Macbook Air vs Macbook Pro 2020!

[MaybeThisIsMoreHelpful]

Hello, thank you for taking the time to help me out!

I'm having trouble deciding whether to buy the base model Macbook pro 2020 or the upgraded Macbook air 2020. I will be using the laptop for college, which is composed of note taking, essays, spotify, and etc. However, the reason why I am considering the Macbook Pro is due to the thermal issues in the Macbook Air. I will be using Zoom and Google Meets, and I have read that these cause the macbook air to heat up drastically.
Therefore, I am wondering if the Macbook Air 2020 Base Model is worth the extra $300 for a medium user.

Thank you so much!

 

[Pugly]

I had an Air, and I used zoom with an external screen and the fans turned on sometimes. I did some screensharing so it might have been related to that. It certainly ran it fine, but I did notice the fans. Outside of that I didn't notice any other issues thermally doing basic stuff. I think the thermal issues are largely overblown, but on the other hand the Pro does much better with any sort of processing work. Is the Air powerful enough? probably. Is the Pro a much better performer? Yes to this too.

It wasn't enough of a performer to me for the price, so I returned mine for a MBP.

Now that I'm using a MBP, the size/weight difference doesn't bother me at all. I expected the Air to be more portable. It was slightly nicer to type on, but not that much better. So I think most would probably be better off with the MBP, if they are okay with spending $1300. If your budget is $1000 maybe $1100 for the i5, then the Air is still a good buy.

 

[Dhock_Holiday]

Get the base MacBook Pro, its on sale at Best Buy

 

[roflc0pter]

2020 MBP 13" is currently $200 off at Best Buy right now so I would hop on that if you're still deciding. Not a fan of the thermal issues with the Air

 

[Alex W.]

never the air, always pro.

 

[benredacted]

I would third the recommendations above to pick up the base 2020 MBP at Best Buy right now for $1099 (assuming you're in the US). It's only 0.3 lbs heavier and will get you better real-world performance (there's more to life than benchmarks) than even the upgraded i5 MBA.

 

[julie.a]

I'm in the market to upgrade my 2014 MacBook Air and was wondering if there is any real benefit for waiting for the new chip. I'm a senior citizen that uses my laptop for internet surfing, basic Word and Excel stuff, and have some hard drive software like Family Tree Maker genealogy software. I also travel a lot and have over 33,000 photos on my current laptop (yeah, I know, time to do some editing!). I don't do any graphics or gaming things but like fast internet surfing. I'm considering the 2TB SSD but not sure about the processor. I don't want to pay for something I don't need and am not sure of the benefits of upgraded processor. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jerryk]

I'm in the market to upgrade my 2014 MacBook Air and was wondering if there is any real benefit for waiting for the new chip. I'm a senior citizen that uses my laptop for internet surfing, basic Word and Excel stuff, and have some hard drive software like Family Tree Maker genealogy software. I also travel a lot and have over 33,000 photos on my current laptop (yeah, I know, time to do some editing!). I don't do any graphics or gaming things but like fast internet surfing. I'm considering the 2TB SSD but not sure about the processor. I don't want to pay for something I don't need and am not sure of the benefits of upgraded processor. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A 2TB SSD is going increase the cost dramatically. The remainder of your requirements sound like they could be met by the base 13" MBP perhaps with a 512 GB SSD. If all of those photos are driving the 2TB SSD requirement have you considered cloud based storage and/or external drive for the images you are not currently working with? That would reduce the need to have everything on you laptop and give redundancy in case the laptop fails or is damaged

As far as upgrading. Yes the new systems are better. First, the 2020 air and MBP have much better screens which are much easier to read and brighter than your current Air. Second they are more powerful and faster, thanks to the processor and faster memory and SSDs.