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Latest MBA powerful enough for my workload?

irock101

irock101

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
371
70
Hey,
I am currently using a 15" 2018 but I am running out of hard disc space and the touchbar is nothing for me.
Thinking about getting a maxed out MBA 2020 but I am not sure it can handle my workload.

I am always running a VM ware with windows 10 next to MacOS and switch back and forth with mission control all day long.
Chrome has 40+ tabs running due to my work, telegram, skype, signal, messenger, mail are also running.

On the VM with Windows I am running chrome, skype, flashfxp.

Will the MBA able to handle that or will be pushed to the max? I am also using running a 34" external thunderbolt display at work.
I know its a lot to handle and I should probably stick with the pro-line up and besides the annoying touchbar and running out of space i have no reason to change my machine. It runs perfectly fine but that I am unable to upgrade the HD is the biggest reason for me to upgrade.
 
The 2020 MBAs cpu is passively cooled, there is a fan in the chassis but not directly over the CPU heatsink, if you are running VM's I would personally stick with an actively cooled machine like the Pro. I think the MBA would handle it but it would be Hot and noisy.
 
torana355 said:
The 2020 MBAs cpu is passively cooled, there is a fan in the chassis but not directly over the CPU heatsink, if you are running VM's I would personally stick with an actively cooled machine like the Pro. I think the MBA would handle it but it would be Hot and noisy.
Click to expand...

The 2020 MBA heat sink is bigger and the fan is the same as the previous model.

It does depend on how hard you push the windows VM, but I plan a similar workload on mine and will see how it goes next week. I was doing the same on a 2015 13" pro before and this machine so far seems faster and has 2x the RAM (16GB) and 2x the cores (i7).

If you're coming from a 15" machine though it will definitely be slower and working hard to do it.

If you can wait for (and justify spending more on) the 2020 13" pro, it will be a better machine for it.
 
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throAU said:
The 2020 MBA heat sink is bigger and the fan is the same as the previous model.

It does depend on how hard you push the windows VM, but I plan a similar workload on mine and will see how it goes next week. I was doing the same on a 2015 13" pro before and this machine so far seems faster and has 2x the RAM (16GB) and 2x the cores (i7).

If you're coming from a 15" machine though it will definitely be slower and working hard to do it.

If you can wait for (and justify spending more on) the 2020 13" pro, it will be a better machine for it.
Click to expand...
From what I've read the bigger heatsink is not enough to cool the quadcore efficiently, meaning the fan needs to run at higher rpm compared to an actively cooled solution. The 2020 mba will handle the workload easily but I suspect at the expense of significant fan noise. I own a 2018 mba and it is quiet but it's a dual core and only a 7.5watt tdp chip.

Imo Apple should have implemented a similar design to the mbp on the quadcore mba which uses a heatpipe which effectively makes it an actively cooled solution.
 
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Thanks for the input. I travel with my macbook to work every day, which is not a big issue but the MBA is just more compact and I can spec it with a 2TB drive and 16gb ram as well. Just the slow processor makes me think twice about the purchase.
Shame that Apple doesn't have any PRO model without the useless touchbar anymore.
 
That was my fear. Don't want to buy one, then do the full time machine restore just to find out it can't handle my workload.
Is there any option besides external drives to 'upgrade' the storage on the 2018 MBP?
 
To your problem, doesn’t an external SSD sound like a better and cheaper solution?!
 
akash.nu said:
To your problem, doesn’t an external SSD sound like a better and cheaper solution?!
Click to expand...


Cheaper? Sure.

better? External drives on a laptop to do your work SUCK. Being tethered to stuff with cables SUCKS. Especially external storage, which will totally corrupt your work if you knock the drive out while working.

Might be OK if you're on a desk all day, but if that's the case why are you using a laptop?
 
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throAU said:
Cheaper? Sure.

better? External drives on a laptop to do your work SUCK. Being tethered to stuff with cables SUCKS. Especially external storage, which will totally corrupt your work if you knock the drive out while working.

Might be OK if you're on a desk all day, but if that's the case why are you using a laptop?
Click to expand...

You can keep things you’re working on actively on the laptop and move unwanted data to the external storage. It’s just a matter of having an optimised workflow.
 
My advice is to wait for the release of the MBP13 or 14
the +
It will be as compact as MBA (+100g) and powerful enough for your duty and VM
The -
It will be more expansive and TB is mandatory (not the case with the first MBP TB in 2016-17)
 
akash.nu said:
You can keep things you’re working on actively on the laptop and move unwanted data to the external storage. It’s just a matter of having an optimised workflow.
Click to expand...

