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The 2020 MacBook Air

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Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#211

Post by globular-toast »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #19

Pro Tip: The MacBook Air line of today has taken over for the MacBook line of old. It's not like the original air which was so much thinner and lighter than everything else. Thickness of the 13" MacBook Air is 0.63" vs 0.59" of the 13" MacBook Pro and weight of the Air is 2.8lbs vs 3.0lbs for the Pro. The MacBook Air is the lower-end MacBook now.

That explains why I'm so confused to learn that the Air is the most popular Macbook. I distinctly remember the Air being about portability over everything. It was a niche product.

So it's more true to say Macbook Air is their most popular brand because the product is not the same at all.

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#212

Post by pozdnyshev_ »

rsync wrote: post #176
JohnTHaller wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But then what is the MacBook Air now ? There isn't one. There's the MacBook Pro, which is the higher end laptop line and the MacBook Air, which is the lower end. That said, both the current Pro and Air are thinner than the original MacBook Air and the same weight or slightly lighter.

"That said, both the current Pro and Air are thinner than the original MacBook Air and the same weight or slightly lighter." That may be, but there is no 11" model so it's a bigger thing to put in my briefcase/bag ... I knew I should have purchased three identical 2015 11" MBAs ... I bought two and I am on #2 now ... when it breaks there is nothing to replace it with.

Still using a 2012 11" MBA and have only had to replace the battery once. Occasionally open it up and replace thermal paste but that's it.

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#213

Post by FabHK »

thelittleone wrote: post #182
hoorayimhelping wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's vanity, I think they made a conscious tradeoff in service of thinner computers. It's a good tradeoff in my opinion: the thinness of the computer has more of an impact on my average day to day usage than being able to remove a faulty logic board.

Until your logic board fails (mine has failed and been replaced 3 times on a 2016 MBP). How much space did it save to remove the most simple data recovery option that ever existed?

I had a 2016 MBP that had everything replaced at least once except the bottom case (with the serial number on it, lol). That thing then failed entirely again about 2 months after Apple Care ended. Good news: Apple elected to replace the machine for free, as I had so much trouble with it. Bad news: he machine will ship directly from the factory in China, when it’s been built, to the Apple store, where I can pick it up when they’re open again... So, thanks to Apple and SARS-CoV-2 I have had no laptop for more than 5 weeks. :-/

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#214

Post by dillutedfixer »

asdff wrote: post #204
dillutedfixer wrote: post #30

I wish Apple would bring back a true anti-glare matte display option. I can't stand the reflectivity on any of their laptops despite their claim that it's "anti-glare." I love the macOS ecosystem, but I REALLY love the 100% Adobe matte 4k screen on my Dell Precision.

You can buy a matte screen protector

Not the same. I added one of those to a 13" MBP I used to have. The protector alters the way you see the color on the screen, and adds a kind of weird pixelated look. As someone who does professional photo and video editing, that's a deal breaker. Not to mention how difficult they are to get on without bubbles or dust trapped underneath, and the fact that they just eventually start to peel off at the edges. There was a company in the bay area that used to swap out the glossy screens with a true matte display and a dark bezel, cant remember their name but once the retinas came out they stopped doing the swaps.

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#215

Post by asdff »

GhostVII wrote: post #112
pivo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience with family members who have 8G laptops, they are not fine. Even my mother who just uses a web browser, mail.app and occasinally Photos is not fine with 8G. Her MacBook Pro regularly ground to a halt. I replaced it with a used model that was almost exactly the same except that it has 16G and now she is fine.

I have a laptop with 8gb of RAM and have never had any problems browsing the internet or even playing intensive games.

Games aren't going to strain your RAM

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#216

Post by thelittleone »

FabHK wrote: post #213
thelittleone wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until your logic board fails (mine has failed and been replaced 3 times on a 2016 MBP). How much space did it save to remove the most simple data recovery option that ever existed?

I had a 2016 MBP that had everything replaced at least once except the bottom case (with the serial number on it, lol). That thing then failed entirely again about 2 months after Apple Care ended. Good news: Apple elected to replace the machine for free, as I had so much trouble with it. Bad news: he machine will ship directly from the factory in China, when it’s been built, to the Apple store, where I can pick it up…

Wow sorry to hear that. I've had the same experience with my 15" MBP. Apple replaced everything apart from bottom case. The bottom case has no components. Despite that, the laptop died again (and several times since).

