MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews

[unoporfavor]

Thanks for the comprehensive review, I know a review like this takes a lot of effort to put together. I also appreciate the call-out on my review; the summary of the review can be found on Macrumors or the full review here.

Will check it out - thanks man

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Thanks for the comprehensive review, I know a review like this takes a lot of effort to put together. I also appreciate the call-out on my review; the summary of the review can be found on Macrumors or the full review here.

Definitely the best review I've read giving context for people who might be buying the machine for a specific task - thanks heaps for writing it!

 

[Billiejoe87]

I've found the first thing I've tried to do that just doesn't seem to work properly on the new Macbook Air i5.

Try using Google Chrome to watch Youtube 2160(4K) 60fps video's like this one:

Note you have to use Google Chrome and ensure the video quality is 2160. Safari cannot play 4K Youtube.

I used to play these video's on my 2019 Pro and the fans would spin like crazy but the video would work. On the Macbook air 2020 every 5-10 seconds the video stutters.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I've found the first thing I've tried to do that just doesn't seem to work properly on the new Macbook Air i5.

Try using Google Chrome to watch Youtube 2160(4K) 60fps video's like this one:

Note you have to use Google Chrome and ensure the video quality is 2160. Safari cannot play 4K Youtube.

I used to play these video's on my 2019 Pro and the fans would spin like crazy but the video would work. On the Macbook air 2020 every 5-10 seconds the video stutters.

As @throAU explains, it's down to a codec fight between Apple/Google.

To play VP9 on macOS your machine needs to use non-hardware-acceleration based software. The CPU in any machine more recent than Skylake has specialist hardware for decoding VP9 (and h.265 as well), but apple is not exposing it, because they want the industry to use h.265. To be fair h.265 is more efficient, but it is patent encumbered.

In theory vp9 is less patent encumbered, but is controlled by Google. It is less efficient.

Apple paid the license fees to use h.265. Google don't want to.

Upshot of all this: Macs won't play vp9 content very well. Youtube doesn't transcode uploaded 4k videos to h.265. End users lose because they're either consuming more bandwidth for VP9 videos and(if on macOS)/or more CPU consumption, worse battery life, etc.

Yeah. It's like taking marathon runner and tying his legs together then making him do the marathon. And complaining he's off pace. Or (for those who remember the days before GPUs) running a 3d game in software rendering. The hardware acceleration features make a massive, massive difference.

But, for VP9 video on macOS, they are basically disabled. Safari just doesn't play VP9 at all. Chrome does it in software.

It's because of a Codec issue. 4K Youtube will work on Windows because of VP9, Apple is still pushing h.265, which is why you're seeing stuttering in MacOS when watching the Famous Costa Rican Snake Video.

 

[Billiejoe87]

It's because of a Codec issue. 4K Youtube will work on Windows because of VP9, Apple is still pushing h.265, which is why you're seeing stuttering in MacOS when watching the Famous Costa Rican Snake Video.

Thanks for your reply. I was aware of the VP9 codec issue with Apple not supporting, however I guess I didn't realise what a difference it makes. I used to think the fans spinning wildly while watching a 4K Youtube video in Chrome on the Macbook Pro was just due to the general resource heaviness of Chrome.

I guess the stuttering is just due to the huge amount of resources it must take to decode 4K 60FPS video using software.

 

[throAU]

I guess the stuttering is just due to the huge amount of resources it must take to decode 4K 60FPS video using software.

Yup, that's it. decoding 4k60, VP9 video without hardware support is not a trivial amount of CPU. Desktops can do it. 15-16" MacBooks can do it (running hot/loud). Maybe 13" MacBook Pro will struggle through it (at close to 80% CPU usage most likely), again running hot/loud.

This is a problem for all Macs at the moment, but the MBA especially so due to the lower power CPU in it.

It has the hardware support to do this without having to resort to software decode, Apple just need to enable it.

 

[esphil]

Heres a quick snapshot I took, trying to open up many things across multiple desktops. I have a 1080p video playing in safari with about 25 tabs open on sites that are pretty intensive, with Spotify playing as well as a apple movie on different desktops. I see no lag in graphics, launching more apps are all pretty instant. (i5/16gb/512gb)

 

[Zahni]

How this is vid playing? It's 4k and playing well on a older Ipad pro

 

[khronos3]

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.

Cool! User reviews! Let's crack on!

How much is related to monitoring apps going RS ... was this in your wheel house while testing at all RiaKoobcam?

