Should i buy 2020 macbook air?

[Zando_]

2 hours ago, Jumballi said:

Buy iPad instead, literally covers all the bases you just asked and it only costs $350.

Invest the rest into a new desktop/upgrade for your current desktop. 

^^^ Or spend the same amount of money on an iPad Pro, or grab a MacBook Pro. I cannot reccomend the Airs for much at all, the CPU slams to 100C and flops just running the Microsoft Office installer, and I have the dual core model here (actually 2 of them we got for work to see how they are). The quads would be worse. A MacBook Pro is a better value because the chip actually sits at boost clocks under load, with an MBA you get boost for a few seconds then it slams down to the base 1.1-1.4Ghz or so. 

1 minute ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

would ipad pro be a better option over this?

Yep. 

[PeachGr]

Just now, Ryan Kukreti said:

would ipad pro be a better option over this?

 

There is not a yes or no answer just watch the comparison in ltt videos or MKBHD! Well the iPad has better cameras (the other has one bad front) better screen, portability, but you compare different things here. I prefer laptop form factor, even if you buy the premium keyboard

[Ryan Kukreti]

yeah i think considering all of this macbook pro would be better

[Ryan Kukreti]

i saw a lot of videos today, and i dont really think that it runs that hot! i mean it meets its purpose and if you go beyond that you are obviously going to see problems, but still it can do 1080p well with temp being around 80-85 which i am not going to do, so basic stuff is gonna pretty much work without any problem. I think most of the people have vaguely used the term 'overheat' i think the laptop is great works like a charm without any problem whatsoever.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

i saw a lot of videos today, and i dont really think that it runs that hot! i mean it meets its purpose and if you go beyond that you are obviously going to see problems, but still it can do 1080p well with temp being around 80-85 which i am not going to do, so basic stuff is gonna pretty much work without any problem. I think most of the people have vaguely used the term 'overheat' i think the laptop is great works like a charm without any problem whatsoever.

I don't think it runs hot, I know that it runs hot. I have one right here in the office:

 

 

This is the lower clocked, 2c/4t version (so thus cooler than the higher clocked, 4c/8t option available). I watched it - in Intel Power Gadget, Intel's own temp/clock monitoring tool - hop to 100C then choke down to the 1.1Ghz base clock while just running the Office 365 installer. If you're going to have any sort of sustained load any heavier than basic (not heavy) web browsing and like a Word/Pages document or two, it's going to get very hot and drop down to base clocks almost immediately to avoid hitting tjmax. 

[Ryan Kukreti]

33 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

I don't think it runs hot, I know that it runs hot. I have one right here in the office:

 

 

This is the lower clocked, 2c/4t version (so thus cooler than the higher clocked, 4c/8t option available). I watched it - in Intel Power Gadget, Intel's own temp/clock monitoring tool - hop to 100C then choke down to the 1.1Ghz base clock while just running the Office 365 installer. If you're going to have any sort of sustained load any heavier than basic (not heavy) web browsing and like a Word/Pages document or two, it's going to get very hot and drop down to base clocks almost immediately to avoid hitting tjmax. 

Uhh I actually am buying 2c/4t one and I won't be oc'ing it so it would run at base clock without any heat issues I guess?

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

Uhh I actually am buying 2c/4t one and I won't be oc'ing it so it would run at base clock without any heat issues I guess?

What. 

You cannot OC a MacBook. 

It runs at base clock (which is 1.1Ghz, very slow) because of heat issues. It hits 100C and has to drop to base clocks to avoid hitting tjmax, at which point the computer shuts down to avoid damaging itself due to extreme heat.

You don't want it running at base clock unless it's idling. These CPUs aren't supposed to run at base clock under load, ever. They only do that when they have to to avoid burning up. On something like my MacBook Pro, with an acceptable cooling solution, the chip sits at 2.3Ghz or so most of the time, boosting up depending on load, rarely dropping below that, even in all core loads like Cinebench R20. And it has a 1.4Ghz base, again it never drops to that because it caps out at 97C sustained, not regularly slapping 100C and having to choke itself to avoid dying. 

