Neither of them sit as high as any desktop keyboard, not sure any of it matters at all.
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Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air
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Neither of them sit as high as any desktop keyboard, not sure any of it matters at all.
If only Apple would get it through their thick skulls that the Touch Bar is a joke to 95% of users, and actually a hindrance to some of us considering a "Pro" laptop. Yes, it's that bad.
Yet if we've learned anything from the Butterfly keyboard fiasco, it's that Apple refuses to admit any faults in their hardware (or software) quality, and will persist in shoving bad ideas down their users' throats, simply to save face. (Not unlike individuals with narcisistic personality disorder, who can't bear to consider that they're actually in the wrong.)
The jig is up, Apple. Stop crippling your hardware and software with useless gimmicks and unnecessary "security" theater before it's too late.
I do believe Apple does plan to move the MacBook Pro line to miniLED-backlit displays at 14" and 16" sizes. Latest rumors from Ming Chi Kuo says the Apple miniLED products are being pushed back to later in 2020 or even early 2021, so this might be why Apple decided to just drop the new keyboard and the new 10th Generation CPUs in the current 13" MacBook Pro as a stand-in until they are ready to launch the 14" miniLED model in Late 2020 / early 2021 along with the updated 16" miniLED MBP, miniLED iPad Pros and miniLED iMac Pro (all of which have been rumored by MCK).
In such a scenario, moving the MacBook Air at 13" to an ARM A14X CPU would allow for the portables market bi-furcation - ARM at 13" and below (MBA / iPad Pro / iPad / iPhone) and Intel at 14" and up (MBP).
The only good thing about the Touch Bar is that it looks pretty.
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro. The first thing I did when I booted it up was go to the keyboard settings and change the Touch Bar function to the expanded control strip.
I still hate it. Apple should remove the Touch Bar completely and use the cost savings to reduce the price of the MacBook Pro instead.
The current MacBook Air is Ice Lake-Y.
The previous one was Amber Lake-Y.
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I'm sure you can substantiate that number with a statistically significant survey you've personally conducted?
Given that I was asking for "measurable" advantage.
Would you please quantify your use case of a measurable advantage, so that we can be enlightened?
You're...kidding, right? Literally every review I've read has recommended getting the i5 Air.
Yeah.
And it's not like the base model is a bad model. It's just that those $100 more are a really good deal, which is quite unusual for a CPU option.
The winner... and still champion... after 8 years... my 15-inch mid-2012 retina MBP. I so want to upgrade to better performance, but I'm really not interested in something with a touch bar. I'd love the easier portability of an Air, which is allegedly good for spreadsheets. Anybody here know how an Air would perform with massive spreadsheets with dozens of tabs and thousands of cells with formulae?
I have a 2015 as well. If you use DisplayPort you can output 4k at 60hz. I’ve been doing this for a couple years and it works well. HDMI is limited to 30hz however.
Yeah it's now more like the Intel chips formerly known as the Y series
Conclusion from article writer and agree. "If considering the MacBook Air, upgrading to the quad-core Core i5 option is well worth the extra $100, as it is up to 32 percent faster than the base model and more closely rivals the base 13-inch MacBook Pro"
And save $200 buying 8GB,512GB,i5 MBA($1299) vs base 8GB,512GB,i5 13" MBP($1499).
And save $200 buying 8GB,512GB,i5 MBA($1299) vs base 8GB,512GB,i5 13" MBP($1499).
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I can. The competition loves to copy Apple 100 percent of the time when they do something customers like/love. How many touchbars you see on Windows laptops? I'll wait while you count to zero.
MacBook Pro / 1.4GHz quad-core Core i5: 927 single-core and 3,822 multi-core
MacBook Pro / 1.7GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,036 single-core and 3,909 multi-core
So... is it worth it to pay an extra $275 for an i7?
MacBook Pro / 1.7GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,036 single-core and 3,909 multi-core
So... is it worth it to pay an extra $275 for an i7?
Lenovo had a "Touch Bar" before Apple did:
But regardless, I fail to see how "nobody other than Apple has a Touch Bar" (which is incorrect; see above) is relevant to your original claim that "the Touch Bar is a joke to 95% of users".
I highly doubt it.
Is it controversial? Yeah, seems that way. Do 95% consider it a joke? Probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if less than 20% downright dislike it.
The $999 base model does not have a sluggish processor.
