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If you care about thermals in the MBA 2020, get the i3 version.
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Here is a screenshot of my "insanely hot, airplane level fans" during normal operation. This is on the 3rd day and looks to be even cooler than yesterday. The Maxtechs and 100 chrome tab users have really overblown the heat and fans on this laptop. If you use Safari you won't have as many problems. (i5/16gb)
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sorry if you felt like I dissed your i5 purchase, wasn't the intention, I'll make sure to add some sort of disclaimer next time as to clarify that.
Its almost as if the title wasn't for people already have the MacBook?
you point out people who have the i5 that said its fine, but completely dismiss all the people who said their i5 was overheating and have loud fans often, even the person who replied to this very thread? literally like 6 threads about thermals on the front page of the forum. All I was doing is showing my experience with the i3 that doesn't have the issues that I've seen people saying the i5 has. it wasn't a diss to your i5 or other peoples i7s. I even said I might swap it for an i5 after someone pointed out theirs doesn't overheat.
this was just my experience with the i3, sorry if you felt like I was knocking your purchase.
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good 8-9 hours with me! I'm at 90 to 85 brightness most of the time!
Perhaps there are different batches or a flaw in earlier hardware that got made. A lot of these Air's may have been made months in advance, I ordered on April 6th with BTO which may be a tweak different from someone else's hardware. Just a guess but maybe that explains different experiences. Today my fan has been at 0rpm.
I didn't feel like you were knocking my purchase nor did I care if you did. You wanted a dramatic title and you did it.
I never dismissed one person. I never said they didn't have any issues. I said if one doesn't;t work for you then go up a level and see if that one works for you. The person right above your post sure is having issues with his thermals. Did you see those pics?
It would be no different in creating a headline that said "If you want a perfect performer get an i5."
Can someone with more knowledge on the subject, explain to me even why an i5 would run hotter than the i3 doing the same basic tasks? Don't the cores only kick in when needed, so if anything the i3 is being asked to do more work when doing the basics, than its big brother?
Thanks for sharing your experience and trying to help people man - it's not like you can make money off clicks or whatever, I'm not sure what else they think your motivations could have been.
Sample size of one, but my 2020 i3 ran 10-15c cooler at idle and 30-40c cooler under moderate load compared to my i5.
The title of your post doesn't say 'the i3 is the ONLY configuration that is thermally good' or 'you're all stupid for buying the i5/i7' or 'anyone who says their i5/i7 runs cool for their uses is LYING.' That'd be dramatic.
Unlike, say, stating what's in all likelihood an objective fact ('a dual core Intel chip on the same architecture gets less hot, less often, than a quad core, and in turn heats up less of the surrounding components and chassis'). I am in firm agreement with you - if thermals are a big concern for a buyer, especially if they're coming from a previous gen Macbook Air, the i3 is the way to go. 👍
Thanks again.
Because: "My use cases are minor mind, I don’t use light room or do any kind of photo/video editing. My MacBook is used for browsing and admin work".
You would be better off getting the i3. An i3 from 2014 could handle your workload, let alone this new one.
Is this passive aggression, I can't tell? I simply used your own quote to show you why you aren't having issues with temps. Do you think I'm personally invested in your purchase or something?I’d don’t get that one tho, I got the i5what you gonna do?
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Anybody posting temps, post the load you are using. It's not impressive that a machine runs at 40*C on idle, it's barely more impressive that it is 50*C when loading 10 safari tabs. I'm fairly divested from the MBA now and am 95% sure the new MBP is the one for me. I hope people here continue to find more mods, it's a great way to increase product longevity and is good fun during quarantine.
Because of the binning process. The i3 comes from a quad-core die with two cores disabled. During the test and pack process, Intel can choose two of the four lowest power cores, which is often lower than max. TDP.
For the i5, Intel wouldn't sell a "better than expected" chip as a 1.1 GHz i5. If the chip performs better than expected in terms of power, Intel would use that power headroom and sell it a 1.2 GHz i5 or i7.
