I've said it before and will say it again - most folks (currently) would be just fine with 8GB of memory for the next few years. Some do truly need the added capacity. If you have to ask, you probably don't need it - Typically those who do need it already know.Got it thanks- that makes a lot of sense. If I planned to keep this machine for 4-5 years I'd probably spring for the 16, but knowing me I'll want one of the ARM based machines in 2-3 years so maybe I'll wait til then
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MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews
- Thread starter Untapped Potential
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Had this machine for a week now. 50% of the way through the return policy. Leaning towards keeping it as of now..
i5/8/256. Runs great, also 95% decided if I do keep the machine I'm keeping my 2016 nTB too just because I Don't want to set up windows on this one / migrate all my data / worry about what's left behind what isnt
would rather just start fresh. plus love the silver nTB and SG MBA contrast. my MBP is still on 10.12.6 as well, so this is my first crack at Catalina
been using it for pretty casual computing, and its perfect for that imo. Digging the keyboard and True Tone and wedged body. even though its only 0.2lbs lighter than my NTB, its shape makes it feel a bit lighter than just 0.2lbs shaved off.
Plus first quad core, even if throttled, compared to my dual core i5 NTB
--
$999 for i5 with edu is just such a spectacular deal for what the laptop offers imo too. Priced so excellently.
i5/8/256. Runs great, also 95% decided if I do keep the machine I'm keeping my 2016 nTB too just because I Don't want to set up windows on this one / migrate all my data / worry about what's left behind what isnt
would rather just start fresh. plus love the silver nTB and SG MBA contrast. my MBP is still on 10.12.6 as well, so this is my first crack at Catalina
been using it for pretty casual computing, and its perfect for that imo. Digging the keyboard and True Tone and wedged body. even though its only 0.2lbs lighter than my NTB, its shape makes it feel a bit lighter than just 0.2lbs shaved off.
Plus first quad core, even if throttled, compared to my dual core i5 NTB
--
$999 for i5 with edu is just such a spectacular deal for what the laptop offers imo too. Priced so excellently.
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Maybe they bought too much computer when buying the MBP. Keep in mind many folks bought an MBP because the MBA wasn't updated with a retina display until 2018. And even in 2017 all the MBA saw was an SSD update. So it was badly in need of an update back then.What people have to understand is simple :
If you already have a MBA, upgrade to the next MBA
If you have a MBP, please upgrade to to the next MBP.
I don't understand why people get from a better Mac to a lower Mac and still expect something to happen.
You'll always be disappointed. It's like I have Volvo and I downgrade to a Toyota. Come on guys !
My humble opinion !
There's also the upgrade cycle. i got 4-5 years our of my 2010 11.1" Air. I've gotten 5-6 years out of my 2015 13" pro. I like the 12-13" size. I don't want a 14"+ laptop. So I'm leaning heavily towards this Air, but realize an Air is more of a 4 year investment whereas a pro is likely a 5-6 year.
The size was a big factor for me as well. I thought about what I actually need powerwise. I've been using a iMac 2010 i3 for the past 10 years that has held up well for me. I considered the 16" i9 but I honestly wouldn't probably use all of that power, and its just too big. The portability is way more important for me. I've had a 15 mbp in the past and its honestly just too bulky for me to use casually on the couch.
I have stopped trying to future proof. I think that is where the biggest uncertainty is and as a result, the most indecisiveness. I decided to buy the min spec for what I need now, and if I have to upgrade in a year, that is fine. So I essentially went from:
2010 MBP ->
2017 MBP nTB 16/512 ->
2019 MBP 4TBP 16/512 -> (didn't like & 2TB appeared so returned)
2019 MBP 2TBP 16/512* -> (didn't like build quality & touch bar so returned)
2019 MBA 8/256
* This is when my philosophy changed.
Really like the last machine and in no hurry to upgrade, but if I did it would be to a 2020 MBA i3/8/256 just for the better keyboard, but maybe I also see some improvement from graphics and RAM & SSD speeds.
Agreed. Systems & app demands aren't changing like they once were (I go back to original Macintosh days), the biggest thing is try to figure your usage needs for the next 3-5 years. Buy that with a little headroom to accommodate moderate unexpected changes.
