MBA 2019 vs 2020 i5

[Bonson3]

Hi!

So I've watched basically every video on youtube about the new MBA and the debate between i3 vs i5. With this, I noticed that the i5 performance between MBA 2019 and 2020 models are practically the same. What does this mean, especially in the long term? I didn't follow the 2019 model closely so I would love to hear insights regarding its performance. Im just quite stunned as it is a 2 generation difference and I guess it is apple explicitly throttling it down. So i guess the main question is: is this a less capable device than the 2019 version?

 

[HopelesslyConfused]

Dude I'm as confused as you are.

Initially the reviews for the 2020 came out saying quad core processor, new keyboard, clearly a better machine than the 2019 Macbook air!

Now all the later reviews are saying 'HOT AND SLOW, FAN IS LOUD'.

I bought my first Macbook Air back in 2013 because I was sick of Windows ultrabooks burning my legs and whining annoyingly all the time. I bought a 2019 Air a month ago (my bad luck ) before the 2020 refresh and thought 'ah well, I'll just trade it in for a 2020 i5'.

After reading all this stuff, I have no idea whether the 2020 Macbook Air i5 is an hobbled nightmare that sounds like a jumbo jet, or the best Macbook Air post-2018 refresh.

I'd love to go test out the differences in an Apple store but... Rona.

 

[Dhonk]

They’re not the same. The 2020 i5 is basically twice as fast as the 2018 according to benchmarks

 

[Seanm87]

Actually i think the i3 2020 model is faster than the 2019 i5 according to Apple anyway.

 

[HopelesslyConfused]

They’re not the same. The 2020 i5 is basically twice as fast as the 2018 according to benchmarks

I get that the benchmarks are almost twice as fast, but if this translates to 'the thing won't shut up under real world use', then that's not really why I've owned MacBook Airs. I like my peace and quiet.

I'd love a different keyboard and faster performance, but it seems like the Youtube Reviews are split between 'the geekbench scores are great but it's hot and loud' and 'best macbook air ever, how bout that keyboard.'

There was one video (from a guy called Juan?) that showed that things aren't actually that bad/different under real world usage, that was pretty useful. Still, it's a lot of money to spend for something that'll be potentially very annoying

 

[Loog]

I believe there is very little difference between the 2018 i3 and the 2020 i3 in day to day use. I have a 2018 and purchased the 2020 i7/16GB and quickly returned it, too hot, too noisy. I rarely hear or feel my 2018 when in use. Side by side, using apps and switching between tasks there was so little difference for the £2000+ I had paid, I simply couldn't justify it or live with the thermals. The quad cores simply run out far too quickly, get too hot and throttle down very quickly so while having all this theoretical power its simply not accessible other than short bursts.

There have been a few of us looking at flattering this heating curve on another post which may be of interest. The thread is long but its gets very interesting from page 38 onwards https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink.2227066/page-38

 

[deeddawg]

After reading all this stuff, I have no idea whether the 2020 Macbook Air i5 is an hobbled nightmare that sounds like a jumbo jet, or the best Macbook Air post-2018 refresh.

My 2020 i5 is silent unless I’m specifically pushing it with stuff like converting/exporting a bunch of RAW photos or building a hundred previews. Then I hear the fan but it’s not obtrusive. And it returns to silence quickly.

otherwise, using Lightroom and mail and safari and so forth it remains silent.

Just like any other mac I’ve owned - except my 12” rMB since it had no fan.

 

[Loog]

My 2020 i5 is silent unless I’m specifically pushing it with stuff like converting/exporting a bunch of RAW photos or building a hundred previews. Then I hear the fan but it’s not obtrusive. And it returns to silence quickly.

otherwise, using Lightroom and mail and safari and so forth it remains silent.

Just like any other mac I’ve owned - except my 12” rMB since it had no fan.

I'm pleased that your unit is behaving as intended @deeddawg, mine like many others didn't play so well. Here's my i7 on a teams meetings, this has been running for 35 mins, the only application running 16% CPU, 93 deg and 8000 RPM.