I love how Max Tech always refers to the Macbook Air's FAN as "fans." Uhh, there's one fan bro.Here is a screenshot of my "insanely hot, airplane level fans" during normal operation. This is on the 3rd day and looks to be even cooler than yesterday. The Maxtechs and 100 chrome tab users have really overblown the heat and fans on this laptop. If you use Safari you won't have as many problems. (i5/16gb)
He's a straight up fool. It sucks that his commentary of the Macbook Air has been the most popular and profitable for him, but the reviews and insights designed to actually inform (Notebookcheck, Anandtech staff, etc) generate far less revenue and don't cut through to help people make buying decisions.
Blargh.
Same here, it's fast and cool, the only time it raised up to 80ºC was during an intensive benchmark that I run to test this fact. The resto of time the machine isn't hot but works very fast. DOn't forget this is a 10th gen i3 which is faster than the 8th gen i5 that was inside previous airs.
And don't be fooled by marketing tricks, car makers use the same tactics in order to make us believe that the "middle" model is the no brainer cause the lowest one would have lack of power and the big one too much for a lot of money, making us buying what they want us to buy (potential customers are using this reasoning since 30 years ago when Horse Power was much lower, which is weird). Many many times the base model is powerful enough to meet our needs, just try it.
And don't be fooled by marketing tricks, car makers use the same tactics in order to make us believe that the "middle" model is the no brainer cause the lowest one would have lack of power and the big one too much for a lot of money, making us buying what they want us to buy (potential customers are using this reasoning since 30 years ago when Horse Power was much lower, which is weird). Many many times the base model is powerful enough to meet our needs, just try it.
They probably don't work at all - I think Zoom requires a quad core processor to enable virtual backgrounds, so the 2020 i3 doesn't meet the minimum specs. There was a thread here where someone asked the same question, I'm parrotting that info.
Yup - my question was intended to be leading
I think from the get-go that Zoom disallows virtual backgrounds on dual-core CPUs, so no go on the i3 but should be fine on the 2020 i5. I'm unsure why they establish that distinction but they do - and others could follow.
Yeah I've heard a lot of people advocating for the i5 for 'future proofing'. If more and more basic software introduces quad-core as a minimum spec, then I'll pay that line of thought.
I don't know if it's going to be a future trend though. For example, right now I use an in-house developed VTC app and it is way more processor efficient/secure than Zoom for enterprise stuff. I have to use Zoom because it's what my family uses, but as soon as they switch, I'll switch. Facebook (and probably ever other big tech company) is developing the Zoom killer. I think Zoom's going to end up being the Myspace of multi-party mass adopted VTC apps.
For now though I think it's just Zoom being very very poorly optimised and people having to use it because of Covid. I think probably for the vast majority of cross-platform software developers, the minute they slap minimum specs on something, that's when people go 'meh, I'll use something else.'
But if others do follow and go with quad core minimum specs for stuff, I'll eat my crow
Oh I expect you’re correct.
Never much been on the future proofing bandwagon, but still good to know of existing limitations.
For work I use Webex and Trams - on my work computer - and while I’d heard of zoom I’d not used it until this covid19 stuff and its adoption y church and social connections.
Even then while virtual backgrounds are fun they’re by no means necessary for most folks other than the poster whose work requires it (still want to learn the rationale there).
I guess my point was merely to illustrate there are real differences in i3 vs i5 which folks should take into account in their choosing which is the best fit to their needs.
now if only my delivered-today MBA will finish with the migration assistant restoration from TM... 😎
Still better than 9-5, who on their video review recommends you get 16GB ram so that your MacBook Air will 'run better'.
what app is this?Here is a screenshot of my "insanely hot, airplane level fans" during normal operation. This is on the 3rd day and looks to be even cooler than yesterday. The Maxtechs and 100 chrome tab users have really overblown the heat and fans on this laptop. If you use Safari you won't have as many problems. (i5/16gb)