Went with the i5/16/1tb and will report back if better than the 2018. 2018 works on the 5k monitor, but gets sluggish at times. Hope 2020 will be a nice improvement.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Air 2020 i3 vs i5? Might change my order
- Thread starter Johnw94
- Start date
-
- Tags
- i3 vs i5 macbook air
- Sort by reaction score
1988: My computer can multitask.
2020: My computer can have multiple tabs open.
2020: My computer can have multiple tabs open.
And why is Max Tech even watching a 4k video in Chrome on a macbook air? It's got a 13" screen. No point in watching 4k on that screen so that test is just stupid.
[automerge]1587867277[/automerge]
How's it working out for you? What's your experience been like with that config? That ram is super fast!
[automerge]1587867402[/automerge]
I'm loving the new Edge browser, Chromium based. Really great browser. MS has started to embrace Linux so they're doing some great things now. I prefer Firefox over Chrome as well, it's way less resource heavy and well supported in Linux.
Last edited:
I've heard really good things about the Chromium based Edge, might have to give it a go (I'd find it really hard to give up Brave's privacy-by-default stuff baked into their Chromium-based browser, but some people might not mind)
Update: I ended up going with the MBA base model. So far its been perfectly fine but then again I haven't done anything too crazy on it. I did have another question though regarding the camera quality.. it is not great like at all. Is that how it is on all macbooks? this is my first macbook so I'm really new to it all.
Yeah the camera is the main 'this is bad' complaint in most of the reviews of the 2020 MBA, regardless of model. Off the top of my head the complaints were it's 720p and very grainy/poor in low light compared to others, and I'm not aware of any app to make it better.
So couple of days after using it more intense here are my thoughts (base i3):
It performs quite good, but runs noticeably warmer than my MacBook Pro 16, but that's not a bad thing, because everything what I did so far is snappy. Fans kick in sometimes while doing that where as the 16 inch not even cared when I had multiple tabs open, watching 4k video and several apps open. Heavy web browsing is no problem and fast. (Even with 2k or 4k videos on Chrome with several tabs open in Safari no problems at all) Obviously the 16 inch feels more snappy, but the price difference is huge! I think the basemodel is amazing!
Battery life seems to be like my 16 inch between 6,5h to 9h, but need to do more cycles here.
Next test will be Final Cut Pro performance! I will let you know.
It performs quite good, but runs noticeably warmer than my MacBook Pro 16, but that's not a bad thing, because everything what I did so far is snappy. Fans kick in sometimes while doing that where as the 16 inch not even cared when I had multiple tabs open, watching 4k video and several apps open. Heavy web browsing is no problem and fast. (Even with 2k or 4k videos on Chrome with several tabs open in Safari no problems at all) Obviously the 16 inch feels more snappy, but the price difference is huge! I think the basemodel is amazing!
Battery life seems to be like my 16 inch between 6,5h to 9h, but need to do more cycles here.
Next test will be Final Cut Pro performance! I will let you know.
Last edited:
Good to hear. I've been debating if I still would benefit from going to a refurb 16 but its a $700 price difference. I got the i5/16gb/512. The air has been working great so far. I'm unsure though how it will perform with a screen, so I'm waiting to test that tomorrow when my hub arrives.
Welcome to MacBooks.
Webcam camera image quality is poor. Kinda always has been, to greater and lesser degrees.
[automerge]1588013911[/automerge]
Largely that question is a matter of how frequently you need to perform cpu/gpu-bound tasks and whether the speed difference is worth spending the extra money. Someone else posted an example of time difference processing/exporting RAW camera images - difference was a handful of minutes. Big deal if you're doing that several times a day every day. Not such a big deal if you're doing it once a week and stepping away to get a cup of coffee once you launch the job.
Point is it really depends on your needs. MBA doesn't seem to be aimed at compute-intensive workloads, and a MBP would likely be the better choice if that's what you need to do on a frequent basis.
