MacBook Air (2020): i5 or i7? Why?

[DeconstructThis]

Hello everyone. I’m new to the site and I’ve been a Mac user for the last 15 years. My job is forcing me to use a PC so I no longer use 15-inch MacBook Pro’s for everything.

I want to purchase the air, but I can’t decide between the i5 and the i7 model. After doing a considerable amount of research, it seems like the thermals will prevent the i7 from sustaining greater performance over the i5. There’s a lot of people on YouTube comparing the i3 with the i5, but there hardly anyone reviewing the i7 models.

I intend to use the MacBook Air as a normal productivity and hobby machine, and I plan to do some casual photo editing. I also plan to install Python and R libraries for data science, but I don’t intend to run extensive data sets through this machine. Furthermore, I would also like to use team viewer to remote into my PC for using data and automation tools like Alteryx and UIPath.

Have any of you purchased the i7 model? If so, are you content with it, or do you wish you would have purchased the i5

 

[CheesePuff]

I think you answered it yourself, due to the thermal limitations its not worth the upgrade to the i7, which only benefits in 100 MHz faster clock rate, 300 MHz faster Turbo Boost, and 2 MB more L3 cache. The L3 cache can come in handy but if its a hobby machine then no need to pay the extra $150, use that for RAM.

 

[KPOM]

Hello everyone. I’m new to the site and I’ve been a Mac user for the last 15 years. My job is forcing me to use a PC so I no longer use 15-inch MacBook Pro’s for everything.

I want to purchase the air, but I can’t decide between the i5 and the i7 model. After doing a considerable amount of research, it seems like the thermals will prevent the i7 from sustaining greater performance over the i5. There’s a lot of people on YouTube comparing the i3 with the i5, but there hardly anyone reviewing the i7 models.

I intend to use the MacBook Air as a normal productivity and hobby machine, and I plan to do some casual photo editing. I also plan to install Python and R libraries for data science, but I don’t intend to run extensive data sets through this machine. Furthermore, I would also like to use team viewer to remote into my PC for using data and automation tools like Alteryx and UIPath.

Have any of you purchased the i7 model? If so, are you content with it, or do you wish you would have purchased the i5

I have the i7, primarily because when I ordered it, the configuration was shipping sooner, and the extra $150 didn’t bother me. That said, the i5 should perform similarly in daily use because under sustained CPU loads, both the i5 and i7 will top out at less than their theoretical maximums. Apple uses the low-power 10W chips vs. the higher power 15W chips in the 13” Pro. I did see one YouTube review of the i7 vs. the i5 at the link below. He did recommend the i7, but if it’s a choice between the i7 and 16GB, I’d go with 16GB.

 

[magbarn]

This is my i7, 2 days on to make sure indexing is done

This is the i5

You think it's worth it?

I don't think so....

 

[Loog]

This is my I7 45 mins into a video conference with limited applications running and 15% utilisation.

While mine may be faulty or unique, there is no ignoring that you cannot push these machines at all for prolonged periods of time.

Battery life is also much lower than the MBA 2018, a full day is unlikely unless you dim displays and limit turbo boost. Sadly I've just taken the decision to requested a return on mine and will keep hold of my 2018 for a little bit longer... I think the story of heat issues will unfold as more people have these devices.

When not pushed at all they are very responsive but I'm my opinion have taken a step away from their core mantra, ultra portable all day battery laptop that's silent. Look, feel and aesthetics are perfect as always. The new magic keyboard may be better for some, however I've come to love the butterfly version and personally prefer that now (I hope that mine doesn't fail after this comment!)

 

[hector]

This is my I7 45 mins into a video conference with limited applications running and 15% utilisation.

While mine may be faulty or unique, there is no ignoring that you cannot push these machines at all for prolonged periods of time.

Battery life is also much lower than the MBA 2018, a full day is unlikely unless you dim displays and limit turbo boost. Sadly I've just taken the decision to requested a return on mine and will keep hold of my 2018 for a little bit longer... I think the story of heat issues will unfold as more people have these devices.

When not pushed at all they are very responsive but I'm my opinion have taken a step away from their core mantra, ultra portable all day battery laptop that's silent. Look, feel and aesthetics are perfect as always. The new magic keyboard may be better for some, however I've come to love the butterfly version and personally prefer that now (I hope that mine doesn't fail after this comment!)

I agree with this - I pulled the trigger on an i7 on the assumption it was the sensible choice for a machine I wanted to keep for a long time - replacing my trusty 2013 MBP.

The air is lighter and prettier, but honestly doesn't seem worth the upgrade, so reckon I'm going to return it and wait for the new MBP.

 

[Loog]

I agree with this - I pulled the trigger on an i7 on the assumption it was the sensible choice for a machine I wanted to keep for a long time - replacing my trusty 2013 MBP.

The air is lighter and prettier, but honestly doesn't seem worth the upgrade, so reckon I'm going to return it and wait for the new MBP.

That was my thought, long term relationship, I even opted for 1TB and apple care. Now like you I'm going to wait and see what the new MBP brings and make a choice then. Having had 2018 and 2020 back to back the 2018 isn't a bad machine at all if you want battery life and accept the performance, which wasn't fundamentally different to my 2014 i7. I would advocate 16GB where possible, this makes so much difference with a few MS apps open and a couple of web web tabs.

 

[Pugly]

I'm curious about the differences, but it doesn't seem worth it. It is a little faster, but really a hard upgrade to get at $150 for maybe 5% improvement... When going to the i5 is basically double performance for $100.

I bought the i7 on my current 2015 Air, and that seemed a better upgrade. It's more like 15% faster... I was hoping for a similar boost, but I guess not.

 

[nobackup]

At the end of the day this will be like the MacBook 12" discussion 3 years ago, most user found that the i5 more ram and bigger SSD was the way to go ... best balance between performance and battery ... I'm sure that this will end up being the same here the i7 in the MacBook also only gave marginal performance enhancements over the i5/i3 remember at the time they were all just dual core ... still using mine today .. but thinking of moving to an AIR i5/16gb/512 or 1tb as soon as i can actual get an order in, need to go to the local official dealer and have them order it (still on lock down here) no apple store here ... YMMV

 

[AirBud]

It seems clear to me to get the i5 and save the $150 for an upgrade in a couple years or on extra RAM/storage.

 

[magbarn]

At the end of the day this will be like the MacBook 12" discussion 3 years ago, most user found that the i5 more ram and bigger SSD was the way to go ... best balance between performance and battery ... I'm sure that this will end up being the same here the i7 in the MacBook also only gave marginal performance enhancements over the i5/i3 remember at the time they were all just dual core ... still using mine today .. but thinking of moving to an AIR i5/16gb/512 or 1tb as soon as i can actual get an order in, need to go to the local official dealer and have them order it (still on lock down here) no apple store here ... YMMV

This is basically it. I was going to get the m7 of the MacBook, but after seeing the initial reviews got the m5 cpu instead. I was fooled as my last MBA I owned (2015) was an i7 model and back in those days the performance delta was much more significant vs the i5.

In 2015 by upgrading the MBA back then to the i7 model brought it close to then MBP performance. Now, even the i7 model falls well short of the latest i5 MBP versions. I believe that's where some of the angst (mine included) is coming from.