Early Benchmarks Reveal New MacBook Air Rivaling High-End 2010 MacBook Pro

[beg_ne]

Umm, check your signature... You look definitely like a "Windows guy".

Huh? Did he change his sig? Because it says he has a Macbook and a Sawtooth...

 

[iSayuSay]

Backlight keyboard
Just as powerful as basic 13" MBP
SSD as standard
Higher resolution display

only + $70 if you really want Superdrive so bad.

Macbook Air just killed Macbook (sadly) .. and now trying to kill Macbook Pro as well .. A lot of people suddenly being hypocrite when saying MBA is never going to be as fast as MBP .. Now it does !! And even more

 

[bradl]

Huh? Did he change his sig? Because it says he has a Macbook and a Sawtooth...

His sig also says that he owns a Dell. So unless he hackintoshed it, he's running Windows, Linux, *BSD, or Solaris.

BL.

 

[Eidorian]

His sig also says that he owns a Dell. So unless he hackintoshed it, he's running Windows, Linux, *BSD, or Solaris.

BL.

It is a Dell monitor. An old 24" PVA one but still a decent monitor. I guess the MacBook and Sawtooth do not count then.

 

[bpaluzzi]

I wouldn't say MBPs are desktop replacements given that the rest of the computer industry is looking at Dell's M6600 as such. The MBPs are just really well built middle of the line models.

Oh, definitely, when I think 'trend-setting laptop', it's Dell that comes to mind.

Wow.

 

[bpaluzzi]

It's a gimmick because there is nothing practical about it when there are the MacBook Pro's and they are also due for an update in the next couple months. Lets compare these numbers again with the new MBP when the time comes.

If thinner and lighter but less powerful is something you want then go for it. How long can you and your friends admire how thin something is? I admire computers that give me the best performance possible by using the fastest parts available. The MBA has to sacrifice a lot of that to keep it's gimmick thinness. Fact.

Herp derp, I'm a geek and I can't understand that not everyone is like me.

 

[randfee2]

sounds nice... mine is ordered but it seems it won't get to me until the 4th of august ... so much for available within 24h, which the apple store told me it would be.

Anyways, a powerful MBA, exactly what I was waiting for... would have been nice for it to be a MBA/iPad hybrid though.

Are there any other real world benchmarks out there yet?

 

[illian]

Backlight keyboard
Just as powerful as basic 13" MBP
SSD as standard
Higher resolution display

only + $70 if you really want Superdrive so bad.

Macbook Air just killed Macbook (sadly) .. and now trying to kill Macbook Pro as well .. A lot of people suddenly being hypocrite when saying MBA is never going to be as fast as MBP .. Now it does !! And even more

muaha not really!! gimme 8gb of ram, 4cores and a decent ssd!!

 

[twilson]

Google has this in their Chromebooks, I don't see why they wouldn't implement it, or perhaps wait for 4G LTE in a year or two! That would be one awesome computer. I'd probably jump for..

An Internet Connection isn't pretty much needed to anything of any real value on an MBA. Plus for something that STILL, hardly anyone will actually use, it seems a waste of expense.

 

[MacDarcy]

Backlight keyboard
Just as powerful as basic 13" MBP
SSD as standard
Higher resolution display

only + $70 if you really want Superdrive so bad.

Macbook Air just killed Macbook (sadly) .. and now trying to kill Macbook Pro as well .. A lot of people suddenly being hypocrite when saying MBA is never going to be as fast as MBP .. Now it does !! And even more

The death of the white plastic macbook was inevitable. The Macbook Air won't "kill" the macbook pro....but come January the pro will radically change it's form factor and follow the same form factor by dropping the optical drive finally. I believe the pros will look like Macbook Airs, only slightly thicker to accomodate pro features.

The writing is on the wall. The new mac mini just dropped its optical drive. OSX Lion, the app store and the cloud are ushering in a new age of downloading and storing online.

I know some are complaining that an 11" Air with a 64 gig HD is no substitute for the white macbook, but Eventually the prices of flash drives will come down in price and get bigger too. Besides, alot of the education market which the white macbook catered to...is switching to the ipad anyway.

