MBA 2011 & MBA 2010 Owners

[ditosou]

Those who have both the 2010 and 2011 MBA 11" versions: could you please give your feedback/opinion about the tradeoff regarding performance, battery life and price of both models?

thanks

Pedro

 

[Oppressed]

I like the 2010 for playing games.

I like the 2011 for doing everything else.

In terms of performance the 2010 can do everything the 2011 can except it will be slightly slower. In terms of battery life it seems about the same, but I haven't cared enough to do a side by side test because both lasts all day already.

i5/128gb/4 gb ram
1.6 c2d/128gb/4gb ram

 

[kwajkat]

I like the 2010 for playing games.

I like the 2011 for doing everything else.

In terms of performance the 2010 can do everything the 2011 can except it will be slightly slower. In terms of battery life it seems about the same, but I haven't cared enough to do a side by side test because both lasts all day already.

i5/128gb/4 gb ram
1.6 c2d/128gb/4gb ram

Ditto for me. When I first got the 2011 11.6 I was thinking of selling the 2010 one. However I have decided I like both equally well and am keeping both. So to justify both in my mind, I am using the 2010 mainly for itunes and syncing my ipad as well as games. For my 2011, I am using it for genealogy, photos and other stuff. I am experiencing no problems so far with the new one nor with Lion and tend to like it better as it seems to be smoother running and a bit faster, etc.

 

[IngerMan]

I had the 13" 2010 1.86 4GB 128SSD GB for 6 months. I had no issues with the machine, mostly use office, and iPhoto plus iMovie. Surf, email,

I recently traded in to Powermax, for a 11" i5 4GB 128SSD. As far as the above functions that I use it for I really do not notice any speed difference. I did just create a iMovie and it was probably quicker on encoding the video but for the 12 or so I do a year, it hard for me to judge. Of course if I was really wanting to push the video speed, I should of went to the i7. But again for the 12 times a year I am good.

Powermax gave me $800 for the old and I paid $1200 for the new. I figured is was as good a trade as I would find with out the efforts of trying to sell it myself.

I am digging the 11" form factor and the screen size seems great. I love the backlight keyboard and did not realize how much of an advantage that was until I started using it in certain lighting conditions.

I wanted the Thunderbolt setup. My plans are to upgrade my 2007 iMac to a Mac Mini next year and I wanted the same TB setup for both.

I am happy with my decision but I could not justify it for myself just by going from 13" to 13". So the change is size for my commuting needs was how I talked myself into it. 😉

Otherwise they are both great machines. The biggest thing is Backlight keyboard and Thunderbolt. Speed performance is not that noticeable for me because I really did not push the old machine nor will I push this one.

Hope that helps.

 

[AppleUser2]

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I have a 2010 11.6, 1.6 4g ram, 128G HD and also the 2011 1.6, 4G ram 128 HD i5. The 2010 has SL and tbe 2011 Lion.
The 2011 is faster all round and particiulay when I use iMovie and iphoto. The fans kick in a lot more on the 2011 and there is more heat, the fan noise is noticeable. Battery life for me appears to be a little less than the 2010 model but I need to continue to watch this and condition the battery. The backlight keyboard is great and I am glad it is back! For me and for my use there is no competition - the 2011 model can handle heavy processing much more quickly than the 2010 one.

 

[glen e]

I owned a 2010 MBA, bought may 2011 and sold it and bought a 2011 when they released. It is used as my road machine and runs simple software for business: Keynote, safari, MS Office - nothing heavy like you read here, no gaming or VM stuff.

I purchased the 2011 as I had a buyer, and wanted 4GB memory for the new operating system: Lion - yes, I know lion will run on 2, but think it better on 4 and wanted 128 gb SSD, although I am not using a large part of it. Suffice to say I bought the new one as I'm a gadget freak that likes the latest...

I see no difference between the two hardware wise, I don't need the lit keyboard, and only see the LION differences in software.

 

[ZBoater]

So Apple's claims of 2.5 times faster are bogus? 😕

 

[KPOM]

So Apple's claims of 2.5 times faster are bogus? 😕

No, not when it comes to processor-intensive tasks. I had an 11" 2010 (1.6GHz) and now have an 11" 2011 (i7), and it is noticeably faster on encoding, scanning files, and anything else involving the CPU. Virtualization was decent on the 2010, but it is pretty quick on the 2011. Naturally web browsing is about the same as it was on my 2010, but even a 5 year old MacBook is OK for that.

