mostly just care about perceivable stuff like what's the actual temp on the bottomcase. CPU can do what it wants, I never touch it. Bottomcase is what's on my lap. 🙂

I still cant figure out how to use video conferencing apps without 100C and 8k rpm fans -> with slack and google docs open -> instant 100C CPU and 9k rpm fans. With eveything closed besides the VC app -> takes about 10-20 minutes before I see 100C and 8k rpm fans.

In any case, I feel like the air is a "pro lite" these days. It can do it if you can handle a little heat and fan noise. Im Ok with that (esp since I have a iMac) however video conferencing isnt a Pro activity - wish I could run that with slack and docs open at the same time with no fan noise. Hopefully the heatsink shim mod will solve that.

All I can say is Zoom has my MBA cool and silent so far - sample size of two meetings with five to seven total participants and no screen sharing. Haven't had a need to use other apps - my MBA isn't my work computer. That said my 3 year old lenovo work computer spins it's fan(s) a LOT even with minimal stuff going on.

I've heard someone else mention Google Hangouts really messing with the MBA, dunno if that's what you're using. I've seen (pre-MBA) recommendations to reduce the screen-sharing framerate, but haven't messed it that since I don't do screen sharing when on a Zoom video conference.

While sure, video conferencing isn't a pro activity, the differentiation isn't whether an activity is "pro" or not. It's whether you're putting a substantial sustained load on the CPU. Crappy software can do that without it being "pro". IMHO, whatever the reason you may be doing it, if you (speaking generally) need to regularly do a substantial sustained CPU load and don't want fan spinning, you need to look at the MBP rather than the MBA. Also IMHO if a video conference program is creating a substantial sustained CPU load, it's crappy software. 😀

 

[Seanm87]

Looks like most people aren't having the heat and fan issues reported. Just goes to show its overblown (no pun intended). Having tons of heat and fan noise they're probably pushing it too hard. This laptop really is aimed at relatively light use.

Just seems like a lot of people should have opted for the pro over the air.

 

[twintin]

I still cant figure out how to use video conferencing apps without 100C and 8k rpm fans -> with slack and google docs open -> instant 100C CPU and 9k rpm fans. With eveything closed besides the VC app -> takes about 10-20 minutes before I see 100C and 8k rpm fans.

Have not used Zoom, but MS Teams, which works very well. Don't remember the temperature (would guess between 70 and 80), but the FAN spins around 2600 RPM if I remember correctly.

 

[IngerMan]

People heard Quad Core and the expectations was MacBook Pro Quad Core. The MBA has come a long way in performance with this latest update. It is perfectly capable of editing video, it will just not be as efficient as the MBPro is. I think most people in these threads realize that. If you purchased a MBA, it was not for the best performance among Apple laptops, it was also other things about the MBA that lead you to the purchase.

Apples Website;
MacBook Air packs heavy-duty performance into just 2.8 pounds. The available quad-core Intel Core i7 processor delivers up to 2x faster CPU performance1and up to 80 percent faster graphics performance,4to help you power through everything from browsing the web to playing games to editing video. Up to 16GB of high-performance 3733MHz memory lets you work seamlessly even with multiple apps open. The fast SSD storage starts at 256GB — double the capacity of the previous standard configuration.

 

[deeddawg]

Just seems like a lot of people should have opted for the pro over the air.

There are a number of folks with workloads better suited to the MBP who first chose the Air hoping it was more of a low-cost-MBP rather than a computer designed to its own particular usage scenario.