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Yet it completely maxes out the 2020 i5. Where is the extra performance going?
I’m wondering why y’all get that experience and the two Zoom calls I’ve done never spin the fan perceptibly.

I’m using the zoom.us app. Whatever was latest version I think.
 
2013+ Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly.
2020 Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly with fans maxed out.
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I’m wondering why y’all get that experience and the two Zoom calls I’ve done never spin the fan perceptibly.

I’m using the zoom.us app. Whatever was latest version I think.

It is a recurring report for the i5.
 
2013+ Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly.
2020 Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly with fans maxed out.
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It is a recurring report for the i5.
I own a MBA 2020 i5/16/256 and also use a MBP 2018 4TB i7/16/512 for work.

I do not want to sound like an MBA apologist, because I am not.. but, many in my work place using various MacBooks (including the 2019 MBP 16) have had overheating issues with Zoom where the machine auto-shutdowns due to the heat. I know this to still have happened in the last couple of weeks (so after the latest OS update), because I was on a couple of such calls. Our IT department has multiple tickets raised due to this, and people are asking for alternatives to Zoom.

If you look at some of the apple support boards, you can also see that this is (was?) an issue.

FWIW, I have never had my MBA overheat while doing Zoom calls with those that are overheating.. and my fan is not audible during the daily multiple hour+ calls (except once when I had an OneDrive uploading files, I think). Same with the MBP, although it does get warmer to the touch than MBA.

I get uncomfortable when people (though likely in good faith) say that something is "Flawed", because that implies "defective". This is not a comment aimed at Jimmy (you are not using the phrase in that context), so please do not take it as such. I have just seen the "flawed" phrasing many times on these boards and think it is rather FUD-like when talking about machine behavior that is not universally reproducible .. as seen by the number of people that do not have this problem.
 
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2013+ Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly.
2020 Air: Runs Zoom flawlessly with fans maxed out.

Yikes! For the last week and a half I have been teaching an intensive university summer class with 30 other participants, 2 1/2 hours a day, sharing my screen and computer audio almost the whole time, on my 2012 MBA still running 10.7.5, and Zoom has been absolutely fine. While I teach I have an audio interface plugged in (Duet USB), a Wacom graphics tablet to do free-hand annotations on top of pdf documents, and as well as Zoom my laptop has to be running Firefox with multiple tabs, Preview with multiple large documents, an ssh client (Fetch), and probably something else I am forgetting. I am looking to buy a new laptop later this year, and can't believe that teleconferencing performance might actually take a hit!

Current specs if anyone is interested: Ivy Bridge 2.0Ghz Intel Core i7 (two cores), 8 GB RAM. Will I really see a performance downgrade?!
 
It is a recurring report for the i5.

Yep - and on the couple of 5-7 participant 40 minute Zoom meetings I've had, my 2020 i5 MBA has been silent. No perceptible fan.

Thus my wondering - why's mine working fine while others are having fan noise?
 
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Did an hour long Zoom with 6 people last night and I screen shared for majority. Dropped the fps down to 4 as suggested and had no issues whatsoever.

That was on the 2020 i5 8GB
 
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Did an hour long Zoom with 6 people last night and I screen shared for majority. Dropped the fps down to 4 as suggested and had no issues whatsoever.

That was on the 2020 i5 8GB

Just to clarify - did that 4fps apply just to the screen sharing part, or did it affect the participant video as well? My understanding is it just applies to the application or screen being shared, is that correct?
 
Just to clarify - did that 4fps apply just to the screen sharing part, or did it affect the participant video as well? My understanding is it just applies to the application or screen being shared, is that correct?

Just the screen being shared - there was no changes to the other participants.
 
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I am running a 2020 MBA i5. Up until tonight I had no complaints. I have hosted/ co-hosted, up to 60 participants, shared screen including videos no issue. Tonight, when sharing a photo, zoom crashed, and closed. Temporally, locking the photo on everyone else's screens. I attempted to log back in but had to restart my laptop first. I saw that zoom had an update, so I updated and restarted again. Logged in, regained co-host duties, went to share a video and the same thing. Zoom crashed, had to restart the laptop to log back into meeting. No other programs running, only had QuickTime for the video, and preview for the photo. Fans were not audible, and temps were between 60-80 degrees. I didn't have the intel power gadget up, so I can't comment as to why it crashed. First time this has happened. Restarted and attempted to share a photo, only for it to happen again. I gave up after the third attempt. Fully frustrated, not sure if the problem is ZOOM or the MBA, but no bueno. Has anybody else experienced anything similar?
 
