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dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,124
1,886
Anchorage, AK
What is your take on heat and fan issues with your i3, 8GB, 256 model? Not talking about doing video editing, just basic uploading photos, watching a YouTube video, emailing, etc.

So far, I haven't noticed any issues with the fans or excessive heat. The only time it even got unusually warm was when I was running GeekBench. I have installed Big Sur on the laptop since then, and it's not even getting noticeably warm now.
 

Buck987

macrumors 65816
Jan 16, 2010
1,268
2,106
What is your take on heat and fan issues with your i3, 8GB, 256 model? Not talking about doing video editing, just basic uploading photos, watching a YouTube video, emailing, etc.


So far no issues, a touch warm during the updating and transfer but nothing that would concern me. OF course with all the talk about it I was checking it out. I think if I had not heard about the issue here I would have noted nothing at all.
 

Runningoutdoor

macrumors newbie
Jul 6, 2020
3
1
I also just received my refurb macbook air i5, 16GB with 250GB. I havent experienced issues with the fan or excessive heat. Did run GB5 with results of 1050 - 2019...honestly, i cant tell if that's good or bad numbers. What do you think?
 
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ltb7

macrumors 6502
Nov 5, 2010
493
14
the beach
I also just received my refurb macbook air i5, 16GB with 250GB. I havent experienced issues with the fan or excessive heat. Did run GB5 with results of 1050 - 2019...honestly, i cant tell if that's good or bad numbers. What do you think?

take it through what you would normally use + do and see how it responds - have base model with zero issues and may exchange + upgrade to your exact config. after speaking w/Apple today - think many are overthinking everything in fear of #heatgate + #fangate!
[automerge]1594086396[/automerge]
What is your take on heat and fan issues with your i3, 8GB, 256 model? Not talking about doing video editing, just basic uploading photos, watching a YouTube video, emailing, etc.

have same base and it's perfect, have put it through every app and opened multiple at same time, no heat + no fan
 
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Zippy3505

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2015
476
184
Indiana
Hi. I bought MBA, i5, quad core. I’m really loving it so far. I’m trying to decide whether i should sell my iPad Pro 9.7” to finance Applecare for the MBA? I’m definitely using the MBA more than the iPad, but is it just honeymoon period? AppleCare thoughts appreciated! Thanks.
 
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fitcious

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2014
314
288
Hi. I bought MBA, i5, quad core. I’m really loving it so far. I’m trying to decide whether i should sell my iPad Pro 9.7” to finance Applecare for the MBA? I’m definitely using the MBA more than the iPad, but is it just honeymoon period? AppleCare thoughts appreciated! Thanks.

Applecare is well worth it for Macs. Keep your iPad Pro/ might be better to do video editing and ability to download apps
 
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fitcious

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2014
314
288
Been using my Apple refurbished MBA i7/16/512 for two weeks and haven’t heard the fan come on at all.

It does get warm on the bottom but not uncomfortable. But I can say battery doesn’t last as long as i thought it would
 
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Crazy Badger

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2008
1,298
698
Scotland
I ordered a refurb i3/16GB/512 earlier today, and then foolishly started to look at some reviews and became paranoid that I'd miss the extra cores so have a i5/16GB/512 arriving tomorrow too!

I had the original MBA, and then upgraded to the maxed out config in 2010 and 2013, before going for a MacBook in 2016. I've had a love-hate relationship with that for the last 4 years, and still hate the keyboard, but love the portability and screen. But I always really wanted a retina MBA so am looking forward to the upgrade tomorrow.

The only problem is, which one do I send back? There's only an £80 difference between the machines, but that's a decent amount toward Applecare, and coming from a 2016 MacBook (which probably wasn't any more powerful than my 2013 MBA) I probably don't need the extra cores anyway.

So help! Keep the i3 or i5?
 

hungryghosty

macrumors regular
May 14, 2020
197
104
Just ordered the base model Macbook Air.. I'm hoping I'll be able to use it with a 4k external monitor.

I'm planning to use mine connected to my 1440p 34" ultra wide monitor when it arrives.

Hoping it doesn't cause the fan to spin up as I know connecting an external display puts more strain on the CPU/GPU.

My 2016 12" MacBook gets noticeably hotter/slower when connected to my external display. Fingers crossed the base 2020 MacBook Air I've ordered to replace it will fare better.
 
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lambertjohn

macrumors 68000
Jun 17, 2012
1,654
1,720
I ordered a refurb i3/16GB/512 earlier today, and then foolishly started to look at some reviews and became paranoid that I'd miss the extra cores so have a i5/16GB/512 arriving tomorrow too!

I had the original MBA, and then upgraded to the maxed out config in 2010 and 2013, before going for a MacBook in 2016. I've had a love-hate relationship with that for the last 4 years, and still hate the keyboard, but love the portability and screen. But I always really wanted a retina MBA so am looking forward to the upgrade tomorrow.