 

[rba1989]

How this is vid playing? It's 4k and playing well on a older Ipad pro

Chrome 4k vimeo - from 85C to 95C, fans 3000-3500 rpm
Safari 4k vimeo - around 70-75C, fans 2700-3000 rpm

 

[mbaire]

Chrome 4k vimeo - from 85C to 95C, fans 3000-3500 rpm
Safari 4k vimeo - around 70-75C, fans 2700-3000 rpm

Core average 1,31 vs 2,2?

 

[RiaKoobcam]

How much is related to monitoring apps going RS ... was this in your wheel house while testing at all RiaKoobcam?

I only used Intel Power Gadget on MacOS to in order to get an indicative figure for 'if you do lightweight stuff like I do, these are the normal ranges of CPU temperature', and HWInfo for the same on Windows 10. Macs Fan Control to confirm what I already knew from the 2019 and 2020 i5 MBA - 2700rpm is barely audible, 5000rpm middle of the range, 8000rpm is quite loud.

Once I got the average temp figure and confirmed the fan speed intervals were the same on the i3, I didn't use any monitoring software (uninstalled after I'd got the averages I needed).

My metric wasn't 'what are the numbers' but 'what does it mean for me in the real world'.

For example, I don't care how hot the CPU is if it's within the design limits, but I do care if I can feel the heat through the case. I didn't run any benchmarks because I don't care what the numbers say, but I care if I can notice a computer being responsive or not in different situations.

So I didn't use monitoring beyond the first couple of days - all of my actual tests (battery life, video conferencing, day-to-day use) were done without any of that stuff running.

I think people can get too fixated on the numbers going up and down instead of focusing on 'is this machine right for me?', so that's what I tried to aim at as my main question.

 

[unoporfavor]

Thanks for your reply. I was aware of the VP9 codec issue with Apple not supporting, however I guess I didn't realise what a difference it makes. I used to think the fans spinning wildly while watching a 4K Youtube video in Chrome on the Macbook Pro was just due to the general resource heaviness of Chrome.

I guess the stuttering is just due to the huge amount of resources it must take to decode 4K 60FPS video using software.

Definitely don't recommend Chrome unless you've compiled it yourself (Chromium)
Sometimes you have to use it (SAP for example) but YouTube is not one of those times
[automerge]1587971541[/automerge]

I only used Intel Power Gadget on MacOS to monitor CPU temp (in order to get an indicative figure for 'if you do lightweight stuff like I do, these are the normal ranges'), and HWInfo to monitor power draw and temps on Windows 10. Macs Fan Control to monitor fan speeds during this initial period, and then I'd be able to tell from the noise level if the fans were at baseline, min 2700, mid of 5000 or max 8000.

Once I got the average temp figure, I didn't use any monitoring software (uninstalled after I'd got the averages I needed).

My metric wasn't 'what are the numbers' but 'what does it mean for me in the real world'. For example, I don't care how hot the CPU is if it's within the design limits, but I do care if I can feel the heat through the case. I didn't run any benchmarks because I don't care what the numbers say, but I care if I can notice a computer being responsive or not in different situations.

So I didn't use monitoring beyond the first couple of days - all of my actual tests (battery life, video conferencing, day-to-day use) were done without any of that stuff running. I think people can get too fixated on the numbers going up and down instead of focusing on 'is this machine right for me?', so that's what I tried to aim at as my main question.

Great way of testing and mantra

 

[RegularGuy09]

So I didn't use monitoring beyond the first couple of days - all of my actual tests (battery life, video conferencing, day-to-day use) were done without any of that stuff running. I think people can get too fixated on the numbers going up and down instead of focusing on 'is this machine right for me?', so that's what I tried to aim at as my main question.

How was the i5 compared to the i3, in day to day activities? Did you feel the i5 was noticeably faster?

Also am I correct in saying the i3 is getting an extra hour of battery life in your testing?

 

[RiaKoobcam]

How was the i5 compared to the i3, in day to day activities? Did you feel the i5 was noticeably faster?

Also am I correct in saying the i3 is getting an extra hour of battery life in your testing?

For my usage (you've read my use case), I couldn't notice a single task I did that was faster on the i5. But again, I am a very light user not doing CPU/GPU intensive tasks. There might have been microseconds of difference in opening or closing things, but it wasn't apparent to me at all.

