At the moment it's also downloading photos from icloud, temp 70-75º and rpm around 2700. But no noise at all
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MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews
- Thread starter Untapped Potential
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Installing all of my programs and moving files around I am around 70-75 with rpm around 2500-3000. Completely silent. If it stays like this I am all good.
Just got mime yesterday. i5/16/265. Overkill for sure for what I need but, whatever. I'm coming from a 2010 MBP so my standards were quite low, but still, I'm loving it!
I've used a 2019 iMac a good number of times, but this display is still really impressive to me. But yeah, its obviously insanely impressive compared to a 2010 MBP. The speakers are blowing me away. I can't believe how good they sound and how loud they get especially considering how small they are. Sure, they could use a but more bass, but overall they sound fantastic to me. The keyboard is feeling amazing so far. I thought it would be hard to get used to at first, since the 2010 had a lot of key travel, but I'm loving this keyboard now. Threre's enough key travel and feels nice.
Performance wise, I can't really comment. Obviously it's very fast, it's a day old. All I've used it for so far is web browsing, photo importing/management, video watching, music, mail, ect. Basic stuff. I'm getting an audio interface and I'm going to plug in my guitar and record. I'll have digital tracks and what not as well. I probably could have bought the base model, but damn, everyone on here convinced me you NEED to get at least a quad core processor and 16 gigs of RAM in 2020. Whatever, it's all good. I plan on keeping this for close to a decade anyway.
It's feeling a bit hot right now. Maybe it's not finished "indexing". It's still cooler than the 2010 runs 😄. Here's to that laptop though. Served me well for almost ten years. Still runs too.
I've used a 2019 iMac a good number of times, but this display is still really impressive to me. But yeah, its obviously insanely impressive compared to a 2010 MBP. The speakers are blowing me away. I can't believe how good they sound and how loud they get especially considering how small they are. Sure, they could use a but more bass, but overall they sound fantastic to me. The keyboard is feeling amazing so far. I thought it would be hard to get used to at first, since the 2010 had a lot of key travel, but I'm loving this keyboard now. Threre's enough key travel and feels nice.
Performance wise, I can't really comment. Obviously it's very fast, it's a day old. All I've used it for so far is web browsing, photo importing/management, video watching, music, mail, ect. Basic stuff. I'm getting an audio interface and I'm going to plug in my guitar and record. I'll have digital tracks and what not as well. I probably could have bought the base model, but damn, everyone on here convinced me you NEED to get at least a quad core processor and 16 gigs of RAM in 2020. Whatever, it's all good. I plan on keeping this for close to a decade anyway.
It's feeling a bit hot right now. Maybe it's not finished "indexing". It's still cooler than the 2010 runs 😄. Here's to that laptop though. Served me well for almost ten years. Still runs too.
Eric, you and I sound in the same boat. I'm currently waiting for my i5/16/1TB to arrive (c'mon hurry up!!), and typing this out on a mid 2010 13" MBP that I have LOVED the entire time that I've owned it. After trying out the keyboard on my wife's 2018 MBA, I hated it and wasn't going to upgrade until either the MBA or the MBP got the new keyboard, whichever came first. Is it bad that I'm checing my order 4x a day to see if the status has changed!
Congrats. That 2010 MBP served you well. May you have lots of luck with the 2020 Air. It’s a great machine.
Good decision on the 1TB. I ordered myself an external 1TB drive in preparation for the storage management I'll probably have to do 😁.Eric, you and I sound in the same boat. I'm currently waiting for my i5/16/1TB to arrive (c'mon hurry up!!), and typing this out on a mid 2010 13" MBP that I have LOVED the entire time that I've owned it. After trying out the keyboard on my wife's 2018 MBA, I hated it and wasn't going to upgrade until either the MBA or the MBP got the new keyboard, whichever came first. Is it bad that I'm checing my order 4x a day to see if the status has changed!
I also waited for the butterfly keyboard to be replaced. I never actually tried it, but it seemed like everyone on the internet either hated how it felt or talked about how often it broke. I didn't even want to try it 😅.