For those of us looking to upgrade, it's smart to watch review videos and pay attention to performance data. Unfortunately it appears many are losing sight of the real world performance differences between the i3, i5, and i7 processors available on the 2020 Macbook Air.
Yes, it's true that the i5 upgrade is available for $100 and it does offer 2 additional cores. However, please note that while cpu benchmarking tools show a measurable multi-core performance improvement, that does not mean that the performance witnessed in usage will directly correlate to the indicated benchmark percentages, especially when taking into consideration the limitations of the Air's cooling implementation.
Additionally, the base i3 model is frequently offered at a significant discount in comparison to a custom ordered i5 model from Apple. Many suppliers offer the base i3 model for $950 and at times as low as $900 USD. Individuals will have to assess whether or not the $100 (and potentially $150 or even $200) upgrade price is worth the incremental increase in performance.
Let's not lose sight of the main benefit every 2020 MacBook Air purchaser receives, especially those of us upgrading from older systems. The new magic keyboard, the 10th gen CPUs and their improved graphics, and the faster low power memory are massive improvements to the vast majority of users.
If you have a real need for the additional cores and graphics of the i5 and i7 upgrades, by all means buy them. But let us be clear here, the available 2020 Air upgrades are not as significant as some historical upgrade offerings, such as going from 4 Gb of RAM to 8 Gb of RAM.
For my primary use cases of browsing, video playback, and writing software, I'm sticking with the base i3 model from a reputable retailer for $950. I'm certain it will be a massive upgrade from the 2013 Air I'm currently using. I'd rather save that $150 (or more) to upgrade to a new system sooner rather than marginally increase the processing power of a 2020 Air.
Besides, I can't be the only one who really wants to purchase an iPad-oriented MacBook with a permanent keyboard can I?
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I won’t fault you for this, but it has been shown that the MBA does indeed support a screen brightness of 500 nits—just not on macOS. Using Windows 10 on the MBA, notebookcheck.net measure a screen brightness of 547 cd/m2. It seems that just like the new SE, Apple is limiting the function of hardware in order to segment its products.
Apple recently updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the $1,299 base model remains a popular alternative to the $999 MacBook Air. To help with your buying decision, read our comparison of the notebooks below.
The differences between the base 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air are quite nuanced, with each notebook possessing some unique features.
What's the Same
Advantages of Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro
- 13-inch Retina display with 227 pixels per inch and True Tone support
- Magic Keyboard with reliable scissor switch design
- Force Touch trackpad
- 2 × Thunderbolt 3 ports
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- 256GB of SSD storage standard, configurable up to 2TB
- Touch ID
- T2 security chip
- 720p webcam
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi, also known as Wi-Fi 5
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Three-microphone array with directional beamforming
- Dolby Atmos surround sound
Advantages of MacBook Air
- The display supports the P3 wide color gamut for more vibrant and lifelike colors
- The display is brighter at up to 500 nits vs. 400 nits on MacBook Air
- Touch Bar
- Slightly better sounding speakers
Unlike the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air also has a gold color option.Performance
- Up to 11 hours of battery life vs. 10 hours on base 13-inch MacBook Pro
- Weighs slightly less at 2.8 pounds vs. 3.1 pounds for base 13-inch MacBook Pro
- Faster RAM: 3733MHz LPDDR4X vs. 2133MHz LPDDR3 for base 13-inch MacBook Pro
- 6K display support vs. 5K on base 13-inch MacBook Pro
Generally speaking, the MacBook Air remains best suited for lightweight day-to-day tasks like web browsing and creating spreadsheets, while the MacBook Pro is better equipped to handle more intensive tasks like rendering large video files. This is not only because the MacBook Pro has faster processors than the Air, but also because it has a more advanced thermal design for dissipating heat inside the computer.
While the MacBook Air has been updated with Intel's latest 10th-generation processors, the base 13-inch MacBook Pro continues to use older 8th-generation processors. However, the Air uses lower-wattage Y-series chips with lower clock speeds, so the Pro still has faster overall performance, as confirmed by benchmarks.