 

[KPOM]

Dude I'm as confused as you are.

Initially the reviews for the 2020 came out saying quad core processor, new keyboard, clearly a better machine than the 2019 Macbook air!

Now all the later reviews are saying 'HOT AND SLOW, FAN IS LOUD'.

I bought my first Macbook Air back in 2013 because I was sick of Windows ultrabooks burning my legs and whining annoyingly all the time. I bought a 2019 Air a month ago (my bad luck ) before the 2020 refresh and thought 'ah well, I'll just trade it in for a 2020 i5'.

After reading all this stuff, I have no idea whether the 2020 Macbook Air i5 is an hobbled nightmare that sounds like a jumbo jet, or the best Macbook Air post-2018 refresh.

I'd love to go test out the differences in an Apple store but... Rona.

It isn’t bad in everyday use. The people complaining about noise are taxing the CPU by doing tasks better suited for the MacBook Pro. The difference in 2020 is that the i5 Air can actually do them reasonably well, albeit by using the fans.

If you aren’t doing anything taxing like exporting 4K video, running virtual machines, etc. you likely won’t notice the fans that much. If you are, then you are better off with the 13” Pro (and were in 2018-2019 as well).

 

[solo118]

Keyboard alone the 2020 is worth it.

 

[HopelesslyConfused]

It isn’t bad in everyday use. The people complaining about noise are taxing the CPU by doing tasks better suited for the MacBook Pro. The difference in 2020 is that the i5 Air can actually do them reasonably well, albeit by using the fans.

If you aren’t doing anything taxing like exporting 4K video, running virtual machines, etc. you likely won’t notice the fans that much. If you are, then you are better off with the 13” Pro (and were in 2018-2019 as well).

Figured I should update as I am no longer 'hopelessly confused' and I am getting email notifications I think for me the truth was somewhere in between 'it's super powerful and awesome' and 'it's hot garbage'

So after using the 2020 for a few weeks, I'd disagree with your statements here. I was doing exactly the same things I was doing on my 2019 as I was on the 2020 (mostly browsing in Chrome, watching Netflix, team meetings through video conferencing, editing office docs and making/viewing presentations in Powerpoint or Slides). It was WAY louder than my 2019 at all of these things and I didn't notice any performance difference, so I returned it

I got my 2019 MBA back from the family member (no hard feelings luckily haha) and am amble to do the same things as I used to in peace. I don't think I was better off with a Macbook Pro in 2019, I don't do anything that professional, 4K video editing of VMs or whatever.

All I can say is that I started to look into modding the heatsink (I was subscribed to that thread) and then I thought 'why do this after spending all this money?', that's when I decided to go back to 2019 MBA

Not worth it to me in the end. Didn't suit my everyday use

 

[vyruzreaper]

It isn’t bad in everyday use. The people complaining about noise are taxing the CPU by doing tasks better suited for the MacBook Pro. The difference in 2020 is that the i5 Air can actually do them reasonably well, albeit by using the fans.

If you aren’t doing anything taxing like exporting 4K video, running virtual machines, etc. you likely won’t notice the fans that much. If you are, then you are better off with the 13” Pro (and were in 2018-2019 as well).

No we are not. Video conferencing ALONE (no other apps) taxes the fan and CPU/GPU temps after 10-30 minutes of use.

 

[deeddawg]

No we are not. Video conferencing ALONE (no other apps) taxes the fan and CPU/GPU temps after 10-30 minutes of use.

Didn’t happen to me today with a 40 minute Zoom meeting with six other participants. Never heard a fan. Case temps were never perceivably more than usual/warm, my MBA was on a table. I’ve not gone looking for problems with Intel Power Gadget, so I have to wonder if that tool maybe causes sone of the problems with its hooks into stuff better left alone?

Not saying others haven’t had their issues, but *my* experience isn’t anything like the DOOM AND GLOOM some portray. No idea why they have such a different experience

 

[vyruzreaper]

Didn’t happen to me today with a 40 minute Zoom meeting with six other participants. Never heard a fan. Case temps were never perceivably more than warm.

