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Macbook Air benchmarks

djinn

djinn

macrumors 68000
Oct 4, 2003
1,762
234
I have a hard time with people deciding between a MBP and a MBA. Total opposites! You guys that are trying to decide between these need to really think what you are going to use this laptop for. New is cool but sometimes you can shoot yourself in the foot.
 
Catch

Catch

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2004
368
0
London, UK
hoyaspook said:
Here they are, courtesy of Engadget:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/24/first-benchmarks-macbook-air-is-the-slowest-apple-machine-on-th/

There's a lot of vitriol on the boards and not enough analysis. What do the benchmarks actually mean, for real world use? I'm quite torn between waiting for the MBP update and pulling the trigger on a MBA.
Click to expand...

Personally I was not expecting the MBA to be that capable. The 1.8 with SSD should be a really impressive performer!

Regards,

C
 
MRU

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Madness isn't it. If you want raw power in a laptop get the MBP simple. The MBA isn't meant to be a powerhorse desktop replacement :rolleyes: When will people just 'cop on' :confused:
 
H

hoyaspook

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
32
0
djinn said:
I have a hard time with people deciding between a MBP and a MBA. Total opposites! You guys that are trying to decide between these need to really think what you are going to use this laptop for. New is cool but sometimes you can shoot yourself in the foot.
Click to expand...

What can I say? I'm a sucker for magnetic latches and back-lit keyboards.
 
A

ahaxton

macrumors 6502a
Jan 17, 2008
552
0
I don't know why you would have a hard time seeing why people would be deciding between a MBA and MBP. Well its brought on another choice for someone who doesn't want a MB! Plenty of us who don't want the MB.
 
CaptainCaveMann

CaptainCaveMann

macrumors 68000
Oct 5, 2004
1,518
0
Catch said:
Personally I was not expecting the MBA to be that capable. The 1.8 with SSD should be a really impressive performer!

Regards,

C
Click to expand...

Exactly! Let's see how the 1.8 ssd does, then make a decision. People keep going back n forth about it not being a main computer. My 12" iBook g4 1.33ghz with 768mb of ram and a 4200rpm hdd has been my main computer for quite some time. I've made movies on it, pictures, internet, email, microsoft office, all with ease. Granted it's not as fast as I would like.

But for someone like me, a macbook air is ALREADY going to be much faster than what I have. Most of the people crying are ones with MBP's or Macbook's saying oh man this thing is slow blah blah. Well ya, duh! It's slower than your computer, so what. Don't buy it, but it works for some people, and it's benefits to me outweigh what it's lacking. :D
 
H

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
djinn said:
I have a hard time with people deciding between a MBP and a MBA. Total opposites! You guys that are trying to decide between these need to really think what you are going to use this laptop for. New is cool but sometimes you can shoot yourself in the foot.
Click to expand...

People deciding between the MBP and the MBA are people who don't need anything more powerful than the 2006 MB, but do want the aluminum shell/LED screen/backlit keys of the 2007 MBP.
 
B

butterfly0fdoom

macrumors 6502a
Oct 17, 2007
847
0
Camp Snoopy
So while the MBA is horrendous on benchmarking tests, in real life, it lags by a few seconds? I don't see why everyone's complaining so much. If the results were with the 1.6 and HDD, it's bound to be absolutely stellar with the 1.8 and SSD.
 
W

wentwj

macrumors regular
Sep 6, 2006
206
0
butterfly0fdoom said:
So while the MBA is horrendous on benchmarking tests, in real life, it lags by a few seconds? I don't see why everyone's complaining so much. If the results were with the 1.6 and HDD, it's bound to be absolutely stellar with the 1.8 and SSD.
Click to expand...

Well to be fair a lot of the "few seconds" were on relatively small samples. The moral of the story is, the MBA will be slower if you're doing a lot of things like transcoding video, ect.

Personally I'd like to see a test on a 1.8 non-SSD machine, as thats what I'd be looking for should I decide to get one... and also think it's a more reasonable machine.
 
