K. Margaritis 8/18/20 K. Margaritis 8/18/20

2020 MacBook Air i7 and 4K Video Editing, how well does it handle it?

The omission of a (for some) proper heatsink on the 2020 MacBook Air has created a lot of "heat" on the internet, as many claim that the new Air is crippled down on purpose not to compete with Apple's Pro line of MacBooks. 4K video editing is more than an average workload, the question is if the low powered Intel's 10th generation CPU delivers.

I'm an owner of the new space grey MacBook Air with an i7 and 16GB of RAM since late April, in my initial review I write why I choose the Air over the Pro 13" and share my experiences with it in music production and common everyday tasks. This follow-up article is focused on the 4K editing performance of the new MacBook, as well as shedding some light on the so-called heat issues.

Let me start by stating the obvious; the 2020 MacBook is not a video editing powerhouse. If your work involves creating hour-long 12-bit 4K video documentaries, with multiple layers, advanced colour grading and other visual effects, you should look at the 16" MacBook Pro or even better a top-of-the-line iMac or Mac Pro. If on the other hand, you value portability, need snappy performance for everyday tasks and enough power for non-extreme loads (like acoustic music production, light photo editing etc.) but want to occasionally edit a 4K video and not to spend a fortune, then continue reading.

A major setback!

I'll be honest, in my first attempt to edit a 4K video with the 2020 Air, I got disappointed. I followed my usual routine of importing my video files in Final Cut, roughly cut the parts that I needed, syncing audio and then applying colour grading and a film-simulation plugin. I would then wait for Final Cut to render the files and then try to fine-tune my edits, add transition effects, text, etc. After doing all that, the problem was that every time I would make a change, Final Cut would take several minutes to render the video again. I had to wait to be able to playback my video; if the edit was not timed perfectly and had to adjust something, I had to wait some more.

At first, I thought that I have too many things run in the background. As I wrote in my review, I like to keep all apps open as I usually go back and forth between them; exporting files on Logic Pro while rendering the video on Final Cut, at the same time editing photos on Fuji X Raw Studio or Affinity Photo. I decided to close all apps, restart my MacBook and try again to work on my video, only with Final Cut running at this time. Nothing changed, rendering takes several minutes and working on the edits is a nightmare as playback is sluggish.

4K projects can be huge; I keep them on an external SSD.

It was not a fun experience but I managed to finish the video, after a lot of frustration frankly. Exporting took an average amount of time, but I don't care much about export times - unless it is abnormal - as I can always use a break for a coffee. I just don't like to waste my time in front of the computer.

Not an easy fix

I was contemplating buying a used Mac Mini dedicated to video editing as it was the only solution I could think but switching between different machines to finish a project doesn't sound appealing. My other thought was to shoot my videos in 1080p instead. After all, my Fuji X-E3 is not a dedicated video camera and has heat issues when capturing 4K videos in summer, it is a fine stills camera nevertheless.

A couple of weeks have passed while I was busy composing my new classical guitar suite "A Quiet Place pt II" and didn't think much about my 4K video troubles. My MacBook was working flawlessly otherwise; score writing, recording, skype lessons, photo editing, and casual internet.

The unexpected

Space Grey vMacBook Air and white Magic Mouse 2

When most parts of my new suite were finalised, I shoot the first video to audit my performance. My Fuji was still left to 2160/23.98p from my early trials, so, I was a little nervous when I imported the files to Final Cut.

Since there was no plan to share this first "draft" video, I didn't bother with colour grading and film-simulations. To my surprise, the Final Cut could handle editing and playback like a champ. I didn't even wait for it to finish background rendering this time. Whilst, I would switch back and forth to Logic Pro to edit, mix and export my audio; my usual High- and Lo-Pass filters, as well as reverb from 2CAudio Aether, were applied. The new Air remained responsive throughout this process, much snappier than my 2013 Air was when working on ordinary 1080p files. The fan would spin relatively hard but that was anticipated.

Further examinations

Although polishing this video was never my intention, I wanted to see how far my MacBook could go. I first applied some colour correction and cross-dissolve transitioning effects on the various clips. The playback was perfect, admittingly it was on the "Better Performance" option. I switched to "Better Quality" to see what would happen. No difference in performance at all, even in full-screen playback, despite the background rendering was not done.

My trusty Fuji X-E3 camera and 35mm F2 prime lens.

I couldn't stop there, so I added a second layer of videos in normal blend mode at around 50% opacity, some text animations and a few pictures overlays. Keep in mind that the original clips I used where several 10min videos shot in 8-bit 4K with my Fuji, and overall the final video after the cuts was about 7 minutes. Playback was excellent, with no hit to the performance of the MacBook at all. The fan was moderately loud during the notably quick rendering, after that the fan was not spinning or barely audible during playback.

