New Benchmarks Show 13-Inch MacBook Air Rivaling Its MacBook Pro Counterpart

[anubis]

Comparing the MBP with an HDD and the MBA with an SSD is complete BS. You can't even compare them, because it's so blatantly obvious the SSD will be hands down faster.

Comparing the Mac Pro with a Xeon and the iMac with a Core i3 processor is complete BS. You can't even compare them, because it's so blatantly obvious the Xeon will be hands down faster.

MBA envy?

Let's not forget that the MBA as tested only had 2GB RAM while the MBP had 4GB RAM.

 

[Eidorian]

Flat platform is flat. Otherwise kudos to Apple on preventing Speedstep goodness from killing performance.

 

[bit density]

These are the specs I am looking for.

What I want to know is: Will it watch a flash movie off the internet without being choppy? And what would the temperature of the case get to? Cuz it matters.

 

[tripjammer]

The 13 inch MBA is the way to go...fast as you need for most applications....light and small...its seems to be the best small notebook out there now..Apple has a winner!

 

[TMRaven]

What I want to know is: Will it watch a flash movie off the internet without being choppy? And what would the temperature of the case get to? Cuz it matters.

Depends if flash supports the gpu acceleration for 320m. I remember 9400m being supported.

 

[tripjammer]

Ordered the 13in maxed out and I'm glad I did, the 11 inchers portability aspect is nice but for the price its hard not to justify the 13. Plus after lugging around my HP win 7 behemoth the 13 will feel like a feather.

I went to the store and i saw both...and the 13 inch is the way to go...just get 4gb of ram and 128 or 256gb SSD and you are done!

 

[Wang Foolio]

Big thumbs up to the new MBA line. It really seems to deliver in all the areas where the initial release may have stumbled.

The SD slot might convince me to go for the 13", but either one seems to be a great buy right now. Saw an article on CNN as well that explains how the 11" and possibly even the 13" will be a breeze to get through security at airports as well. Also welcome news!

 

[tripjammer]

Depends if flash supports the gpu acceleration for 320m. I remember 9400m being supported.

I am going to go to the apple store later this week and hit up youtube on a 13 inch MBA and check out HD videos...to see how good or bad it is...

 

[Digital Skunk]

Great news and what I've been waiting to hear. I've been wanting the wife's 13" MBP 2.4 for some time, and she's been wanting a Macbook Air with a SD slot.

It sucks that the backlit keyboard is gone, but she's used to a 12" PB, so she may not mind. Might pick up the 13" Air and swap with the wife.

 

[acidfast7]

no 4G networking in the MBA = FAIL
no backlit keyboard in the MBA = double-FAIL
no security slot in the MBA = triple-FAIL

i'll buy all my doctoral students 13.3 MBPs w/512GiB SSDs instead.

apple get your head outta your a$$ and make something with form and FUNCTION.

ugh.

 

[dona83]

No one is testing the 11" with 1.6Ghz processor or 13" with 2.13Ghz processor?

 

[decimortis]

no 4G networking in the MBA = FAIL
no backlit keyboard in the MBA = double-FAIL
no security slot in the MBA = triple-FAIL

i'll buy all my doctoral students 13.3 MBPs w/512GiB SSDs instead.

apple get your head outta you a$$ and make something with form and FUNCTION.

ugh.

why would apple get there heads outta there a$$es if you're still going to give them a bunch of money for the MBPs? Lol

Now, if you had said, "I'm buying all my students Dells..."

 

[bigpics]

Its because of the SSD Flash Memory.. Not surprised, you will notice the biggest performance boost with an SSD, at least in terms of applications launching faster..

Apple's kinda sorta seemed maybe to imply that the access speeds to the "raw" flash chips on the MB could be faster than via an SSD enclosure.

Any real world support or disconfirmation of this?

 

[acidfast7]

why would apple get there heads outta there a$$es if you're still going to give them a bunch of money for the MBPs? Lol

Now, if you had said, "I'm buying all my students Dells..."

because everyone else I know who pays for Macs out of pocket (I don't), is skipping on the MBA because of those three fails ... most people because of that lack of 4G support ...

that's really piss-poor and show's Apple's Ameri-centric design.

 

[daver3k]

What I want to know is: Will it watch a flash movie off the internet without being choppy? And what would the temperature of the case get to? Cuz it matters.

Sure. So I've got a 1.4GHz base 11.6". The $999 model.

