Macbook air 2020 performance

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Macbook air 2020 performance

Hello, community!

I'm having some trouble with my MacBook air 2020 (brand new, 1,1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i3, 11 cycles).

The CPU usage skyrockets as soon as I connect two external monitors (2 x 29" 2560x1080). I had the same setup with a MacBook pro 2017 i5, plus an iPad pro connected with sidecar, without any problems. I know there's a difference between i5 and i3, but according to cpu specs i3 of 2020 is almost as powerful as i5 of 2017, right?

The device is only usable if I have only three programs running simultaneously (Chrome with max two tabs, iTerm with a simple webpack project - no backend, and a VSCode with one file open at most).

With that setup, the CPU load is ~30% on average. If I'm doing something more complex and open more tabs, CPU usage goes well above 50%, and the problem is so prominent that even the laptop is charging with a power charger (30W), it cannot stay fully charged.

Keep in mind that Activity Monitor indicates that 45% of CPU is used by WindowServer and/or kernel tasks.

So, is the MacBook air only suited for browsing? Do my external monitors cause this problem? Using the iStat app I can see that the Iris plus graphics is always under 15% usage. Would an eGPU help at all? (I'm guessing by offloading the rendering to the GPU, but if that's the case, why Iris is so idle?)

MacBook Air

Posted on Jul 9, 2020 2:24 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 9, 2020 7:59 AM in response to alexbratsos

For one, the thermal situation in the 2020 MacBook Air is not great. You have a fan for the system, but it is, in no way, connected to the CPU's heatsink (which is passively cooled). This is probably the chief complaint about the 2020 MacBook Air. It's to the point where the following thread is a stickied thread in the MacBook Air sub-forum of the MacRumors forums: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2020-air-heatsink-modification-thread.2227066/

(By the way, doing something like that totally voids AppleCare and I'm only posting that just to show you how common performance and thermal issues have come up in regards to the 2020 MacBook Air.)

Secondly, Apple's handling of external displays has never been stellar, though, admittedly, most of the complaints as far as ramping up of fans are concerned that I've seen have been with specific regards to MacBook Pros with discrete GPUs (such as the 16" MacBook Pro and its 15" MacBook Pro predecessors).

But yeah, the i3 Air isn't great in terms of doing more than the basics. Most reviews, review videos, and review sites have all suggested to get at least the quad-core i5 or the i7. I might go one step further and look towards the base model four-port 2020 13" MacBook Pro as that sounds like the one that will bark the least in terms of heating and fan ramping.

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Macbook air 2020 performance

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