The 2020 i3, in my testing, got 8hrs 3m for my half web browsing/half Netflix test, and 9hrs 22m on my Netflix only test.

The 2020 i5 by comparison got 6hrs 20m and 7hrs 35m. It was quite a significant drop off in battery life for no noticeable performance gains for the kinda stuff that I use a Macbook Air for.

 

[khronos3]

I only used Intel Power Gadget

The lad I quoted before mentioned

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.

Wasn't sure whether you were having a chicken or egg moment.

I have no probs with what you've said btw .... and not taking the piss either.

Really keen to get a handle on whether anal monitoring is knocking on or not. Ryzen went through a similar thing when Ryzen 3000 dropped, many were running all they could get there hands on in terms of monitoring and it hurt understanding.

For example, I don't care how hot the CPU is if it's within the design limits, but I do care if I can feel the heat through the case. I didn't run any benchmarks because I don't care what the numbers say, but I care if I can notice a computer being responsive or not in different situations.

Are you saying that you went the monitoring gadget as a result of seat in your pants feeling that temps felt odd through the case and touch?

It's a tough one really and I wonder if an app. mightn't be an issue ala Ryzen or atleast a contributing factor.

Cheers for the feedback.

(Looking at one for a family member.)

 

[RiaKoobcam]

The lad I quoted before mentioned



Wasn't sure whether you were having a chicken or egg moment.

I have no probs with what you've said btw .... and not taking the piss either.

Really keen to get a handle on whether anal monitoring is knocking on or not. Ryzen went through a similar thing when Ryzen 3000 dropped, many were running all they could get there hands on in terms of monitoring and it hurt understanding.



Are you saying that you went the monitoring gadget as a result of seat in your pants feeling that temps felt odd through the case and touch?

It's a tough one really and I wonder if an app. mightn't be an issue ala Ryzen or atleast a contributing factor.

Cheers for the feedback.

(Looking at one for a family member.)

Sorry mate, I got confused. A few weeks ago, I bought a 2020 i5. After a couple of days (waiting for the synching/indexing to finish), I thought 'god this is hot/loud, my battery really doesn't seem to be lasting compared to my 2019'.

Started to educate myself to see if it was normal, installed power gadget to make sure I wasn't exceeding the design limit of Ice Lake (100c). I wasn't - the Turbo Boost feature just meant I was hitting it a lot more often and faster than I was used to on Macbook Airs. Uninstalled Power Gadget/Macs Fan Control after I was sure I wasn't doing any damage to the machine, ran my tests, decided 'I probably don't need an i5 and it's not for me', returned it for an i3.

In order to write my comparison between the 2019 i5, the 2020 i5 and the 2020 i3, I replicated the same process. Installed Power Gadget/Fan Control on the i3 to get average temps for idle and browsing, confirmed the average range, uninstalled for the tests that I subsequently ran and wrote about.

Just to confirm, I didn't run any battery life tests or video conferencing tests with any monitoring software running at the same time. I couldn't say if the temps/speeds would be hotter/slower with monitoring apps running at the same time as I didn't do it - it's entirely possible, but not something I tested for

 

[khronos3]

Sorry mate, I got confused. A few weeks ago, I bought a 2020 i5. After a couple of days (waiting for the synching/indexing to finish), I thought 'got this is hot/loud, my battery really doesn't seem to be lasting compared to my 2019', so checked the temperatures.

Bugga. Kinda waited on this refresh for the KYDB .... units intended for a student going to Uni, who's hard on the keyboard like another family member ... lol

Sounds a bit grim if a vanilla unit exhibited this ..... any chance it was fiddled with prior to delivery or else, I'll admit that I can be guilty of this time to time, I mean you should be able to run a utility and expect it to work and not knock the unit adversely, or you'd hope to it to be the case ...

Wonder if a re-install on the i3 yields improved results - not asking you to go down that rabbit hole, just a thought on the back of the split between users that have seen issues and those who haven't.

We see this all the time with new kit - hope Apple's not on the same slippery slope that us PC users have been on for decades now ... haha

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Bugga. Kinda waited on this refresh for the KYDB .... units intended for a student going to Uni, who's hard on the keyboard like another family member ... lol

Sounds a bit grim if a vanilla unit exhibited this ..... any chance it was fiddled with prior to delivery or else, I'll admit that I can be guilty of this time to time, I mean you should be able to run a utility and expect it to work and not knock the unit adversely, or you'd hope to it to be the case ...