[Lord Vile]

1 hour ago, Zando Bob said:

What. 

You cannot OC a MacBook. 

It runs at base clock (which is 1.1Ghz, very slow) because of heat issues. It hits 100C and has to drop to base clocks to avoid hitting tjmax, at which point the computer shuts down to avoid damaging itself due to extreme heat.

You don't want it running at base clock unless it's idling. These CPUs aren't supposed to run at base clock under load, ever. They only do that when they have to to avoid burning up. On something like my MacBook Pro, with an acceptable cooling solution, the chip sits at 2.3Ghz or so most of the time, boosting up depending on load, rarely dropping below that, even in all core loads like Cinebench R20. And it has a 1.4Ghz base, again it never drops to that because it caps out at 97C sustained, not regularly slapping 100C and having to choke itself to avoid dying. 

For what he's doing the Air is fine. I would suggest upping to the pro as it's not that much more expensive and you get better speakers and a better cooling soution but for just general media consumption and office work the Air is fine, actually better than pretty much any widows laptop because it doesn't run windows. Oh and you can actually y'know use it out of box to write an essay or make a keynote, can't do that on windows anymore. Have to subscribe to office instead of y'know getting a useable machine. 

[panzersharkcat]

You'd be better served getting something like the XPS 13 or the AMD variant of the ThinkPad X13 that will be coming out later this month. The AMD X13 will hold up a lot better (up to 8 cores, 16 threads). I'd strongly recommend getting 16 GB of RAM for future-proofing. I'd wait a few weeks after release for prices to drop to their real price. Lenovo likes to inflate prices like crazy when they first release and then put on a show about how much of a discount they're giving you. They also hold pretty frequent sales. Just don't custom order. They take forever to do those, even before human malware was spreading around.

[Ryan Kukreti]

Guys, is macbook pro 2019 a better deal than macbook air 2020? Because where I am from its only 150$ more than macbook air, since macbook 2020 pro is kinda out of my budget whether 2019 would be good or not( ik it has that Butterfly keyboard)

[harryk]

1 hour ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

Guys, is macbook pro 2019 a better deal than macbook air 2020? Because where I am from its only 150$ more than macbook air, since macbook 2020 pro is kinda out of my budget whether 2019 would be good or not( ik it has that Butterfly keyboard)

Generally speaking the 2019 MBP will be better or equal in terms of performance, though you get the other Pro advantages like better cooling. The biggest thing you'd be giving up is the new keyboard over the infamous butterfly keyboard. IMO for the keyboard style its a personal preference. The butterfly keyboards have a bad track record for reliability but the 2019 machines have the 4th (and presumably best) iteration of the butterfly design. As long as you keep it clean (keep crumbs etc out), the keyboard will last just fine.

 

Personally if we are looking at the base 2020 MBA vs the base 2019 MBP, I'd go with the MBP.

[Ryan Kukreti]

10 minutes ago, harryk said:

Generally speaking the 2019 MBP will be better or equal in terms of performance, though you get the other Pro advantages like better cooling. The biggest thing you'd be giving up is the new keyboard over the infamous butterfly keyboard. IMO for the keyboard style its a personal preference. The butterfly keyboards have a bad track record for reliability but the 2019 machines have the 4th (and presumably best) iteration of the butterfly design. As long as you keep it clean (keep crumbs etc out), the keyboard will last just fine.

 

Personally if we are looking at the base 2020 MBA vs the base 2019 MBP, I'd go with the MBP.

Yeah you are right I was thinking of mbp 2019 but tbh the only thing holding me back is the butterfly keyboard...I need to research more on this whether the 2019 macbook series butterfly keyboard is reliable or not because I intend to use the macbook for around 5 years

[Lord Vile]

3 hours ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

Guys, is macbook pro 2019 a better deal than macbook air 2020? Because where I am from its only 150$ more than macbook air, since macbook 2020 pro is kinda out of my budget whether 2019 would be good or not( ik it has that Butterfly keyboard)

The macbook pro 2020 starts at 1299

[Ryan Kukreti]

1 hour ago, Lord Vile said:

The macbook pro 2020 starts at 1299

ik i was talking about macbook pro 2019 not 2020

[Lord Vile]

33 minutes ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

ik i was talking about macbook pro 2019 not 2020

yeah i wouldn't bother with thte 2019, keyboard issues.

