I received two 2020 MacBook Air units both i5/8GB/2TB. We use them to run a project management consulting business, so mainly running Microsoft Office, Merlin, Trello, Mail, multiple IM apps and the occasional episodes of Parallels and MS Project and/or Visio.
Before I go on about this review, let me give you a bit of history. Both of us used a pair of late 2013 MacBook Pro's through October 2019. My partner bought a 2019 MBA and I bought an entry-level MBP. We both detested the keyboards. My Quad-core was sluggish and overheated compared to her i3. When the 2020 MBA came out we were eager to make the purchase and watched a ton of reviews that recommended we upgrade to the i5 processors. I chose the air over the pro for portability and form factor, and to avoid the Touch Bar.
During the horrible 4-week wait for the new MBAs to arrive all the videos about how the i5 overheats came out. We were terrified our new purchase would be a complete failure. Here is exactly what happened:
Both laptops overheated and the fans sounded like they were going to take off during the initial setup - file transfers, software installation, and all the syncing and configuration. Then I upgraded one of them to Catalina 10.15.6 and left the other as is. That worked like MAGIC! the upgraded MBA was quite, physical heat level wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and everything seemed normal. The one that wasn't upgraded, however, was as very hot and loud. Both were doing IDENTICAL tasks.
One other thing I noticed is that Intel Power Gadget kept showing extremely high temperature readings on the upgraded laptop - despite the lack of fan noise or heat - until I restarted the device.
I do not post product reviews but thought this might help those who are weary of the heat issue, or want to avoid shelling out an extra $1000 for a device they do not need, or the task bar, and of course those who fell in love with the 2020 MBA form factor as I did.
Before I go on about this review, let me give you a bit of history. Both of us used a pair of late 2013 MacBook Pro's through October 2019. My partner bought a 2019 MBA and I bought an entry-level MBP. We both detested the keyboards. My Quad-core was sluggish and overheated compared to her i3. When the 2020 MBA came out we were eager to make the purchase and watched a ton of reviews that recommended we upgrade to the i5 processors. I chose the air over the pro for portability and form factor, and to avoid the Touch Bar.
During the horrible 4-week wait for the new MBAs to arrive all the videos about how the i5 overheats came out. We were terrified our new purchase would be a complete failure. Here is exactly what happened:
Both laptops overheated and the fans sounded like they were going to take off during the initial setup - file transfers, software installation, and all the syncing and configuration. Then I upgraded one of them to Catalina 10.15.6 and left the other as is. That worked like MAGIC! the upgraded MBA was quite, physical heat level wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and everything seemed normal. The one that wasn't upgraded, however, was as very hot and loud. Both were doing IDENTICAL tasks.
One other thing I noticed is that Intel Power Gadget kept showing extremely high temperature readings on the upgraded laptop - despite the lack of fan noise or heat - until I restarted the device.
I do not post product reviews but thought this might help those who are weary of the heat issue, or want to avoid shelling out an extra $1000 for a device they do not need, or the task bar, and of course those who fell in love with the 2020 MBA form factor as I did.
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