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Does the 2020 MBA's fan run a lot? How hot is the laptop?

Saturn007

Saturn007

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 18, 2010
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I'm used to a 2015 MacBook Air, in which the fan never comes on — word processing, spreadsheets, photo viewing and light editing, browsing websites such as MacRumors, running astronomy packages, etc. The laptop is also cool to the touch — can easily use it on bare legs in summer when wearing shorts.

What about the 2020 MBA? Does the fan come on when doing the types of things I've mentioned. I have excellent hearing and am sensitive to fan noise. Indeed, I find it irritating.

Is the bottom cool,warm,nor hot to the touch?
 
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I'll let you know when i get mine.

Still "processing" as of today, ordered on release day. BTO i7.

I do not expect it to spin up much if at all under those conditions.
 
I have a 2019 air and have similar use cases to yourself. Honestly I've only ever heard the fan once and that was when an app was glitching and had to be forced shut down. Nothing since. I cant imagine the 2020 being much different.
 
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I have a 2018 Air base model. The only time the fans come on is when I'm doing a video conference or watching a live stream (through Chrome). Otherwise, I don't hear the fans at all.

The only time it heats up is when I'm running an external monitor from it. Which has been daily, now that I'm working from home.
 
I Just got my i7 2020 Air yesterday. I spent the night getting it set up for school, running updates, installing apps a few safari tabs open. The fans never kicked on but I wasn't pushing it either. The only time they came on was when I started running a benchmark, lol. The bottom was warm, but nothing concerning or what I would consider hot. This was also attached to a 27" Dell 4K monitor.

I like it so far. I was worried about the screen size being to small but it's clear and I don't notice it being supposedly less brighter than a pro.

I also have a 2018 15" 6-core MBP for personal use and the 2018 i9 that's work issued. Those fans kick on all the time but those I usually hit pretty hard.

Here's the fastest benchmark if anyone is interested.

MacBookAir9,1 - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacBookAir9,1 with an Intel Core i7-1060NG7 processor.
browser.geekbench.com
 
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rklaver said:
I Just got my i7 2020 Air yesterday. I spent the night getting it set up for school, running updates, installing apps a few safari tabs open. The fans never kicked on but I wasn't pushing it either. The only time they came on was when I started running a benchmark, lol. The bottom was warm, but nothing concerning or what I would consider hot. This was also attached to a 27" Dell 4K monitor.

I like it so far. I was worried about the screen size being to small but it's clear and I don't notice it being supposedly less brighter than a pro.

I also have a 2018 15" 6-core MBP for personal use and the 2018 i9 that's work issued. Those fans kick on all the time but those I usually hit pretty hard.

Here's the fastest benchmark if anyone is interested.

MacBookAir9,1 - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacBookAir9,1 with an Intel Core i7-1060NG7 processor.
browser.geekbench.com
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information. Appreciate it!
Maybe you can give us an additional update tomorrow or in the next few days, cause after setting the Mac up, its always indexing and processing things in the background in the first hours/days.
I would be interested in how the macbook air 2020 performs in everyday life. Maybe 10-20 Safari tabs open while streaming netflix + some other programs open (like mail, calendar or similar).
 
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Fidgit said:
Been setting up mine today (i5). Fans came on a lot during the setup process but haven’t heard them since and have used a range of stuff, from steam to Logic Pro.
Click to expand...

Its really weird. Some people (like you) don't have fan issues under normal usage, but other people in this forum have. Two people wrote when they watch a youtube video or a stream on twitch (in safari) + having a few other tabs open the temperature reaches 80-85 degrees, which shouldn't be normal.
 
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Yeah it is weird. Maybe ambient temperature (it’s exactly 18.5c in the room it’s in for me) or what it’s placed on (my lap) has an impact. I was a bit worried when the fan was full on to start with, but I reset it straight away and it hasn’t come on since. Just been using lightroom for about an hour or so and not a peep then either.
 
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Fidgit said:
Yeah it is weird. Maybe ambient temperature (it’s exactly 18.5c in the room it’s in for me) or what it’s placed on (my lap) has an impact. I was a bit worried when the fan was full on to start with, but I reset it straight away and it hasn’t come on since. Just been using lightroom for about an hour or so and not a peep then either.
Click to expand...

Good to hear so far.
It seems that this heating issue appears (if at all) when streaming/watching videos, could be a GPU issue. Did you watch some YouTube videos or stream something on twitch/netflix, maybe while having a few other programs open?
 
This Japanese YouTuber (Appleが大好きなんだよ) tested the new MBA with Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Safari, Chrome, Final Cut Pro, iMovie and Premiere Pro. It seems like playing 1080p video in Chrome makes it pretty hot. He did show a few examples of the temperatures and the fan noise. He touched a little on whether the i7 is worth it vs. the i5. Even if you do not understand Japanese, you can understand what he is showing, since his graphs and UI are in English.

 
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I’m going to try and stick a go pro into later (I’m waiting for a usb c adapter to arrive :)), I’m sure that’ll get it excited.
 
jgorman said:
This Japanese YouTuber (Appleが* ** *きなんだよ) tested the new MBA with Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Safari, Chrome, Final Cut Pro, iMovie and Premiere Pro. It seems like playing 1080p video in Chrome makes it pretty hot. He did show a few examples of the temperatures and the fan noise. He touched a little on whether the i7 is worth it vs. the i5. Even if you do not understand Japanese, you can understand what he is showing, since his graphs and UI are in English.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the vid. Automatic english subtitles are also pretty good.
Seems to match other experiences. Excel, Powerpoint, Illustrator, Lightroom (and so on) is mostly no problem, but watching a single youtube video is.
 
To add onto the questions in this thread...does anyone have any information (or informed guesses) as to whether a particular CPU, RAM size, or storage size option would be better/worse in terms of heat and the fan? I am going to order a new one for my wife and am thinking about splurging and upgrading one or more of those things, but want to also factor in if/how any of those upgrades might negatively affect heat and fan noise.
 
larsschuhmacher said:
Thanks for the vid. Automatic english subtitles are also pretty good.
Seems to match other experiences. Excel, Powerpoint, Illustrator, Lightroom (and so on) is mostly no problem, but watching a single youtube video is.
Click to expand...

Yes, but also since it has a nice graphics chip, I was a little surprised by the trouble it had using an external display with iMovie. I imagine a lot of people take these kinds of short (~10 minute) 1080p videos and may want to edit them on a MacBook Air.
 
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