I am a student. I am learning Javascript (Front-End). Will the MBA 2020 (i5 8gb 256ssd) be enough for me? How is the temperature?
One thing the 2020 MBA is superior to my 2019 MBP 16 is: staying quiet when driving a 4K screen with scaling. The GPU on these ice lake chips is pretty good and it doesn't consume close to 20 watts of power like the AMD GPU does in my MBP 16. It's also buttery smooth, so it's a plus!!
looking at upgrading from my 2016 MacBook Pro.
MacBook Air is a solid laptop for the price only thing holding me back from buying one is it hasn't got a p3 wide colour gamut display that's a deal breaker for me.
guess I'll hold off till apple release the 14 inch MacBook Pro.
That’s great news, I plan to drive my ultra wide 34, non 4K screen. I was debating between the 16mbp and the Air and went air. Are you happy with the Air so far for what it is?
It’s better than I thought it would be but I’m still likely going to return it. My mbp 16 screen is so much better that the mba screen looks washed out and dull. It’s also noticeably dimmer. Performance of the cpu is also a let down as I wasted $150 for the i7 upgrade and it’s basically the same chip as the i5 as it throttles down to the same performance.
If you aren’t going to stress the machine then it’s a great MacBook. The gpu does feel snappier driving a 4K screen than the 2018 Mac mini that I returned which had a hard time driving 4K. It’s no good for gaming though. I installed bootcamp and Jedi fallen order runs like a slide show.
Yeah, if your javascript is slow on this machine it isn't the computer's fault.
You need to learn better algorithms
Aloha all, I’m a mac user since 2006, and a mba user since 2011: most recently using the 2015 i5/8/256. I bought and have been using a 2020 i5/8/512 version for four days now. I would have been okay with i3, but I really wanted 512gb, so the path of least resistance for the 512gb model was just to get an i5, too. Here are my opinions through the lens of old mba user:
1) Overall, great machine but not drastically better than the old mba style. What I love most of all is the reduced footprint. It’s very sturdy and compact.
2) I love 512gb! I lived with only 20gb free on my last mba for the past 4 years.
3) I had always worried about screen brightness on these glass-covered screens, but so far, so good. I don’t use in very bright rooms, anyway. But the reflections are at times distracting, which then forces you to increase brightness.
4) I’m a heavy but light user - meaning nothing too intensive but lots of safari, notes, emailing, photos, Citrix, etc. the only third party software that I regularly use is epson for film scanning, chrome, and Citrix.
5) Keyboard feels great - less travel than the old mba, but still okay. Honestly, if I used this keyboard for a few months and was then handed a butterfly keyboard, I would probably be okay with it.
6) I love the Touch ID for passwords. So quick.
7) I like the move to usb-c: long overdue universality that can help reduce e-waste. (But I did buy a portable hub)
8) The biggest improvement from old mba to this new design is the trackpad.
9) Now for the two most contentious issues: this runs a lot warmer than my 2015 mba, while doing less. AND this battery is DRAINING. i don’t know what’s going on, but I can literally watch the percentage drop while typing this. Indexing? Doesn’t seem right. But these things can and should be corrected with updates.
cheers
1) Overall, great machine but not drastically better than the old mba style. What I love most of all is the reduced footprint. It’s very sturdy and compact.
2) I love 512gb! I lived with only 20gb free on my last mba for the past 4 years.
3) I had always worried about screen brightness on these glass-covered screens, but so far, so good. I don’t use in very bright rooms, anyway. But the reflections are at times distracting, which then forces you to increase brightness.
4) I’m a heavy but light user - meaning nothing too intensive but lots of safari, notes, emailing, photos, Citrix, etc. the only third party software that I regularly use is epson for film scanning, chrome, and Citrix.
5) Keyboard feels great - less travel than the old mba, but still okay. Honestly, if I used this keyboard for a few months and was then handed a butterfly keyboard, I would probably be okay with it.
6) I love the Touch ID for passwords. So quick.
7) I like the move to usb-c: long overdue universality that can help reduce e-waste. (But I did buy a portable hub)
8) The biggest improvement from old mba to this new design is the trackpad.
