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MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews
- Thread starter Untapped Potential
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Got the opportunity to try a new i3 (base) MBA yesterday for a couple of hours having briefly used it a couple of weeks ago. I have a 16" MBP myself, and having read all of the threads/complaints on here, I was expecting high temperatures with relatively light use, excessive fan noise for long periods etc.
Now before I give my thoughts, I'll just say that my usage was limited to watching Netflix, YouTube, running Discord in Safari, using Microsoft Word and Excel. In Safari I maybe had 4 or 5 tabs open. I wasn't doing any photo or video editing or gaming.
Honestly...
It was great!
Maybe it's just the i3, maybe it was the relatively light workload, I don't know - but for general web browsing it was perfect and dare I say it, a better experience than any of the current MBPs.
Easily the best MBA Apple have produced to date.
Obviously if you're doing any kind of creative work in terms of photo/video editing/3D work etc then it's no comparison, the MBPs will wipe the floor with it, but if you're just looking for a laptop to browse the web and watch stuff, the base MBA is the one to go for.
Now before I give my thoughts, I'll just say that my usage was limited to watching Netflix, YouTube, running Discord in Safari, using Microsoft Word and Excel. In Safari I maybe had 4 or 5 tabs open. I wasn't doing any photo or video editing or gaming.
Honestly...
It was great!
- Doing the above tasks, it was QUIETER than my 16" MBP and the two recent 13" (base) MBPs I've had.
- Fans didn't kick in once (or at least, I couldn't hear them) in the two hours I used it.
- Stayed cool or at worst, lukewarm.
- No noticeable slowdown or sluggishness. Not a single rainbow wheel in sight.
Maybe it's just the i3, maybe it was the relatively light workload, I don't know - but for general web browsing it was perfect and dare I say it, a better experience than any of the current MBPs.
Easily the best MBA Apple have produced to date.
Obviously if you're doing any kind of creative work in terms of photo/video editing/3D work etc then it's no comparison, the MBPs will wipe the floor with it, but if you're just looking for a laptop to browse the web and watch stuff, the base MBA is the one to go for.
I have a i7/16/512 and my battery doesn’t last long either. I have to check the activity monitor but I think the hub I got might be draining the battery. Do you have a hub attached to it?
nope, no hub. i might try and test it further with watching apple TV tonight, as that seems to be the metric apple use as opposed to VLC etc.
So, I ordered the MBA 2020 on May the 17th. It's still not here. I'm going to cancel the order and request for the deposit back, and most likely I will wait for the Apple silicon Macbooks...I guess MBA 2020 was not meant to be for me.
the apple outlet store has tons of them in stock right now and ready for immediate shipment. why not order one from there?
I got the MBA, they finally called me to tell me they had received it. After 3 days of using the MBA 2020, I have no issues with heating or fan noises whatsoever, I used Chrome only, around 4-5 tabs at the same time, and the only time I heard the fan was when I was exporting video in iMovie which was to be expected. Overall, the laptop is silent as a church mouse.
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I replaced a 2014 15" MBP that finally died with the 2020 i3 MBA. The main reason I chose the Air was because I had already purchased an MSI laptop for school that can run Photoshop/VMs and other higher demand applications, so the Mac really becomes my daily driver/web browsing/email portable machine. With that being said, I have still run Photoshop and some development apps (Brackets, Atom, NetBeans, etc.) on the MBA, and haven't had any performance or heat issues with the laptop.
So I got the 13inch MacBook Air(2020). Its the baseline i3, 8GB, 256GB model.
I love it so far. The space gray is so cool looking. The performance is snappy, everything is so smooth. Its been a day I got it, and photo analysis and photolibrary still seem to be running, but I don't notice it. The battery life is AMAZING. I run it at around 60% brightness, and have used it to surf the net, watch YT etc. Easily got around 11hrs of battery.
The keyboard is amazing. So much better than the previous one. The speaker is LOUD. And its so light and feels sturdy. This is my first Mac, and I'm so happy with this purchase. I love this notebook much more than my work laptop(HP Elitebook x360). Even though, that's a specced out i7,16GB,512GB model, this one 'feels' better. Also the display is just stunning. I'm loving MacOS as well, so clean.
Also the heating has been a non issue. Have been using it for the last couple of hours on a stretch(FaceTime,YouTube,Safari,Netflix) and its cool to the touch. Never heard the fan come on so far.
Absolutely love love love this machine. Going to get a palm rest protector(my hands get sweaty lol) and a sleeve for it soon.
