What to replace 2020 MacBook Air i5?

[beniamino38]

I bought a 2020 MacBook Air i5, which arrived on Monday. My work at the moment involves of a lot of meetings using Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. Using these apps (especially Teams) causes the machine to reach 100 degrees and the fan spins at 8000rpm. This is too hot and too noisy for comfortable work, so I am going to return the machine. I am considering either the MacBook Air i3, or the entry-level MacBook Pro 13" i5. Can I be sure that either of these machines will handle videoconferencing without getting uncomfortably hot and noisy?

 

[twintin]

You can’t be sure until your try them yourself. ?

My Air i3 fluctuates between 65 and 80 with MS Teams and the fan is around 2600 RPM after approx. 15 min. I mostly have short meetings (between 15 and 30 min), so the behavior with long ones I can not tell. But even at 100C (have only seen it once in three weeks), the fan appears to stick around 3600 (at least for a while), so it is very silent. I always have my Air in the lap, but has never felt an uncomfortable heat so far.

 

[Daino92]

I bought a 2020 MacBook Air i5, which arrived on Monday. My work at the moment involves of a lot of meetings using Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. Using these apps (especially Teams) causes the machine to reach 100 degrees and the fan spins at 8000rpm. This is too hot and too noisy for comfortable work, so I am going to return the machine. I am considering either the MacBook Air i3, or the entry-level MacBook Pro 13" i5. Can I be sure that either of these machines will handle videoconferencing without getting uncomfortably hot and noisy?

That's interesting that this issue is so hit or miss. I also use my MBA i5 for these things and have never had these issues.

 

[deeddawg]

That's interesting that this issue is so hit or miss. I also use my MBA i5 for these things and have never had these issues.

Indeed. I've had no heat or fan trouble with Zoom meetings on my i5 MBA.

@beniamino38 how long have you had your MBA, and have you left it open and turned on for a day or two to allow all the spotlight indexing and photos to do their thing?

What's the Activity Monitor CPU and Energy tabs look like when you're in these meetings with the heat and the fan?

 

[beniamino38]

@deeddawg I attached a typical Activity Monitor screenshot from the 2020 MBA in a one-to-one Teams meeting. The other side of the meeting was a 2013 MacBook Pro which never went above 88 degrees/3500rpm. Small Zoom meetings are definitely better than Teams, but more than a handful of participants / gallery view leads to similar problems. The initial Spotlight and Photos indexing are complete.

 

[deeddawg]

@deeddawg I attached a typical Activity Monitor screenshot from the 2020 MBA in a one-to-one Teams meeting. The other side of the meeting was a 2013 MacBook Pro which never went above 88 degrees/3500rpm. Small Zoom meetings are definitely better than Teams, but more than a handful of participants / gallery view leads to similar problems. The initial Spotlight and Photos indexing are complete.

Yowza, teams helper is definitely a resource hog.

I was curious to see if something else might be in there creating an additional load.

The 2013 MBP had a 28 watt TDP CPU as I remember. The Air is something like 9 or 10 watt TDP. So that's certainly going to be a difference.

If you have to stick with MS Teams, then sounds like the MBA isn't a fit for you - whether it's endemic to the system or something about the software or some mystery bug that maybe will get fixed - doesn't matter, if it's not doing what you need then send it back and go to the MBP.

 

[tthomson]

I'd go with the base MBP because it has an actual cooling system.

 

[Loog]

We share you pain .... come and join us on this channel https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink.2227066/page-55

I'll warn you now, its long reading but well worth it, we've found a simple upgrade to resolve many of these issues, our investigations have concluded there is an issue with the thermal transfer between CPU and heatsink for the air, easily resolved and at low cost.

Resolved for $10, or you can buy a MBP for well a little bit more
[automerge]1590097751[/automerge]

If you have to stick with MS Teams, then sounds like the MBA isn't a fit for you - whether it's endemic to the system or something about the software or some mystery bug that maybe will get fixed - doesn't matter, if it's not doing what you need then send it back and go to the MBP.

I hope you're not suggesting that we're a pro user because of video conference LOL
[automerge]1590097827[/automerge]

That's interesting that this issue is so hit or miss. I also use my MBA i5 for these things and have never had these issues.

There are some which are ok ... but many do suffer
[automerge]1590097918[/automerge]

Indeed. I've had no heat or fan trouble with Zoom meetings on my i5 MBA.

@beniamino38 how long have you had your MBA, and have you left it open and turned on for a day or two to allow all the spotlight indexing and photos to do their thing?

What's the Activity Monitor CPU and Energy tabs look like when you're in these meetings with the heat and the fan?

