Upgrade from 2018 13" Pro to 2020 Air?

[twin_suns]

Is it worth upgrading my 2018 13" MacBook Pro (4 TB ports) to a 2020 MacBook Air (both i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) as someone who only uses it for general/light use?

Currently I can sell the Pro for the same cost of an new Air so it's not a money thing, but would I be wasting the extra money I paid for a Pro in the first place?

I don't care about the touch bar and would rather a thinner and lighter laptop. Thanks in advance!

 

[Tekguy0]

Is it worth upgrading my 2018 13" MacBook Pro to a 2020 MacBook Air (both i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) as someone who only uses it for general/light use?

Currently I can sell the Pro for the same cost of an new Air so it's not a money thing, but would I be wasting the extra money I paid for a Pro in the first place?

I don't care about the touch bar and would rather a thinner and lighter laptop. Thanks in advance!

Does it have 2 or 4 thunderbolt ports? It its two, it will have an older 15w CPU, up from a newer 10w on the MBA. If it has 4 TB ports, it has a much more robust 28w chip, and there would be a more noticeable performance penalty.

 

[twin_suns]

It's got 4, and while it is a bit silly I do like having TB ports on both sides as I currently use the right side to charge (not really a massive deal to go down to 2 but there we go).

Do you mean a performance penalty going from Pro to Air? I don't plan on gaming or video editing on the thing mind, but I am going to be travelling a lot more soon (If I'm allowed lol)

 

[reacher]

I am thinking about the same. I've got 2019 MPB with 2 thunderbolts. It is more than enough for me. Running PyCharm, VS Code with SSH connection and synchronization (not large files, just a ordinary repo), a google sheet inside safari, mail, slack and spotify. Working on internal display as well as connected to 4k screen (with MacBook closed). I have never heard fans. It is excellent, but I would love to get rid of Touch Bar.

I think, that i5 would be enough to such a case. But I've been thinking about getting i3. The 2 core CPU is 9W compare to 10W i5 and maybe will be not as hot as i5 and MacBook will be more quiet, or has higher frequency while throttling? What do you think?

 

[RegularGuy09]

I think, that i5 would be enough to such a case. But I've been thinking about getting i3. The 2 core CPU is 9W compare to 10W i5 and maybe will be not as hot as i5 and MacBook will be more quiet, or has higher frequency while throttling? What do you think?

Get the i5. It has better performance, and will future proof your machine more. Also, the heat/noise difference is minimal.

 

[hftvhftv]

I am thinking about the same. I've got 2019 MPB with 2 thunderbolts. It is more than enough for me. Running PyCharm, VS Code with SSH connection and synchronization (not large files, just a ordinary repo), a google sheet inside safari, mail, slack and spotify. Working on internal display as well as connected to 4k screen (with MacBook closed). I have never heard fans. It is excellent, but I would love to get rid of Touch Bar.

I think, that i5 would be enough to such a case. But I've been thinking about getting i3. The 2 core CPU is 9W compare to 10W i5 and maybe will be not as hot as i5 and MacBook will be more quiet, or has higher frequency while throttling? What do you think?

There's no difference in thermals with all three of the chips. The i3 is the same silicon as the i7 as is the i5 just various parts have been disabled. Plus you won't see higher clocks on the i3 as its boost clock is 3.2GHz compared to 3.5 and 3.8 for the i5 and i7. If you want the coolest and quietest model get the i7 since it is able to complete the same tasks as the i3 and i5 in less CPU cycles.
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Is it worth upgrading my 2018 13" MacBook Pro to a 2020 MacBook Air (both i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) as someone who only uses it for general/light use?

Currently I can sell the Pro for the same cost of an new Air so it's not a money thing, but would I be wasting the extra money I paid for a Pro in the first place?

I don't care about the touch bar and would rather a thinner and lighter laptop. Thanks in advance!

It's not an upgrade. Your 4 port MBP has a vastly more powerful CPU and a brighter more colourful screen. Unless you need the keyboard I really wouldn't recommend getting the 2020 Air in your situation.

 

[reacher]

Thanks, I will go with i5/16. Hope it will be as quiet as my current MacBook.

 

[TechieGeek]

Does it have 2 or 4 thunderbolt ports? It its two, it will have an older 15w CPU, up from a newer 10w on the MBA. If it has 4 TB ports, it has a much more robust 28w chip, and there would be a more noticeable performance penalty.

When did we begin rating the performance of laptops based on the watts that their CPUs draw?