(Un)usual Suspects

I didn't know what to think, my experience this time was in total conflict with my first attempt. Editing a 4K video with the 2020 i7 MacBook Air was a joy! I then remembered that I also used a film simulation plugin (which shall remain nameless because it was sent to me from the creator for free as I understand it is no longer supported) in my other trial. I quickly applied the plugin to a couple of clips and pressed play. The video was lagging a second or more behind the audio, with dropped frames here and there, and the transition effect... let's say it never happened.

I let Final Cut render the video, it took several minutes, and then hit the play button again, the playback was smooth this time, the fan was inaudible. I changed the length of a clip, needed a few more minutes to render the video. I begin to understand the source of all my frustration the first time; software that is not optimised.

Export time(s)

I removed that film simulation and clicked on the export. I didn't time it as it doesn't make a lot of difference to me if it is five or ten minutes, there is always something else to do. I went to make an espresso instead, when I returned the file was sitting in my Movies folder.

A lesson to (re)learn

We all want a faster, lighter, cheaper laptop, and it would be great to see Apple pushing the boundaries with the upcoming ARM-based MacBooks. Though sometimes the answer lies on the software, developers get lazy with faster CPUs and don't optimise their code to attain the most of what is possible.

We need faster computers, but we also need more efficient and intelligent software; that's what Apple is doing best.

Europe’s heatwave

As I'm writing this article, I have my MacBook on my lap as I sit comfortably at a sofa and type while I'm listening to music on Spotify and have several open apps and tabs on Safari and Chrome. The Air is only moderately warm and the fan is barely spinning. It's summer and the temperature hit 34 degrees celsius.

Earlier today I finished mixing the final version of my new guitar suite and edited the accompanying video in 4K, a few more touch-ups and it will be ready for publishing. The MacBook was silent most of the time, except for Logic exports, especially when oversampling was applied, and heavy Final Cut rendering. Not bad at all!

You indeed hear the fan spin with heavy loads, but that is its purpose; to keep the temperatures under control. The MacBook remains snappy and responsive even when the maximum temperatures are being reached and returns to silent operation soon after the processing is done. Arguably the chassis will get hot in such situations; many electronic devices get hot though, sometimes uncomfortably so, and don' melt after years of operation. So, I don't worry!

Expectations

I believe that most complaints about the 2020 Air come from either of these two camps.

First are the people who have unrealistic expectations; they want an ultra-thin and light laptop, at a bargain price and with the power of a dedicated desktop computer.

On the other camp are the spoiled and easily irked people, who would complain if a laptop takes an extra minute to export a video as if the world depends on it.

I guess it is personal and depends a lot on each use case. But, for many of us who use our gear for what they offer to our workflow and and understand the limitations of a highly portable computer, the processing power which is available at our hands and backpacks with the newest laptops is unbelievable.

I’m still not content with this mess; why Apple?

My main gripes with it persist though. I don't understand why Apple removed the MagSafe plug from the MacBooks, I always felt so much safer plugin in my Air 2013 while sitting on a sofa and have my 6-year-old son running around. The removal of the SD card-reader also makes no sense to me, period. Lastly, two USB ports are not enough; as I wrote I value portability, but now I have to bring a couple of extra dongles with me just to do basic stuff.

Conclusions

The new MacBook Air is a beautiful ultrabook, with exemplary processing, a fair price, and more than enough power for everyday tasks and professional work if its not too particular and demand continuous high CPU loads. 4K video editing is a breeze, at least with the i7 and 16 GB of Ram, as is my overall user experience with it. So, if you are considering getting one, I hope that my experience will make that decision easier for you.

K. Margaritis 5/6/20 K. Margaritis 5/6/20

Apple MacBook Air i7 2020 from the perspective of a Music Producer

The recent introduction of quad-core processors in Apple’s MacBook Air promises greater performance in the familiar form, but is it capable for any professional work?

I have been using my trusty mid-2013 MacBook Air 13 with an i7, 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD since its introduction. Having produced several albums and videos of my music, as well as of colleagues and friends of different complexities in my home studio and on location, this machine has never let me down.

My silver 2013 MacBook Air; no signs of wear after seven years of abuse

After almost seven years of intense use, it has slowly started to show its age. A progressively unreliable battery, the older screen and the greater CPU demands of modern plugins were making the experience less fun.

I was holding on it regardless, mainly because I was not satisfied with some of Apple's decisions in the latest years. Namely, the removal of the MagSafe and the SD card reader, as well as the limited number of USB ports.