I love it so far. The space gray is so cool looking. The performance is snappy, everything is so smooth. Its been a day I got it, and photo analysis and photolibrary still seem to be running, but I don't notice it. The battery life is AMAZING. I run it at around 60% brightness, and have used it to surf the net, watch YT etc. Easily got around 11hrs of battery.
The keyboard is amazing. So much better than the previous one. The speaker is LOUD. And its so light and feels sturdy. This is my first Mac, and I'm so happy with this purchase. I love this notebook much more than my work laptop(HP Elitebook x360). Even though, that's a specced out i7,16GB,512GB model, this one 'feels' better. Also the display is just stunning. I'm loving MacOS as well, so clean.
Also the heating has been a non issue. Have been using it for the last couple of hours on a stretch(FaceTime,YouTube,Safari,Netflix) and its cool to the touch. Never heard the fan come on so far.
Absolutely love love love this machine. Going to get a palm rest protector(my hands get sweaty lol) and a sleeve for it soon.
I just applied the dbrand skin on mine!
The exterior looks great! I would've left the interior alone though, or just the trackpad possibly (unless that would look too out of place)
Always impressed how good Dbrand stuff looks
Here's a short Pros/Cons for me:
Pros:
1) Pretty speedy, even the i3 version feels very powerful.
2) 8GB RAM works for my needs - even doing development tasks
3) 256GB Storage works for my needs - even doing development tasks
4) Generally quiet
5) Generally cool
6) Amazing display
7) Keyboard and Trackpad <3 <3 <3
8) Speakers are fantastic! - Not as good as the Pro, but still amazing for this thin light device.
Cons:
1) Constantly worrying about the CPU temp - its been idling at 94 C for the past 10-15 min, and all I'm doing is updating some software.
2) Fan can be kind of loud when the temps ramp up, but the CPU isn't even under load. Intel Power Gadget and Activity Monitor show its only about 40% load on the CPU. I'm guessing all the read/write ops on the disk are probably generating some heat.
3) Sometimes tasks seem like they take forever - CPU and SSD not even under load, but seems like doing some updates take forever. Oddly, the 11" i5 4GB MBA 2015 didn't take so long to update software. Maybe its just me or I'm losing it?
Overall thoughts:
I use this thing as my daily driver for work and development. The keyboard is absolutely phenomenal. I would buy a magic keyboard just because of how nice it feels to type. I do .NET dev, I'm learning Swift and Swift UI, I do finances, watch videos, organize photos, etc. Love the integration with my phone so I can send/receive texts on my Mac and Phone and Watch. I would highly recommend this device for those that want newer tech, decent speed, and something that feels premium and sturdy.
Pros:
1) Pretty speedy, even the i3 version feels very powerful.
2) 8GB RAM works for my needs - even doing development tasks
3) 256GB Storage works for my needs - even doing development tasks
4) Generally quiet
5) Generally cool
6) Amazing display
7) Keyboard and Trackpad <3 <3 <3
8) Speakers are fantastic! - Not as good as the Pro, but still amazing for this thin light device.
Cons:
1) Constantly worrying about the CPU temp - its been idling at 94 C for the past 10-15 min, and all I'm doing is updating some software.
2) Fan can be kind of loud when the temps ramp up, but the CPU isn't even under load. Intel Power Gadget and Activity Monitor show its only about 40% load on the CPU. I'm guessing all the read/write ops on the disk are probably generating some heat.
3) Sometimes tasks seem like they take forever - CPU and SSD not even under load, but seems like doing some updates take forever. Oddly, the 11" i5 4GB MBA 2015 didn't take so long to update software. Maybe its just me or I'm losing it?
Overall thoughts:
I use this thing as my daily driver for work and development. The keyboard is absolutely phenomenal. I would buy a magic keyboard just because of how nice it feels to type. I do .NET dev, I'm learning Swift and Swift UI, I do finances, watch videos, organize photos, etc. Love the integration with my phone so I can send/receive texts on my Mac and Phone and Watch. I would highly recommend this device for those that want newer tech, decent speed, and something that feels premium and sturdy.
The software update processes used in Mac App Store or Software Update System Preferences pane consume a lot of CPU power after download, all of my devices have had their fans spin up very high once install begins.
Update on my user review :
- Battery life with heavy web browsing(lots of YT, lots of streaming, lots of tabs open) is around 8hrs. With light use I get around 9hrs.
- Its cool to the touch. Never have I felt the top of the notebook heating up.
- Its quiet. Been using it for almost a week and have never heard the fan.
- Never seen this machine lag. Saw the beachball a couple of times when an app crashed. Everything is super snappy.
