Is the base MBA worth it? (i3, 8GB, 256GB SSD). Did anyone purchase it and is completely happy with it?

[bsfull]

I am interested in purchasing the new MBA due to its portability and the improved keyboard, and as a back-up for my 15 inch MBP.

Although I don't perform intensive tasks like video editing or programming, I use the Chrome browser with lots of tabs, Office and PDF with lots of images and graphics, occasional conference calls and Youtube.

Do you think I would regret not upgrading any of the components? Also, should I wait until 6/22 WWDC because they might announce refreshed MBA?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[adrianstuartt]

I love mine, but i did have to modify the heatsink a bit so the fan would stay quiet for 1080p60 videos. The i3 being a dualcore is going to be more affected by the less than stellar thermals of the design. I'm normally a windows user and picked this up to be my premium chromebook, so-to-speak. The i5 variant is a better all-around device, less dependent on clockspeeds by having a quadcore cpu so while it still gets warm, seems to stay quiet for most tasks. More performance can yet be squeezed out of that with modification as well. And will of course hold up better longterm.

I think the i3/base is adequate for your usecase as well, just be prepared to circle back if fan noise becomes a nuisance

 

[AAPLGeek]

I love mine, but i did have to modify the heatsink a bit so the fan would stay quiet for 1080p60 videos. The i3 being a dualcore is going to be more affected by the less than stellar thermals of the design. I'm normally a windows user and picked this up to be my premium chromebook, so-to-speak. The i5 variant is a better all-around device, less dependent on clockspeeds by having a quadcore cpu so while it still gets warm, seems to stay quiet for most tasks. More performance can yet be squeezed out of that with modification as well. And will of course hold up better longterm.

I think the i3/base is adequate for your usecase as well, just be prepared to circle back if fan noise becomes a nuisance

It's the other way around.

i3 is cooler and quieter than the i5 model during similar workloads.

Apple MacBook Air 2020 Review

 

[ctjack]

Also you could re-evaluate your needs. In my practice i found out that i am too sticky to particular setup: i had desktop + 2 laptops at the same time and ended up using every time only single laptop. But YMMV.
I was also looking for cars and i found out that people who have 5 cars have problems with justifying the mileage of the cars. So they bought everything new, but only traveled 5000 miles on each. This way it becomes underused for the price paid.

 

[G5isAlive]

I am interested in purchasing the new MBA due to its portability and the improved keyboard, and as a back-up for my 15 inch MBP.

Although I don't perform intensive tasks like video editing or programming, I use the Chrome browser with lots of tabs, Office and PDF with lots of images and graphics, occasional conference calls and Youtube.

Do you think I would regret not upgrading any of the components? Also, should I wait until 6/22 WWDC because they might announce refreshed MBA?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

1) The MBA was just updated a couple of months ago so, no, it won’t be updated 6/22.
2) several people report that due to thermal throttling of the i5, the i3 often does almost as well and obviously is a bigger bargain.
3) but can you live with only 256 Gb storage?
4) the wild card is chrome. It’s a known resources hog.
5) but for a backup device... if your price sensitive the base model is fine.
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I love mine, but i did have to modify the heatsink a bit so the fan would stay quiet for 1080p60 videos. The i3 being a dualcore is going to be more affected by the less than stellar thermals of the design. I'm normally a windows user and picked this up to be my premium chromebook, so-to-speak. The i5 variant is a better all-around device, less dependent on clockspeeds by having a quadcore cpu so while it still gets warm, seems to stay quiet for most tasks. More performance can yet be squeezed out of that with modification as well. And will of course hold up better longterm.

I think the i3/base is adequate for your usecase as well, just be prepared to circle back if fan noise becomes a nuisance

i‘ve followed your heat sink mod with interest but won’t be doing it myself because it’s simply not worth voiding the warrantee for me or the drop in resale value. I also wonder about the long term impact of the mod. I believe your performance numbers just don’t believe in conspiracy theories or that Apple engineers are idiots. to muck with a highly tweaked design may have long term consequences

 

[adrianstuartt]

It's the other way around.

i3 is cooler and quieter than the i5 model during similar workloads.

Apple MacBook Air 2020 Review

I can't speak for that review unit, but from the extensive heatsink thread i was able to safely surmise that in more intensive tasks, the i5 variants stayed comparatively quiet whereas my i3 wanted to take flight merely watching a 1080p 60fps video on YT. Based on the _numerous_ reports on this forum, i don't expect my particular unit was defective as shipped. Only in design. Was easily remedied, though.