[Ryan Kukreti]

5 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

yeah i wouldn't bother with thte 2019, keyboard issues.

yeah same, well maybe i should go with macbook air 2020 then, i saw this guy's video 

 light multitasking and  maybe 1080p video editing occasionally wouldnt thermal throttle or overheat the laptop right?

[Lord Vile]

9 minutes ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

yeah same, well maybe i should go with macbook air 2020 then, i saw this guy's video 

 light multitasking and  maybe 1080p video editing occasionally wouldnt thermal throttle or overheat the laptop right?

Video editing will push it, multitasking would be fine. Again i would spring the extra for the Pro.

[Ryan Kukreti]

ok...i will still wait for wwdc, but until that i think i am gonna stick with macbook air 2020

[Ryan Kukreti]

just one last thing, how long do you thing macbook air 2020 will last with i3 model, considering that i wanna do simple multitasking and google meetings?

[Deano727]

On 6/18/2020 at 4:51 PM, Ryan Kukreti said:

would ipad pro be a better option over this?

 

Dude, if you're going to use this thing for browsing, YT and Netflix, research and sheets/docs it will be AWESOME for that if you like the design, you want to own Apple and you don't mind spending the money. Ignore all of this thermal crap and lifespan whatever. For your use case, if you experience any major issues, it's highly likely that many others will have the same and it will be covered by warranty as it will be a manufacturing/design fault. Realistically you'll want to upgrade inside of 3 years...

 

If you are wanting a laptop that is going to last you 5 plus years, I'd maybe look at something else.

My recommendation - don't buy an Apple laptop because you think they're cool, it's the easiest way to be disappointed. If you're invested in other Apple products and you're already familiar with their ecosystem, then it makes far more sense.

 

Alternatives

If you're dead set on Apple, take a look at the iPad with a decent keyboard for research and notes, Snazzy Labs has a nice video on his iPad Pro setup.

If you're wanting good lifespan, reliable and strong performance and uncomplicated experience, look at a decent quality notebook or equivalent with at least an i5 and an SSD.

 

 

 

 

Ultimately, if you want the damn Macbook Air - buy the damn Macbook Air! You'll either love it and be happy or you'll learn... :)

[Ryan Kukreti]

macbook air can handle google meet and all right?

without heating much?

[UndisclosedAMDProcessor]

53 minutes ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

macbook air can handle google meet and all right?

without heating much?

My father actually bought a 2020 MacBook Air (4c i5) - he doesn't like it. He has to use Zoom daily for meetings, and even if he boots up the computer first thing in the morning, nice and cool, as soon as he joins a meeting the temps rocket up to 100degC and the fan starts whining incessantly, incredibly annoying because everyone on the call immediately starts asking what that noise is.

He used to have one (2015 model) that was much, much better in his opinion.

He emphatically does not recommend the new model.

[Ryan Kukreti]

2 hours ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

macbook air can handle google meet and all right?

 

if i compare the base model of macbook pro 2019 with macbook pro 2020, besides keyboard is there any difference in performance since it is around 200-250 bucks cheaper in my country and i really dont mind the butterfly(its not that bad)

[Lord Vile]

1 hour ago, Ryan Kukreti said:

if i compare the base model of macbook pro 2019 with macbook pro 2020, besides keyboard is there any difference in performance since it is around 200-250 bucks cheaper in my country and i really dont mind the butterfly(its not that bad)

personally I prefer the butterfly but I wouldn't entertain it due to reliability concerns

[Ryan Kukreti]

5 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

personally I prefer the butterfly but I wouldn't entertain it due to reliability concerns

but the 2019 was considered the most reliable butterfly keyboard, and i have read many threads saying their butterfly keyboard didnt have any problem, because i need to clarify whether it would cause problem or not, because i really dont want to spend so much then see it getting destroyed