I live in Bali (Indonesia), there is no Apple store in Indonesia. The only domestic option is an authorized service center. A hardware replacement such as logic board or screen is a 5-6 week wait time. My laptop is my primary work tool. 5-6 weeks without income? So instead I've opted to fly to a city with an Apple Store and Genius Bar. So far I have flown internationally 12 times to get this laptop repaired. I'm compiling a list of all the hardware faults, days out of service and hours on calls to Apple and hardware faults and will take this to the consumer court in Australia which is quite effective usually. And, now the laptop has died again, it can't find the SSD. Trying to install OSX to an external USB also fails, implying another logic board fault.

I write this from a 2010 Mac Mini connected to a 2007 30" Apple Cinema Display, both work perfectly, not a single failure ever.

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#218

Post by nickflood »

artimaeis wrote: post #165
Niccizero wrote: post #27

I don't see the reason to buy a such a compromised machine over a X1 Carbon or a XPS 13. No ports, crappy soldered everything, worst company for consumer rights, etc. They have nice screens I guess? And you can't deny the brand appeal of the Apple logo.

Macbook Air vs XPS 13 So right off the bat in trying to compare these computers Dell's site is leading me to 2 XPS 13s: the XPS 13 and the "New XPS 13". I'm going to assume new > old so I'll start with the "New XPS 13" which seems to be an XPS 13 9300. Starting price winner: Macbook Air! $999 vs $1299. So really the difference here is that Apple is selling a baseline i3 model with 256GB of SSD, while the base Dell is…

What you're missing is that the CPU in Dell is the U series, which has a base TDP of 15 watts and goes up to 25 watts if the cooling is good. The CPU in MB Air is a 10 watt Y series, which is really weak (MacBook 12" leve weak). So you get miles more performance in Dell. Judging by the lack of comments on the CPU difference, Apple is really successful in fooling the public into thinking that a MB Air i5 is the same as any other ultrabook i5, which it is not at all.

Dell's CPU: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/196603/...

MB Air's CPU: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/196589/...

Apple used to put the U-series CPUs into Air up until 2015, leaving the much more performant H-series for the Pro. But ever since the 2016 they now put the U-series into the 13" Pro while the Air gets a really weak CPU. They effectively shifted the performance one step up in pricing. While all the PC manufacturers stuck to using the U series in the air-like chassis,relegating the Y series to laptops that need to be very thin and light, and small tablets.

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#219

Post by [deleted] »

nickflood wrote: post #218
artimaeis wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Macbook Air vs XPS 13 So right off the bat in trying to compare these computers Dell's site is leading me to 2 XPS 13s: the XPS 13 and the "New XPS 13". I'm going to assume new > old so I'll start with the "New XPS 13" which seems to be an XPS 13 9300. Starting price winner: Macbook Air! $999 vs $1299. So really the difference here is that Apple is selling a baseline i3 model with 256GB of SSD, while the base Dell is…

What you're missing is that the CPU in Dell is the U series, which has a base TDP of 15 watts and goes up to 25 watts if the cooling is good. The CPU in MB Air is a 10 watt Y series, which is really weak (MacBook 12" leve weak). So you get miles more performance in Dell. Judging by the lack of comments on the CPU difference, Apple is really successful in fooling the public into thinking that a MB Air i5 is the same a…

[deleted]

Re: The 2020 MacBook Air

#220

Post by artimaeis »

nickflood wrote: post #218
artimaeis wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Macbook Air vs XPS 13 So right off the bat in trying to compare these computers Dell's site is leading me to 2 XPS 13s: the XPS 13 and the "New XPS 13". I'm going to assume new > old so I'll start with the "New XPS 13" which seems to be an XPS 13 9300. Starting price winner: Macbook Air! $999 vs $1299. So really the difference here is that Apple is selling a baseline i3 model with 256GB of SSD, while the base Dell is…

What you're missing is that the CPU in Dell is the U series, which has a base TDP of 15 watts and goes up to 25 watts if the cooling is good. The CPU in MB Air is a 10 watt Y series, which is really weak (MacBook 12" leve weak). So you get miles more performance in Dell. Judging by the lack of comments on the CPU difference, Apple is really successful in fooling the public into thinking that a MB Air i5 is the same a…

You're right that they _are_ using different classes of CPU -- I'd not initially been able to find solid info on what CPUs the new Air was using which was why I left it off.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the Air CPU is "a really weak CPU" compared to the Dell one though... just to clear this up I mean that the i5-1030ng7 is slightly less capable than the i5-1035g1, but the difference isn't huge.

Here's a couple of geekbench results across those particular models that I found: looks like multi core performance _is_ notably better on the 1035g1, but the single core performance is only about 10% lower.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/1551286?baselin...

So with the new evidence of the comparative performance of the CPU available I feel like we're still basically at the same spot -- user preference. With a slight nod towards Dell for including a more performant CPU.

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