9) Now for the two most contentious issues: this runs a lot warmer than my 2015 mba, while doing less. AND this battery is DRAINING. i don’t know what’s going on, but I can literally watch the percentage drop while typing this. Indexing? Doesn’t seem right. But these things can and should be corrected with updates.
cheers
Check for photoanalysisd and other iCloud-y stuff going on from logging into iCloud on a new machine.
Mine took a few days of use (and that was running on AC for most of it, and pretty much all day for those days) for the battery life / cpu background activity to settle down. If you can, leave it plugged in and awake on AC.
Ditto for initial time machine backup, if you use it - it will need to do a full backup initially.
If you're consuming significantly more than say 10% per hour doing "normal web stuff" then something is wrong (maybe some bad software in the background or initial setup/sync type tasks still going on). My battery life estimates doing general browsing with safari, etc. after a week are 10-12 hours. 8-9 hours remaining typically after using on battery it for 3 hours... on the i7 model (I haven't used on battery for more than 5 hours and it still had 50+ percent remaining). I am running the latest update for Catalina (10.15.4)
If you're using chrome or something other than safari, try safari.
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as much as I do like my Air and the new keyboard, I now have a fleeting thought if I should just wait for the 2020 MBP too... and just ride it out on 2016 NTB a bit longer.
brighter P3 screen, touchbar which I don't want probably forced upon me, beefier specs, probably better speakers, and I can get it for probably $1199 with edu too $200 more than my i5 upgraded base on edu. Didn't realize it was just $1199 for what will probably be an 8/256 base too.
then again, I don't want or need the touchbar, and to me that's a big negative... and wonder if I even need beefier specs for what I do honestly. My fans kick up every once in a while on my NTB but it handles heat better being a bigger size, tho I do prefer the wedge shape and the fans haven't gone up at all really but once In the past week of casual use on this one surprisingly enough whereas my NTB seems to more often these days from little activity but ramps back down pretty quick too
hmmmm $999 is really what's sweet to me to, for what im getting
brighter P3 screen, touchbar which I don't want probably forced upon me, beefier specs, probably better speakers, and I can get it for probably $1199 with edu too $200 more than my i5 upgraded base on edu. Didn't realize it was just $1199 for what will probably be an 8/256 base too.
then again, I don't want or need the touchbar, and to me that's a big negative... and wonder if I even need beefier specs for what I do honestly. My fans kick up every once in a while on my NTB but it handles heat better being a bigger size, tho I do prefer the wedge shape and the fans haven't gone up at all really but once In the past week of casual use on this one surprisingly enough whereas my NTB seems to more often these days from little activity but ramps back down pretty quick too
hmmmm $999 is really what's sweet to me to, for what im getting
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I've had mine for a few days now (arrived 1 day early) and I love it! i7/16GB/512ssd
It's only on light duties, web consumption, light graphics work photoshop / illustrator. But it frees up my PC for purely work from home duties - super heavy vfx work in Houdini and Nuke.
It's only on light duties, web consumption, light graphics work photoshop / illustrator. But it frees up my PC for purely work from home duties - super heavy vfx work in Houdini and Nuke.
I think I'm going to be sending my MBA 2020 back, before the reviews came out for the I7 I purchased in advance, I have a 2014 I7/8GB/512 and 2018/16GB/512 and opted for i7/16GB/1TB. I loaded all the software yesterday, let this settle over night and worked on this all day. Temp was around 80 - 90 deg using office, teams and fusion. Fan is ok until you hit the full 100 deg for a few minutes. Yes apps open quicker, screen is better and I'm not that taken with the magic keyboard as yet ... still love the butterfly on the 2018.
The deciding factor for me was a 1hr teams meeting, after a few mins I hit 100 deg so shut down all office apps, no better. turning off turbo boost worked for 5 mins then back to full heat and 8000rpm fans, CPU load at 15%. The heat on the desk and the bezel was way too warm, the last time I got laptops this hot was running John and Hashcat on client engagements.
While I see the benefits of the zippiness for apps opening, I cannot ignore that I cannot have video conferences without the fan spinning up to full kilter. Very disappointing outcome, i'll go back to the 2018 which is silent throughout and a little slower. Perhaps the next venture for me will be MBP 13 when this has been updated with a little less storage to compensate for the cost difference.
