Pull the trigger on a 2014 Air?

[mad3inch1na]

Actually I very much doubt the retina model would be as fast as current model.

Current MBA is using HD5000 and there is no any other integrated gpu chip which would archieve the same performance on retina as HD5000 archieves on 1440x900. And obviously there is no way non-integrated gpu will fit in MBA.

You make a good point. My argument was that the new one wouldn't have any performance benefit, so I didn't take the time to fully flesh out the argument. I'd be interested to see what Apple is planning for A-series notebooks, as it seems like they are focusing on graphics performance with A-series chips. Also, broadwell should give a significant GPU boost, so it isn't 100% a fact that performance will be worse than the hd5000 model.

Matt

 

[AnorexicPig]

I'am not sure you fully understand what I meant.

MBA 2013 and rMBP 13" GPUs are practically similiar (with Iris being ever so slightly more powerful than MBA's HD5000). But when operating at native resolutions: 1440x900 on MBA and 2560x1600 on rMBP, it's more than obvious that rMBP can't even come close to MBA in terms of graphics performance.

Ah well, is it really that simple ? I guess the HD 5000 is overpowered for that 1440x900 display, considering HD 3000 even used to handle it well.

Therefore just by saying the rMBP cannot match or even exceed the graphical performance of MBA because it has a much higher resolution does not make sense, since it has a more powerful GPU (however small the difference, it is more powerful), and the HD 5000 is actually overpowered for the basic tasks in MBA, therefore not utilised to its maximum potential.

 

[MikeVera]

I'am not sure you fully understand what I meant.

MBA 2013 and rMBP 13" GPUs are practically similiar (with Iris being ever so slightly more powerful than MBA's HD5000). But when operating at native resolutions: 1440x900 on MBA and 2560x1600 on rMBP, it's more than obvious that rMBP can't even come close to MBA in terms of graphics performance.

Well it really depends on what were talking about here.

The HD5000 is a very capable iGPU, even with some games...

The HD5000 (and it's slightly better looking cousin the iris) will likely be able to provide an almost identical user-experience when we are talking about day to day tasks, and navigating the GUI. We know this because, as you said, iris and HD5000 are very similar. As such, we already have proof that a iGPU similar to the HD5000 (the iris) can handle retina resolution just fine (the 13 inch rMBP).

Now where you will see a dramatic fall off, is if you are trying to run games at each laptops respective native resolutions. As now, the iGPUs on both machines are trying to output vastly different resolutions, and the limitations of the HD5000/iris will be apparent on retina machine.

 

[linjac951]

My 2014 Macbook Air Stomps all over my 2012 Macbook Air. look at the difference in performance in Passmark.

2012
i5-3427u
8GB
HD4000
128GB

2014
i7-4650u
8GB
HD5000
128GB

 

[linjac951]

Also, if you're looking for a long term replacement and its going to be your only computer, I recommend the retina macbook pro. If you have a desktop that you normally use and/or you travel/(do light work) get the air.

----------

Hi guys,

This is my first post and I've read of a few of the threads regarding the new Air.

My situation is my mid 2009 MacBook Pro has been a trouper but is now running quite slow, firing up, opening iTunes, iPhoto and the like. Still does everything but after 5 years I'm keen to upgrade.

I waited for WCDD or whatever it's called and no hardware announcement.

The fact that I don't NEED a new Air now but would like one, how much of an improvement do you think the Retina will likely be? Besides from the display. Coming from an '09 Pro I'm of the understanding that the current Air is a better display.

Also is it wise to purchase an Air now with Yosemite around the corner? Is the current Air likely to not handle the new software as well as one would say if it was released in August?

The specs on the current I've been looking at are 11" i5/8gb/512.

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

There is little to no improvement from the Air and the Pro 13". I recommend the 13" because its thermal threshold is larger than the 11" and would perform better. If you don't game other than indie games or do very light work like word processing i would recommend the 11". From the 11" to the retina there is 20% difference in the performance. 13" air to the retina approximately 10%. 13" air is on par in performance but only for 30 seconds, or so then start to slow down because the thermal envelope is a lot less than the retina 13". Also, most macbook airs come with thunderbolt 1 which will also be a problem if you wish to link 2 or more external displays.

So from that, i really think you should get the retina. It is a more long term solution. Also it is nearly 2x better picture. Retina macbook air will not come until late october(my speculation). And yes they are making one @ 12". Also, the performance will probably not be as good as current gen macbook pros. Why? because they may become fan less meaning more or less powerful. Not sure if they are going to arm chips or intel chip either.