Zoom behaves better than MS teams, both are better if you move off video or just have voice only. Backgrounds are a killer here... but hey you need a pro to use VC eh ... LOL. The MBA does seem to be hit and miss. I suffered terribly and sent my i7 back, reverting to my 2018, but still with some underline issues. Now, thankfully broadly resolved thanks to our research and tenacity.
[automerge]1590098172[/automerge]

You can’t be sure until your try them yourself. ?

My Air i3 fluctuates between 65 and 80 with MS Teams and the fan is around 2600 RPM after approx. 15 min. I mostly have short meetings (between 15 and 30 min), so the behavior with long ones I can not tell. But even at 100C (have only seen it once in three weeks), the fan appears to stick around 3600 (at least for a while), so it is very silent. I always have my Air in the lap, but has never felt an uncomfortable heat so far.

Smart move, the i3 is the better of the MBA in stock format, this has less issues with thermals and on balance if you don't want to open the device is the better hardware choice.
[automerge]1590098237[/automerge]

I'd go with the base MBP because it has an actual cooling system.

Yep, that's right but at a cost. It is a far better and more capable machine if you need to push your device.

 

[Daino92]

We share you pain .... come and join us on this channel https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink.2227066/page-55

I'll warn you now, its long reading but well worth it, we've found a simple upgrade to resolve many of these issues, our investigations have concluded there is an issue with the thermal transfer between CPU and heatsink for the air, easily resolved and at low cost.

Resolved for $10, or you can buy a MBP for well a little bit more
[automerge]1590097751[/automerge]
I hope you're not suggesting that we're a pro user because of video conference LOL
[automerge]1590097827[/automerge]
There are some which are ok ... but many do suffer
[automerge]1590097918[/automerge]
Zoom behaves better than MS teams, both are better if you move off video or just have voice only. Backgrounds are a killer here... but hey you need a pro to use VC eh ... LOL. The MBA does seem to be hit and miss. I suffered terribly and sent my i7 back, reverting to my 2018, but still with some underline issues. Now, thankfully broadly resolved thanks to our research and tenacity.
[automerge]1590098172[/automerge]
Smart move, the i3 is the better of the MBA in stock format, this has less issues with thermals and on balance if you don't want to open the device is the better hardware choice.
[automerge]1590098237[/automerge]
Yep, that's right but at a cost. It is a far better and more capable machine if you need to push your device.

I'd still be interested in this $10 fix?

Thanks!

 

[Loog]

I'd still be interested in this $10 fix?

Thanks!

See the reviews and PM me if you want to invest in a shim ... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink.2227066/page-47?post=28455472#post-28455472

Or buy some off amazon and make them yourself ... full details here : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink.2227066/post-28488342

 

[deeddawg]

I hope you're not suggesting that we're a pro user because of video conference LOL

I don't know why people get so hung up on the system naming and think it has something to do with the nature of their task.

Needing to hammer nails doesn't make you a carpenter either; yet you still will find a hammer works better than a screwdriver.

It's really simple, @Loog - a system is either a fit for the need or it isn't. MS Teams is a resource hog - I use it regularly on my work computer (lenovo) and it spins the fans easily. Doesn't surprise me that it does the same on the MBA. MS software on macOS has always been crap.

 

[Loog]

I don't know why people get so hung up on the system naming and think it has something to do with the nature of their task.

Needing to hammer nails doesn't make you a carpenter either; yet you still will find a hammer works better than a screwdriver.

It's really simple, @Loog - a system is either a fit for the need or it isn't. MS Teams is a resource hog - I use it regularly on my work computer (lenovo) and it spins the fans easily. Doesn't surprise me that it does the same on the MBA. MS software on macOS has always been crap.

I'm been indoctrinated in youtube videos, forums and discussions and the theme of asking a MBA to do stuff that its really not intended for, does it badly and then people complain. Well buy the right tool then as you state.

I updated the the latest version of zoom last night for a meeting today, when looking at the virtual background settings was advised my 2 year old MBA was simply not powerful enough to support that feature. You're right video conferencing is hungry and inefficient, but the thought of needing such a powerful machine to run what is a basic application does make the mind boggle.

My comment was tong in cheek I hope you know

 

[erasr]

My 2017 MBP fans go wild sometimes on Teams or Zoom.

Randomly they’ll go crazy even after using those apps. Or if I’m on a web builder that I regularly use.

What I find works is to restart the machine. Sometimes there’s something running in the background and unless I restart it causes fan issues.

Whenever I restart, fans don’t come on for ages.