Nothing wrong with that. I checking my order well over ten times a day lol
I actually didn’t mind the butterfly keyboard (I LOVED the 12” MacBook), but yes, the “Magic Keyboard” is better and more reliable.
Just setting mine up now.
i7/1TB/16GB
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wow, I do miss MagSafe though. USB-C plugs really do require effort to get out
i7/1TB/16GB
- love the new keyboard
- it is silent thus far, even during setup (on battery)
- it is snappy enough
- truetone is great
edit:
wow, I do miss MagSafe though. USB-C plugs really do require effort to get out
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Had my i5/8/256 for about 48 hours now. Had the 2019 to compare directly before returning it and set it up from a time machine backup. It indexed for maybe an hour, and then spent 2-3 hours processing the photos library. During that time it ran a little warm but was silent. The 2020 version idles maybe 2-5 degrees warmer (practically not noticeable on my lap). In regular use for me including Safari, preview for PDFs, music, messages, pages or word depending on my mood - it runs about the same temperature as the 2019. When playing H265 encoded 1080p content or 4K over SMB from my server, it occasionally spikes higher temps but stays within 5 degrees of the 2019. Playing locally, about the same. I disabled Turbo boost to see if that would make much difference, but in my uses it's negligible. All in all, with the better keyboard and better long-term value/performance, I'm much happier with the 2020 version.
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Is it bad that I'm checing my order 4x a day to see if the status has changed!
Doing the same thing waiting for my Silver/i5/512. It's driving me nuts, I ordered on 3/27, it had a predicted delivery of 4/6 to 4/13, but it hasn't even moved in to Preparing to ship yet, nor hit my card. I'm skeptical they're going to hit the 13th...
So, its plugged into a 4k monitor (not clamshell mode - open) downloading all my apps and syncing and running spotlight, etc.
I can't hear it in my office.
I can't hear it in my office.
OK, so outlook cranked the fan up. It's not any more obnoxious than my retina 13" pro from 2015.
Don't bother with waiting for the indexing to finish before using it — it really isn't necessary! I always do a fresh install of any new major MacOS release and indexing has never caused any issues at all, and I spend the first few hours installing software, downloading Dropbox files and so on.
As for the new MacBook Air — mine arrived on Tuesday, and within a few hours I'd installed all the software and files I'm going to use. Yes, the system is (very) slightly slower for a day, and Spotlight may not find a program you installed in the last couple of minutes, but really, indexing is not a problem at all and there are no benefits in waiting till its over.
Tell your granddaughter she can open the machine and start using it straightaway — and enjoy her reaction!
Thanks for replying, but that wasn't the point of my question. I've been using Apple computers (got 5 Macs at home now) since the Apple II, so I know you can use the computer while its indexing.
The point was how long does it take to completely index a FRESH install before the computer temperatures are "normal"? I thought someone with a new MBA may have noticed. I wanted to be able to give her a heads up if she noticed it seemed to be hot at first. Seems like it shouldn't be very long without loads of transferred user files. But I haven't indexed a fresh MacOS for many years, only ones with TB's of files on internal and external drives transferred from previous OS installations.
My MBA i5 / 8GB / 256GB was delivered yesterday and am loving almost everything about it: the keyboard is great; the trackpad is buttery smooth; WiFi is much faster than on my 2013 MBA; in fact, everything is faster; the screen is a vast improvement; the fan came on once during set-up and I haven't heard it since. However, the webcam is a big disappointment; I was expecting at least the same quality as my old MBA, but the images on MBA 2020 are significantly darker and grainier. Looks like I might have to invest in a webcam now that I'm spending five hours a day teaching online. And I wish it had a MagSafe connector. That said, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives (so far).
Depends how much data you have. More data = more indexing time.
It also processes your photos to catalog what is in them - more photos more time...
Seriously??? I understand what indexing does and how it works.
I asked about a FRESH install. How long on the MBA with NOTHING added that wasn't on the MBA straight out of the box. No data, no user files, no photos added.
