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MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews
- Thread starter Untapped Potential
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I moved from CS6 to Affinity Photo and have been happy. I figured it was time for an upgrade and is only $25 just now.
Office 2011 is getting quite long in the tooth, I get Office 365 for free but the 2019 version isn't that expensive.
There's a 2019 version? thought it was just 2011 and 2016
I'll look into Affinity Photo. Guess I don't have a need for photo editing at the moment anyways..
Also considering LibreOffice
I've found that its able to sustain the the CPU pretty high for a while. I included a graph during a Virtualbox image install. The drop-off is not from heat, its from the operation of the install completing. It sustained the 3.2ghz during the install portion as I watched it even with the temp going up to 100c. I have it on my lap and its warm but not uncomfortable at those levels. My fan kicks to 4-5k during that time and I can't really hear it much.
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Yes, there's a perpetually licensed 2019 MS Office version. I have it on my Mojave iMac and it works well.
are those licenses from eBay legit that have 100% feedback and say they are from Microsoft broker products, whatever?
I would assume so if the keys work
they look like the cheapest place @ $25
I can't say with a cross my heart hope to die level of certainty, but I'm 99% sure those are fake. You can rig eBay ratings in your favor if you're a seller after all. The cheapest 100% reliable source I saw when I purchased mine a couple months ago was through Costco at $100 more.
I bought one of those licenses on eBay for my windows laptop few weeks back. First code didn't work, seller then sent me another code which didn't work when activating online. Seller suggested activating by phone which worked.
I wasn't apportioning blame. A user asked me my experience and I posted it.
I definitely wouldn't recommend using the 2020 MBA i5 in bed or on a couch, I would recommend getting a 2019 if you want a 'use wherever' laptop that doesn't require a desk or clearance to keep the underside of the case cool.
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Yeah, for those who aren't aware, Brave (like most browsers) is a Chromium based browser focused on privacy and security. I use it because I prefer it to Safari. To me, being locked in to one browser in order to maximise heat/battery life is a con, not a pro - especially when that browser requires external apps to block ads, trackers, etc. Horses for courses.
Depending on your needs, there is always Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
I use those for my personal stuff. Don’t do work on my personal computer and don’t collaborate off platform. Haven’t hasOffice on my Macs in years even tho I could thru work.
Is there a real benefit to ordering 16GB ram in any Macbook if you are not video or photo editing?
I paid for the upgrade to 16GB on my last Macbook Pro (Only 8 months ago) and it just didn't seem to run any different to the 8GB on my new Macbook Air. For just having a few tabs open in safari, listening to music and watching video's it seems 16GB is overkill considering how well Mac OS manages memory.
I see a lot of people recommending it, but surely the cost of the 16GB upgrade for most users and the lack of much additional resale value means it's not really a necessity?
I paid for the upgrade to 16GB on my last Macbook Pro (Only 8 months ago) and it just didn't seem to run any different to the 8GB on my new Macbook Air. For just having a few tabs open in safari, listening to music and watching video's it seems 16GB is overkill considering how well Mac OS manages memory.
I see a lot of people recommending it, but surely the cost of the 16GB upgrade for most users and the lack of much additional resale value means it's not really a necessity?
So I ordered the i5/8gb/512 MBA this evening. I've heard about the cooling issues but having read all of your posts, and watching videos....I'm really concerned. I dont want to have to purposely nerf my $1200 laptop just to make it not run hot.
Here's my question. Yes I know of the rumors of the new 14" MBP that may be coming out. Let's pretend that doesn't exist. If I were to buy the 2019 base MBP for the same price as my MBA, would I be happy with it for the next 4 or 5 years? I'm not a power user, but wouldn't mind playing around with some video editing in the future. (I don't mind the butterfly keyboard).
Basically, I dont want to have worry about not being able to run chrome on my laptop. That shouldn't be a thing with a $1200 machine.