Last edited:
hi John and all, I registered to this site for this very thread. I received yesterday a MBA 2020 i5 8GB. The fan is loud when doing simple video calls (on chrome); my previous MBA of 2015 is silent and even though the new one is faster, it does not justify getting loud fan noise for the same application. I'm returning it and wonder if the 16GB on the i5 is much better than i5 8GB in terms of fans? or is the i3 a better option to get ride of the fan noise?
Hey Tony,
I'm not sure if memory will have much of an impact on fan noise. Things have changed significantly since the 2015 MBA in regards to thermal design and the types of CPUs used.
I compared the i5 to the i3 because I found the i5 too loud, and the i3 is definitely quieter. I was the same as you - surprised that things that would be cool and quiet on my 2015 and 2019 Macbook Air would make the 2020 i5 quite loud and hot.
A lot of people round here will tell you your problem is using Chrome, and that you should be using Safari. For myself, I don't want to have to change to a browser I don't like to cut down on heat/noise.
Anyway, I wrote up a comparison focusing on heat and silent running between the 2019 Macbook air, and the 2020 i5 and 2020 i3. I found the i3 to be quieter for the kind of use you're talking about.
As I wrote in my review, both the 2015 and 2019 MBA had less intrusive fan noise, but the 2020 i3 was way less intrusive than the i5.
- The 2015 MBA had a quieter, always-on fan with a heat-pipe connected to the heat sink, and a dual core CPU that generated less heat;
- The 2018 refresh changed the design to a case cooling solution, where the airflow through the underside of the notebook's case provides cooling to the heatsink. The 2018 and 2019 Macbook Airs also use dual core Y-series Intel CPUs, which also generate less heat than the quad-core 10th generation i5 you're currently using.
- The 2018, 2019 and 2020 thermal design allows the fan to be completely off at certain times, unlike the 2015. But the minimum revolutions per minute are louder slightly, so it depends how quiet your work area is.
- The fan governor only allows it to be off (0rpm) or at minimum (2700rpm) if it's sufficiently cool. As the 2020 Dual Core i3 draws less power and generates less heat than the i5, it takes more to get it audible and annoying.
Hope that helps
MacBook Air 2020 USER reviews
2019 i5 vs. 2020 i5 vs. 2020 i3 Comparison Disclaimer: I am not telling you your experience is wrong, I do not have a degree in processor engineering or fluid dynamics. This is my opinion based on my use case. After sending back the 2020 i5, I received and have been testing a 2020 i3. When I...
forums.macrumors.com
Last edited:
I never do video calls in chrome, and I do like safari, but end of the day if the system isn’t doing what you need, then you’d best return it and buy a MacBook Pro instead.
you might want to take a day or so first to ensure the systems done indexing files and photos, since you say you got it just a day ago.
It’d also be smart to see if a rogue process is impacting you - with mine I had a Synology sync process that was “confused” and slamming the cpu running the fans up. I reset the sync connection and all is well.
Yesterday just to try thing, I watched an episode of Good Eats Reloaded in Chrome at 1080p and never heard a fan. I have an i5 model.
So give it a few days if you can then return it if it isn’t working for you.
Yeah at the end of the day it's whatever works for you. I was lucky that some users of this forum pointed me to Apple's (generous) return policy, and I was able to settle on the i3.
Different horses for different courses 👍
Memory isn’t going to affect the heat production at all. The mba uses the most efficient ram in current production. It’s more advanced than what’s found in the MacBook pros and uses less power to boot. Even if you’re running out of ram and forcing page outs it wouldn’t raise the temp of the cpu appreciably.
Hello all, first a BIG THANK YOU to those who replied.
I returned the MBA i5 where the fan was bothering me, and chose the cheaper MBA i3 (still sticking with 8GB RAM).
No annoying fan noise anymore.
I returned the MBA i5 where the fan was bothering me, and chose the cheaper MBA i3 (still sticking with 8GB RAM).
No annoying fan noise anymore.
yeah, but you can only upgrade through apple, and then it's not a no-brainer. Buy an "in-stock" model from any other retailer (Best Buy, Costco, Microcenter, etc.) and the out-the-door price is cheaper than Apple's.
