Is the new MacBook Air powerful enough?

Hi there

This is my first post here, if it’s in the wrong section please let me know where best to post this.

Basically, I’m on the look out for a new Mac and have been toying with the idea of a MacBook Air with i5 processor and 16 gigs of ram, or the i7 with 8 gigs. Fan noise and overheating issues are my main concerns, and also how well it can actually run under long hours of continuous work. I can spend over 10 hours some days so I need a machine that can handle it for at least 4 to 5 years.

I don’t mind limiting the amount of tracks, bouncing in place and generally working within limited boundaries, however, I would like to have a rough idea on how limited I may be with the new MacBook Air?

I have read up online but opinions seem to be somewhat split on the heat/fan issues, processors, amount of ram sufficient enough...

Anyone own the i5 with 16gigs of ram or the i7 with 8? Any information on how these things are running would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Check this out, talks about fans and heat about 5 minutes in:

I admit to being a little bit reluctant about the Air model, which I think is "most of all designed to be small." I could foresee such a unit having heat problems if subjected to hours of compute-intensive use day after day.

I have looked into the turbo boost switcher app which seems to be a good workaround, does anyone on here use it on the air? and/or know if it’ll be supported for future OS updates?

Hmmm, this is a good question. I am planning to get MacBook Air too but I am still hesitating.

Fingers crossed someone here can help

Fingers crossed someone here can help

Did you watch the youtube link I posted, where they talk about heat and fans??

Fingers crossed someone here can help

 

Did you watch the youtube link I posted, where they talk about heat and fans??

Yes, I have seen his reviews on the new MacBook Air, however, I have also read a few posts on MacRumors that state the opposite...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/my-new-macbook-air-i7-2020-for-logic-and-final-cut-pro-and-false-overheating-alarms.2234452/

I believe it’s highly likely that the i5 will have some heating/fan issues, although I have read that the i3 is less likely to ramp up so much?

I am buying blind essentially so I’m trying to make an informed choice. Basically I can afford the i3 or i5 with 16gb ram or the i7 with 8gigs, unfortunately I’m somewhat limited on options within my price range

Well, I just read that post you linked. He came from a 2013 Air, which is not a common laptop for DAWs. and the new 2020 Air is a monster compared to it. Of course he will be thrilled. 7 years difference in tech is a lot for computers.

But he doesn't use Kontakt or any 3rd pary heavy plugins or samplers. Couple of audio tracks he says and usually not more than 30 tracks.

On the video I linked, Max talks about the heat issue being of concern because it throttles the CPU and the computer stays hot for a long time. No heat pipe from the CPU to the fan.

But if that doesn't bother you, and you like the Air, the i7 has decent benchmarks, not great on paper though.

def the i7 over the i5 or 3... you want POWER. 8gig ram will do, but might be good to get in the habit of rebooting before a logic session, making sure NOTHING is set to open on startup, and open ONLY logic... and work.

good to try to get as much ram, and resources, dedicated to the music work you're doing (as opposed to, say, also have safari open with 20 tabs, pages, or mail, or... etc).

this worked well for me in my macbook pro days...

I'd rather wait and save a bit and get the extra RAM and the top-spec processor. There's no upgrade path for either one.

As to the ability of the Air to run all day long, I had an older version and it was a workhorse. I used it all day and every evening. It took me all the way through grad school, and my daughter still uses it. Its only fault was a failed battery - the thing started to swell and the lid wouldn't even close and the keyboard was arched up like a puffer fish - but it was fixed under warranty years ago and no troubles since.

I had an older version and it was a workhorse.

13-inch? What year?

I had an older version and it was a workhorse.

 

13-inch? What year?

I'm not sure! Probably 2013. And I don't think it was the 13-inch, I think it was the 11-inch.

Now THAT machine would be underpowered to host a DAW, but current Air processors can do a lot more work. Enough to handle LPX like a champ? I can't say.

My main point was really that Apple did a pretty good job in those days of cooling that tiny chassis, enabling it to work hard all day. I expect the current generation will be similarly engineered.

I also snuck in my observation that RAM is a critical driver of performance, which is always true for DAWs.

I'm not sure! Probably 2013.

If you click the Apple at the top left of your screen and choose About Your Mac, you'll see all those details.

I'm not sure! Probably 2013.

If you click the Apple at the top left of your screen and choose About Your Mac, you'll see all those details.

It is an 11-inch, mid 2013, with 1 .7 GHz Intel Core I7, and only 8 GB RAM. But it's got 1024 MB of VRAM and Intel HD Graphics 5000 and 1366x768 resolution, so even that older machine meets the requirements I can find from Apple for Logic Pro X.

I never ran Logic Pro of any version on it, but it did handle Garage Band fine, just using a couple tracks of its built-in software instruments.

I guess that my "instinctive concern" about the Air product-line, specifically, is that they were intending to absolutely-minimize both the product's physical profile and its weight. "So, did they actually include a fan, or not?"

Most of the things that people actually do with their computers (or, their phones) – such as, say, noodling around on this forum – are "definitely computationally trivial." So, someone may well have decided that they don't need fans ... just as, not so long ago, they decided that we don't need CD/DVD players.

Me? I'd probably pick something "beefier." (Although I've already quickly discovered that my MacBook Pro absolutely can't handle very CPU-intensive tasks like "conventional 3D rendering!")

I guess that my "instinctive concern" about the Air product-line, specifically, is that they were intending to absolutely-minimize both the product's physical profile and its weight. "So, did they actually include a fan, or not?"

 

Most of the things that people actually do with their computers (or, their phones) – such as, say, noodling around on this forum – are "definitely computationally trivial." So, someone may well have decided that they don't need fans ... just as, not so long ago, they decided that we don't need CD/DVD players.

 

Me? I'd probably pick something "beefier." (Although I've already quickly discovered that my MacBook Pro absolutely can't handle very CPU-intensive tasks like "conventional 3D rendering!")

I don't know about the new models, but I beat the heck out of that older Air with some GarageBand but also a lot of work with Adobe Premiere (rendering is pretty compute-intensive) and XCode (compiling big software systems can also peg your meters for a while). As engadget wrote in 2018,

Now, my 12-inch MacBook is a perfectly good word processor, web browser and occasional image editor. But it can't do what my old, 2013 MacBook Air could. I abused that machine with unnecessarily heavy workloads -- Premiere, InDesign, Photoshop and the like -- for years. It was never massively fast, and it often sounded like it was about to hover off my desk, but it was definitely capable of ploughing through complex tasks, so long as you had the patience.

As to your inclination for something beefier, that sounds like wisdom built on experience. I'm interested, what makes you say your MB Pro can't handle very CPU-intensive tasks? What happens? My own 15" 2018 (2.9 GHz 6-core i9, 32 MB RAM) has been solid for me, though the fans work VERY hard sometimes!