A “noticeable performance penalty” when the poster specification mentioned light work?

This person’s workload won’t even spin up the fans. It won’t get anywhere near utilizing the full potential of the i3 nor the i5.

If anything, we should encourage the poster to upgrade to 16GB memory rather than their current 8GB. That’ll have a far more substantial performance benefit to the vast majority of people who use their laptop for light work. It’ll greatly expand their ability to multitask on the laptop without it slowing down.

(When people say “multitask”, they generally refer to having many tabs and lots of software open. They don’t generally mean that they’re trying to compile code while encoding a video while playing Call of Duty.)

 

[throAU]

Is it worth upgrading my 2018 13" MacBook Pro (4 TB ports) to a 2020 MacBook Air (both i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) as someone who only uses it for general/light use?

Currently I can sell the Pro for the same cost of an new Air so it's not a money thing, but would I be wasting the extra money I paid for a Pro in the first place?

I don't care about the touch bar and would rather a thinner and lighter laptop. Thanks in advance!

I'd do it if you're a light user.

I'm happy with my 2020 air. The keyboard is the best laptop keyboard I have used.

For your use case it will be great. Plus, fresh warranty, and a keyboard that works.

 

[TechieGeek]

I want to drive home the point that multitasking on Chrome does not raise the CPU temp.

 

[throAU]

I'm convinced that the chrome complaints are about 4k video in YouTube. Which is a codec problem.

I've been using safari exclusively and the thing barely ever spins up any fans under similar/heavier workload than the OP describes.

 

[twin_suns]

If anything, we should encourage the poster to upgrade to 16GB memory rather than their current 8GB. That’ll have a far more substantial performance benefit to the vast majority of people who use their laptop for light work. It’ll greatly expand their ability to multitask on the laptop without it slowing down.

Yeah my workload is about 15 chrome tabs at a time, outlook and 2-3 remote desktop/VNC sessions open. Would recommend 16GB of RAM instead of an i5 or both?

Also what app are you using to monitor temps in that pic?

 

[TechieGeek]

Yeah my workload is about 15 chrome tabs at a time, outlook and 2-3 remote desktop/VNC sessions open. Would recommend 16GB of RAM instead of an i5 or both?

Also what app are you using to monitor temps in that pic?

I would personally prioritize RAM above CPU, and I would prioritize an i5 above storage. The reason is that anything >250GB can be stored cheaper in the cloud or on external storage, and the reasoning for i5 > i3 is for longevity of the laptop, if you can afford it. The 16GB > 8GB difference will have a more significant impact on longevity than the CPU, and will be immediately noticeable for most people, in my opinion and my experience of most people’s use (lots of software / tabs open at once).

Open “Activity Monitor” on your Mac as you use it today, and when it begins to slow down under your normal usage, it’s more than likely due to a shortage of memory (the green chart will turn yellow / red) rather than a saturated CPU.

This monitoring app is called Fanny. I only downloaded it to show that temps aren’t a problem that everyone is losing their mind over.

 

[blaugrana69]

I would personally prioritize RAM above CPU, and I would prioritize an i5 above storage. The reason is that anything >250GB can be stored cheaper in the cloud or on external storage, and the reasoning for i5 > i3 is for longevity of the laptop, if you can afford it. The 16GB > 8GB difference will have a more significant impact on longevity than the CPU, and will be immediately noticeable for most people, in my opinion and my experience of most people’s use (lots of software / tabs open at once).

Open “Activity Monitor” on your Mac as you use it today, and when it begins to slow down under your normal usage, it’s more than likely due to a shortage of memory (the green chart will turn yellow / red) rather than a saturated CPU.

This monitoring app is called Fanny. I only downloaded it to show that temps aren’t a problem that everyone is losing their mind over.

So i5/16/256 would be a decent bet ?

 

[KPOM]

It's got 4, and while it is a bit silly I do like having TB ports on both sides as I currently use the right side to charge (not really a massive deal to go down to 2 but there we go).

Do you mean a performance penalty going from Pro to Air? I don't plan on gaming or video editing on the thing mind, but I am going to be travelling a lot more soon (If I'm allowed lol)

The Air, even the quad core, is considerably slower than the current MacBook Pro 15W. Going from the dual-core 28W from 2018 to the 10W quad-core in 2020 may be about a wash, but I still think that the better fans in the Pro may offset that. As others have said, the screen is better in the Pro (a bit brighter at the top setting and wider color gamut), and you do get the ports on both sides. It is also not that much lighter, though the sloping design is a bit more ergonomic. So I'd suggest keeping what you have and re-assessing when the 13" Pro gets updated, which is probably in the next few weeks.