A

ahaxton

macrumors 6502a
Jan 17, 2008
552
0
wentwj said:
Well to be fair a lot of the "few seconds" were on relatively small samples. The moral of the story is, the MBA will be slower if you're doing a lot of things like transcoding video, ect.

Personally I'd like to see a test on a 1.8 non-SSD machine, as thats what I'd be looking for should I decide to get one... and also think it's a more reasonable machine.
Click to expand...


1.6 and 1.8 non-SSD probably isn't that much different.
I think they did a great job on all the new tech they put into the machine. I'm glad to see what I thought when I read about the new tech in the MBA is really panning out.
 
EvryDayImShufln

EvryDayImShufln

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2006
1,094
1
Wow this thing performs pretty damn well! Actually I was even more impressed that the macbook beat the macbook pro in nearly every single test LOL
 
M

Mr. Eko

macrumors member
Jan 21, 2008
45
0
I'm not a computer wiz, but I do agree that the 1.6 is obviously going to be a little slower (why are people making a big deal out of it?). Is there hope that the SSD 1.8 will be a lot faster? I will be looking for a notebook in June. I will be in uni, and I don't need a 'super fast' book. If money really isn't a prob (trying not to sound so arrogant), would the air be such a bad choice? suggestions?
 
C

Coatsy

macrumors member
Jan 22, 2008
38
0
CaptainCaveMann said:
But for someone like me, a macbook air is ALREADY going to be much faster than what I have. Most of the people crying are ones with MBP's or Macbook's saying oh man this thing is slow blah blah. Well ya, duh! It's slower than your computer, so what. Don't buy it, but it works for some people, and it's benefits to me outweigh what it's lacking. :D
Click to expand...

Like the guy who bought an MBA to replace his PowerMac G5, and wondered why his games didn't run so well on it.
 
T

tveric

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2003
400
0
Or the guy that just says "MacBook Air sucks!!!" just to get reactions out of people.
 
J

jhande

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2006
305
0
Denmark
Given the benchmarks (which are adequate unless you need [insert standard requirements]), I'm still surprised at the visceral reactions the MBA provokes -- positive and negative.

The similarity to the original iPod reactions are eerie, and with that in mind, I expect that not only will the MBA be a qualified success in its first iteration, but also have the same kind of impact on the ultraportable market that the iPod had with music players, and the iPhone with cell-phones.

It ain't for me, but I still like it -- a lot.
 
E

em500

macrumors regular
Apr 29, 2005
152
5
jhande said:
I'm still surprised at the visceral reactions the MBA provokes -- positive and negative.

The similarity to the original iPod reactions are eerie, and with that in mind, I expect that not only will the MBA be a qualified success in its first iteration,
Click to expand...
Yeah, but so are its similarities to the Cube, so it could still go either way.
 
H

hoyaspook

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
32
0
CaptainCaveMann said:
Exactly! Let's see how the 1.8 ssd does, then make a decision. People keep going back n forth about it not being a main computer. My 12" iBook g4 1.33ghz with 768mb of ram and a 4200rpm hdd has been my main computer for quite some time. I've made movies on it, pictures, internet, email, microsoft office, all with ease. Granted it's not as fast as I would like.

But for someone like me, a macbook air is ALREADY going to be much faster than what I have. Most of the people crying are ones with MBP's or Macbook's saying oh man this thing is slow blah blah. Well ya, duh! It's slower than your computer, so what. Don't buy it, but it works for some people, and it's benefits to me outweigh what it's lacking. :D
Click to expand...

That's exactly where I am! I have a 17" Powerbook G4 ! Ghz w/ 1GB of ram. There's no where for me to go but up!

Also, more info on actual performance: http://www.macworld.com/article/131805/2008/01/macbookair_first_tests.html

It's definitely faster than the G4, but, honestly, not by much.
 
OCDMacGeek

OCDMacGeek

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2007
580
79
I'm still waiting for another battery test. The newspaper reviewers gave some tests but I'd like to see more confirmation.
 
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