I placed an order for the same configuration as yours, I have seen the machine so I love the form factor. I'm upgrading from my Macbook Pro 13" 2011 (which is working prefectly fine), so while I'm waiting for the extrmeley long wait time I'm going back and forth thinking if I really need this given that my current machine is running well or if I just feel like I want something new to play with. I think the only thing is that I knwo the new MBA is going to be lighter. Was there a particular reason for to get get the new machine?
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Are you happy with your 2020 MBA?
- Thread starter supernet33
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I placed an order for the same configuration as yours, I have seen the machine so I love the form factor. I'm upgrading from my Macbook Pro 13" 2011 (which is working prefectly fine), so while I'm waiting for the extrmeley long wait time I'm going back and forth thinking if I really need this given that my current machine is running well or if I just feel like I want something new to play with. I think the only thing is that I knwo the new MBA is going to be lighter. Was there a particular reason for to get get the new machine?
I did the same! upgraded from my late 2013 MBP 13 inch to this. I also got the same specs except mine is i5/16/256. I figured I didn't need the extra storage and if I don't I might as well just get the ram. I honestly did not need it! I wish I got the i5/8/512 but I'm not low on storage by any means (have 165gb left out of 256).
It's a great laptop. it's very zippy and does it's job really well. I notice the speed over the MBP and I was surprised about that because I didn't think it was slow by any means.
I love mine - i5/16gb/256gb. I wrote a longer post in the review thread.... It is a great consumer level machine. Probably could be pushed much more than I do using it as a personal computer.
Sounds like your use case is minimal and 8GB ram would suit your needs. I would get the 512 from Costco.
I’ve received my air configured as i5,8gb,256 ssd yesterday.
I’ve added 600 photos from i cloud, 5600 e-mails from 2 mail accounts. Spotify, 2 tabs of safari was working. I’ve never heard fan noise till today.
i’ve upload temp monitor and then football manager 2020 demo. Even i’ve changed 3d engine to 2d. Just goal scene replays was 3d in low specs, Temperature reached to 80 and fan was 8112 rpm spinnin loudly. when you finished the match, you go to text section, then degree was 75 and fan 5600 rpm.
I’m very upset, you know football manager not a demanding game what can i do, should i change to macbook pro base model? 75-80 celcius not important for me, i’m annoying from fan noise
I’ve added 600 photos from i cloud, 5600 e-mails from 2 mail accounts. Spotify, 2 tabs of safari was working. I’ve never heard fan noise till today.
i’ve upload temp monitor and then football manager 2020 demo. Even i’ve changed 3d engine to 2d. Just goal scene replays was 3d in low specs, Temperature reached to 80 and fan was 8112 rpm spinnin loudly. when you finished the match, you go to text section, then degree was 75 and fan 5600 rpm.
I’m very upset, you know football manager not a demanding game what can i do, should i change to macbook pro base model? 75-80 celcius not important for me, i’m annoying from fan noise
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The biggest reason I upgraded was some lag and slowness in Excel. I do a lot of work with pivot tables for my job and found that my MBP wasn't always as responsive as I wanted it to be in those situations. I don't know if the slowness was due to the CPU or 8gb of ram 🤷♂️
Having had this MBA for 2-3 weeks now, I'm extremely happy with it and very glad I upgraded!
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I have just the i3 base model, but at 80C the fan only spins around 2600. Not sure why it runs 8000 on your i5 ???
The thermals and fan properties can be pretty different for the i3 model compared to the i5 model when under load.
I feel like I am already paying for apple cloud services for 1TB a month and the RAM upgrade will be better future proof vs, HDD space.
Will there be any issues if I connect the MBA to external monitor via HDMI?
I decided to return my Air. It's good, but it wasn't great... especially for how I wanted to use it. For me it just wasn't light and small enough, and it seemed like the tradeoffs in weight compared to my 11" Air just wasn't worth the added performance. I kinda got over the retina screen pretty quickly too... it's great but after a while the screen just melts into the background. I did like having the different screen sizes as options.
I'm not going to completely jump on board and say it's limited thermally, but it did not seem balanced correctly for the type of performance I was expecting. The CPU can run pretty fast, but not without the fans going full blast. I had situations where the cpu was barely being used 15% and the fans were pushing towards the too loud 5000 rpm range. My old Air, while not as fast in peak performance... seemed to manage better with the moderate tasks with a fan that revved up but never to a noticeable degree.
The lineage of the CPU in my old Air are now in the MBPs. Even though the retina Airs share the name of the old one, it really seems more like a 12" MacBook in a larger case. Which is okay... but not really for me. So I ordered a 2020 MacBook Pro instead. Since the size/weight isn't much different in the 13", I might as well go slightly larger to get the performance I need.
I think the new Air fits best for those that stick with the i3 and just get a basic computer with no upgrades. If you are one who wants to upgrade it for more performance, it's probably better to just get the entry Pro. Considering the i5 and 16GB of ram upgrades are $300... that's a lot of extra money to put into a computer that's still going to be nowhere near the performance of the MBP.
