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comparing to what is now the previous generation air
- Thread starter AznTakumi
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(1) Ram doesn't really effect battery life.
(2) Since the MBA has not been redesigned, it should be the same fan as the previous gen.
I have the i7 1.8GHz MBA and was wondering whether an upgrade makes sense. Given that I use my existing Air mostly for browsing and word processing, I wouldn't think it was worth it. Anyone have any thoughts whether the new processor and 8Gb or RAM would be make a big difference?
I have the same Air, my thoughts are that I either go big, sell the Air & get the base model MBA with the retina screen or just keep my current Air.
Big difference in what? You just said you use it for browsing and typing. Do you expect the new Air to open up web pages twice as fast and make you type two times faster? I think you can see what I am hinting at.
I figure it's probably negligible in real-world scenarios. I don't think the HD4000 is good enough to make a difference in gaming either, neither that or the 3000 are really what you'd want for that.
According to Steven Sinofsky, RAM does have an effect on battery life:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/07/reducing-runtime-memory-in-windows-8.aspx
Why would you want the Intel 3000 when the Intel 4000 is out? Suppose to be a 60% over the Intel 3000, Plus has OpenCL support!
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In the real world, its the difference of gaming below 30fps or over 40 fps. I'd say that's a very large real world difference
Why would you want the Intel 3000 when the Intel 4000 is out? Suppose to be a 60% over the Intel 3000, Plus has OpenCL support!
To me the 4000 is just less bad. They're both not good enough for gaming. Why use the 4000 as a personal selling point? I mean, I'm just talking about me and my situation.
What I'm saying is this, for me 40 fps isn't enough to bother. For me it's 60 fps or bust, I don't consider either the 3000 or the 4000 appropriate for gaming. Since neither will get me there, I wouldn't bother gaming on either of them. Given that, I've chosen not to consider the HD4000 a selling point for me. Everyone's requirements are different.
Correct. I've tested this extensively and the difference between 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz RAM in negligible. The IGP does benefit slightly from the faster RAM since it uses the system RAM, but that difference averages to about 1 frame per second over multiple benchmarks.
I contemplated buying the new 11.6" and passing my basic 2010 one over to my wife, but the upgrades are just not worth it for me.
Obviously it depends what your usage is, but as I am retired, mine spends the day on the Internet with virtually no other use, so weight and a good display are my criteria, though I would have liked the backlit keyboard from last years.
Biggest disappointment is the reduction in battery life, used to be over four hours especially with Coolbook, now after 18 months it is down to barely two. I know there is a gradual % drop off with age, Coconut shows 75% left, but mine is over 50%, so I will have a word with Apple Care as I have a two year warranty.
tut
Obviously it depends what your usage is, but as I am retired, mine spends the day on the Internet with virtually no other use, so weight and a good display are my criteria, though I would have liked the backlit keyboard from last years.
Biggest disappointment is the reduction in battery life, used to be over four hours especially with Coolbook, now after 18 months it is down to barely two. I know there is a gradual % drop off with age, Coconut shows 75% left, but mine is over 50%, so I will have a word with Apple Care as I have a two year warranty.
tut
The person who is content with 40fps and reads your post thinking it'll get under 30 because you said there isn't a real world difference.
I guarantee you a whole lot of people would be happy with HD4000 performance, perhaps not as a primary gaming laptop/PC but for something they can at least use when they're away. I have a gaming PC with an i7 3770k and a GTX 680 and I can make due with HD4000 in a pinch.
According to iFixit, the new airs DO have the variably-spaced fans that the retina pro has so that they make less noise (the sound is distributed over multiple frequencies instead of being loud at just one)
I think that's a bit of a leap. If someone reads a post on a forum and lets that decide for them how a device meets their needs, that's their problem. As always, people really need to be looking into this stuff and comparing it against their needs.
I have a gaming machine with a 2600k and a GTX 680 and I can't. Not everyone will be unhappy with it and not everyone will be happy with it.
Ahhhh the satisfaction of being able to have my MBA awake from sleep about .1392836 of a second faster.
Jizz my pants just thinking about it.
My point: Buy the new one if you can, if you cant your current one is still a hell of a lot nicer than about 80% of the world population's laptops.
Jizz my pants just thinking about it.
My point: Buy the new one if you can, if you cant your current one is still a hell of a lot nicer than about 80% of the world population's laptops.
Like with most performance indicators, this is grossly incorrect and depends on a lot of factors. Most likely the 500MB/s is for compressible data, since the Toshiba is using a SF controller. If it's the same grade as "consumer" (because I mean it IS a consumer SSD) windows SSDs, then its overall uncompressable read/write performance should be around 300MB/s
So what does this mean? Not a whole lot. It's like going from my Vertex 2 to my Agility 3. I don't notice a big difference. Both SSDs are really fast, and faster than hard drives at the end of the day, which is what really matters.
Though I believe the Toshiba is a lower performing part. My Vertex 2 is able to load TF2 a LOT faster than this thing can, but I really don't care because it's not a gaming laptop ...