I hope everyone is keeping well during the COVID-19 pandemic.  I have been posting and shooting less video over the past 3 months due to increased workload during the pandemic.  I have a ton of new stuff to review and I am going to start with the 2020 Macbook Air with Retina display I have been working from for the past few weeks.

Now I should clarify that I was already working from a 2018 Macbook Air with Retina display for 2 years now and prior to that I have had a couple of pre-retina Macbook Airs as well. 

A Change From Macbook Pro to Macbook Air

From about 2008 to 2014 I bought and worked from Macbook Pros.  I owned 4 of them (3 15" models and 1 13" model).  They were good machines.  I sold 2 of them, one of them died after about 9 years of use and the last one is still being used by my daughter. Around 2014 I made the decision to switch from the Macbook Pro to the Air.  Mainly, I was looking at cost.  I could buy a kicked up 13" Air for less than the entry-level 13" Pro.  

The first couple of Airs I owed were pre-Retina Airs.  They were good machines and in fact, are still in use (my wife uses one and my oldest daughter uses another).  I found that the kicked up Air met my needs and saved me from the price tag of the Pro.   In 2018 I bought a Retina version of the Air.  It is still a machine I use daily in my studio (I have two workstations).   The screen and graphics are fantastic when comparing them to the non-retina versions I had been used to work from.   This version has the fingerprint reader power button.  Which, at first I was like "big deal", but have grown to like and use quite a bit on a regular basis.

2020 Macbook Air

2020 MBA Ports

2020 MBA Ports

2018 Worn Keyboard

2018 Air Keyboard Issues

My 2018 Air was starting to show its wear, especially in the keyboard area.  Now keep in mind the 2018 model has the notorious butterfly keyboard.  I would like to say the bad reviews of this keyboard were overstated, but they were not.  I remember about a month after getting the 2018 model I had some keys "seize" up from small bits of debris being wedged underneath.  Fortunately, I was able to clear the obstructions, but it was always in the back of my mind.  

The responsive feel of the keyboard also was a bit lacklustre.  If you have ever used Apple's butterfly keyboard you will know what I mean.  The last keyboard criticism I have is the finish on the letters printed on the keys on that keyboard. I have 3 or 4 keys that the labelling is wearing off after a couple of years of use. The "N" key is particularly bad.

Enter the 2020 Air

I knew I was going to stick with the Air because for the most part, it has been a workhorse of a machine for me.  I was interested in the 2020 Air because of its redesigned scissor mechanism keyboard design.  As bad as the butterfly keyboard was this is the nicest feeling keyboard I have ever typed on.  It feels nice under the fingers and even "sounds" better when you are typing. 

My 2020 13" Macbook Air -Space Grey Specs

Below are the specifications for the Macbook Air I ordered: 

So as I mentioned before I loved the Retina display.  Images are crisp and clear.  I also love the new "Magic" keyboard.  It is a winner.  I ordered this one with 1TB of SSD storage. My previous Airs all where 500 GBs of storage, but I decided it was time to move up a level.  One thing to keep in mind when purchasing an Air is that everything comes integrated and therefore it is either extremely difficult or impossible to upgrade things like storage or RAM after the fact.  As a result, my rule of thumb is to order the best/biggest of whatever variables I can that meets the budget I have.  For example, I always buy my Airs with as much RAM as I can.  In this case that is 16GB of 3733Mhz LPDDR4X RAM.  

A Word About the Processor Upgrade

A controversial upgrade I made on this unit was to upgrade the processor to the 1.2GHz quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i7 processor (with Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz).  A lot of people say the upgraded processor will not give you a very big performance boost vs the 1.1GHz quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor (with Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz) and comes with a $230 CDN price tag.  I agree that they are right, but I went for it anyway.  If you want to save some money don't upgrade the processor on this unit.

Some Misses

I would have loved to have more than the 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports that are on this unit, especially since one of them will be used for power.  At least give me 3 ports if I have to use one for power.  The only other port on 2020 MBA is a 3.5mm audio jack.  As a result, you are going to have to get used to living the dongle life.  I paired my MBA with a VAVA 8 in 1 USB C Hub.  It's a "powered" hub that allows me to run my MBA power through the hub to charge my computer and includes:

• 1 x USB 2.0 port
• 2 x USB 3.0 port
• 1 x HDMI port (4K resolution at 30Hz and 1080p at 60Hz)
• 1 x Ethernet port
• 1 x Micro SD port
• 1 x SD port
• 1 X 100W PD port

Its a good dongle and regardless if you buy this dongle, you will need some type of dongle. 

I had an initial issue with a power drain on this MBA. My battery was draining super quick and (believe it or not) even when I powered it down.  I finally figured out that my Dropbox settings were draining my battery ultra quick.  Under preferences in Dropbox, I changed the sync settings to to "Save Hard Drive Space Automatically" and the energy impact number for Dropbox went from "149" to "0.4" - which is a huge difference.  Anyway, my battery drain issue was solved.  I am still not sure why Dropbox was hogging so much energy.  I have run Dropbox for almost a decade and this the first time I have run into this issue.  

The last miss I want to mention is the fan for cooling the unit.  I believe this is a long time complaint from a lot of people. The fan is fairly loud and when putting the MBA through its paces (like say editing and rendering video) the fan kicks in and takes a while to kick off.  I have been told that the design of where the fan is compared to the CPU and the lack of sufficient heat syncs makes the cooling of the MBA inefficient.

The Bottom Line

I highly recommend the2020 Macbook Air (kicked up the specs as much as your budget will allow).  I have been using them for years and the 2020 MBA with its new magic keyboard is even better than the 2018 MBA I was working from.