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.