Here's my question. Yes I know of the rumors of the new 14" MBP that may be coming out. Let's pretend that doesn't exist. If I were to buy the 2019 base MBP for the same price as my MBA, would I be happy with it for the next 4 or 5 years? I'm not a power user, but wouldn't mind playing around with some video editing in the future. (I don't mind the butterfly keyboard).
Basically, I dont want to have worry about not being able to run chrome on my laptop. That shouldn't be a thing with a $1200 machine.
Not minding the butterfly keyboard is one thing.
Will it be reliable for 4-5 years that’s another thing.
Some people have gotten lucky with the butterfly keyboard and not had any problems.
Plus Apple have a 4 year keyboard replacement program from date of purchase.
I had a 2017 Macbook Pro, 2 x 2018 Macbook Pro's and a 2019 Macbook Pro. I kept demanding replacements anytime the keyboard started having problems after a 2nd repair. The 2019 Macbook Pro had a more reliable butterfly keyboard than the previous models, but still had random sticky keys. The previous 2017 and 2018 Macbook Pro models were unusable in my eyes. A $3,000 AUD machine and a few weeks into ownership getting double presses on keys is unnaceptable. I just don't understand how anyone couldn't have had issues with the keyboards unless they literally always had 100% clean hands 100% of the time and had a totally dust free room. It didn't take much to have issues.
I just can't believe the stubbornness to hold onto such a design flaw for so long.
Can anyone with 2020 i5 and has Amazon Music app tell me if their laptop temperature climbs to 95-100c and stays there with the fan going at 7000-8000+rpm the entire time the app is maximized? As soon as I started the app, the temperature shot up to 100c and the fan was full blast. It stayed consistently at 90-100c throughout the time I had the app opened. When I minimized the player, the temp dropped to normal. As soon as I maximize, the temp immediately goes up again. Activity Monitor shows "Amazon Music Renderer" taking up more than 100% of CPU. Even when I'm not playing any music, as long as the app is open to regular size, the temp and fan is at max.
What's this rendering that's causing so much CPU usage and temp increase, and how do I fix it? Thanks.
What's this rendering that's causing so much CPU usage and temp increase, and how do I fix it? Thanks.
Hi, I'm a noob here but I wanted to share my experience with new 2020 Macbook Air (i5, 16gb, 256gb, SG). Pardon my grammar and spelling as english is not my first language. Skip to 2nd paragraph for review. Some background, I'm not new to Macs as I own multiple (2010 27" inch iMac still running great after upgrading ram and ssd, 2014 MBP, and trash can Mac pro for work). I needed something portable and fast for commute and travel so I bought base 2019 macbook pro 13, used for 2 weeks before returning it. As a developer I needed proper keyboard and as a heavy vim user I needed an esc key (I hate touchbar to the core). Finally I gave in and bought surface laptop 3. According to me its the best windows laptop with good keyboard, u series processor and amazing 3:2 screen.
I had my 2020 MBA for 2 days now I think its really good. Keyboard is amazing, app launching and switching is smooth without any issues. I was curious why so many people were complaining about temps and thermal throttling, so I installed intel software to check temps and average clock speed. After installing it, my fans started spinning fast, and I could see temps at 99 degrees constant when copying 19gb file to my external drive. This was the only process I was running the whole time. I was suspecting intel's software could be buggy as it might be installing some kexts (kernel extensions) which is causing MBA to spin up and hit those temps while monitoring cpu cores. This was/is purely a guess. I did a clean MacOS install and I'm now running VS code, brave browser with 7 tabs with a youtube 4k video paused in one tab, spotify, virtualbox with centOS VM, 4 terminal windows connecting to linux vm, an excel spreadsheet, whatsapp desktop client, messages app, iTunes backing up my iPhone and same copy of 19gb file to my external drive. It's my average workload and I hear no fan, no heat and no lagginess.
Really happy with this machine. I would suggest users to stop installing intel's software to monitor and just enjoy using the machine. As others have suggested, this is not a pro laptop. So if you are expecting to play games or edit videos, buy a right laptop.