 

[chrfr]

The Air, even the quad core, is considerably slower than the current MacBook Pro 15W. Going from the dual-core 28W from 2018 to the 10W quad-core in 2020 may be about a wash, but I still think that the better fans in the Pro may offset that. As others have said, the screen is better in the Pro (a bit brighter at the top setting and wider color gamut), and you do get the ports on both sides. It is also not that much lighter, though the sloping design is a bit more ergonomic. So I'd suggest keeping what you have and re-assessing when the 13" Pro gets updated, which is probably in the next few weeks.

The 2018 MacBook Pro 13" is a quad core. Aside from weight, the 2020 Air is not an upgrade over the 2018 Pro whatsoever.

 

[twin_suns]

The 2018 MacBook Pro 13" is a quad core. Aside from weight, the 2020 Air is not an upgrade over the 2018 Pro whatsoever.

And the new keyboard, though I personally haven't had any issue with the current butterfly keyboard. Though I do wonder if something will happen to it over time.

 

[chrfr]

And the new keyboard, though I personally haven't had any issue with the current butterfly keyboard. Though I do wonder if something will happen to it over time.

Not sure how I forgot to mention the keyboard.

 

[KPOM]

The 2018 MacBook Pro 13" is a quad core. Aside from weight, the 2020 Air is not an upgrade over the 2018 Pro whatsoever.

I thought the quad-core was new in 2019 for the 13" model. In any case, the keyboard is an upgrade, but you are right, in other respects the Air is a downgrade.

 

[chrfr]

I thought the quad-core was new in 2019 for the 13" model. In any case, the keyboard is an upgrade, but you are right, in other respects the Air is a downgrade.

The 4-port Touch Bar model has been a quad-core since 2018. The 2019 was only a minor speed bump for that model. The 2-port Touch Bar model (quad-core) was new for 2019, and replaced a dual core non Touch Bar model.

 

[KPOM]

The 4-port Touch Bar model has been a quad-core since 2018. The 2019 was only a minor speed bump for that model. The 2-port Touch Bar model (quad-core) was new for 2019, and replaced a dual core non Touch Bar model.

Thanks. Then definitely the OP is better off staying with the 2018.

 

[twin_suns]

Hmm I think I might stick with my Pro... for now. Does my Pro at least have the latest 'revision' of the butterfly keyboard?

 

[reacher]

Does my Pro at least have the latest 'revision' of the butterfly keyboard?

As far as I know, since 2018 Pro has the latest, third generation of butterfly keyboard. But, in 2019 there was a slight change with this tiny membrane. You have 4 years of keyboard service action since the purchase date. Just use your MacBook and do not worry about keyboard.

 

[chrfr]

Hmm I think I might stick with my Pro... for now. Does my Pro at least have the latest 'revision' of the butterfly keyboard?

The 2019 keyboard is supposedly a little bit more reliable and it did receive a revision over the 2018 version. Also, it was reported that 2018 computers which get repaired would receive the 2019 keyboard, but that's been difficult to confirm.

 

[Spinning Fan]

Unless you have a problem with the weight of the 13 inch pro vs. the MBA, or with the MBP keyboard, and are willing to accept that the MBA would be "lower powered" in some cases. I would recommend keeping the MBP for now, as it is still relatively new and awaiting the release of new MBPs (hopefully with better keyboards) as that would give you more options. Especially since you own the MBP already and do not need to cash-out in order to keep it.

I just got a MBA 2020 (i5/16/256), but I use a company provided 2018 13inch MBP (4P 2.7-i7, 16, 512 .. so pretty high spec), and while (a) understanding the spec difference of MBA vs MBP and (b) the MBP actually personally feels hotter than MBA under similar use (zoom, office, chrome, mail, calendar, etc.) .. there is something to be said for the extra oomph that is provided by a higher spec machine, especially when opening 44MB sized PPTs or other "heavy" items.

The only major cosmetic difference (personally speaking..) is the keyboard, and that is the reason why I decided to purchase a machine for my own use now .. I wanted to have the peace of mind that this was not "faulty" by design, as I hate to go to repair shops.. I like the MBA keyboard but, quite honestly, I can live with the feel of the MBP 2018 keyboard which has not caused me any problems as of yet. Having used your MBP for a while, YMMV on the keyboard reliability side.. but, for me personally, the keyboard was not the game-changer that I thought it would be prior to the MBA purchase.