The only problem is, which one do I send back? There's only an £80 difference between the machines, but that's a decent amount toward Applecare, and coming from a 2016 MacBook (which probably wasn't any more powerful than my 2013 MBA) I probably don't need the extra cores anyway.

So help! Keep the i3 or i5?
I bought an i5 a few weeks ago. Refunded it and bought an i3 instead and saved $100. Can't tell a bit of difference in the speed. The i3 is snappy as hell, and the one I got seems to have a brighter screen, but that could just be my imagination. Anyway, I'm totally happy with my i3. It runs everything I can throw at it with zero effort.
 

dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,124
1,886
Anchorage, AK
I bought an i5 a few weeks ago. Refunded it and bought an i3 instead and saved $100. Can't tell a bit of difference in the speed. The i3 is snappy as hell, and the one I got seems to have a brighter screen, but that could just be my imagination. Anyway, I'm totally happy with my i3. It runs everything I can throw at it with zero effort.

Which programs have you run on yours so far? I know on my i3, I've run Photoshop, Brackets, Atom, XCode, NetBeans, Handbrake, and numerous other smaller programs and have yet to run into the fans spinning up or excessive heat generation.
 

Crazy Badger

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2008
1,298
698
Scotland
I think the i3 would be fine for my use, especially with the 16GB RAM, but it's back in the box waiting for UPS to collect and I'm going to keep the i5. Loving having an MBA back and can't believe I kept with the 12" MacBook for quite so long. The butterfly keyboard really was one of Apples biggest disasters.
 
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ThisIsAbuse

macrumors newbie
Jul 28, 2020
10
3
I just ordered my daughter an i5, 16gb ram and 256gb SSD. My view was the ram upgrade was more important then the larger 512 SSD upgrade. My daughter will do school work, video watching, social, lite gaming, and lots of zoom. On that issue - zoom - I read the i3 cant handle zoom backgrounds. Also I understand the camera is so so - and I am ordering a webcam and video light for her zoom classes. We got the educational discount and free airpods.
 
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Night_Ink

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2020
38
13
I’ve been trying to buy a refurb i5 16gb MBA for about two months now, and each time I keep having the machine sold out from under me as I complete the checkout process.

I’ll enter my payment info, hit the place order button, and it just spins and spins, hanging indefinitely on that screen. I’ll check stock in a different window, and the chosen MBA is there, but then it’s gone after a few refreshes. Happened with two different machines even last night
 
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0128672

Cancelled
Apr 16, 2020
5,962
4,783
I’ve been trying to buy a refurb i5 16gb MBA for about two months now, and each time I keep having the machine sold out from under me as I complete the checkout process.

I’ll enter my payment info, hit the place order button, and it just spins and spins, hanging indefinitely on that screen. I’ll check stock in a different window, and the chosen MBA is there, but then it’s gone after a few refreshes. Happened with two different machines even last night
There’s a 2020 with those specs in the US Refurb Store now:
 
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Night_Ink

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2020
38
13
There’s a 2020 with those specs in the US Refurb Store now:
That’s great! It’s a little more than my budget will allow. Last night they had two with 256gb for a few hundred cheaper. That’s the configuration that keeps selling out from under me.
It feels like for that price, I might as well buy a new base model MBP
 

Night_Ink

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2020
38
13
That’s great! It’s a little more than my budget will allow. Last night they had two with 256gb for a few hundred cheaper. That’s the configuration that keeps selling out from under me.
It feels like for that price, I might as well buy a new base model MBP
...and GONE before I could go back and look at it!
 

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,364
276
NH
So I went all in, almost, and ordered a refurb 1.2 GHz i7 with 16GB RAM and 1TB drive. Arrived noon Thursday, 18 hours after the order was placed.

I tried migrating from my year old iMac Pro to the new laptop and it was a disaster. I used migration assistant to migrate just a single account and network settings, no files, no apps and it says its gonna take an hour. I come back an hour later and it is stalled at 15 minutes to go. Waited 30 minutes, and started over using a thunderbolt connection. Says 30 minutes to go. So I grab a cup of coffee and come back in 30 minute and the fans were spinning full blast, it was toasty, and stalled with 5 minutes to go. So I gave up and just set it up as a new mac. That worked fine, but since it wouldn’t let me set up the same user and it seems many of the settings were either taken from my apple account or were left over from the failed migration attempt, I probably should wipe it and start over. It is also failing Numbers/Garageband/Keynote/Pages updates. One time I noticed it mentioned something like invalid hardware. Others update just fine. I’ve set up dozens of MACs over the years and recall only one or two migration nightmares.

I’m coming from a trusty loaded early 2014 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 and a recent iPad Pro. This laptop is running quite warm at idle, uncomfortable on the lap when working hard, in comparison to the MacPro. Between the fans blaring during migration and this heat I’m wondering if this unit may be one that was returned for running too hot which they cleaned up and resold. Perhaps I just need a little patience.

Anyway I’ll post about temperatures in the heat thread.
 
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