I had my 2020 MBA for 2 days now I think its really good. Keyboard is amazing, app launching and switching is smooth without any issues. I was curious why so many people were complaining about temps and thermal throttling, so I installed intel software to check temps and average clock speed. After installing it, my fans started spinning fast, and I could see temps at 99 degrees constant when copying 19gb file to my external drive. This was the only process I was running the whole time. I was suspecting intel's software could be buggy as it might be installing some kexts (kernel extensions) which is causing MBA to spin up and hit those temps while monitoring cpu cores. This was/is purely a guess. I did a clean MacOS install and I'm now running VS code, brave browser with 7 tabs with a youtube 4k video paused in one tab, spotify, virtualbox with centOS VM, 4 terminal windows connecting to linux vm, an excel spreadsheet, whatsapp desktop client, messages app, iTunes backing up my iPhone and same copy of 19gb file to my external drive. It's my average workload and I hear no fan, no heat and no lagginess.
Really happy with this machine. I would suggest users to stop installing intel's software to monitor and just enjoy using the machine. As others have suggested, this is not a pro laptop. So if you are expecting to play games or edit videos, buy a right laptop.
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I agree with both of you - tone of some comments could be improved but critisism of the test scenario is fair.
You wouldn't tell someone that took a Hilux to the Nurburgring and said it didn't perform like a McLaren, seriously. It's not fair on the McLaren or the Hilux.
I have the i3 MBA 2020. If anyone has any tests they'd like me to perform I'm happy to do it if possible!
I may still exchange with the i5 (I'm within the return window), but I prefer quietness and battery life over outright performance.
In saying that, most apps launch faster on this 2020 MBA i3 than they do on my 2017 MBP 6-core 2.2GHz i7.
I was able to video conference for over 4 hours on Friday night without needing to find a power outlet and with no discernible fan noise!
Something which my MBP 6-core i7 cannot do. Does that mean my MBP i7 is crap? No. (ok the keyboard absolutely is garbage), but it's all about use cases and fit for purpose.
Cheers guys
I can completely understand your concerns, and FYI I recently purchased a 2020 MBA i5/16/256 and am very happy with it under my use patterns.
I could not get myself to purchase the macbooks with the previous generation of keyboards, because I had gotten it into my head that "they are going to fail at some point". (.. hence the immediate purchase of the MBA 2020 .. before I had accumulated too much information on what people don't like about it, but after it had been world tested on the MBP 16..).
Now.. was the previous keyboard THAT bad? I don't know, and from the limited usage I have on a work issued 2018 MBP 13 .. I have never had trouble. But, the almost FUD like state that my mind was in (of course supported by the many error reports in the wild) just did not permit me to buy one with said keyboard.
I will say that my MBA seems excellent, and whatever heat issues there are .. they don't affect how I use the MBA.. so, I hope to keep it for 5 years or so just like my previous 2015 MBA 11 .. unless something dramatic happens such as the entire Mac universe moving to ARM (like the PowerPC to Intel transition) which may or may not render the machine obsolete.
But, again, I completely understand the worry, especially with all the reports on youtube etc.
Once it has gotten to a point where you believe it more likely to fail than not .. I would say go with something else, as you will always have that concern in your head .. and it is not healthy.
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Just got it this week. My VMware Fusion VM's were working pretty hard, so I decided to bite the bullet and get Parallels for my Windows 10 VM - Woooow! Sooooo much more efficient and faster than VMware!
Loving the new machine....... and even with my sight being as ***** as it is, the screen is fabulous.
I've posted on this topic a couple other times if you wish to see a longer version of my thoughts - tl;dr version is I think you are correct. IMHO if you need to do the upgrade you already know why and wouldn't be asking about it.
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Wow. That would be incredibly ironic if Intel Power Gadget is causing problems.
It'd be fascinating if others can test this as well -- mine arrives Monday, perhaps I will try it as well.
