Went different route than 2020 MacBook Air and 2020 MacBook Pro 13" ( base model with 16 GB ram )

[miatadan]

I sold my 2018 Mac Mini ( base model ) in December, replaced it with 2018 iPad Pro 64GB wifi model but even with recent updates that support limited mouse, trackpad support, some forums still not work correctly as could not right click to access ( save video as )

Almost ordered 2020 MacBook Air i3 with 16GB ram ( $ 1394 canadian ) after reviews showing heat issues , excessive fan noise , considered 2020 MacBook Pro 13 " but I find $1681.50 too expensive / note: prices from Apple Education Store.

I have used almost only Apple products since 1990 but have used Window's all versions many years at my work ( audio video work + IT networking.

I realize that many people rely too much on benchmarks but I go by how well it works on my daily use.

I trying right now Microsoft Surface Pro X ( base model 8GB with 128GB ssd ) and it works very well as my use is only research done from websites, being on forums, reading ebook's, email, banking, You Tube, Zoom room's etc. Using Edge and Firefox browser's . No lag, no stuttering. Getting average 10 hours on battery, front camera 1080P very clear. Find built in kickstand very handy, using Apple Magic keyboard and Apple Magic mouse from Apple Mac Mini. It was on sale $1199 canadian. Upgradeable SSD and built in LTE.

Gaming for me is on Sony Playstation PS4 Pro ( 90% car racing sims )

Geekbench score not as good as my iPad Pro 11" 737 Single-Core Score , 2824 Multi-Core Score but Window's 10 home works better for me than iOS 13.

build quality is as good as most Apple products

Will be interesting once Apple MacBooks start using cpu's such as newer version of A12Z Bionic, A13 Bionic as in my iPhone 11 Pro...

Guess for me what is so appealing for me in this Microsoft Surface Pro X, is no heat, complete silence as zero fans and desktop operating system is such thin format. But no interaction between this and my iPhone Pro 11, Apple watch series 3



Dan

I have 2 weeks to decide whether to keep this or not, thoughts opinion's ?

 

[ctjack]

Almost ordered 2020 MacBook Air i3 with 16GB ram ( $ 1394 canadian ) after reviews showing heat issues , excessive fan noise

my use is only research done from websites, being on forums, reading ebook's, email, banking, You Tube, Zoom room's etc.

And for that purposes base Air i3 with 8gb ram will suffice many years ahead.

But no interaction between this and my iPhone Pro 11, Apple watch series 3
I have 2 weeks to decide whether to keep this or not, thoughts opinion's ?

Personally I went with Apple road just for the ecosystem. Apple is equal to the comfort coming with vast ecosystem.
Without ecosystem it would be just nice built, overpriced chunk of aluminum.
There is a reason why Apple's market price is higher than Arabian Oil companies. Personally I think that Apple products are for your soul. It is like a BMW cabriolet which is not an all-purpose car, but it makes you happy.
=================
That Surface would be no go for me since it has no x64 software support and dealing with Word and Excel through their Office365 web site would make me crazy.

 

[miatadan]

Also ordered the 2020 MacBook Air i3/16GB/256 ssd today , just in case Surface Pro X does not work out.

Already have some issues: I could not resolve, my HP Laser Jet Pro MFP M130fw will not communicate with Surface, most likely due to ARM64, network drive not working well with this.

Dan

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Also ordered the 2020 MacBook Air i3/16GB/256 ssd today , just in case Surface Pro X does not work out.

Already have some issues: I could not resolve, my HP Laser Jet Pro MFP M130fw will not communicate with Surface, most likely due to ARM64, network drive not working well with this.

Dan

I found the MBA i3 to be great, but (I may get crucified for saying this), there are some excellent contenders to it - Dell XPS, Acer Swift, Asus Zenbook and obviously the Surface Laptop range.

Apple stuff doesn't fill my soul with joy or something - it just works for me and is a good all-rounder. It's great that there's actual sub-notebook/ultrabook competition now though.

Depending on what you do, any of the above might be a great choice, as some of the above beat the 2020 MBAs on battery life and real-world sustained performance for a similar price 👍

 

[aajeevlin]

So in general. Why has the fan noise becoming such a big deal, no offense. Maybe I have just been living in noise hell and don’t know what zero fan noise heaven feels like. Over the years I have had several Mac laptop. Ultimately after years I still have my PowerBook G4 12” and my daily driver MBP 13” 2011. And they are both loud, but honestly doesn’t bother me (again not saying it’s a good thing).