Unfortunately, the 2020 MacBook doesn't deal with any of these issues, but Intel’s 10th generation i5 and i7 Quad-Core processors, the possibility to expand the RAM to 16GB, and the impressive Retina display allowed me to let my old computer finally retire.

Windows Alternatives

First of all, let me state that I'm not an Apple fanboy, I'm perfectly happy with my Pixel 3a and several other Android phones before that. But the truth is that no-one else is doing the trackpad as well as Apple. The integration of the touchpad and magic mouse gestures into Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro are an essential part of my workflow, anything else will be a compromise. I also love how stable and efficient MacOS is besides being a low-maintenance operating system. Having dealt with Windows in the past, I can see their advantages, but Apple provides a seamless experience.

The MacBook Pro

The teardrop shape of the Air is ingenious

I have been flirting with the idea of getting the Pro instead, but the form factor of the Air is superior to me. The teardrop shape is more comfortable to type on and for the work that I typically do, and the slightly less weight can be an important factor for travelling and location work. Furthermore, my work primarily involves recording and producing classical guitar or chamber music, writing articles, making scores and editing simple videos. Except for video editing, none of my other activities requires a lot of CPU power. A light, reliable and snappy computer with good battery life and silent operation is all I'm looking for.

2020 Updates

The new Air comes standard with 256GB of fast SSD storage which is enough for me, since I prefer to keep the system drive relatively clean and work off an external SSD, especially with the large video files. Cloud storage for other types of documents allows me to continue working on different machines, and gives me a peace of mind if anything goes wrong. I opted the i7 version for the extra processing power and future-proofing, Intel's 10th generation quad-core processor should be about four times faster than my old computer.

Another welcome addition is the 16GB Ram option which boosts the multitasking capabilities of the MacBook. A typical daily scenario for me is to have a bunch of tabs open at any given time at three different browsers (Safari, Chrome and Brave) as well as having both Logic and Final Cut loaded with my latest project. Sibelius and Affinity Photo may also run in the background, ready for me to use at any moment. I usually leave everything open with loaded projects, and in that case, the more Ram the better.

My old Air has the classic silver finish, a timeless design choice that doesn't easily show any marks. For a change, I decided to get the Space Gray this time. I hope that it will also take some slight abuse gently. Space Gray is gorgeous while being more subdued, with a more homogenous look in the keys, chassis and display. The less obvious aesthetics let the computer disappear, bringing the work in the foreground. The black and much smaller bezels also help.

Retina display delivers greater resolution and colour gamut — *Retina display* delivers greater resolution and colour gamut

The "new" retina display is a delight to watch, with great colour reproduction and breathtaking resolution. Some people find the slightly wider bezels old-fashioned when compare to competitive ultrabooks, but I think that they might have advantages. They allow for enough space to rest your wrists when writing, a big-enough trackpad, front-facing speakers (for the odd time that I might need to use them) and a full-sized keyboard. Speaking of which, I know that there have been countless complaints about the performance and reliability of butterfly keyboards, I'm happy to report that the new magic keyboard is a joy to type on, and considering the reports from the 16" MacBook Pro, it should be without problems.

I was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy as much the clickless nature of the "new" touchpad, counting on my minimal experience with modern MacBooks, but the smooth glass surface and responsiveness of the touchpad is brilliant and took me only a few minutes to forget the old one. Lastly, TouchID is a godsend, with fast and reliable verification, it saves a lot of time from typing long passwords.

Construction and Connectivity

Apple's engineering and manufacturing are second to none, everything feels very robust, with smooth surfaces and polished edges. A beauty to look and touch. Plugging in the charging cable produces a very satisfying sound. The removal of the MagSafe with all the safety and convenience it provides is really hard to understand though, and I wish there was at least one more USB-C port... and an SD Card reader. Well, at least there is still a headphone jack.

I understand that Apple wants to push wireless connectivity, and I appreciate this philosophy. Sending files with AirDrop between my devices is a breeze, as is the integration of Sidecar. But until my mirrorless camera can send large video files with Bluetooth, and my drives, audio interfaces and DACs can work effortlessly via Bluetooth, I’m stuck with a vastly inelegant solution. Just to do be able to use my RME ADI-2 Pro FS for audio I/O, while charging the MacBook, accessing video files on my SD card and working on my external SSD drive - which is what is connected on my MacBook 95% of the time when I'm at my office - I have to rely on a USB hub, which adds to the cost only to create a mess of cables on my desk. On a positive note, if I want to bring my MacBook with me, I need to remove only one cable.