The deciding factor for me was a 1hr teams meeting, after a few mins I hit 100 deg so shut down all office apps, no better. turning off turbo boost worked for 5 mins then back to full heat and 8000rpm fans, CPU load at 15%. The heat on the desk and the bezel was way too warm, the last time I got laptops this hot was running John and Hashcat on client engagements.
While I see the benefits of the zippiness for apps opening, I cannot ignore that I cannot have video conferences without the fan spinning up to full kilter. Very disappointing outcome, i'll go back to the 2018 which is silent throughout and a little slower. Perhaps the next venture for me will be MBP 13 when this has been updated with a little less storage to compensate for the cost difference.
I have to concur with Loog. I'm by no means a power user, but I do use Facetime and Zoom, and I just haven't had an experience where the CPU isn't maxing out and the fans aren't at 8000 rpm. That in itself isn't a deal breaker, but the totality of the experience isn't what I wanted. I don't think these reviews are useful without any context, so:
- i5 MBA 2020 with 512gb of storage, 8gb RAM.
- This is a day 4 review. I don't use iCloud and all indexing seems to have been completed.
- I buy Macbook Airs because they have historically been cool or quiet unless running something demanding, like a game or a graphically intensive task. They're great for what I need - a portable, quiet machine for light usage. And my definition of light usage is a couple of tabs of Brave (I know, I know, Safari is better for battery, but... it's 2020), some YouTube, and the very occasional video call.
I was coming into this with a pretty open mind. I was very neutral - I didn't believe the 'it's MELTING MY FACE' reports, nor did I believe the 'it's EXACTLY THE SAME AS EVERY OTHER MACBOOK'. I wanted to make up my own mind.
For context, I am coming from a 2019 dual core i5 MBA.
Pros (for me) -
- The keyboard really is something else. It reminds me of a better version of the 2015 Macbook Air keyboard, which was great.
- Apps open slightly faster, windows maximise and minimise faster. I'm not trying to use this for professional tasks so that's been the only noticeable benefits of a quad core i5.
Cons (for me) -
- May as well put it up front. Thermals and noise emissions. I've done some testing over the past few days and, after all the indexing was completed, the 2020 MBA i5 CPU runs about 15c on average hotter than the 2019 when there are two-three tabs of Brave open. Which leads into...
- As noted in various reviews, as soon as anything above what I'd define as my day-to-day baseline is done, (say, opening a Youtube video, or editing a word document), the CPU temperature jumps up to 100 and slowly ramps down to a steady 70-75c. Again, direct comparison, this same work on the 2019 MBA very rarely breaks 55c under these conditions.
- What does that mean? Well, for me, that's translated to noticeably much warmed surface temperatures on the case, directly where the heat sink is located. It's certainly not 'ow that burns' uncomfortable, but it's an annoyance.
- Fans, fans, fans. I've used enough Macbook Airs to know that the 2018 refresh was the first model that allowed for 0RPM fan speed (2013 and 2015 had a constant base of 1800). But with a baseline of 2700 for these models, to me, they are audible and annoying far more often than the 2019 and 2015 I'm comparing it to. They ramp up to audible-above-background noise when the machine is stressed, and (subjectively) I find that annoying, especially because it's a first in a Macbook Air that I've owned.
- My biggest let down: the battery life. Holy mother of god, it is like night and day compared to last year's model. It'd be interesting trying the i3 for comparison's sake, but, real world use - I've been using the 2020 MBA to write this, watch twenty minutes of YouTube, and scroll reddit this morning. In two hours of use, it's dropped from 95% to 65%. There's nothing significant chewing up battery power, no anomalies in regards to memory or CPU use. That's just how this machine seems to roll.
I doubt very much whether I've gotten a defective unit. It makes total sense - you add a higher TDP chip, the battery capacity remains the same, it's going to drain faster. I was expecting a reduction from 10 hours to 8 hours, not (my real world use) 10 hours to 5 hours. That's the difference, for me, between having to take a charger wherever I use the laptop, and being confident it can get me through the day.
So, in summation, I was aware that I probably didn't need an i5 for what (as you can see) is very light use. I honestly thought that the 10th gen chip would be able to suck less energy than it is, especially when the machine is running close to idle.