Not saying others haven’t had their issues, but *my* experience isn’t anything like the DOOM AND GLOOM some portray. No idea why they have such a different experience

Right, each case seems different. Zoom/Hangouts/FT/WebRTC/WebEx -> ive tried them all and same result with max fans and temps.

i5/16/256

What are your specs? Maybe i3 or less RAM perform better? We should also discuss apps open (like VPN, slack, anthing in toolbar, etc).

 

[deeddawg]

Right, each case seems different. Zoom/Hangouts/FT/WebRTC/WebEx -> ive tried them all and same result with max fans and temps.

i5/16/256

What are your specs? Maybe i3 or less RAM perform better? We should also discuss apps open (like VPN, slack, anthing in toolbar, etc).

Mine is i5/16/512 restored from TM backup of my 12” rMP and given a few days to settle in.

I can’t say what’s up with others experiences, I can only relate what I’m seeing here with my sample size of one.

First day I had a Synology CloudStation Drive sync process hammering the cpu and spinning fans. I reset the sync connection and it settled down.

So far I’m very pleased. It’s my lightweight portable personal laptop. It’s silent unless I’m pushing it with RAW photo processing and never obtrusive. Just as I’d expected owning over the years a 2010 MBP13, 2011MBA, Mac mini, 2013 MBA (wife’s), 2015 rMP12, and 2018 MBP15. Point is I’m familiar with macs rather than any other interpretation

I have my MBP15 for desk heavy lifting. I do my MS Office and Teams work stuff on my company provided (and fan happy) Thinkpad. I’d never choose a Mac to run MSFT software given a choice.

 

[KPOM]

Mine is i5/16/512 restored from TM backup of my 12” rMP and given a few days to settle in.

I can’t say what’s up with others experiences, I can only relate what I’m seeing here with my sample size of one.

First day I had a Synology CloudStation Drive sync process hammering the cpu and spinning fans. I reset the sync connection and it settled down.

So far I’m very pleased. It’s my lightweight portable personal laptop. It’s silent unless I’m pushing it with RAW photo processing and never obtrusive. Just as I’d expected owning over the years a 2010 MBP13, 2011MBA, Mac mini, 2013 MBA (wife’s), 2015 rMP12, and 2018 MBP15. Point is I’m familiar with macs rather than any other interpretation

I have my MBP15 for desk heavy lifting. I do my MS Office and Teams work stuff on my company provided (and fan happy) Thinkpad. I’d never choose a Mac to run MSFT software given a choice.

I think the difference is that you and I both had the 12” MacBook. I still have mine. I love it and hope they bring it back when they switch to ARM.

The people complaining about “overheating” and “throttling” on the 2020 MacBook Air clearly have never had a 5W 12” MacBook. There was no fan and it cooled entirely through the case, so it got warm whenever the CPU was taxed. By contrast, the 2020 i5 Air can be running at 100 degrees and the fan full blast and the case is still a comfortable temperature. And it runs at a decent speed.

Remember that the Air runs the successor of the 12” MacBook processor. It isn’t supposed to be a MacBook Pro replacement.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I think the difference is that you and I both had the 12” MacBook. I still have mine. I love it and hope they bring it back when they switch to ARM.

The people complaining about “overheating” and “throttling” on the 2020 MacBook Air clearly have never had a 5W 12” MacBook.

I haven't seen the words 'overheating' (shutting down because heat exceeds safe temperatures) or 'throttling' (dropping below base clock due to control thermal performance) too much, outside of YouTube.

I've never had a 12" MacBook, but I'm writing from a 2019 MBA. I've been using the machine for eight hours and the fan has risen above 0rpm once today, and that was after fifteen minutes of using Zoom for work.

I found the 2020 i5 to be very hot and loud compared to the machine I'm using now, doing the same things in the same way. It wasn't overheating, it wasn't throttling, it was just far hotter and louder than its predecessor. I can't put a number or a percentage on it, but it seems like I'm not alone, and it's something buyers should at least be aware of if they care about this kind of stuff.