I have also used Lenovo carbon x1 for two years for work as current DELL laptop from work that has fan noise from time to time.

Has the requirements for noise becoming so high or so intolerable that it is now a deciding factor? I honestly don’t know what to make of it.

 

[Pugly]

Has the requirements for noise becoming so high or so intolerable that it is now a deciding factor? I honestly don’t know what to make of it.

There are a couple of a little differences with how this new Air handles it's thermals that make the noise worse. I've been using a pre-retina Air, and understand that noise just is going to be a problem sometimes... can't really get away from that in these thin and light laptops.

One thing is that the RPMs are in different ranges. The old Airs are 1200-6500RPMs. The new Airs go from 2700-8000. When my old Air heated up it went to 2500 or 3000 or so, and that was barely noticeable. The new Airs fans kick up from the base 2700 to 5000 or so and that gets really quite loud. Also the top of 8000 rpm is much louder than the 6500 rpm top.

Also the temps seem to ride closer to the max 100 degrees by design. My old Air wasn't a cooling powerhouse... but it would stay around 60-70 with light usage. The new Airs seem to be in the 70-80 range with light usage. Which is actually kind of worse, since it's not using as much of it's CPU to do basic tasks as my old Air.

I think the cooling design actually does a good job, but the new Air just relies on the cooling too much to use the full potential of it's CPU. It's much closer to the edge of needing to be cooled down than the old Airs (and I presume the MBPs).

And I think the situation gets even worse when you push the graphics. It seemed using an external display and the retina internal made the MBA get even closer to the edge of needing to use the fan.

 

[aajeevlin]

There are a couple of a little differences with how this new Air handles it's thermals that make the noise worse. I've been using a pre-retina Air, and understand that noise just is going to be a problem sometimes... can't really get away from that in these thin and light laptops.

One thing is that the RPMs are in different ranges. The old Airs are 1200-6500RPMs. The new Airs go from 2700-8000. When my old Air heated up it went to 2500 or 3000 or so, and that was barely noticeable. The new Airs fans kick up from the base 2700 to 5000 or so and that gets really quite loud. Also the top of 8000 rpm is much louder than the 6500 rpm top.

Also the temps seem to ride closer to the max 100 degrees by design. My old Air wasn't a cooling powerhouse... but it would stay around 60-70 with light usage. The new Airs seem to be in the 70-80 range with light usage. Which is actually kind of worse, since it's not using as much of it's CPU to do basic tasks as my old Air.

I think the cooling design actually does a good job, but the new Air just relies on the cooling too much to use the full potential of it's CPU. It's much closer to the edge of needing to be cooled down than the old Airs (and I presume the MBPs).

And I think the situation gets even worse when you push the graphics. It seemed using an external display and the retina internal made the MBA get even closer to the edge of needing to use the fan.

Okay, appreciate the input. I think I get the idea now.

 

[oilers780]

OP, I own a Surface Go myself. Microsoft has premium built products with cool features. They still fall short with longevity in my experience.

I’ve dealt with screen flickering on the Surface Pro 4. The Go doesn’t shut down properly all the time. The standby battery life isn’t like your other high end laptops either.

I would research the Surface Pro X for any ongoing issues before committing long term to it.

It matters if you like it and can deal with Microsoft’s interesting quality control. I prefer my Mac to my Surface.

 

[twintin]

One thing is that the RPMs are in different ranges. The old Airs are 1200-6500RPMs. The new Airs go from 2700-8000. When my old Air heated up it went to 2500 or 3000 or so, and that was barely noticeable. The new Airs fans kick up from the base 2700 to 5000 or so and that gets really quite loud. Also the top of 8000 rpm is much louder than the 6500 rpm top.

Also the temps seem to ride closer to the max 100 degrees by design. My old Air wasn't a cooling powerhouse... but it would stay around 60-70 with light usage. The new Airs seem to be in the 70-80 range with light usage. Which is actually kind of worse, since it's not using as much of it's CPU to do basic tasks as my old Air.

There seem to be a substantiel difference between the i5/i3 here. My i3 normally runs between 40C to 50C with 0 RPM. It only reaches 70C to 80C with the fan ramping up to around 2600 RPM after a bit heavier load such as VC. Have been in the 100C range for a while once, but the fan stuck at 3600. It appears the i3 is a tad cooler an quieter than the i5/i7.

 

[miatadan]

Bestbuy now as some 2020 Macbook Pro 13 in stock , is it overkill to get the higher end base model ( $1799 US / $2399 CAN as they will match Apple Education store , instead of 2 week wait period for ordering from Apple ?