Have just purchased a new MacBook Air (2020 model). Have bought to use for home working (Zoom meetings, etc) and the image is really grainy when using Zoom or FaceTime. Is this normal with Macs?
MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15
i've just taken delivery of my MBA 2020 and the camera image is so terrible I am not sure what to do about the machine now. I paid to have a ton of upgrades so overall this was a £1800 machine. The camera is about the worst i have seen since laptops started coming with in-built cameras. I hope, Apple, you find that damning... but i suspect you won't care. The web is awash with similar complaints. To see someone commenting saying wipe the screen and check your internet connection; it's just offensive. The camera quality is so bad in low light that i can barely even recognise myself. I joined a video call the other night and everyone was commenting about how bad it was, unprompted. I genuinely don't know if I will keep this macbook... i feel like it will be my last, at least, if this is the type of thing we can expect. Apple support were meant to call me back this evening to discuss it but what a surprise, they didn't.
Same. I had a 2015 macBook Air and we needed another computer in the family so I "upgraded." But, other than a retina display, it's been nothing but a downgrade. Battery life is much shorter. I've already had to replace it because of the fingerprint access being faulty. And now, the terrible quality face time camera. A lot of downgrades IMO.
Haven't found any way to improve the video quality, so I suspect it's a hardware issue. (Definitely not internet, or fingerprints on my camera).
I’m not gonna lie to you, all the MacBook Airs have crap camera resolution and video resolution compared to the pro.
i own the 2018 MacBook Air, even returned it out and asked for another one. They’re just not made for the visuals of the camera and watching videos. Trust me, everything looks better on the Pros and I love my air. Never again will I get an air as much as I love the way they are light, feel great and etc.
This is not a helpful answer and I do not know why it is endorsed by Apple.
First off, you don't need an internet connection to use the camera. Secondly, the user said they just bought it BRAND NEW.
I will second that its not the case that its due to internet connection or to it being dirty. I just bought a 2020 Macbook Air. Via facetime over internet connection OR through photo booth and through Zoom settings camera before I even log into a meeting, the video is grainy, dark, like I'm looking in the camera of an Iphone 3. I compared it to a 2012 MACBOOK PRO!!! And the Macbook Pro from EIGHT YEARS AGO is way better quality. As another user said, it is like NIGHT AND DAY. I will likely return or exchange mine also, this computer has been nothing but problems. Apple no longer cares about quality and functionality. They only care about profit.
Would you suggest I exchange mine for a Pro then? My 2012 Macbook Pro has a better camera than this 2020 Macbook Air. In general, my Pro's functionality is even better, I just needed a new one because of software incompatibilities.
I just got a MacBook Pro 2020 and the camera is also way worse than my 2012. On video calls, it's grainy and poor quality. That doesn't make sense. My 2012 has great quality. Is it a setting that I cannot find or did they change degrade the quality of the camera?
yes, this is perfectly normal actually and i compared camera quality from my 2017 macbook pro to a 2009 imac we have in our house and found that actually this has BEEN a problem for years (and still is i presume considering apple is still using the same camera from 2017 macbook pros to the 2019's)
actually, the camera on the 2012 MacBook Pro is identical to the camera in the 2020 MacBook Air. I don't think the camera itself is the issue because the camera looks great on my 2012 pro.
are you saying your 2009 mac has a better camera too? it's unclear what you're saying in your post. would you mind checking to see what camera your 2009 has?
ok so basically i was saying that my MacBook Pro 2017 looked just as grainy and weird as my grandparents old 2008 to 2009 mac desktop (i really should've given more context), and so does my late 2011 macbook pro, and both of my grandparent's macbook airs, BUT this generally only occurs when its moderate to low ish light, if your in a well lit room and stuff you don't see any fuzz at all. (even this sounds a little bit weird with wording (this reply) but you get what i mean)
oh hey i know i've replied before on this post but honestly just to mention, PLEASE for the love of god use a cleaning solution if you clean your screen, even if its with a microfiber cloth, it WILL scratch really easily if you don't (or maybe even cause the pixels to break from putting too much pressure on the screen which is clearly never good)
I just joined this thread to verify the problem. When I first saw this grainy image on a brand new 2020 MacBook Air I felt I travelled back in time when we had DSL connections and crappy laptops. Anyways, on all other matters I am perfectly fine with how the Air feels and performs. For any kind of video calling or conferences I use my iPad Pro or my iPhone, so this isn't a real deal breaker for me personally. But yes it is frustrating, because you can get a decent camera on ANY notebook nowadays... It just feels cheap. Not good Apple...
Same experience like most of people here. Very dissappointed on the quality of the camera.
I went to Apple Store Stanford this morning, waited and argued with the staff over three hours.
Finally I got my exchange for a new MacBook Air, I was asking the staff if I can open my new Mac in the store to check if the camera has the same issue. They don't allow me to do that. Now I found that the camera still has the same issue, do I need to go back to return it? it's totally waste my time and energy to deal this kind of crappy service and product.
We are having the same problem. It's very disappointing. I can't believe that they released a product with a camera this bad. It is possible that there was a bad batch of cameras in some of the computers or are all 2020 MBAs this way? We'll be fighting Apple over this one.
And yes, to a prior post, the issue is apparent in Photo Booth. That's what we've used to compare the 2020 to the old 2014 MBA that the 2020 was supposed to replace. It's just horrible.
Received my air as a gift for my wife for her google classes ( she is a teacher) . She was shocked when she activate the camera. compare to my 2015 air, picture quality sooooo bad, looks like only 240p or 360p, this pic quality same as my old phone back to year 2000 Nokia cell phone.
Also, it's runs hotttt......
Sooo disappointed for APPLE!! will definitely send it back and ask for refunds! it's Shame for apple's engineer.
Bye-bye Macbook air, I will ask all my friends don't purchase it to avoid my bad experience.
I just bought mine last week and it's the same and I bought it specifically for Zoom! I also told the sales assistant this. I'm so ticked off.
I bought at JB Hifi so I am going to return there within the 14 days of purchase and see what they have to say.
I have just bought a 2020 Macbook Pro. The camera is terrible. I'm the "grainy one" in my work related Zoom connections. This laptop costed me 1900 GBP, to replace my previous Macbook Pro bought five year ago which had an excellent camera. What happened? I don't really fell like having a 2020 laptop with a camera from 2010!
Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020