I'm not going to completely jump on board and say it's limited thermally, but it did not seem balanced correctly for the type of performance I was expecting. The CPU can run pretty fast, but not without the fans going full blast. I had situations where the cpu was barely being used 15% and the fans were pushing towards the too loud 5000 rpm range. My old Air, while not as fast in peak performance... seemed to manage better with the moderate tasks with a fan that revved up but never to a noticeable degree.
The lineage of the CPU in my old Air are now in the MBPs. Even though the retina Airs share the name of the old one, it really seems more like a 12" MacBook in a larger case. Which is okay... but not really for me. So I ordered a 2020 MacBook Pro instead. Since the size/weight isn't much different in the 13", I might as well go slightly larger to get the performance I need.
I think the new Air fits best for those that stick with the i3 and just get a basic computer with no upgrades. If you are one who wants to upgrade it for more performance, it's probably better to just get the entry Pro. Considering the i5 and 16GB of ram upgrades are $300... that's a lot of extra money to put into a computer that's still going to be nowhere near the performance of the MBP.
Very much loving mine. This is my first new Mac laptop in years -- I waited out all the butterfly keyboard ones so I've been working on a 6 year-old MacBook Pro. I opted for the quad-core processor upgrade. The new keyboard feels excellent and solid, performace is zippy, screen looks nice. I'm very happy I waited for this computer. Everything about it feels like it'll be a workhorse for a long time to come.
I didn't need the extra performance of the Pro, and I also prefer the tapered front edge for typing comfort, and the lighter weight.
The feature I'm finding most useful: Touch ID. I really don't miss typing my password over and over every time I pick the thing up. Authentication for 1Password and various admin things on the machine is just icing on the cake.
Biggest surprise: the speakers. I've been watching a lot of TV with this thing, and several times I've actually turned my head because I thought a sound in the show was something in the room. This is the first Mac laptop I've owned with speakers that really project sound like this.
Biggest thing I miss about my older MBP: MagSafe. USB-C is ok, but it definitely doesn't compare to that beautifully engineered magnetic connector.
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I disagree. That i5 upgrade is only $99, and that still puts the Air much cheaper than even the base model Pro, which has an older generation of processor.
I didn't need the extra performance of the Pro, and I also prefer the tapered front edge for typing comfort, and the lighter weight.
The feature I'm finding most useful: Touch ID. I really don't miss typing my password over and over every time I pick the thing up. Authentication for 1Password and various admin things on the machine is just icing on the cake.
Biggest surprise: the speakers. I've been watching a lot of TV with this thing, and several times I've actually turned my head because I thought a sound in the show was something in the room. This is the first Mac laptop I've owned with speakers that really project sound like this.
Biggest thing I miss about my older MBP: MagSafe. USB-C is ok, but it definitely doesn't compare to that beautifully engineered magnetic connector.
[automerge]1590217349[/automerge]
I disagree. That i5 upgrade is only $99, and that still puts the Air much cheaper than even the base model Pro, which has an older generation of processor.
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Thanks for this info. I am on the fence with this or the pro, and might get an Air due to cost. My computer is having issues, and I can afford the pro, just can’t see myself spending that yet.
You’re 100% on the i3 vs the i5.
Hi guys, from flicking through here it seems that most people are pretty happy with their MBA, Just wanted to ask a quick question for the i3 users, generally speaking have you found the MBA i3 to be quick and snappy when it comes to booting up, opening apps like safari, office etc, switching between apps?? As a basic user stuff like this is quite important lol
I have a 2018 MacBook Air 16gb RAM, 512GB storage, etc...and it was not a cheap purchase. However, I'd chose it again over the MacBook Pro right now just because of the lighter and slimmer form factor.
Now I've done some video conversion on it that would have most likely gone faster with the MacBook Pro lol. However, I have an iPad as well and just used that while it was doing the conversion.
Yeah, I'm going to be honest, it really isn't anything to do with that.
I've got a MacBook Pro 13 inch the one without the Touch Bar dual core i5 from 2016 doesn't struggle in the least to playback Youtube in 4k in Chrome. It stays completely cool and silent.
Thats a four year old dual core machine runs 4k in chrome without a hiccup.
Yes I got 90 day return window, 2 year standard free warranty vs Apple 1 year, I purchased 3 year Apple Care + for $200. Standard membership perks.
A little disappointed. My first time using a Mac. MBA i5/512gb/8gb ram.
I literally had it in on my lap editing a website for a few hours and the left side got really warm. Then later I received a message saying the tab I was using was consuming a lot of energy... I only had two tabs open.Does that sound about right?
Other than that I love it. Very responsive and simple.
I literally had it in on my lap editing a website for a few hours and the left side got really warm. Then later I received a message saying the tab I was using was consuming a lot of energy... I only had two tabs open.Does that sound about right?
Other than that I love it. Very responsive and simple.
Also note that for the first day or so it's busy indexing and doing other new computer housekeeping.
... and yes, some web pages have a bunch of CPU intensive crapware embedded in them. I suggest adding an adblocker if you've not yet done so.
https://arstechnica.com/information...-ads-with-cpu-draining-cryptocurrency-miners/