So really, my advice would be, have a think about what you can tolerate. If you don't need a full working day's battery life, if you mostly use this laptop on a desk and don't do what I do and couch surf/use it in bed, if you're in that in-between zone of needing a Macbook Air and a Macbook Pro, the i5 2020 MBA may well be for you. Also, if you don't care about your lap getting warm or hearing the fans more than you're used to, go right ahead.
For me, again, subjectively, I don't think this laptop is for me. Maaaybe the i3 would be the right decision (and if the Apple stores were open, I'd return this machine to test it out) because the keyboard on this honestly is a very big upgrade, but for the things I use a Macbook Air for, the i5 is not performing well at all - and I doubt that'll be improved over the coming weeks, unless the thermal paste needs to set or something weird.
That's my user review from my particular use case. Like all of these, take it with a grain of salt - I can only describe what I've experienced, and from the perspective of what I bought the laptop to do. Your experience and needs might be completely different to mine (as we all know from YouTube, one person's 'standard' workflow is another person's 'why the hell are you trying to do that on an aluminium ultrabook?').
I think if somebody could come up with a repeatable, proven mod to decrease temperatures under light load, I might hang on to it - but that still leaves the almost-halved battery life, which, for me, is the biggest downside with this new purchase.
Sorry all - I don't mean to be negative, but I wanted to be honest with my experience to help other people make their purchasing decisions. It's a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't do what you want it to. For me, unless you truly, truly hate the butterfly keyboard, if you're happy with your current Air, I'd hang on to it. If you're a light user, I'd recommend the i3 (although, as I say, I haven't been able to test it in the real world myself).
Signing off
- i5 MBA 2020 with 512gb of storage, 8gb RAM.
- This is a day 4 review. I don't use iCloud and all indexing seems to have been completed.
- I buy Macbook Airs because they have historically been cool or quiet unless running something demanding, like a game or a graphically intensive task. They're great for what I need - a portable, quiet machine for light usage. And my definition of light usage is a couple of tabs of Brave (I know, I know, Safari is better for battery, but... it's 2020), some YouTube, and the very occasional video call.
I was coming into this with a pretty open mind. I was very neutral - I didn't believe the 'it's MELTING MY FACE' reports, nor did I believe the 'it's EXACTLY THE SAME AS EVERY OTHER MACBOOK'. I wanted to make up my own mind.
For context, I am coming from a 2019 dual core i5 MBA.
Pros (for me) -
- The keyboard really is something else. It reminds me of a better version of the 2015 Macbook Air keyboard, which was great.
- Apps open slightly faster, windows maximise and minimise faster. I'm not trying to use this for professional tasks so that's been the only noticeable benefits of a quad core i5.
Cons (for me) -
- May as well put it up front. Thermals and noise emissions. I've done some testing over the past few days and, after all the indexing was completed, the 2020 MBA i5 CPU runs about 15c on average hotter than the 2019 when there are two-three tabs of Brave open. Which leads into...
- As noted in various reviews, as soon as anything above what I'd define as my day-to-day baseline is done, (say, opening a Youtube video, or editing a word document), the CPU temperature jumps up to 100 and slowly ramps down to a steady 70-75c. Again, direct comparison, this same work on the 2019 MBA very rarely breaks 55c under these conditions.
- What does that mean? Well, for me, that's translated to noticeably much warmed surface temperatures on the case, directly where the heat sink is located. It's certainly not 'ow that burns' uncomfortable, but it's an annoyance.
- Fans, fans, fans. I've used enough Macbook Airs to know that the 2018 refresh was the first model that allowed for 0RPM fan speed (2013 and 2015 had a constant base of 1800). But with a baseline of 2700 for these models, to me, they are audible and annoying far more often than the 2019 and 2015 I'm comparing it to. They ramp up to audible-above-background noise when the machine is stressed, and (subjectively) I find that annoying, especially because it's a first in a Macbook Air that I've owned.
- My biggest let down: the battery life. Holy mother of god, it is like night and day compared to last year's model. It'd be interesting trying the i3 for comparison's sake, but, real world use - I've been using the 2020 MBA to write this, watch twenty minutes of YouTube, and scroll reddit this morning. In two hours of use, it's dropped from 95% to 65%. There's nothing significant chewing up battery power, no anomalies in regards to memory or CPU use. That's just how this machine seems to roll.