- The keyboard is perfect. And boy are the speakers loud. The screen is just a joy to watch.
Anyone who wants a general everyday use notebook. Just go for it. For $899, its a bargain. Hope to use this machine for 4-5 years.
- Battery life with heavy web browsing(lots of YT, lots of streaming, lots of tabs open) is around 8hrs. With light use I get around 9hrs.
- Its cool to the touch. Never have I felt the top of the notebook heating up.
- Its quiet. Been using it for almost a week and have never heard the fan.
- Never seen this machine lag. Saw the beachball a couple of times when an app crashed. Everything is super snappy.
- The keyboard is perfect. And boy are the speakers loud. The screen is just a joy to watch.
Anyone who wants a general everyday use notebook. Just go for it. For $899, its a bargain. Hope to use this machine for 4-5 years.
I just applied the dbrand skin on mine!
I ordered a custom skin from Decal Girl using a graphic I had created back in 2012. Ironically, it works infinitely better with the Space Gray MBA than it did a silver 2012 MBP...
It is already in place in iOS/iPadOS 14, should be added to Safari 14 soon:
Safari can now stream 4K HDR and Dolby Vision content on Netflix with macOS Big Sur - 9to5Mac
We recently mentioned that macOS Big Sur includes a new version of Safari with several enhancements, including support for HDR...
9to5mac.com
It mentions Apple has enabled VP9 codec on iOS 14 and tvOS 14 but doesn't say about VP9 codec on MacOS (it mentions HVEC on MacOS but not VP9). There are many posts here which say YouTube in Chrome on MacOS heats up the MacBook and triggers fan at high speed because MacOS does not support VP9 used on YouTube.
It is already in place in iOS/iPadOS 14, should be added to Safari 14 soon:
[automerge]1595893650[/automerge]Safari can now stream 4K HDR and Dolby Vision content on Netflix with macOS Big Sur - 9to5Mac
We recently mentioned that macOS Big Sur includes a new version of Safari with several enhancements, including support for HDR...
I special ordered a base model with the i5 processor to replace a base model 2011 Air.
Pros:
- It's new.
- USB-C charging.
- Battery not worn out like my old one.
- Touch ID is nice.
Cons:
- Not appreciably faster than my old one for web browsing.
- Battery life seems lower than claimed.
- Night Shift (or possibly another issue) seems to cause the display to flicker as it's adjusting.
- Charging with a USB-A to USB-C cable causes issues on mine, although I've successfully used this setup with other late model MacBooks.
- I'm not going to even try to get support for the last two issues because they're difficult to reproduce and one involves using a non-Apple charger.
As a long-time Apple owner, I have to say I'm disappointed in this machine. It's like you buy a new Tesla, it passes all of the objective tests, but subjectively, something about it feels "off" for reasons you can't quite explain. I still love my iPhone and iPad, but this one is a road apple.
Pros:
- It's new.
- USB-C charging.
- Battery not worn out like my old one.
- Touch ID is nice.
Cons:
- Not appreciably faster than my old one for web browsing.
- Battery life seems lower than claimed.
- Night Shift (or possibly another issue) seems to cause the display to flicker as it's adjusting.
- Charging with a USB-A to USB-C cable causes issues on mine, although I've successfully used this setup with other late model MacBooks.
- I'm not going to even try to get support for the last two issues because they're difficult to reproduce and one involves using a non-Apple charger.
As a long-time Apple owner, I have to say I'm disappointed in this machine. It's like you buy a new Tesla, it passes all of the objective tests, but subjectively, something about it feels "off" for reasons you can't quite explain. I still love my iPhone and iPad, but this one is a road apple.
That sounds like a disappointment. I would send it back and wait for the ARM refresh. Maybe pick up a iPad Pro and magic keyboard instead For the immediate use.
To be honest, web browsing is really more dependent on raw internet speed now, so unless you upgrade your internet package to higher speeds, you probably won't notice much difference between a 2017 and 2020 Mac. On the Windows side, you might see some improvement with the 10th gen Intel machines over 7th/8th/9th gen systems because they have switched to WiFi6 (802.11ax) for those systems already.
My i5 MBA isn't much faster than my late-2013 15" MBP. However, the MBP has a smashed screen, so this wins 
The cost of the air wasn't much more than an official screen replacement for the Pro, which I now use for streaming connected via HDMI to my telly (I don't have an Apple TV).
The cost of the air wasn't much more than an official screen replacement for the Pro, which I now use for streaming connected via HDMI to my telly (I don't have an Apple TV).