Apple’s New 2020 MacBook Air has been out for about three weeks now, and we initially
thought that people looking to buy a base MacBook Pro should just buy the Air instead,
but we couldn’t be more wrong.
We were initially very excited about how great this MacBook Air could be because of three
main reasons, the drop in price down to $1000, the switch to the excellent Magic Keyboard,
and the $100 quad-core i5 CPU upgrade which also included graphics that were faster than
any 13” MacBook Pro.
This all sounded great, and we thought it would be a better value than the base MacBook
Pro, but after we started doing deeper testing, we discovered a massive flaw, which I’ll
get into in a minute.
In this video, we’re gonna give you 3 reasons why people who want a powerful quad-core MacBook
should wait for the 2020 MacBook Pro instead of buying a current MacBook Air or Pro.
For reason number 1, there have been new rumors coming out that actually point to the new
MacBook Pro coming much sooner than expected.
Recently, the well-known Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, predicted the release of a refresh MacBook
Pro in Q2 of 2020, which could be anywhere from April to June. Yet at the same time,
he also announced the release of a 14.1” MacBook Pro alongside a refreshed 16” MacBook
Pro, both with Mini-LED displays.
What this points to is the possibility that there will be two separate releases of the
smaller MacBook Pro this year.
One could be a 13” MacBook Pro refresh that will be released sometime between now and
the end of June, and will most likely include the switch to the new Magic Keyboard.
And then the 14.1” Mini-LED MacBook Pro will probably be released at the end of the
year alongside a Mini-LED 16” model.
According to Apple leaker Jon Prosser, the refreshed 13” Pro, code named J223, is actually
coming sometime this month in May, as long as everything goes well.
And then he also mentioned that it’ll be a refresh to the 13” MacBook Pro, separate
from the also expected 14” display upgrade, so his info matches up to Ming-Chi Kuo’s.
Now I personally had a hard time believing that Apple could release a new MacBook Pro
during this coronavirus crisis, but Apple totally proved us wrong last month by successfully
releasing the new iPad Pro and MacBook Air.
This shows us that they’re very well capable of moving along with their release date plans
during everything going on in the world.
And it’s also pretty encouraging that the lockdowns in China are finally being lifted,
meaning that Apple device production should hopefully be going back to normal soon.
Stock Analyst Jim Cramer mentioned that Apple stock suddenly seems attractive now that China
is coming back online.
So based on this, we very well could be seeing a refreshed 13” MacBook Pro this month.
Now don’t take my word for it, but it could happen.
The next three reasons will explain why you shouldn’t just buy one of the quad-core
MacBook Air or MacBook Pro models right now.
Reason number 2 is that the new quad-core MacBook Air is just not a good option for
anyone who cares about performance because of its massive flaw, the fact that the fan
is still connected to the CPU’s heatsink.
We didn’t expect this to be too big of an issue at first, since the new 10th gen Intel
CPU should be much more efficient, but after doing deeper testing..
We discovered that the CPU quickly reached up to 100 degrees celsius, not only while
doing things like gaming or video editing, but also browsing the web using Chrome and
watching 4K 60fps youtube videos!
So we actually recommended people with the quad-core model to turn off turbo boost in
order to keep the CPU cool while doing regular tasks.
And for video editing, the overheating was so bad that even though the MacBook Air scored
great in both the CPU and Metal benchmarks, it ended up being twice as slow as the base
MacBook Pro while exporting a 4K youtube video.
So in our final review of the MacBook Air, we actually went back to recommending the
base dual-core model for regular computing tasks, so for people who need a basic MacBook
for things like browsing the web, using common apps or watching Netflix, the base MacBook
Air is absolutely the best value MacBook we’ve seen in years.
And that’s because you’re getting double the storage than before for $100 less than
before, as well as getting the new much more reliable Magic Keyboard.
But for those who want great performance, let’s get into the third reason for why
you should wait.
The current 13” MacBook Pro is really missing out on some great features that we already
know are coming to the 2020 model.
And we know this for sure because if the MacBook Air got these new features, then the upcoming
MacBook Pro will 100% get them as well.
The most important one is the fact that it packs the old butterfly keyboard which people
have complained about for years because of an issue where random keys would simply stop
working.
Both the 16” MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air are already using the new Magic Keyboard,
and we think it’s the best keyboard they’ve ever created, due to having the combination
of excellent key travel, great reliability and the tactile feel of the butterfly switches
all into one keyboard.
The next feature it’s missing is a new 10th gen Intel processor, since the MacBook Air
just got one.
The current 13” MacBook Pro is actually stuck using an old 8th-gen Intel processor,
so the switch to a 10th-gen chip is going to improve performance and efficiency as well,
and since the fan actually is connected to the heatsink, we should see better thermal
performance than last year.
And not only that, but the 10th-gen chip will also pack the new much faster integrated graphics
just like the G7 graphics in the Air, which will help for things like video editing.
A huge surprise to everyone was that the RAM speed on the MacBook Air went up to 3733MHz,
that’s 75% faster than the RAM in the current 13” MacBook Pro.
This is going to help make your apps feel very snappy as you open and close them, and
the refreshed 2020 MacBook Pro should get this faster RAM as well.
And finally, a huge downside of the current 13” Pro is the very low 128GB of storage
on the base model. We personally recommended buyers to upgrade to at least 256GB if they
want a good experience.
And since we know that the base model MacBook Air now comes with 256GB of storage, then
every future MacBook Pro should come with at least that much as well.
So those are the main reasons why people looking to buy a well-performing quad-core MacBook
should just wait until the 2020 13” MacBook Pro comes out.
Now let’s get into the dilemma of why Apple would release both a 13” refresh and a 14”
MacBook Pro within a few months of each other.
Well, I believe that if Apple does end up doing this, then the 14” Mini-LED MacBook
Pro will almost certainly replace the higher-end $1800 model.
So for those who don’t see themselves paying $1800 for a MacBook Pro, there’s no point
in waiting around for it.
For you, the 13” MacBook Pro refresh which is coming this month will still be great because
it’ll get the 10th gen chips and new Magic Keyboard.
Hopefully, this video helped you guys out, and if it did, Tap the like button and Click
the circle above to subscribe for more videos like this one. Check out our MacBook Air review
right over there, and we’ll see you in the next video!