 

[ZBoater]

Ok. As I read through this thread it seemed like there was no difference. This being my first Mac I wouldn't know. It seemed odd to me that Apple would refresh their line with no performance increase. I can understand why people sometimes don't feel a difference depending on what tasks they are doing. But overall the 2011 line seems like a big step up from the 2010. For someone buying new the only compelling reason to buy a leftover 2010 would be to save some bucks or to avoid Lion a while longer.

 

[glen e]

So Apple's claims of 2.5 times faster are bogus? 😕

why the hell would you think a spec by a mfr would be bogus? so many conspiracies here - sheesh....just for me, it was no quicker as the simple tasks I was asking it to do were lightening quick on the old one...

I'm sure rendering in imovie is much quicker....

 

[ZBoater]

why the hell would you think a spec by a mfr would be bogus? so many conspiracies here - sheesh....just for me, it was no quicker as the simple tasks I was asking it to do were lightening quick on the old one...

I'm sure rendering in imovie is much quicker....

Like I said, for someone reading the thread and not knowing any better, it would seem there was no difference.

No need for hostility. 🙂 Just askin' a question...

 

[Oppressed]

Its 2.5 times faster if you do something that can max out the CPU. Email, web, word processing, etc will not come even close to utilizing the iCore CPU.

 

[IngerMan]

Like I said, for someone reading the thread and not knowing any better, it would seem there was no difference.

No need for hostility. 🙂 Just askin' a question...

Since I just did my first iMovie on my new 11" i5 4GB yesterday, I was surprised at how long it took, and thought is it really faster then the old.

Let me say first I have compared my 2010 1.86 4GB Ram vs the IMac and found they were about the same.

Same iMovie Test for iMac late 2007 CD2 2.4 4GB Ram 320GB HD vs MBA i5 128 SSD 4GB



I created a Project in iMovie (No Theme). I dragged 50 pictures in the project, pictures I took from last weekend, total time 4:10 project length. I then hit finalize project.

MBA took just under an hour to encode it in 1080P

IMac took over 2 hours.

I guess the new is faster by 2X plus

 

[deadlystriker]

The 2011 models will only be faster if you do processor intensive tasks. Otherwise for Internet browsing, email, word documents you won't notice the difference. The main difference between both models for me was to be able to run snow leopard, which is why I returned the 2011 and bought a 2010 ultimate 11". Very happy with it and do not regret one bit.

Battery life is significantly better too. I had both models side by side for 2 days and the 2011 model had worse battery life despite doing the same tasks. I guess for my needs, the increased speed of the i5 processor does not matter. At least now, I won't feel like throwing the machine on the floor due to frustration of using lion. Felt that a lot with the 2011, but had to bear with it in order to return it in one piece.

 

[zzz99]

Feel like I am back to MBP 13"! But with a much lighter weight! I bring it to work everyday since I switched to Air. I bought an extra charger(used $3x) from eBay, so I have no battery issue.

I am doing what I used to do on my 2009 MBP 13" with SSD, convert video to DVD format and playing cs and l4d at the same time~~

Those who have both the 2010 and 2011 MBA 11" versions: could you please give your feedback/opinion about the tradeoff regarding performance, battery life and price of both models?

thanks

Pedro

 

[fletch33]

had 11" 1.4 128GB
have 11" 1.8 256GB

the 2010 had better battery life for sure and i keep a good eye on this. i keep the backlit keyboard off unless needed and then only what i need to see it and i use it generally with the brightness at 1 or 2 of like 11.

i would say i got probably an extra 1/2 hour or more from my 2010.

the performance is huge though and i wouldnt trade back for anything even if the battery only lasted half of the 2010 🙂

 

[calvol]

I have a 2010 MBA 13-Ult and played around with a friend's 2011 MBA 13 i7. First thing I noticed with the 2011 sitting in my lap was the bottom was warm under the Q-W keys. I've never felt that on my 2010. The second thing I noticed was it took 3 bounces to open Word on the 2011, and it's never taken me more than 1 bounce to open Word on my 2010. Not sure why that happened. I didn't do any other tests, but those were just two observations.

 

[kwajkat]

To add I find my 2011 is faster than my 2010, how much so, I don't really know or care enough to measure like some on the forum🙄. In the grand scheme of things I don't care if the difference is measured in seconds, minutes yes, seconds no! The battery life seems similar for both and the fan noise etc is about the same. I love the backlit keyboard. I have not had any problems with either one except for self inflected operator ones😀. The 2010 has the toshiba SSD and the 2011 has the Samsung SSD and I notice a difference there but not a deal breaker difference.

