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MacBook Air 'Ultimate' Configurations Benchmarked

gatearray said:
That's funny, for me, there is no reason for an 11" MBA when there's an iPad available. :)

Certainly no knock against the new MBA, but for couch surfing, emailing, and movie watching, why on earth would one need a "real" keyboard, a flip up screen, and half the battery life?
Click to expand...

Partly because this:

KnightWRX said:
Because trolling forums by typing on an on-screen keyboard that hides half the display is crap.

Laptops remain much better ergonomically to type away. The Internet isn't a read-only medium.
Click to expand...

And the battery life for surfing, listening to music, etc for the 11" Air is actually much better than what Apple states, according to the Anandtech review. It got over 7 hours. Plus for movie watching it has a better aspect ratio, better screen, and can....hey amazing.....rest on your lap without needing to be propped up.

Hell, with the App Store being available under OSX now, I see fewer and fewer use cases for the iPad. It's still useful as a "pull it out on a train or on the go to quickly look at a document" device. But even that has less justification with the smaller size, weight, and instant on/30 day sleep ability of the 11" Air. For couch surfing, movie watching, listening to music? I think the Air has it beat hands down.
 
On a different note: With the MBA being that fast considering its form factor, can you guys imagine what the next Mac mini will look like? ;)
 
Shivetya said:
http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp30.html

Barefeats tested the MBA in some graphic intensive programs, note the 11 only had 2gb during the test
Click to expand...

Cool Bench'. Glad to see it can game decently. Im still waiting on SC2 benchmarks for all the MBA configs! My only concern is the audible fan noise while under intense tasks...not from a decibel perspective, but from the "what the hell is getting too hot" one. Its far too thin of a machine to withstand prolonged heat.
 
sintra1 said:
Standard formula is US$ - UK£ exchange rate
PLUS 6.5% IMPORT DUTY
PLUS 17.5% VAT ( ON converted Price AND DUTY !)
Plus 7% For bank fees and currency hedging
TO give retail price in UK plus a little marketing round up to nearest £--9 price mark

ALSO UK RETAIL SALES PRICES BY LAW must be advertised inclusive of VAT
Click to expand...
Some bogus calculation going on there. The customs rate on computer hardware and software is a crippling 0%. the whole point of hedging is to try to neutralise the effects of currency swings. Apple outsources its manufacturing and therefore has to juggle currency held even before we are considering non-US sales. So, that leaves bank charges, which are pretty much a wash everywhere. Apple does have to account for stronger consumer protection laws outside the US, but the best defence against potential increased costs there is not to ship rubbish in the first place.
 
tripjammer said:
I am on the apple site now...and I am torn between a 13 inch MBA maxed out or a Maxed out iMac 27 inch with the i7 but no SSD.

hmmm...anybody know when the next iMac update is gonna be?

I have a ipad and two regular windows laptops...but I need a real mac....to start developing some iOS apps.
Click to expand...

Click on the Buyers Guide tab at the top of the page for a buy now or wait guide.
 
DoubleWah said:
Does anyone know if the increased processor speed might impact on the battery life for these maxed out versions versus the basic ones whose battery life has already been tested?
Click to expand...

If anything, for small basic tasks, there will be no hit or actually an improvement in battery life. Seems counter intuitive but the "time to idle" would be less.

Essentially the higher clocked processor may use more energy at load, but will get the task done quicker and thus will be at a low power idle state for longer saving overall energy
 
kntgsp said:
Still wish Intel would get the stick out of their ass and let Nvidia build chipsets for the core-i family. It's the only real reason the 13-inch Macbook "Pro" (and that term is used loosely) is still stuck in C2D land.

Would have been interesting to see how the ULV Arrandale parts performed in the 11 incher. The ULV Arrandales have higher TDP though, but the 11-incher apparently runs quite cool. Either way, hope this is the last we see of Penryn.
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Would Apple remove the SuperDrive from MacBook Pro 13 next year so that they could accommodate i3/i5 chips with the unfortunately lousy Intel GPU and a fantastic nVidia 335 with serious 512MB VRAM without sacrificing battery life & sexy form factor while giving buyers a more competitive price point? I could dream but I would have to wake up at some point....:apple:
 
hleewell said:
Would Apple remove the SuperDrive from MacBook Pro 13 next year so that they could accommodate i3/i5 chips with the unfortunately lousy Intel GPU and a fantastic nVidia 335 with serious 512MB VRAM without sacrificing battery life & sexy form factor while giving buyers a more competitive price point? I could dream but I would have to wake up at some point....:apple:
Click to expand...