That's one of the reasons I replied: the temperatures haven't been a problem with this new MacBook Air install any more than they have ever been with any of other Macs I've ever had -- the 2004 MBP was the worst for temperature by far (even in normal use -- the MBA has been nothing like that). I don't think I've even noticed the fan go on more than once or twice for a few minutes on the first day while I was in the middle of indexing and installing two or three programs at once. There have been no problems at all with heat, even with all this extra installing and therefore indexing: a fresh install with no additional data shouldn't be an issue at all.
And even with that extra installation / indexing, the indexing was finished within 24 hours, I would guess. Difficult to tell exactly, because it didn't slow anything down noticeably, so there was no 'aha it's finished' moment. If it hadn't been for all the 'heat death of the universe' posts on here, I wouldn't have paid it any more attention than I normally do on installs.
I hope your granddaughter enjoys the gift!
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So you don't know the answer. I just thought someone might have noticed how long it took to index a completely fresh MBA, but I guess not. No problem.
That gives you the answer you need, doesn't it? If it's not really noticeable with additional indexing, it's not worth bothering about.
They do say that no good deed goes unpunished
Whilst they don't have the exact timing figure to hand in the way that you'd like it, they're taking the time to let you know that your grandaughter will in all likelihood not notice any indexing going on, particularly if she has no synced media (eg iCloud) to index. But then you already knew that, given that you know what index does and how it works
I trust your grandaughter learned what politeness is from someone other than her grandfather.
If I asked you how many miles per gallon your new car got and you told me gas was cheap would it answer my question?
First impressions with an i5/8GB/512GB which I've been setting up for the last few hours. I ended up ordering this machine from a 3rd party reseller in the UK yesterday and cancelling my order for the same spec but with 16GB RAM from Apple. I honestly don't need 16GB and have access to other machines if I really need to do some "heavy lifting".
The fans spin up at the exact same time they always spin up when setting up a new Mac - i.e. if you're downloading and installing multiple things from the App Store; initial DropBox sync; initial cloud music synch; Windows software updates in a VM. Just as they do on the 16" MBP next to it.
Screen is nice and bright, great quality, I forgot it had True Tone, looks just as good next to the 16" although I'm not a photo editor/video person.
The machine feels very snappy in macOS - very responsive - like a couple of other people have commented on.
Its great to have the Magic Keyboard in this size laptop. I quite like the TouchBar but one thing I'm not missing is the accidental touches of the Siri key at the top right. TouchID is nice and fast, but otherwise it feels just like the 16".
As much as I love the MBPs, I prefer the tapered form factor of the Air.
Speakers are pretty good - there's good definition across the range and you can turn them up to a decent volume. Obviously they're not a patch on the 16" ones, but that's not really a fair comparison given the size difference.
Webcam is mediocre compared to the iPad Pro, but that's just how it is with Apple laptops. Speakers and mic work fine for video conferencing.
The fans spin up at the exact same time they always spin up when setting up a new Mac - i.e. if you're downloading and installing multiple things from the App Store; initial DropBox sync; initial cloud music synch; Windows software updates in a VM. Just as they do on the 16" MBP next to it.
Screen is nice and bright, great quality, I forgot it had True Tone, looks just as good next to the 16" although I'm not a photo editor/video person.
The machine feels very snappy in macOS - very responsive - like a couple of other people have commented on.
Its great to have the Magic Keyboard in this size laptop. I quite like the TouchBar but one thing I'm not missing is the accidental touches of the Siri key at the top right. TouchID is nice and fast, but otherwise it feels just like the 16".
As much as I love the MBPs, I prefer the tapered form factor of the Air.
Speakers are pretty good - there's good definition across the range and you can turn them up to a decent volume. Obviously they're not a patch on the 16" ones, but that's not really a fair comparison given the size difference.
Webcam is mediocre compared to the iPad Pro, but that's just how it is with Apple laptops. Speakers and mic work fine for video conferencing.
one of my concern about macbook air is its brightness. 400 nits vs 500 nits comparing to macbook pro.