I found a setting that seems to reduce CPU utilization significantly when sharing by limiting screen share frame rate. In Zoom, go to Settings, then to Share Screen, at the bottom right click Advanced. Check the first box and limit your screen share to 4 frames per second. It seems to be helping but would like to hear from others. I'm on a 2020 Air i5/8/512.

Would this effect the playback quality when sharing a video Via screen share? Zoom crashed 3 times last night twice while sharing a photo and once while sharing a video.
 
Is it possible some of these divergent experiences are due to whether the user is using an external monitor?
I don't use a second monitor when using zoom for the simple fact that when doing so while screen sharing and having 60+ participants, my i5 maxes out my fan and shoots my temp to 100, almost instantly. its rather unfortunate, as I would prefer to use a second display with zoom. Guess apple doesn't want us having our cake and eating it too, not for 1000.00 dollars anyway...
 
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I have i5 MBA and I can run zoom 30+ participants with no fans safari, notes, Spotify are also open. If I share screen, fans go up but I think it's normal.
 
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I don't use a second monitor when using zoom for the simple fact that when doing so while screen sharing and having 60+ participants, my i5 maxes out my fan and shoots my temp to 100, almost instantly. its rather unfortunate, as I would prefer to use a second display with zoom. Guess apple doesn't want us having our cake and eating it too, not for 1000.00 dollars anyway...
Although I can't quantify via testing, I agree I think that connecting an external display does tend to stress the system sometimes, not just on the MBA but also on my 2018 MBP. Hopefully TB connections and technical standards evolve in a way that lessens this.
 
‘20 Air i5/8/512. I’m on a lot of zoom calls with varied results so I’ve been trying to find a pattern re fan noise. So far...

  • Battery vs ac power: no change
  • External 2k monitor: no change
  • Connected to powered dock with lan and 2k monitor: fans spin up but not to max
  • Screen share
    • One call fans were silent. Temps were cool. I checked zoom statistics in settings and the share was at 2 FPS
    • Another call fans were at max. Screen share was at 25 FPS
    • I have sharing set to 4 FPS and when I share, the fans are silent as long as I am not connected to the dock
Having some other apps running in the background also seems to add some CPU time, causing the fans to ramp up but not to max.

I really think screen sharing is the primary cause. I wish Zoom would set up dynamic frame rate for sharing. No need for high frame rates when sharing static content like PowerPoint slides.

Curious if this aligns with what the rest of you are seeing?
 
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‘20 Air i5/8/512. I’m on a lot of zoom calls with varied results so I’ve been trying to find a pattern re fan noise. So far...

  • Battery vs ac power: no change
  • External 2k monitor: no change
  • Connected to powered dock with lan and 2k monitor: fans spin up but not to max
  • Screen share
    • One call fans were silent. Temps were cool. I checked zoom statistics in settings and the share was at 2 FPS
    • Another call fans were at max. Screen share was at 25 FPS
    • I have sharing set to 4 FPS and when I share, the fans are silent as long as I am not connected to the dock
Having some other apps running in the background also seems to add some CPU time, causing the fans to ramp up but not to max.

I really think screen sharing is the primary cause. I wish Zoom would set up dynamic frame rate for sharing. No need for high frame rates when sharing static content like PowerPoint slides.

Curious if this aligns with what the rest of you are seeing?

This is interesting, I had no problems previously. On Thursday I used my USB-C hub (VAVA brand) to hardwire my internet. I also ran my power supply through the hub.

When I previously shared my screen I had no issues. Does the hub draw power? Sorry, I'm pretty wet behind the ears with computers. This is my first laptop. I think I will attempt my next meeting without the hub and see if that fixes anything.
 
Hi Guys. First post here, Nice to meet you all. if it helps at all, I'm running a 2020 MacBook Air i5/256/8Gb and ran a 6-7 person Zoom call last night with absolutely no issues.The system didn't even break a sweat.
 
I will be joining a ZOOM call tonight for church. I'm guessing there will be at least 100+ members. Am interested to see how it goes.
 
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