Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SaranshRolex

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 24, 2020
16
21
As I'm only seeing i5s here id like to know how many of you have the i3. I have one and man this thing is fast. I'm in the team I learned from my mistake buying the iPhone pro max instead of the 11(500 euros difference not justified by one extra camera and an oled). so yeah I got the i3 cuz getting the i5 for me was 250 euros extra with double the storage. why pay more for something you don't use. rather get a dongle or two then ahaha.
 
Have the base model i3, no complaints here.

Things involving progress bars take slightly longer (OS updates, big installs, exports, etc.) but there is no loss of snappiness nor feeling of lag in general use.

I have used many of the recent MacBooks with higher end hardware and there is no difference in basic everyday tasks.
I would recommend for basic computing, light enthusiast work, and students without hesitation.

I don't see material CPU thermal differences between the i3 and my 2015 13" MacBook Pro (which I repasted). Additionally, the surface and exterior of the i3 MBA stays mostly cool, regardless of how hot the CPU gets.

Fan noise has been minimal, which is surprising after all the comments I've read (maybe worse with the i5?).
 
Last edited:
I have the base model i3/8/256 and I absolutely love it! This is my first Mac notebook and I will be using it for school so it works perfectly for what I need. It is more snappy than I expected, and the keyboard is awesome. I have not heard the fan at all, it runs completely silent. The bottom got warm after two hours of use, but nothing above what I would think is normal.
 
I've been leaning heavily towards the i3 lately, however, I just did a little comparison of benchmarks online and I may change my mind. The i3 is solidly ahead of my 2014 MBP 13", but the i5 is substantially more powerful.
[automerge]1586553671[/automerge]
so yeah I got the i3 cuz getting the i5 for me was 250 euros extra with double the storage. why pay more for something you don't use.

Why spend for the extra storage? You can get the i3 or i5 with the same minimal storage.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2020-04-10 at 2.18.19 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2020-04-10 at 2.18.19 PM.png
    52.1 KB · Views: 161
I've been leaning heavily towards the i3 lately, however, I just did a little comparison of benchmarks online and I may change my mind. The i3 is solidly ahead of my 2014 MBP 13", but the i5 is substantially more powerful.
[automerge]1586553671[/automerge]


Why spend for the extra storage? You can get the i3 or i5 with the same minimal storage.
Its for a company so i need to order it from somewhere else so iets either base or mid model. (512gb)
And im constantly getting a 1090 score on my i3 tho
 
here's a screenshot its actually almost 2400
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-04-11 at 00.54.54.png
    Screenshot 2020-04-11 at 00.54.54.png
    1.8 MB · Views: 189
For the cost, my take is the i5 gives you more bang for the buck, but the MBA is not a machine that typically fits my use case so perhaps my advice is outside of what typical MBA users have
 
  • Like
Reactions: throAU
I have an i3

For what the MBA is, I think it's perfectly fine. The i3 in 2020 is still better than the older 2019/18 i5 And those chips were fine for non pro work

If you're doing anything other than regular Pro video or photo editing or gaming (why do you own a mac if you're gaming), then this computer is more than enough.

It's fast and responds to all office suite applications beautifully
[automerge]1586651002[/automerge]
Wow at those levels, the quad core doesn’t seem as needed. Wonder if you won the i3 lottery, or if others can verify

I have similar Geekbench numbers:
1094 SC and 2412 Mc Geekbench 5

Geekbench 4 for those curious:
4213 SC and 7816 mc
 
  • Like
Reactions: HopelesslyConfused
I think you can never make the human being happy. People always trying to wine and be disappointed. Reminds me of a Powerball winners, who most of the time spend all of the money and say that it didn't make them happy.
The truth is that i3 Air for $900/$1000 has the same specs and power as 2015-2017 MBP 13" and one core performance of MBP 16. The cool thing about it is that you spend only $1000 and get the power in a slick design. You don't have to spend $2400 for MBP 16's price to get the same single core performance and tackle the weight. You don't have to pay $1300 as for MBPs couple years ago. So somebody spent more money 2-3 years ago and had the same performance. Now you have an option to spend less and have the same power.
The i5 version has better graphics and double the core, so it is slightly better. But for browsing, Netflix, Youtube, Word and Excel they are all the same.
 
I have i3, it is a great upgrade from my 2013 MBA. However, there is fan noise if you are in a quiet room. Not sure if it's just my machine. I disabled to the turbo boost. For basic video, web browsing this is a good machine and I got it for 20% off using discover points on Amazon.
 
The fan on my has only been on when used for video calls. But it stays at around 2600 RPM(can not hear it at all) . Fir all other tasks I use it for (VS remote ciding, MS teams/slack chatting, browsing with Safari, dokument writing, youtube clips etc.) the fan has been off.

What RPM do turbo switchar show?
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.