

Where it may begin to struggle is during complex 4K video editing, photo editing, and multitasking.Ī key advantage of the i3 being a lower-power processor is that it doesn't get as hot as the i5. The general performance of the i3 is surprisingly good for these sorts of daily tasks, even when connected to an external display. The i3 MacBook Air should be sufficient for web browsing, streaming, writing emails or word-processing, and video calls. So what is the practical difference between these two processors? Intel Dual-Core Core i3 Benchmarks suggest that its 1.1GHz quad-core Core i5 processor is approximately 76 percent faster than the previous 2018–2019 MacBook Air models. The 2020 MacBook Air is the first to have a quad-core processor option. MacBook Air benefits from a fast SSD, powerful video decoder, and excellent software optimization for everyday tasks, so the multi-core performance jump on the i5 will not be important to many users. Single-core performance is important in everyday tasks, and you may only benefit from better multi-core performance on the i5 when using more professional applications such as Final Cut Pro X or Photoshop.

With the same clock speed of 1.1GHz, the single-core performance of both processors is very similar.

Our guide answers the question of how to decide which of these two configurations is best for you. Apple offers two different 2020 MacBook Air base configurations one with a dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and one with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor.