 

[MacDarcy]

Then I hooked my 11" MBA to my 24" monitor and was astonished all over.

I weighed 11 vs 13 for a while but decided that I wanted it to be as portable as possible and that I could still hook it up to a decent size monitor when at my desk.

For you the trade off calculation might be different.

I agree. EVERYBODY's situation, preference and needs are different and unique. Apple gives us alot of choices to choose from. There truly is something for everyone.

Having said that, i too am weighing my options and trying to decide between the 11" & 13". I am a photographer who travels ALOT, so weight is an issue. Personally tho, it's not the size difference that is making my decision tougher. They are both pretty close in size and weight and are the same thickness.

The thing that is making me bounce back and fourth is that the 13" has an SD card slot and the 11" does not. If the 11" update had squeezed in an SD slot, i'd probably buy it without hesitation. But the lack of one is giving me pause.

Ah....decisions decisions. :-D

 

[MiltonThales]

Maybe I am crazy, but Ive just realised that I want new 11inch MBA and Thunderbolt Display. Am I crazy? I need feedback. I want it mostly for Aperture and Photoshop. Cinema display has firewire so I can connect my external drives. Seems perfect. Doesnt it?

But don't forget that you can get -- some of the time -- a refurb iMac 27" for $1439. That gets a complete system for $440 more, with 1 TB and 4 GB more than just the MacBook Air. You can always set it up as an OS X server for $50 more. But you do have to buy your own Thunderbolt cable for $49.

 

[jonnysods]

Put a 7200rpm drive in the new MBA and then retest, and then tell me how fast it is.

This isn't a processor for processor, GPU, for GPU comparison here.

 

[KnightWRX]

His sig also says that he owns a Dell. So unless he hackintoshed it, he's running Windows, Linux, *BSD, or Solaris.

BL.

How does running Linux, one of the BSDs or Solaris make you a "Windows guy" ?

Maybe you should quit before you choke on that foot in your mouth.

An Internet Connection isn't pretty much needed to anything of any real value on an MBA. Plus for something that STILL, hardly anyone will actually use, it seems a waste of expense.

Since when does XCode, perl, MacVim, mPlayer, bash require an Internet connection ? Heck, my copy of Worms Armageddon is a pure blast offline...

Heck, I just made a few graphics this morning using X11 and MacGimp. I didn't that required an Internet connection...

A lot of you guys have a weird notion about the MBAs. You guys do realise that these computers are much more powerful than machines we had like 2 years ago and that we still managed to use non-Internet apps back then ?

Heck, I remember my first computer that had no communications hardware at all, completely, 100% offline. It ran on a single digit mhz chip if even that and required tapes for storage because it didn't have a hard drive. Heck, since I didn't get the writable tape drive, only the RO version, I had to save my documents I typed out to this thing called a printer and paper.

 

[wfptravis]

No such thing?

Isn't there no such thing as a 2011 MBA 13'' with a 1.6 GHZ processor? I thought the choices were 1.7 i5 and 1.8 i7? Anyone concerned about heating and battery issues with the i7?

 

[AidenShaw]

so much power . wasted on the target buyer of macbook air.

I am sure the people who buy these macbook air will not be able to use the cpu power of the new air.

Sure they will be able to use the power - think of when it's docked to the TBolt display.

Oh, definitely, when I think 'trend-setting laptop', it's Dell that comes to mind.

He didn't say "trend-setting", he said "desktop replacement". Those aren't ultra-portables, they're larger systems with roughly the power of a mid-range mini-tower - in other words, they're a replacement for a desktop. The class is sometimes called "mobile workstations" as well.

