I was wondering if you could tell me which would perform better, i7 2020 MBA 16gb RAM, 512gb vs a 2019 MBP 16gb 256 GB SSD. I am also waiting for the 2020 MBP but I can't wait too long if it gets released later this year. I would be doing the usual stuff, photo editing as well and possibly Solidworks (3D CAD)
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High Spec 2020 MBA vs 2019 MBP
- Thread starter chiickenlover
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The pro is going to beat it. That 9/12 watt cpu ain't going to run at a high speed for long without slowing way down
It will be faster, question is how much. The CPU in Pro is technically a 15W one, but Apple doesn't really care about such nuisances and lets it run as high as temps allow, so the difference will depend on how high can Apple clock the Air. I have a windows laptop with i7-1065G7 (which looks identical to the 1060 Apple will use just with higher TDP) and the difference between 12W mode and the "screw TDP" mode is massive, like over double.
- That's true for the model with two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The four port version uses 28W CPUs.
It didn't even cross my mind to compare it to the 4TB3 model, or that OP could have any doubts which one is faster, it is unfair comparison, two different classes of CPUs.
So I did a comparison between my 2016 MBP nTB with the base dual core 2.0 GHz i5 CPU (with 8GB RAM) and the new 2020 MBA with the i5 quad core using figures from this review.
Results:
Cinebench R20 (CPU test):
MBP: 710 (no thermal throttling, 91 deg C, sustained: 2.9GHz @ 19W, fan 3400rpm, but core utilization was only 66%?)
MBA: 863 (thermal throttled after 1 minute, 100 deg C, sustained only 1.7 GHz @ 10W, even with fan at 100%)
Unigine Heaven on extreme preset (graphics test):
MBP: Score of 210 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.6, max FPS of 17
MBA: Score of 209 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.5, max FPS of 16.5
So the MBA is slightly better in terms of CPU, but has the potential to be much better if cooling was improved, and very marginally worse in terms of graphics? I don't understand that because it is supposed to have much better G7 integrated graphics. Maybe Unigine is too old of a test?
Results:
Cinebench R20 (CPU test):
MBP: 710 (no thermal throttling, 91 deg C, sustained: 2.9GHz @ 19W, fan 3400rpm, but core utilization was only 66%?)
MBA: 863 (thermal throttled after 1 minute, 100 deg C, sustained only 1.7 GHz @ 10W, even with fan at 100%)
Unigine Heaven on extreme preset (graphics test):
MBP: Score of 210 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.6, max FPS of 17
MBA: Score of 209 with average FPS of 8.3, min FPS of 4.5, max FPS of 16.5
So the MBA is slightly better in terms of CPU, but has the potential to be much better if cooling was improved, and very marginally worse in terms of graphics? I don't understand that because it is supposed to have much better G7 integrated graphics. Maybe Unigine is too old of a test?
Ohhh crap, I didn't even check before but apparently they used the same cooling method as in the previous Air, so the CPU just hangs there alone with tiny heatsink on top of it, while the fan just blows the air from the chassis. That sucks, I was actually looking forward to buy it thinking that they will use active cooling like on 2017 Air.
There is something wrong with your CB score, you must have something running in the background, I'm getting 550 on 7W 12 inch Macbook. The 4 core 2019 2 TB ports makes 1500+.
I have the two core nTB base model which is why it's lower. Still not sure why my core utilisation was so low during the bench though.
The mba while habe better cpu is passively cooled, that doesn’t stand a chance against the more efficient cooling in a mbp
The Pro is going to be faster and will have better thermal management, so if you're doing intensive stuff all the time, it makes sense to go for the MBP, just like always really.
If you're not doing CPU-intensive stuff all the time, maybe an Air would be a better value option.
If you're not doing CPU-intensive stuff all the time, maybe an Air would be a better value option.