I just went to The Lonely Island's YouTube channel and watched Boombox (1080p), Awesometown (720p), Jizz In My Pants (720p), I'm On A Boat (720p) and Like A Boss (720p). All 720p content plays back fine. Boombox had some minor skipping in the video, but the sound was perfect.

Enclosure base temperatures were 95-97ºF.

 

[nitropowered]

Are you serious? Fail because no 4G wireless???

very few markets have 4G and apple isn't exactly an early adopter of new technology. Look at the first iphone, it was 2.5G, not 3G. I highly doubt the next iPhone will be 4G and why would anyone expect the MBA have 4G?

 

[latetext]

because everyone else I know who pays for Macs out of pocket (I don't), is skipping on the MBA because of those three fails ... most people because of that lack of 4G support ...

that's really piss-poor and show's Apple's Ameri-centric design.

i feel bad for your doctorate students... I wouldn't want my professor sounding so stupid.. and the ppl he hangs out with... 4g support? rofl that technology is existant in 4 cities, and no carrier is investing heavily in it because much faster technology is already being developed. get your head out of your ass professor ;0

 

[jeznav]

no 4G networking in the MBA = FAIL
no backlit keyboard in the MBA = double-FAIL
no security slot in the MBA = triple-FAIL

i'll buy all my doctoral students 13.3 MBPs w/512GiB SSDs instead.

apple get your head outta your a$$ and make something with form and FUNCTION.

ugh.

Your SSD storage alone is going to cost you more than a grand.

 

[Nicky G]

because everyone else I know who pays for Macs out of pocket (I don't), is skipping on the MBA because of those three fails ... most people because of that lack of 4G support ...

that's really piss-poor and show's Apple's Ameri-centric design.

Good for them -- many of us don't really care about those three things, and have bought the new Airs. And are quite, quite excited about them.

I personally would rather tether to my phone, or use a MiFi, if I needed 4G on the road. I'd rather NOT have my computer's hardware be locked into a particular vendor/price plan/cellular technology.

 

[acidfast7]

lol

what do you mean ":lol:"

apple is headquartered in the US, where you guys barely get Turbo3G.

i've had 4G for almost a year (50/5) and the whole country will be 80Mb by early-2011 (with 150Mb/s in the cities).

it's just a lack of foresight ... again

 

[acidfast7]

I'd rather NOT have my computer's hardware be locked into a particular vendor/price plan/cellular technology.

locking in is illegal here ... everything can be bought at cost SIM-lock free.

:lol:

 

[daver3k]

no 4G networking in the MBA = FAIL
no backlit keyboard in the MBA = double-FAIL
no security slot in the MBA = triple-FAIL

i'll buy all my doctoral students 13.3 MBPs w/512GiB SSDs instead.

apple get your head outta your a$$ and make something with form and FUNCTION.

ugh.

It does function, and perfectly well for what I bought it for. Just because it doesn't meet all of your needs doesn't make it a failure of a product.

I have a Mac Pro and it's great for what I use it for (media storage, converting my DVDs to watch on my Apple TV, video editing), but it damn sure isn't portable and doesn't have 4G wireless. That doesn't make it a failure of a product, it just means that it's good for some things and not good for others.

 

[latetext]

what do you mean ":lol:"

apple is headquartered in the US, where you guys barely get Turbo3G.

i've had 4G for almost a year (50/5) and the whole country will be 80Mb by early-2011 (with 150Mb/s in the cities).

it's just a lack of foresight ... again

strong unaware

 

[scottsjack]

The new Airs look really great, not nearly as limited as the earlier ones. I'll still take a MBP due to larger storage, gigabit, upgradability and, especially, FW800. If I needed a lighter duty machine the 13 Air with 4GB and 256GB would be it.

Unlike Jony and Steve I just don't care about thinness past a certain point. The current MBPs are thin enough while still allowing for a fully-functional laptop. If the Air had FW I'd probably considering making some sacrifices and "adjustments" to fit my stuff in one.

 

[acidfast7]

It does function, and perfectly well for what I bought it for. Just because it doesn't meet all of your needs doesn't make it a failure of a product.

I have a Mac Pro and it's great for what I use it for (media storage, converting my DVDs to watch on my Apple TV, video editing), but it damn sure isn't portable and doesn't have 4G wireless. That doesn't make it a failure of a product, it just means that it's good for some things and not good for others.

well, then good for you.

most academics (apple's original computer base) are skipping this one. we actually liked the first one, but the absence of 4G (over even turbo 3G) is a deal-breaker for most with current networks available.