An M6600 has up to:

• Intel® Core™ i7-2920XM (Extreme Quad Core 2.50GHz,8M cache) with Turbo Boost
• 17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD(1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit with no bright pixel guarantee
• NVIDIA® Quadro® 4000M with 2GiB GDDR5, Quadro® 3000M 2 GiB, or AMD® FirePro® M8900 Mobility Pro Graphics with 2GiB GDDR5
• 16.0GiB DDR3-1600MHz SDRAMm, or 32.0GiB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM
• Three 2.5" internal drive slots, mix and match up to 750 GB 7200 RPM or 256 GB SSD
• RAID 0,1,5 support, including boot drive
• DVD or BD
• WiFi, WiMAX, EVDO/HSPA with GPS
• Fingerprint reader

Obviously, not something the MBA buyer would be interested in (or maybe the buyer has the MBA in the cabin with the M6600 in checked baggage with the other professional gear).

Put a 7200rpm drive in the new MBA and then retest, and then tell me how fast it is.

This isn't a processor for processor, GPU, for GPU comparison here.

You could put the 7200 RPM in a TBolt enclosure once those become available.

 

[KnightWRX]

Put a 7200rpm drive in the new MBA and then retest, and then tell me how fast it is.

This isn't a processor for processor, GPU, for GPU comparison here.

Hum... wouldn't change a thing, Geekbench tests CPU performance. It's really that worthless of a benchmark. Yes, this is a Processor for processor comparison since they're using Geekbench.

But you knew that right ?

 

[diminiko]

But don't forget that you can get -- some of the time -- a refurb iMac 27" for $1439. That gets a complete system for $440 more, with 1 TB and 4 GB more than just the MacBook Air. You can always set it up as an OS X server for $50 more. But you do have to buy your own Thunderbolt cable for $49.

Need a big back pack for that tho!

 

[Mr. Gates]

I wonder how the Asus UX21 is going to compare ?

 

[pcmike]

You sir, are clueless. Enjoy your relic.

I’m really happy that I have bought old one 13“ coz missing NVIDIA Graphic card is NO BUY factor for me. I do hate anything called Intel HDXXXX maybe good for portability but I don’t care… step back for me. Anyway - objective power is different than this test just because it is only the highest power of CPU not CPU+GPU as 1part so I thing first gen is better and backlit keyboard isn’t something I would really appreciate but anyway I’m happy that I don’t have to be disappointed that I have bought old one instead of new one

 

[KnightWRX]

You sir, are clueless. Enjoy your relic.

How is he clueless ? I happen to enjoy the power of the 320m also and hardly ever tax the C2D processor as it is. Plus I've had 9 extra months to enjoy mine while all the "Core iX or bust!" crowd were frotting at the mouth and waiting for Apple to deliver.

 

[Roller]

It's a gimmick because there is nothing practical about it when there are the MacBook Pro's and they are also due for an update in the next couple months. Lets compare these numbers again with the new MBP when the time comes.

If thinner and lighter but less powerful is something you want then go for it. How long can you and your friends admire how thin something is? I admire computers that give me the best performance possible by using the fastest parts available. The MBA has to sacrifice a lot of that to keep it's gimmick thinness. Fact.

I'm getting an 11" MBA for work. It's about one inch smaller in each dimension, a bit thinner, and faster than the aluminum MacBook it's replacing. But the major attraction for me is that it's also more than two pounds lighter - that's a big difference to me.

Don't be so arrogant to assume that what's not right for you is a gimmick.

 

[diamond.g]

Exactly right. This jump to SB was a 2 generations: C2D-> Core 1G -> Core 2G aka SB.

2 processor architectures, 3 generations. Apple skipped Clarksfield and went straight to Arrandale (which the obviously skipped for the Air).

 

[Typswif2fingers]

Just this morning while I was still wondering if I should satisfy the tingling need to exchange the means with Apple I asked about the comparison between the speed of processors etc. (I have a 2.66GHz C2D mid-2009 MBP)...

Anyway, half way through the day I couldn't resist and called the store to ask them if they a got top specced MBA.

Went, got it, brought it home and turned it on.

Now, I have very little knowledge about the tests, processors, speed etc.

But, this thing is bloody fast.

I feel like that guy but I have been looking at the MBA, turning it around, looking some more and wondering, just how did they manage to fit anything into the MBA body, little own the machine that has just kicked my MBP into its bum... big time...

 

[dr Dunkel]

Are there any allround benchmarks for Macs?