1) The MBA was just updated a couple of months ago so, no, it won’t be updated 6/22.
2) several people report that due to thermal throttling of the i5, the i3 often does almost as well and obviously is a bigger bargain.
3) but can you live with only 256 Gb storage?
4) the wild card is chrome. It’s a known resources hog.
5) but for a backup device... if your price sensitive the base model is fine.
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i‘ve followed your heat sink mod with interest but won’t be doing it myself because it’s simply not worth voiding the warrantee for me or the drop in resale value. I also wonder about the long term impact of the mod. I believe your performance numbers just don’t believe in conspiracy theories or that Apple engineers are idiots. to muck with a highly tweaked design may have long term consequences

Technically, these units aren't thermal throttling in the sense that they are dropping below their base spec of 1.1 or 1.2ghz. They are simply incapable of sustaining their max turbo boosts, which is technically an overclock for these computers. The i5 will typically drop to 1.8ghz under sustained all core loads while my i3 seems to drop to about 2.2ghz all core sustained load. regardless, due to improvements in software development, far more cpu intensive software today is massively better off with more threads than a slight increase in clock speed.

I can understand your fear of apple, but it's just a computer and better thermal transfer is better thermal transfer. Not every aspect of design is better for the consumer. sometimes, it's just about making money. As an investor, you should appreciate that.

 

[G5isAlive]

Technically, these units aren't thermal throttling in the sense that they are dropping below their base spec of 1.1 or 1.2ghz. They are simply incapable of sustaining their max turbo boosts, which is technically an overclock for these computers. The i5 will typically drop to 1.8ghz under sustained all core loads while my i3 seems to drop to about 2.2ghz all core sustained load. regardless, due to improvements in software development, far more cpu intensive software today is massively better off with more threads than a slight increase in clock speed.

I can understand your fear of apple, but it's just a computer and better thermal transfer is better thermal transfer. Not every aspect of design is better for the consumer. sometimes, it's just about making money. As an investor, you should appreciate that.

I hear you on your points regarding core speeds and loads, but I think you may be over generalizing you tube threading... and I have no clue why you equate fear with healthy skepticism. There have been numerous accounts here from people complaining about ultra thin ribbon cables leading to broken displays etc. It simplistic to think you can open the computer, cram some junk in and that you aren't going to effect anything else except thermal transfer. And while you are improving thermal transfer from the CPU, how can you be so sure you are not restricting airflow and changing thermal loads elsewhere. Not buying the Evil Corporate Apple just does bad designs to make money. It is too easy to say. But thats just my opinion, would love an update from you on your experiment in a couple years time. Like I originally said, its intriguing. Now an argument on why apple didn't invest in redesigning the cooling design that I have been considering is because they don't have to. Next year's Airbook could be an arm chip with much much lower heat characteristics, and well, in my opinion this year's pretty much does what most of us want it to do.

 

[Micky Do]

I am interested in purchasing the new MBA due to its portability and the improved keyboard, and as a back-up for my 15 inch MBP.

Although I don't perform intensive tasks like video editing or programming, I use the Chrome browser with lots of tabs, Office and PDF with lots of images and graphics, occasional conference calls and Youtube.

Do you think I would regret not upgrading any of the components? Also, should I wait until 6/22 WWDC because they might announce refreshed MBA?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Wondering why you want a laptop to be a back-up for a laptop......

That being said, if it is just a back-up, not your main machine, the base model could well be fine with just the off the shop shelf specs.

I have the pre-butterfly keyboard MBA, which I bought to supplement my Mac Mini desktop when I started to need something to take to work (as a teacher) most days. Prior to that I would take the Mini to work on the odd occasion that I needed a computer in class, hooked up to a LCD projector.

Performance was more than adequate for my needs, and the puny 128 GB SSD was liveable with in a laptop. The bulk of my storage needs were taken care of on the desktop.

In an itinerant phase of life at present, the Mini is now in storage, and the Air has become my mainstay. Obviously 128 GB of storage was not going to be enough, so I had it replaced with a 500 GB SSD (a modification not possible with any of the current generation of MacBooks), and am satisfied with that.

I look forward to the day that I can settle down somewhere and set up my desktop again. Using decent sized separate peripherals is preferable to all in one on a poky little laptop, in my point of view.

My point is, why get a second computer that does essentially the same job as the one you already have?

You might be better served with a desktop and a laptop complementing each other. If some transportability is a requirement the Mac Mini could be the way to go (but do go for more storage than the 256 GB that comes with the base model). Otherwise consider an iMac....

Just a thought, based on my experience, take it or leave it.