Geekbench 5 scores for the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air configurations:
Takeaways:
- MacBook Air / 1.1GHz dual-core Core i3: 1,002 single-core and 1,998 multi-core
- MacBook Air / 1.1GHz quad-core Core i5: 1,055 single-core and 2,645 multi-core
- MacBook Air / 1.2GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,102 single-core and 2,843 multi-core
- MacBook Pro / 1.4GHz quad-core Core i5: 927 single-core and 3,822 multi-core
- MacBook Pro / 1.7GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,036 single-core and 3,909 multi-core
- The base model 13-inch MacBook Pro for $1,299 has up to 91 percent faster multi-core performance than the base model MacBook Air for $999
- If considering the MacBook Air, upgrading to the quad-core Core i5 option is well worth the extra $100, as it is up to 32 percent faster than the base model and more closely rivals the base 13-inch MacBook Pro
Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1,000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100. Higher scores are better, with double the score indicating double the performance. Compare with other Mac benchmarks here.
Bottom Line
If you value portability and up to an extra hour of battery life, and are willing to sacrifice some performance, the MacBook Air is a relatively good value. Just remember to consider spending an extra $100 on the quad-core Core i5 processor option, as the $999 base model is equipped with a particularly sluggish dual-core processor.
For more intensive tasks, the 13-inch MacBook Pro's faster processors and more advanced thermal design will allow you to push the limits more without the fans running obnoxiously. You'll also get the Touch Bar, a brighter and more vibrant display, and slightly better sounding speakers with high dynamic range.
Article Link: Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air
Building on this, I'm surprised reviews haven't explored the abysmal multi-core performance on the quad-core 2020 Airs. Just look at the multi-core comparison between the Air and entry-level Pro in this article: why is the quad-core Air so much slower in multi-core tests? The multi-core to single-core ratio is 2.5x for the quad-core Air, where one would expect something closer to 4x. For comparison, the dual-core Air comes in at 1.99x, and the quad-core entry-level MBP at 4.1x.
I'm really curious what is going on here. I did some searching for benchmarks on comparable processors and found on cpu-monkey that the architecturally similar Core i5-1035G1 also underperforms in multi-core results in GeekBench 5 (2.4x ratio; 1079 single-core and 2605 multi-core). This suggests that it may not be as simple as thermal constraints with the Air's design. Per Intel's site, the all-processor turbo is less than single-core (3.2 vs 3.5 GHz) so we could expect a 9-10% deviation from a 1:1 scale with the single-core score, but the multi-core scores are about 40% less than one would expect given the performance of other quad-core chips in the lineup.
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My i7 MacBook Air 2020 is 17% faster on multi-core than MacRumors reported. Where are the GeekBench scores for this blog post sourced from?
Literally firsthand, from my post on Thursday: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/2067376
Literally firsthand, from my post on Thursday: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/2067376
Actually, after checking for some numbers lately since I’m shopping around, I wouldn’t be unsurprised of ARM everything now. It turns out that Geekbench 5 scores, the iPad Pro 11” from 2018 has similar scores single core, multi core AND metal scores than the recently released MBP 13” with the NG7 10th gen integrated graphics option... that’s something to consider and the main reason why maybe the iPad Pro is so snappy, laptop (and desktop for that matter since they have stagnated in single core scores too) power in a lightweight mobile OS. And when I say similar, I mean damn the same, the new MBP has metal scores of 10k, so does the 2 years old iPad Pro.
I agree wholeheartedly here and seriously misleading advice from the article and author. All the reviews and hands on I have seen, the MB Air goes to 100C almost instantly on simple tasks like... youtube, yes, just watching a damn video on a single tab. And the scores are mostly the same between dual core and quad cores in intensive tasks because the throttling is just too high, the system peaks at about 10Watts when in constant power tasks, while the 13 can go more than double that.
I still find it a great machine, but shouldn’t allow upgrading to mostly real life useless specs
This isn't on the hardware, this is on Apple's unwillingness to enable VP9. Works perfectly fine on Windows, you can watch 4K videos without any issue.
Apple could allow MacOS to use the hardware-accelerated VP9 decoding tomorrow if greed didn't get in the way.
Wow, you're so clever. I never saw that coming.
Of course, you understand my real meaning - when someone says "95%" or "99%" they are making a generalization that equates to "the vast majority" - i.e., it's a figure of speech. But then how could people like yourself pretend to poke holes in an argument that wasn't there to begin with?
Do yourself a favor, pal. Don't do that.
I’ve never had a Touch Bar (and never a MacBook Pro) but I am excited about trying it out as I’m almost certain I will be purchasing a loaded 13” MBP very soon.