 

[exhaustedbrit]

I bought the i3 Air and had the same problem, a thermal pad on the CPU helped improve performance but didn't solve the noise problem. Generally browsing pages in Safari (not chrome) was a comfortable experience and the fan noise was less of an issue, but anything more than that and the Air falls to bits.

In the end I bought the base model 13" MacBook Pro which I have been much more happy with.

 

[Loog]

I bought the i3 Air and had the same problem, a thermal pad on the CPU helped improve performance but didn't solve the noise problem. Generally browsing pages in Safari (not chrome) was a comfortable experience and the fan noise was less of an issue, but anything more than that and the Air falls to bits.

In the end I bought the base model 13" MacBook Pro which I have been much more happy with.

The mods have calmed my machine down, this is a teams call with backgrounds enabled which have been active for the last 45 mins, 70deg and 3k RPM so silent.

I will invest in the new MBP 13 shortly, I'm in no rush so I'll probably wait for the illusive 14" to surface unless I get itchy and buy the current model.

 

[Loog]

My 2017 MBP fans go wild sometimes on Teams or Zoom.

Randomly they’ll go crazy even after using those apps. Or if I’m on a web builder that I regularly use.

What I find works is to restart the machine. Sometimes there’s something running in the background and unless I restart it causes fan issues.

Whenever I restart, fans don’t come on for ages.

I've come to find that MS Teams by default uses the GPU which consumes more battery power and generate extra heat. I've turned this setting off on mine, I'll know more on how or if this makes a difference on Monday once I start to communicate with colleagues.

I've also found that when on mains power I have Time Machine that will run which when on Teams also makes the machine run a lot warmer and pushing the fans up a notch.

 

[deeddawg]

I updated the the latest version of zoom last night for a meeting today, when looking at the virtual background settings was advised my 2 year old MBA was simply not powerful enough to support that feature. You're right video conferencing is hungry and inefficient, but the thought of needing such a powerful machine to run what is a basic application does make the mind boggle.

Zoom arbitrarily disallows virtual background on dual-core systems, seemingly regardless of how powerful or not the system may be, yet allows it on quad+ core systems.

Just some arbitrary thing. No idea why they do that.

My comment was tong in cheek I hope you know

Yeah, I was ranting more at some of the other folks who really do get hung up on that stuff. sorry if I was unclear.

 

[snow755]

I bought a 2020 MacBook Air i5, which arrived on Monday. My work at the moment involves of a lot of meetings using Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. Using these apps (especially Teams) causes the machine to reach 100 degrees and the fan spins at 8000rpm. This is too hot and too noisy for comfortable work, so I am going to return the machine. I am considering either the MacBook Air i3, or the entry-level MacBook Pro 13" i5. Can I be sure that either of these machines will handle videoconferencing without getting uncomfortably hot and noisy?

I would look in too getting a iMac you would get more screen size and it would be able too handle a lot more stuff you can't really do on a MacBook you can get your self the base model with 1TB hard drive 4k 2019 model and get your self a SSD has a boot up and you will have your self having a really Nic iMac with out breaking the bank that what I did

 

[vyruzreaper]

I would look in too getting a iMac you would get more screen size and it would be able too handle a lot more stuff you can't really do on a MacBook you can get your self the base model with 1TB hard drive 4k 2019 model and get your self a SSD has a boot up and you will have your self having a really Nic iMac with out breaking the bank that what I did

Apple 21.5" iMac Desktop MNDY2LL/A (2017)

Apple 21.5" iMac Desktop MNDY2LL/A (2017)

computers.woot.com

Seems like a decent deal if you need one.

 

[snow755]

Apple 21.5" iMac Desktop MNDY2LL/A (2017)

Apple 21.5" iMac Desktop MNDY2LL/A (2017)

computers.woot.com

Seems like a decent deal if you need one.

that about what I paid for mind

 

[KPOM]

I bought a 2020 MacBook Air i5, which arrived on Monday. My work at the moment involves of a lot of meetings using Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. Using these apps (especially Teams) causes the machine to reach 100 degrees and the fan spins at 8000rpm. This is too hot and too noisy for comfortable work, so I am going to return the machine. I am considering either the MacBook Air i3, or the entry-level MacBook Pro 13" i5. Can I be sure that either of these machines will handle videoconferencing without getting uncomfortably hot and noisy?

The base 13” MBP would be better.

 

[beniamino38]

Thanks for your advice -- I went for the base MBP Pro and it is much quieter than the MBA. I use Turbo Boost Switcher to disable turbo boost, and the machine is now reasonably quiet. I'm surprised Apple don't offer an option to disable turbo boost as a way of improving battery life.

 

[emadeaziz]

Try upgrading to the latest version of Catalina. My i5/8/2TB works perfectly fine and cool after the upgrade.