Debating whether to return my MBA 2020 (i5/8/256)

[aycybc]

Hi everyone! I had the early 2015 Macbook for the past five years and finally had to let it go as it was getting pretty slow. I recently bought a new MBA 2020 (i5/8/256) 1.5 weeks ago and I noticed a few issues.

1. The biggest problem for me is that damn fan. Even with one chrome tab open playing tetris (without any other programs open), the back instantly gets hotter and the fan goes full speed. When I'm watching a youtube video, the fan also can get super hot and loud.

2. The battery life is not what I expected. Although i'm constantly on my laptop just switching between social media apps, I'm not running any crazy programs. I'm just on chrome most of the time with the occasion 30 minute facetime call. I find myself charging the laptop twice a day.

I've tried resetting the smc and I still have the same issue. I tried using the diagnostic test and it says nothing is wrong. I've tried turning off hardware acceleration and disabling the unsandboxed plugin access to block google chrome helper. I'm not sure if there's much more I can do with this laptop. I've seen a few other people had issues with the fan so idk if it's just me. I'm debating whether to return and get the same one (maybe this one is faulty?), or get an older MBA, or just go with the newest pro. Any thoughts?

Edit: Since I've posted this, I downloaded TG Pro to check on my computer's temp and rpm. It's been running at around 135F for temp and 2700 RPM. Lowest I saw for temp was 120F. Fan has been around the same, maybe going up to 3500 RPM.

 

[sundialsoft]

I keep seeing posts of this kind. My 2020 MBA i5/16Gb/1Tb is quiet and only gets hot when doing very occasional large tasks. So far I have heard the fan going three times in a fortnight. I sat side by side with the 2019 MBA to try the keyboard noise and it would appear that the old 2019 keyboard is noisier by a tad.

I binned the benchmarks as they do nothing. It's real life use that's important. I use Xcode, related apps and Safari. Also photos sometimes.

 

[MrMacintoshIII]

There's something wrong with yours. Mine runs at a stable 60˚C as the i3 256 8gb base config. I never hear the fan and its rarely hot.

 

[ilikewhey]

I suggest the newest mbp. For every post someone complaint about heat there’s gonna be a post someone saying their mba is working just fine.

 

[akash.nu]

Chrome has been a known battery and processor hog for some time. Have you tried to use safari as your main browser. Test against that and then only you can come to some proper conclusions.

 

[IngerMan]

135 F is 58 C, your good. That’s why your fans are running low because your temps are low...

 

[ilikewhey]

if its 135c, then your mba could've cooked a egg by then.

 

[sundialsoft]

I think I will install Chrome just to see what it does heat & fan wise.

 

[TenthDoctor]

I have never had luck with chrome on any computer I have ever owned (this Includes an old hp desktop from around 2002, an old hp laptop from around 2006, my current MacBook from 2011....

Even when hp and MacBook laptops were new, I had constant issues with the browser freezing up my computers, or slowing them down to crawls. For this reason, I never used chrome as my primary browser. Instead, I used Firefox on old hp laptop, and use Safari or Firefox on MacBook.

I left chrome installed on both computers only in case I needed them for a particular website. My computers have historically hated chrome, so I will not be using it on any new computers either.

Last week I helped a friend who is an elderly lady from my church order a new laptop to replace her inadequate netbook running Windows 7 that she has had for years. She wanted a Windows 10 computer, so after it arrived, I also set it up for her. She likes running Chrome as well. She has me come over every once in awhile when she has issues with her computers. Out of habi, when I go to her place to help her, I usually use Firefox or SafarI. I do run chrome if she has it up, or to make sure her passwords still work. (She often hits “forgot password“ and changes them, then calls me up and says she cannot get into her sites).

Anyway, on her computers when I happen to use chrome, I haven’t noticed the same freezing/slow issues, but that might be because I am not working in chrome long enough for there to be an issue. This is true even on that crummy netbook she had.

I don’t know what it is about Chrome, but it does not seem to like my computers. It seems to work much better on non hp Windows computers for some reason (at least if only using very briefly, like 20 minutes or so).

I would definitely use either Safari or Firefox instead, and see if you like either of those better/just as well as Chrome. If using Chrome is a must for you, I would either get an iPad or a Windows computer for your Chrome usage.

 

[DribbleCastle]

had the same issue but mine was always running at 100/8000rpm. try updating to the 10.15.5 beta. completely fixed all performance issues for me