The Wait

At least we still get a headphone output

I have to confess that even though I was confident with my purchase at first, some of the early reviewers that were reporting thermal throttling and other heat issues due to the removal of the heat pipe had me worrying. Recording subtle classical guitar pieces with ultra-sensitive condenser microphones and spinning fans don't go well together. After all, with almost the same money I could buy a 2019 MacBook Pro with 4 USB-C Ports.

I stayed positive the two weeks that took for Apple to send me my MacBook, due to the pandemic and the great demand for the new MacBooks I presume.

When my machine arrived, I set up everything and installed all the necessary software. After a couple of days of making all the preparations, as well as using the MacBook for regular use, I have yet to hear the fan spin hard, if at all. The chassis would sometimes be warm but stay comfortable. A first relief, but I had to wait and see if it would overheat with my regular use.

Performance

An excellent keyboard and a brilliant touchpad

After everything was set, the first thing I did was to record my classical guitar and see if the fan starts spinning, ruining my precious recording. Of course, as expected, it remained silent throughout. I knew that the real test was to see how well it can handle editing and mixing though.

Without quitting any apps, with all three browsers running in the background, with four-five tabs each while five of them being preloaded YouTube videos on Chrome, I started loading plugins on my project. Since, I usually work on my music all day and also use my laptop for other tasks in between, for convenience, I leave everything running.

As I already stated my needs are very specific and not awfully demanding. For music production, I'm usually dealing with only a couple of audio tracks, equipped with FabFilter's Pro-Q3 plugin equalizer and one or more algorithmic reverbs, namely 2CAudio's Aether or Breeze plugins. On the master bus, the usual suspects are the Pro-L2 limiter, along with the 2CAudio Vector spatial image analysis and Youlean loudness meter plugins. If required, I might use a couple of iZotope's noise reduction plugins to remove any unwanted noise.

My seven-year-old MacBook could handle a similar load but the plugins would drain the CPU, sometimes leading to System Overload warnings. Some plugins have also oversampling capabilities, that boost performance with the expense of bigger CPU loads, which would make my MacBook surrender. I would often only run plugins at top quality only for the mixdown.

After loading all the plugins, I started the playback, after a minute or so there was still no sign of fan spun. I started boosting performance on some of the plugins with oversampling, still, the fan was inaudible. Then I decided to push the CPU harder. I went to Safari and loaded a 1080p video on youtube, after a minute of listening to both my guitar track and the random video, the fan was still inaudible. My last test was to reproduce the same experiment with Chrome, and surely after half a minute or so, the fan kicked in, at a low speed. I let the video play for another minute to check if this would make the fan to spin faster, but no luck, the fan was audible but at a very comfortable level. I stopped everything and took an ibuprofen, a headache form all the chaos was started to kick in instead.

System Overload warnings on my 2013 MacBook when pushed hard

I loaded a similar project at my old MacBook and tried to replicate the test. I started the playback on Logic, I tried to push the CPU with moderate oversampling and then I tried to stream a video on Safari, after a couple of seconds, I got a System Overload warning from Logic and the audio stopped so thankfully I didn't have to go through this emetic experience again.

Large projects are not my regular tasks, but I have used the 2013 Air to successfully produce projects with more than thirty audio tracks, with a bunch of plugins on each one, CPU hungry emulations, and virtual instruments. Granted, the fan would sometimes resemble an aeroplane jet, but it was doable and my old MacBook still works like a charm after several years of such abuse. So, I'm positive that the new MacBook Air would not be different in that regard.

Video Editing

Intel’s Iris Plus graphics should make the 2020 Air a charm to work for light video editing. To get an idea on the performance improvements I loaded 1080p footage from my Fuji mirrorless camera. Editing was snappy and with some basic colour grading and a LUT applied, the playback was perfect. The Retina screen is a big improvement over the old display, with much greater colour depth and spectacular resolution. There is much more detail, with better blacks and richer colour reproduction.

On my next video project, I plan to shoot in 4K. This is a demanding job that was absolutely impossible on my old Air, so I'm excited to see how the 2020 Air performs here. Click here to read my experiences with 4K video editing on the 2020 MacBook Air.

A MacBook for the Music Producer on the go

The new MacBook Air offers a perfect balance of performance and portability

Considering the limitations of the form, the MacBook Air is not the most powerful computer, and it was never meant to be. If you like playing games, or your thing is hardcore video editing and music production with 100s of tracks, you have to look elsewhere. The new 2020 Air will appeal to those looking for snappy, reliable performance that will perform moderately heavy tasks with ease and can be everywhere they go.

Apple’s Air line of ultrabooks has totally eliminated for me any need for a conventional desktop computer with a perfect balance of performance and portability