I doubt very much whether I've gotten a defective unit. It makes total sense - you add a higher TDP chip, the battery capacity remains the same, it's going to drain faster. I was expecting a reduction from 10 hours to 8 hours, not (my real world use) 10 hours to 5 hours. That's the difference, for me, between having to take a charger wherever I use the laptop, and being confident it can get me through the day.
So, in summation, I was aware that I probably didn't need an i5 for what (as you can see) is very light use. I honestly thought that the 10th gen chip would be able to suck less energy than it is, especially when the machine is running close to idle.
So really, my advice would be, have a think about what you can tolerate. If you don't need a full working day's battery life, if you mostly use this laptop on a desk and don't do what I do and couch surf/use it in bed, if you're in that in-between zone of needing a Macbook Air and a Macbook Pro, the i5 2020 MBA may well be for you. Also, if you don't care about your lap getting warm or hearing the fans more than you're used to, go right ahead.
For me, again, subjectively, I don't think this laptop is for me. Maaaybe the i3 would be the right decision (and if the Apple stores were open, I'd return this machine to test it out) because the keyboard on this honestly is a very big upgrade, but for the things I use a Macbook Air for, the i5 is not performing well at all - and I doubt that'll be improved over the coming weeks, unless the thermal paste needs to set or something weird.
That's my user review from my particular use case. Like all of these, take it with a grain of salt - I can only describe what I've experienced, and from the perspective of what I bought the laptop to do. Your experience and needs might be completely different to mine (as we all know from YouTube, one person's 'standard' workflow is another person's 'why the hell are you trying to do that on an aluminium ultrabook?').
I think if somebody could come up with a repeatable, proven mod to decrease temperatures under light load, I might hang on to it - but that still leaves the almost-halved battery life, which, for me, is the biggest downside with this new purchase.
Sorry all - I don't mean to be negative, but I wanted to be honest with my experience to help other people make their purchasing decisions. It's a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't do what you want it to. For me, unless you truly, truly hate the butterfly keyboard, if you're happy with your current Air, I'd hang on to it. If you're a light user, I'd recommend the i3 (although, as I say, I haven't been able to test it in the real world myself).
Signing off
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I have to concur with Koob. I'm by no means a power user, but I do use Facetime and Zoom, and I just haven't had an experience where the CPU isn't maxing out and the fans aren't at 8000 rpm. That in itself isn't a deal breaker, but the totality of the experience isn't what I wanted. I don't think these reviews are useful without any context, so:
- i5 MBA 2020 with 512gb of storage, 8gb RAM.
- This is a day 4 review. I don't use iCloud and all indexing seems to have been completed.
- I buy Macbook Airs because they have historically been cool or quiet unless running something demanding, like a game or a graphically intensive task. They're great for what I need - a portable, quiet machine for light usage. And my definition of light usage is a couple of tabs of Brave (I know, I know, Safari is better for battery, but... it's 2020), some YouTube, and the very occasional video call.
I was coming into this with a pretty open mind. I was very neutral - I didn't believe the 'it's MELTING MY FACE' reports, nor did I believe the 'it's EXACTLY THE SAME AS EVERY OTHER MACBOOK'. I wanted to make up my own mind.
For context, I am coming from a 2019 dual core i5 MBA.
Pros (for me) -
- The keyboard really is something else. It reminds me of a better version of the 2015 Macbook Air keyboard, which was great.
- Apps open slightly faster, windows maximise and minimise faster. I'm not trying to use this for professional tasks so that's been the only noticeable benefits of a quad core i5.
Cons (for me) -
- May as well put it up front. Thermals and noise emissions. I've done some testing over the past few days and, after all the indexing was completed, the 2020 MBA i5 CPU runs about 15c on average hotter than the 2019 when there are two-three tabs of Brave open. Which leads into...
- As noted in various reviews, as soon as anything above what I'd define as my day-to-day baseline is done, (say, opening a Youtube video, or editing a word document), the CPU temperature jumps up to 100 and slowly ramps down to a steady 70-75c. Again, direct comparison, this same work on the 2019 MBA very rarely breaks 55c under these conditions.
- What does that mean? Well, for me, that's translated to noticeably much warmed surface temperatures on the case, directly where the heat sink is located. It's certainly not 'ow that burns' uncomfortable, but it's an annoyance.