Wonder if a re-install on the i3 yields improved results - not asking you to go down that rabbit hole, just a thought on the back of the split between users that have seen issues and those who haven't.

We see this all the time with new kit - hope Apple's not on the same slippery slope that us PC users have been on for decades now ... haha

Nah with the i5 I think I was one of the first in Australia to get it, ordered it on day one. It was a clean install and ordered from Apple's website (post physical store shutdown), so next-to-zero chance it was a retail retread as it was sealed up tight. I'm not Mac savvy enough to crack the case and poke around, let alone not having the right tools, so all three units I tested were un-fiddled-with.

In regards to users that have had issues versus those that haven't, there are so many factors that could be affecting it, from quality control on the components, thermal paste application in the factory, down to 'I haven't had any thermal issues!' guy because he uses it on a desk, versus 'it's always hot' from someone like me who uses it in all sorts of weird, contorted positions.

For a student I reckon the i3 would be ace - as I say in my review, the only issue I had with that was the Bootcamp power draw was insane, but if they're MacOS only it'd be a great machine. No majorly noticeable thermal differences between the 2019 i5 and the 2020 i3, and the battery life is still what I'd class as 'all day', which is what mattered to me in that test

But yeah it will be interesting as time goes on to see if there were quality control issues in the first batch or if it's purely down to the way a user uses it - time will tell

 

[orthorim]

What is the actual model of i7 in it? I haven’t been able to find it yet. Trying to see how it measures up to my current 2014mbp with an i5

You can find all models on geekbench... just compare geekbench 5 with geekbench 5 as they changed all the numbers and 4 / 5 cannot be compared.

What's weird to me is that on Geekbench 5 any new MacBook Air with i5 is as fast single core as an i9 - hardly any difference. Wonder if that can really be true. Multi core of course the i9 has 8 cores so it's going to be faster, but single... it's sort of like the raw single thread speed - they're so close together.

 

[khronos3]

For a student I reckon the i3 would be ace - as I say in my review, the only issue I had with that was the Bootcamp power draw was insane, but if they're MacOS only it'd be a great machine. No majorly noticeable thermal differences between the 2019 i5 and the 2020 i3, and the battery life is still what I'd class as 'all day', which is what mattered to me in that test

Will let the dust settle a bit again, been given the hard word at home ..... the i3 might be an option still. Not keen on Windows 10 for them because of the *cough* update regime MS employs these days. The last round of updates can / might roger the user profile and dump them into a temp profile that might require anything from multiple restarts, if it starts, through to anything as bad as registry mods or having to create a new profile manually copying the data across and starting again ..... if that fails it's a complete rebuild

Many thanks again.

 

[rba1989]

Core average 1,31 vs 2,2?

In case of Safari it could be hardware accelerated by GPU, so reduced CPU usage.

 

[magbarn]

You can find all models on geekbench... just compare geekbench 5 with geekbench 5 as they changed all the numbers and 4 / 5 cannot be compared.

What's weird to me is that on Geekbench 5 any new MacBook Air with i5 is as fast single core as an i9 - hardly any difference. Wonder if that can really be true. Multi core of course the i9 has 8 cores so it's going to be faster, but single... it's sort of like the raw single thread speed - they're so close together.

It’s believable. Remember i9 is still using slightly modified sky lake Cores while 2020 mba is using new ice lake cores which have Better ipc. On Geekbench my i7 2020 mba looks like a much faster option compared to the i5, but when really using the cpu, the power limits have it behaving almost the same as the i5. So in real world apps, the i9 will still be much faster.

 

[throAU]

How this is vid playing? It's 4k and playing well on a older Ipad pro

Probably because it would be encoded in h.264 or h.265. The iPad has acceleration for those codecs. Just like Safari does in MacOS on intel CPUs.

Youtube is a problem because the videos are encoded with vp9 when they're 4k which Apple doesn't accelerate in macOS using the hardware provided by intel in the CPU, because they're pig-headed and push h.265.

 

[unoporfavor]

Kia ora bro!

Say g'day to Jacinda and Taika Waititi if you see them for me (Sam Neil got stuck in Australia sorry, we'll give him back as soon as it's safe to... and we'll keep Russell Crowe so you don't have to deal with him ?)

Missed this haha. Just as long as you keep Chopper over there. Not so keen on Pauline Hanson either.. ?
interestingly, my family friends used to work with Russell Crowe when he was a (very) young apprentice in the building trade!