I like both and don't regret either one although as I play with the new one more I like it better.

 

[roncron]

Thanks...

I own a maxed-out 2010 13" Air and have been struggling with whether to sell it and buy a 2011 or wait for the 2012. The net cost of doing so is high, and after reading this thread, it seems the net benefit is fairly low, as much of what I do isn't terribly processor-intensive. So, reading this thread helped save me from a making costly mistake. Thanks!

 

[Ztormie]

I own a maxed-out 2010 13" Air and have been struggling with whether to sell it and buy a 2011 or wait for the 2012. The net cost of doing so is high, and after reading this thread, it seems the net benefit is fairly low, as much of what I do isn't terribly processor-intensive. So, reading this thread helped save me from a making costly mistake. Thanks!

Did it really? When you sell your 2010 Air next year to buy the 2012 revision you're gonna get even less for it. So I see it like this; take a fair loss now and get the latest and greatest, or keep your "older", although fully functional, machine and take a heavy loss for it in 2012.

 

[kwajkat]

I own a maxed-out 2010 13" Air and have been struggling with whether to sell it and buy a 2011 or wait for the 2012. The net cost of doing so is high, and after reading this thread, it seems the net benefit is fairly low, as much of what I do isn't terribly processor-intensive. So, reading this thread helped save me from a making costly mistake. Thanks!

The only reason I took the plunge for the 2011 was the Amazon deal. If they wouldn't have had the special deal I probably would have waited since I haven't had the 2010 for that long. Still was having doubts and decided that after getting the 2011, I would see which one I like better and sell the other one. Liked both and have justified both by using each for different uses. 🙄

 

[roncron]

Did it really? When you sell your 2010 Air next year to buy the 2012 revision you're gonna get even less for it. So I see it like this; take a fair loss now and get the latest and greatest, or keep your "older", although fully functional, machine and take a heavy loss for it in 2012.

You're right, I'll get even less for it next year, for sure.

But my sense is that it's usually a better deal to turn over laptops less frequently than more frequently. Partly because more depreciation happens during the first year of ownership than during the second. And partly because, though the price of the maxed-out configuration stays about the same each year, I'll get more for my money next year than I'd get this year.

If I sold it now for what 2010 Airs configured like mine are fetching on eBay, minus about 10% for eBay fees and shipping, I'd probably have to spend another $900 to get the maxed out 2011 13" Air + applecare when you factor in sales tax. And there's a risk my 2010 Air would sell for less than I expect.

Plus, it takes time to migrate everything to a new machine, and time to sell stuff on eBay.

Bottom line, it's just not worth it for me.

But it's certainly worth it for some of you, and if so, I'm a little jealous, but a lot happy for you!

 

[calvol]

I own a maxed-out 2010 13" Air and have been struggling with whether to sell it and buy a 2011 or wait for the 2012. The net cost of doing so is high, and after reading this thread, it seems the net benefit is fairly low, as much of what I do isn't terribly processor-intensive. So, reading this thread helped save me from a making costly mistake. Thanks!

I made the same decision, no use in a $400 hit for an incremental refresh. I had an Amazon code, thought about it, and just liked the features of the 2010 more (cooler, quieter, longer batt life). I will probably buy the 2012 MBP next year as a complement to my 2010 Air.

 

[KPOM]

Did it really? When you sell your 2010 Air next year to buy the 2012 revision you're gonna get even less for it. So I see it like this; take a fair loss now and get the latest and greatest, or keep your "older", although fully functional, machine and take a heavy loss for it in 2012.

But there would already be a big loss on it today. If you purchased the 2010 13" Ultimate for $1799 last year, likely you'll get about $1250 for it now given that Apple is selling refurbs for $1400. Next year you might get $900 for it (a further drop of $350). Chances are pretty good that the $1700 13" Ultimate today is going to sell for less than $1350 next year. Electronics, like cars, lose their value fastest in the first few months of ownership.

 

[accessoriesguy]

cool, i might pick myself a cheap 10 model over a new 11 model. I like the air for the portability, and the built in SSD. but if its a minor performance difference (mainly just processing).

I think this was mentioned but not really into, how big is the performance difference when playing games? if any?