I’m thinking about getting a base i3 MBA, was flicking through the thread and i was wondering if someone could just clarify why a base i3 would not be a good option for more than 4 years of light use as the original poster specified? I know it’s a pretty old post but I’ve heard others recommend upgrading to the i5 to “future proof” the machine as well. I’m just a basic user and was under the impression and have been reassured by others on the forum that for basic use e.g. bit of office, Netflix etc even an i3 could essentially remain reasonably quick and snappy for many many years.
hi
its a good question.
everybody's situation / usage is different so there is a lot of discussion about this.
i have owned every MacBook Air model (except for minor speed bumps).
apple really does a great job at finding a balance between smoothness/brightness of display/battery life/price in every MBA revision.
this balance means that although its good for many (most i think) average laptop users, it also means its definitely not the best machine for people who have higher performance needs (gamers/video editors).
to be clear: i think both the i3 or i5 can last a very long time. more than 4 years to be sure.
but what i have said in my earlier post that you should buy an i5 for longevity is that we do not know what each major macOS revision will push each older machine to simply no longer being quite as smooth or quick.
we do know that apple will often not support macs older than 7 or 8 years with newest macOS. this is history.
its not just about having the latest OS, it mainly becomes an issue of security updates and compatibility.
but, for the final years of yr mac, after the initial 4 years, the question becomes for the last 2 or 3 years will yr mac be a source of pleasure for you to work on, or will it really feel its age and be slow and always be reminding you that you want a new mac. and, if you want to sell it in its 5th year, is it worth a price that provides a good downpayment for a new machine or not. or if you give it to a family member does it still have some useful value.
especially for the Air, since it is designed to not be a speed demon out of the box, getting it with 16MB is recommended (also a heavily contested point).
getting an i5 means there is no compromise at all, and (if past is prolog) definitely will be able to a great machine 5 or even 6 years from now.
Oh wow thanks a lot for the very detailed answer!! You’ve cleared everything up really well. For me I’m just a very basic user, bit of office, Netflix and maybe the odd FaceTime call is as much as i would probably ever do so I think the base i3 would probably fit me like a glove. However longevity is very important for me, if I’m spending all that money I really want it to last at least 7 or 8 years of performing these basic tasks pretty well. You make a very good point about the Mac OS updates, do you think down the line these are likely to make the base i3 8GB MBA significantly less fast and snappy for these basic tasks? If a base i3 will be fine and if I don’t really need to get an i5 or upgrade RAM then that would defo be my preference.
thanks again for your advice ☺️
thanks again for your advice ☺️
The one big flaw with laptop reviews nowadays is that all the reviewers seem to think that most users are creating review videos and podcasts ie just like them!
So then we get lots of reviews stating things like as ‘if you use FCP or audio cleaning software for your podcast the 2020 Air heats up hotter than hell’.
I’m sure this is true.
However - if you are doing pro video or audio tasks, the clue here is that there’s a notebook range with the word ‘pro’ in its title
The Air is obviously meant for those doing light productivity, light photo and video editing, casual gaming (Apple Arcade), web browsing and email etc. Ie tasks that are not pushing the computer to a sustained load.
And from what I’ve read, the i3 Air seems great at that.
So then we get lots of reviews stating things like as ‘if you use FCP or audio cleaning software for your podcast the 2020 Air heats up hotter than hell’.
I’m sure this is true.
However - if you are doing pro video or audio tasks, the clue here is that there’s a notebook range with the word ‘pro’ in its title
The Air is obviously meant for those doing light productivity, light photo and video editing, casual gaming (Apple Arcade), web browsing and email etc. Ie tasks that are not pushing the computer to a sustained load.
And from what I’ve read, the i3 Air seems great at that.
I agree the battery-life suck and performance isn't as good at Safari, but there are some benefits, including cross-compatibility since I have to use a Windows work computer and the google suite for work, which has more options with chrome extensions, I am forced to use Chrome often.