You're still wasting time playing storage administrator and waiting for files to copy around and risking making a mistake (do I have a backup of this file somewhere? who knows?). And waiting for massive time machine backups on your system because you're doing such a large rate of change. And what happens with time machine backups of your external drive? Hint: it isn't backed up by time machine.

Nah. I maintain the idea of: screw that noise. It's stupid. If you can afford it, its a far, far better proposition to get adequate internal storage. In fact, I would suggest dropping CPU spec and possibly even RAM (so long as you are sure it's "enough") to get enough storage to work properly is a better idea.

Particularly for a portable machine that you are likely to use on your lap, aircraft tray table, etc. where an external drive is likely to get knocked/unplugged/lost/etc.

Desktop? less critical.
 
throAU said:
You're still wasting time playing storage administrator and waiting for files to copy around and risking making a mistake (do I have a backup of this file somewhere? who knows?). And waiting for massive time machine backups on your system because you're doing such a large rate of change. And what happens with time machine backups of your external drive? Hint: it isn't backed up by time machine.

Nah. I maintain the idea of: screw that noise. It's stupid. If you can afford it, its a far, far better proposition to get adequate internal storage.
Click to expand...

With that mindset no storage is enough though. After a certain time you’re going to hit the max limit even on a bigger capacity. Of course it depends on the work one is doing and how much storage they’re actively using.

Personally, I like a scalable solution without much headache. Really depends on individual workflow to some extent.
 
My main issue with the external storage is, that I have to make backups manually so for every external drive I have to buy a second one to back it up.
Using some cloud storage too but its not the same as having everything on your internal HD. 1TB internal hdd space would do it for.
With the replies I might just go for the 16" since its more powerful than the 13" and I won't get around the touchbar.
MBA doesn't seem to be future proof, if some users already suggest I might run into performance issues. Maxing out the storage on the 16" makes the most sense to me now.
Selling the current MBP I am using will bring down my purchase costs down around $2k give or take, so it's not too big of of a financial burden.
 
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I would wait a few weeks to see if the rumoured MBP 13/14 2020 is announced. I'm very likely to buy the MBA with the 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, with 8MB L3 cache but I'm waiting to see if the MBP comes out soon.
 
throAU said:
You're still wasting time playing storage administrator and waiting for files to copy around and risking making a mistake (do I have a backup of this file somewhere? who knows?). And waiting for massive time machine backups on your system because you're doing such a large rate of change. And what happens with time machine backups of your external drive? Hint: it isn't backed up by time machine.
Click to expand...

Small correction....Time Machine can backup externals, but doesn't do so by default. By default they are excluded so you have to remove them from the exclusion list.

But I do agree needing externals with a laptop is a pain, but modern small ones like Samsung T5s have improved things.
 
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re: the windows virtual machine ? Why ? You could have a well spec'd desktop PC with raid disks and have much less worry about performance and losing stuff.
 
sundialsoft said:
re: the windows virtual machine ? Why ? You could have a well spec'd desktop PC with raid disks and have much less worry about performance and losing stuff.
Click to expand...

Developing software that needs to be tested 'on the fly' in both environments. Easier to carry one laptop than two ;)
 
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irock101 said:
Hey,
I am currently using a 15" 2018 but I am running out of hard disc space and the touchbar is nothing for me.
Thinking about getting a maxed out MBA 2020 but I am not sure it can handle my workload.

I am always running a VM ware with windows 10 next to MacOS and switch back and forth with mission control all day long.
Chrome has 40+ tabs running due to my work, telegram, skype, signal, messenger, mail are also running.

On the VM with Windows I am running chrome, skype, flashfxp.

Will the MBA able to handle that or will be pushed to the max? I am also using running a 34" external thunderbolt display at work.
I know its a lot to handle and I should probably stick with the pro-line up and besides the annoying touchbar and running out of space i have no reason to change my machine. It runs perfectly fine but that I am unable to upgrade the HD is the biggest reason for me to upgrade.
Click to expand...
It would work, but it would be considerably slower, particularly if you are running Chrome, Skype etc. in the virtual machines. The 13" Pro even with the 1.4GHz processor is much better at multitasking since the CPU has a better cooling system.
 
irock101 said:
Developing software that needs to be tested 'on the fly' in both environments. Easier to carry one laptop than two ;)
Click to expand...
I bought VMWare Fusion for Mac then they upgraded it and wanted most of the money again so I dropped it. I have an old shoebox PC that just manages to run windows 10.
 
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