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The funny thing is there are posts from 2018 and earlier telling people to upgrade to 16GB ram as they would regret it when the next version of mac os needed more ram and to "future proof their mac". The thing is, Apple has never discontinued support for mac os on a mac that doesn't have enough ram. When they do discontinue support it's for the whole product line of that year regardless of how specc'd out that mac might be. (Ie. the 2010 Macbook Pro regardless of what options you took when you bought it).
2-3 years later, 8GB is still fine and it appears we reached a few years ago the point where doubling ram is needed. It seems 8GB is fine for the vast majority of people. I just feel a lot of general consumers are being talked into spending money that's not needed.
Application are getting more resource hungry, and this is only going to get worse, while you can function on 8GB, even 4GB on my wife's MBA 2014 with Catalina, unless you close applications or limit the tabs you have open, this is going to quickly push out the first in to shuffle available resources. I have been running 8GB on both Mac and Windows until last year, moving to 16GB has given me the headroom and the ability for both machines to run much smoother and quicker. The difference is quite remarkable from an application switch perspective, or at least in my view. If I was going to upgrade the first thing it would always be RAM for me.
For example, 300MB for just this forum on Safari ... and 1GB for teams and Outlook which i have open all day.
My usual RAM consumption is around 11GB, easily recoverable with a few closes and more more efficiency a reboot if that's what your happy with, I tend to keep my machines on longer than most and use the sleep function and hibernate in Windows unless the machine gets too bloated.
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Do you know what, I actually noticed extremely high usage when running power gadget. I had almost nothing opened and the temp and fan all increase quite a bit when its running. Even with a fan going at 5k on this laptop I can't really hear it. I'm guess I'm just used to my pc desktop with alot of cooling always running. Thats a interesting note that he reinstalled OSX, I wonder if many of the issues come down to Catalina or something in it rather than the actual laptop design. I remember early on with a core2duo with SSD's I reinstalled a SSD into my machine, and I would often have freeze of my entire machine randomly. Turned out to be some setting within osx and the SSD related to S.M.A.R.T.
It has been 12 days since I've got the MBA 2020 I5/8gb/256gb.
I already post my review and I want to clarify things.
If you are a light or medium user, and you are NOT coming from any MBP, get this model.
The first day, your machine will get to a 100 degrees without any other reason that the MBA is still indexing your stuff.
After that, my computer (watching movies, writing, downloading torrents, making zoom videoconference calls) never get over 80 degrees while using zoom or over 60 for any other tasks. I use it always on my lap, and it never bother me after the first day.
The keyboard is wonderful. If I could marry this keyboard, I'll take it as my wife.
One thing : The battery is okay, I guess. I was using a MBA Mid-2013, and I think my battery was 2-3 hours better at the beginning, but still, 7-8 hours, who can complain (HP, DELL, ASUS USERS)
I wasn't sure If I wanted to send it back to apple and waiting. I'm keeping the computer, it's a very good machine!
I already post my review and I want to clarify things.
If you are a light or medium user, and you are NOT coming from any MBP, get this model.
The first day, your machine will get to a 100 degrees without any other reason that the MBA is still indexing your stuff.
After that, my computer (watching movies, writing, downloading torrents, making zoom videoconference calls) never get over 80 degrees while using zoom or over 60 for any other tasks. I use it always on my lap, and it never bother me after the first day.
The keyboard is wonderful. If I could marry this keyboard, I'll take it as my wife.
One thing : The battery is okay, I guess. I was using a MBA Mid-2013, and I think my battery was 2-3 hours better at the beginning, but still, 7-8 hours, who can complain (HP, DELL, ASUS USERS
)I wasn't sure If I wanted to send it back to apple and waiting. I'm keeping the computer, it's a very good machine!
I wouldn't say it's a problem with Catalina necessarily. I reinstalled OSX because I wasn't sure what kexts intel's software installed. So clean install was the only way to go. From my experience, monitoring libraries always interfere (reduced application performance) with how applications run and specifically how they use resources.