Noticeable working difference between MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, what's the cause?

[entatlrg]

The new Rev B 1.8ghz/128ssd MacBook Air is speedy and for some a suitable desktop replacement.

One noticeable difference between the two is for example when typing in Google Doc's or posting on a forum with the MB Air there's a real lag from when you type a word and when it appears on the screen.

With the MacBook Pro ('09, 2.6ghz, 320hd, 5400rpm) when I type the letters appear instantly...

What causes this lag? Processor speed? Ram? I'm curious. I was getting used to the MBA working like this with the lag and never noticed it until I can see now with MacBook Pro there's just no lag at all?

 

[MVApple]

That's interesting. Have you had a chance to try more than one Air to see if it may not be a hardware or software problem?

I know on the iPod Touch, typing out stuff in forums is very laggy, but that's because of the slow processor. A Macbook Air shouldn't have any problem dealing with a simple message on a forum. Even a Windows Vista machine running IE with a 1.2ghz core2duo doesn't have any problems with such a task. Hell, not even an atom processor does.

 

[alphaod]

I believe the Air uses a low-voltage processor which is slower than a standard-voltage option. That combined with the fact that the processor has a slow clock, will make it slower.

Don't forget when you browse the Internet, HDD read-writes affect your speed.

 

[Scottsdale]

Does yours happen all of the time? If so, what apps are you using? Is something taxing the CPU really hard? Open Activity Monitor in Applications/Utilities and see what your CPU and RAM usage looks like.

I have seen this a few times it has been when many apps had been open and Flash had been working in a browser window. I used a rev B MBA with 128 SSD and 1.86 CPU. It happened and I close all apps and reboot the MBA and the problem goes away. Flash hits OS X pretty hard, so one open browser window with Flash working inside it and this could happen. You can use an app that only displays Flash on websites when you click on the Flash image... using Click to Flash.

It's just like a lag in the time where you see what you're typing come up on display right? See what that Google doc is doing to your CPU and RAM too. But I have to bet this is something hitting your CPU or your RAM being used up. My guess is Flash in a browser window or too many apps open wanting to use more than 2 GB of RAM which the MBA doesn't have.