For those who haven't experienced issues, like you and @deeddawg, that's awesome. The difference could be software use, hardware inconsistencies, expectations based on previous devices, whatever. We don't know.

It'd be great to figure it out - maybe there was a bad batch early on, maybe a software update is required, or maybe the case cooling design just isn't as efficient with a hotter, more powerful processor. I think it's the latter based on what limited data is available, but it'd be great if it was any of the former.

 

[Loog]

Keyboard alone the 2020 is worth it.

That's subjective @solo118 ... I prefer the butterfly keyboard, I'm in the minority I agree.
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Figured I should update as I am no longer 'hopelessly confused' and I am getting email notifications I think for me the truth was somewhere in between 'it's super powerful and awesome' and 'it's hot garbage'

So after using the 2020 for a few weeks, I'd disagree with your statements here. I was doing exactly the same things I was doing on my 2019 as I was on the 2020 (mostly browsing in Chrome, watching Netflix, team meetings through video conferencing, editing office docs and making/viewing presentations in Powerpoint or Slides). It was WAY louder than my 2019 at all of these things and I didn't notice any performance difference, so I returned it

I got my 2019 MBA back from the family member (no hard feelings luckily haha) and am amble to do the same things as I used to in peace. I don't think I was better off with a Macbook Pro in 2019, I don't do anything that professional, 4K video editing of VMs or whatever.

All I can say is that I started to look into modding the heatsink (I was subscribed to that thread) and then I thought 'why do this after spending all this money?', that's when I decided to go back to 2019 MBA

Not worth it to me in the end. Didn't suit my everyday use

I followed exactly the same path, had the same experience ... roads and logic sent me back to the MBA 2018
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It isn’t bad in everyday use. The people complaining about noise are taxing the CPU by doing tasks better suited for the MacBook Pro. The difference in 2020 is that the i5 Air can actually do them reasonably well, albeit by using the fans.

If you aren’t doing anything taxing like exporting 4K video, running virtual machines, etc. you likely won’t notice the fans that much. If you are, then you are better off with the 13” Pro (and were in 2018-2019 as well).

Video conferencing seems to excite the MBA 2020 into becoming hot and vocal. That's pretty much day to day use in my opinion

 

[deeddawg]

Video conferencing seems to excite the MBA 2020 into becoming hot and vocal. That's pretty much day to day use in my opinion

I had a 35-40 minute social Zoom meeting this weekend on my MBA. It remained silent and didn't get hot.

Sample size of one of course. Make of it what you will.

Prior to this covid stuff I (almost) never video conferenced on a personal laptop. While I do use Teams and Webex video on a daily basis, it's on my work issued Lenovo - and it spins fans just looking at it sideways. Perhaps those also would spin the fan and heat up an MBA, but IMHO that's moot since if I were buying a mac for a work computer it'd be a MBP not an MBA. Proper tool for the job and all that. MBA isn't what folks should buy for sustained cpu load workflows.

 

[Loog]

I had a 35-40 minute social Zoom meeting this weekend on my MBA. It remained silent and didn't get hot.

Sample size of one of course. Make of it what you will.

Prior to this covid stuff I (almost) never video conferenced on a personal laptop. While I do use Teams and Webex video on a daily basis, it's on my work issued Lenovo - and it spins fans just looking at it sideways. Perhaps those also would spin the fan and heat up an MBA, but IMHO that's moot since if I were buying a mac for a work computer it'd be a MBP not an MBA. Proper tool for the job and all that. MBA isn't what folks should buy for sustained cpu load workflows.

@deeddawg, zoom does seem to play quite nicely with me as well, it does generate some heat but nothing overly excessive. I found for teams swiping away from the application and letting it run in the background for a while really helps but that's a poor work around. Possibly a software issue.

I agree with you totally re hardware choice, it just seem the 2020 MBA in the i5/i7 format runs just a little too hot, feedback on the i3 seems to have a better balance here, just like the older 2018 which you rarely heard the fans or felt it get warm.