Would be nice, IF the price point was gentle. There is something to be said about Steve's comment of "This is where we see notebooks going in the future"...at the same time
1. drives are still REALLy useful (DVD movies, Games, CD import)
but Apple wants to Kibosh home ripped music/movies
2. Drives Differentiate a MBP from a MBA (Call me Cpt. Obvious)

Maybe theyll put a BluRay Drive in the next MBP? LMFAO
 
Someone needs to use the sort button before making a image file of benchmarks with benchmark numbers.
 
sintra1 said:
Standard formula is US$ - UK£ exchange rate
PLUS 6.5% IMPORT DUTY
PLUS 17.5% VAT ( ON converted Price AND DUTY !)
Plus 7% For bank fees and currency hedging
TO give retail price in UK plus a little marketing round up to nearest £--9 price mark

ALSO UK RETAIL SALES PRICES BY LAW must be advertised inclusive of VAT
Click to expand...

I used the current exchange rate and included VAT in my price. There is no import duty on computers - just VAT. Apple will do its own FX hedging in-house so the costs will be nothing like 7% - more like 1% possibly less plus the cost of the two or three people tasked with doing it worldwide who'll basically be accountants anyway. They'll have a nice deal with the various credit card companies too.

I'm not saying that there should be no price differential, just that at the moment it's rather a lot.

Cheers,

jahman
 
...then when the next revision comes out, you'll say wait for the next revision, cause there will be a newer processor and LiPo batteries for longer life..

Then you get on a continuous cycle of waiting cause there will be something better down the line.
 
thejd said:
Is that because of the SSD?
Click to expand...

Yes. Which renders this test null and void UNLESS you throw a SSD into the Pro and retest - which of course would reveal the Pro running circles around the Air under the same conditions.
 
ImperialX said:
What about the price? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

What about the price? If you go BTO on the Pros then sure you're getting RIPPED off lol. You can find great deals on SSD's and then replace them yourself. Vertex 2/Agility 2 can be found at around $1.5/GB if you wait for deals. I bought my MBP new (Microcenter) $999 + $145 Intel G2 80GB SSD, and ofc it includes 4gb ram. The one thing I am jealous of though is that screen res.. WTB!!
 
You two must not have been reading the whole thread.... you can already buy the 4GB models in the store! That's exactly what I did. If you want a 4GB model though you'll have to buy a fully specced out model as that appears to be all the Apple stores will carry in 4GB, so that means.. 11.6"/1.6ghz/4gb/128gb and 13.3"/2.13ghz/4gb/256gb.

twoodcc said:
the air looks pretty good to me. i just hope that they start selling them with 4GB of ram in apple stores.
Click to expand...

jazz1 said:
That is what I'm waiting for as I don't want to play hide and seek with FedEX.
Click to expand...
 
pcmike said:
You two must not have been reading the whole thread.... you can already buy the 4GB models in the store! That's exactly what I did. If you want a 4GB model though you'll have to buy a fully specced out model as that appears to be all the Apple stores will carry in 4GB, so that means.. 11.6"/1.6ghz/4gb/128gb and 13.3"/2.13ghz/4gb/256gb.
Click to expand...

That's great news. Last week my local Apple Store told me they would not have any 4GB on-site. I'll check again.
 
Ya, thats what they told me too the day after they came out. Then I emailed Steve Jobs and he told me they would in fact have them so on an off chance I stopped by and they again told me they were BTO only and I said "just go check, I have a personal email from Steve who said they'd be here" and sure enough.. they had them! ;)
 
The new MBAs are amazing. The battery life is exceptional. The instant on from sleep is incredible. The speed and responsiveness is impressive. Scrubbing across vids in iMovie is the quickest I have ever seen.
 
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