- Fans, fans, fans. I've used enough Macbook Airs to know that the 2018 refresh was the first model that allowed for 0RPM fan speed (2013 and 2015 had a constant base of 1800). But with a baseline of 2700 for these models, to me, they are audible and annoying far more often than the 2019 and 2015 I'm comparing it to. They ramp up to audible-above-background noise when the machine is stressed, and (subjectively) I find that annoying, especially because it's a first in a Macbook Air that I've owned.
- My biggest let down: the battery life. Holy mother of god, it is like night and day compared to last year's model. It'd be interesting trying the i3 for comparison's sake, but, real world use - I've been using the 2020 MBA to write this, watch twenty minutes of YouTube, and scroll reddit this morning. In two hours of use, it's dropped from 95% to 65%. There's nothing significant chewing up battery power, no anomalies in regards to memory or CPU use. That's just how this machine seems to roll.
I doubt very much whether I've gotten a defective unit. It makes total sense - you add a higher TDP chip, the battery capacity remains the same, it's going to drain faster. I was expecting a reduction from 10 hours to 8 hours, not (my real world use) 10 hours to 5 hours. That's the difference, for me, between having to take a charger wherever I use the laptop, and being confident it can get me through the day.
So, in summation, I was aware that I probably didn't need an i5 for what (as you can see) is very light use. I honestly thought that the 10th gen chip would be able to suck less energy than it is, especially when the machine is running close to idle.
So really, my advice would be, have a think about what you can tolerate. If you don't need a full working day's battery life, if you mostly use this laptop on a desk and don't do what I do and couch surf/use it in bed, if you're in that in-between zone of needing a Macbook Air and a Macbook Pro, the i5 2020 MBA may well be for you. Also, if you don't care about your lap getting warm or hearing the fans more than you're used to, go right ahead.
For me, again, subjectively, I don't think this laptop is for me. Maaaybe the i3 would be the right decision (and if the Apple stores were open, I'd return this machine to test it out) because the keyboard on this honestly is a very big upgrade, but for the things I use a Macbook Air for, the i5 is not performing well at all - and I doubt that'll be improved over the coming weeks, unless the thermal paste needs to set or something weird.
That's my user review from my particular use case. Like all of these, take it with a grain of salt - I can only describe what I've experienced, and from the perspective of what I bought the laptop to do. Your experience and needs might be completely different to mine (as we all know from YouTube, one person's 'standard' workflow is another person's 'why the hell are you trying to do that on an aluminium ultrabook?').
I think if somebody could come up with a repeatable, proven mod to decrease temperatures under light load, I might hang on to it - but that still leaves the almost-halved battery life, which, for me, is the biggest downside with this new purchase.
Sorry all - I don't mean to be negative, but I wanted to be honest with my experience to help other people make their purchasing decisions. It's a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't do what you want it to. For me, unless you truly, truly hate the butterfly keyboard, if you're happy with your current Air, I'd hang on to it. If you're a light user, I'd recommend the i3 (although, as I say, I haven't been able to test it in the real world myself).
Signing off
I haven’t run mine much on the battery but I haven’t noticed the fans as much as you seem to.
That said, you might be better off with the base 13” Pro, or perhaps hold off until it gets the new keyboard in a few weeks. The thermal envelope is a lot better.
If you're running YouTube in brave it will be using vp9 and will kill your battery. Yeah, I love brave too, but on a low power machine like this throwing CPU cycles away running video in software rather than hardware acceleration is a non-starter.
Yes, this is something Apple need to fix (in macOS - the hardware support is there) - but until they do, this will negatively impact battery life, cpu use and heat generation on every apple machine until Apple support Vp9 or Google start encoding in h.265.
The 13" Pro may handle that better with its beefier CPU, but even on that machine you'll be better off using video specifically in safari until this codec war is sorted out.
Yes, this is something Apple need to fix (in macOS - the hardware support is there) - but until they do, this will negatively impact battery life, cpu use and heat generation on every apple machine until Apple support Vp9 or Google start encoding in h.265.
The 13" Pro may handle that better with its beefier CPU, but even on that machine you'll be better off using video specifically in safari until this codec war is sorted out.