 

[deeddawg]

I agree with you totally re hardware choice, it just seem the 2020 MBA in the i5/i7 format runs just a little too hot, feedback on the i3 seems to have a better balance here, just like the older 2018 which you rarely heard the fans or felt it get warm.

I guess it depends on what one considers "too hot".

Since I have no interest in installing the intel power gadget or other monitor software, I can only go by externally perceivable factors such as whether or not I can hear the fan and whether or not the MBA feels uncomfortable.

For _my_ workflows - Safari, Mail, Numbers, Lightroom, Luminar, Photomechanic, Photos, and the occasional bit of Chrome (I prefer Safari when on macOS), my i5 has generally remained silent and not uncomfortably warm. My cpu needs are very bursty with periods of relative idle - such as making photo adjustments, with less frequent brief sustained cpu usage when exporting a few images or generating previews.

Personally I would be hesitant to tell others what they should choose i3 vs i5 since it's apparent that the i5 does work fine for some folks and doesn't for others. What I would suggest is they be sure to purchase from somewhere they can easily make a return/exchange and see if the i5 works well for their usage or if they find they need to make a change.

As for say a 2019 vs 2020 choice - I'd still go with the 2020 for the keyboard. Even if I were losing out in some other manner.

 

[Loog]

I guess it depends on what one considers "too hot".

Since I have no interest in installing the intel power gadget or other monitor software, I can only go by externally perceivable factors such as whether or not I can hear the fan and whether or not the MBA feels uncomfortable.

For _my_ workflows - Safari, Mail, Numbers, Lightroom, Luminar, Photomechanic, Photos, and the occasional bit of Chrome (I prefer Safari when on macOS), my i5 has generally remained silent and not uncomfortably warm. My cpu needs are very bursty with periods of relative idle - such as making photo adjustments, with less frequent brief sustained cpu usage when exporting a few images or generating previews.

Personally I would be hesitant to tell others what they should choose i3 vs i5 since it's apparent that the i5 does work fine for some folks and doesn't for others. What I would suggest is they be sure to purchase from somewhere they can easily make a return/exchange and see if the i5 works well for their usage or if they find they need to make a change.

As for say a 2019 vs 2020 choice - I'd still go with the 2020 for the keyboard. Even if I were losing out in some other manner.

@deeddawg, I put the power tools on to validate and quantify, my palm rest was like a hot water bottle, 40+ deg and too warm to comfortably use on your lap, it was even hot on the table.

Well the new MBP 13 has just been released today ... so there is another cat amongst the pigeons upgrade to the old 2 port using gen8 cpu and more storage and new gen 10 4 port unit which is better priced giving you a quad core, 16GB and 512GB base unit for must closer price point ...

 

[DerKommissar]

We have the i5/16gb/512gb model and so far (for my Wife's main computer), and we love it. I've been considering getting the lowest spec one to replace my beloved 11 in. Air, but will likely wait for refurbs. At the EDU price, the $900 model is a fantastic computer, but I agree that it loses value as you up the spec. We only went with the one we did because we want it to last 5+ years, and we foolishly bought her last Air with only 4 gb of ram. All this fuss over it running too hot I feel is coming from people who should really be waiting for the 13 in MBP refresh which just dropped today.

 

[deeddawg]

@deeddawg, I put the power tools on to validate and quantify, my palm rest was like a hot water bottle, 40+ deg and too warm to comfortably use on your lap, it was even hot on the table.

I don't doubt that you experienced what you experienced. My comment was more addressing that some folks focus on what the CPU temperature is rather than what the system feels/sounds like.

It's certainly clear some folks such as yourself have had an issue with your system being too hot / too much fan noise.

Yet there are also lots of folks who aren't having any such issues and their MBAs are running quiet and cool.

Since we're dealing with sample sizes of one for each of our experiences, I think the only thing we can say definitively is that folks need to be buying from a place they can easily make a return/exchange to if they find the MBA is not suitable for their needs.