 

[SmOgER]

the HD 5000 is actually overpowered for the basic tasks in MBA, therefore not utilised to its maximum potential.

Wrong. There is no even such thing as "overpowered". I wonder what you would say for people with desktop PCs having GTX780 and 1080P LCD, lol.

Smaller resolution means more FPS-better performance all around. And it's most probably no coincidence that we see so many users reporting perfomance issues on DP1 with 13" rMBP.

 

[Benny Jim]

This thread is giving me a lot of confidence in purchasing the current 11'' Air. Appreciate the input. Sounds like a powerful little machine.

 

[AnorexicPig]

Wrong. There is no even such thing as "overpowered". I wonder what you would say for people with desktop PCs having GTX780 and 1080P LCD, lol.

Smaller resolution means more FPS-better performance all around. And it's most probably no coincidence that we see so many users reporting perfomance issues on DP1 with 13" rMBP.

By your logic iPhone 5s should sweep the floor against a retina iPad Mini or iPad Air, since they all have basically the same hardware, but it is not so is it ?

People who have desktop PCs with Titans as GPUs, definately have 'overpowered' machines if all they use them is for checking mails, Facebook, basic photo editing etc.

And again, your anecdotal evidence that many users reporting issues with DP1 on rMBP, please check again the forum for Yosemite, its pretty all over the place with many MBA's too experiencing horrible lag and some rMBP doing pretty great. The thing you should be more concerned with is how horrible the Yosemite font looks on non-retina displays.

By the way this will clear up your notion of MBA blowing rMBP - http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...-macbook-air-vs-13-inch-retina-macbook-pro/2/

The rMBP actually pulls ahead in the FPS tests against the MBA, so your claims are actually invalid and wrong. And in the extremely detailed compartison donw by ArsTechnica, it is an i7 MBA vs an i5 rMBP (hence the CPU scores being more or less equal).

 

[SmOgER]

By your logic iPhone 5s should sweep the floor against a retina iPad Mini or iPad Air, since they all have basically the same hardware, but it is not so is it ?

People who have desktop PCs with Titans as GPUs, definately have 'overpowered' machines if all they use them is for checking mails, Facebook, basic photo editing etc.

And again, your anecdotal evidence that many users reporting issues with DP1 on rMBP, please check again the forum for Yosemite, its pretty all over the place with many MBA's too experiencing horrible lag and some rMBP doing pretty great. The thing you should be more concerned with is how horrible the Yosemite font looks on non-retina displays.

By the way this will clear up your notion of MBA blowing rMBP - http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...-macbook-air-vs-13-inch-retina-macbook-pro/2/

The rMBP actually pulls ahead in the FPS tests against the MBA, so your claims are actually invalid and wrong. And in the extremely detailed compartison donw by ArsTechnica, it is an i7 MBA vs an i5 rMBP (hence the CPU scores being more or less equal).

Sorry but you sound abit ********. Is Yosemite lagging on your retina or something?

Font is looking better than ever, thanks for your concern

Now I don't have time to analyze your given source, but you don't have to be very smart to realize that the graphical benchmark results would look similiar only if 13" rMBP wasn't running that particular benchmark on native resolution. Otherwise, it's pretty much similiar GPUs, whilst one of them having to deal with 2 times more load, so obviously MBA would destroy rMBP's score. There is no even room for any kind of interpretations or assumptions, that's just plain and simple.

 

[AnorexicPig]

Sorry but you sound abit ********. Is Yosemite lagging on your retina or something?

Font is looking better than ever, thanks for your concern

Now I don't have time to analyze your given source, but you don't have to be very smart to realize that the graphical benchmark results would look similiar only if 13" rMBP wasn't running that particular benchmark on native resolution. Otherwise, it's pretty much similiar GPUs, whilst one of them having to deal with 2 times more load, so obviously MBA would destroy rMBP's score. There is no even room for any kind of interpretations or assumptions, that's just plain and simple.

Ok so you are down to personal attacks now. You can't even bother to check out the ArsTechnica source, which clearly compares FPS between MBA and rMBP and makes all your so called claims invalid. Better you educate yourself a bit before spreading false information based on your plain and simple facts !

 

[SWPROX]

Sorry but you sound abit ********. Is Yosemite lagging on your retina or something?

Font is looking better than ever, thanks for your concern

Now I don't have time to analyze your given source, but you don't have to be very smart to realize that the graphical benchmark results would look similiar only if 13" rMBP wasn't running that particular benchmark on native resolution. Otherwise, it's pretty much similiar GPUs, whilst one of them having to deal with 2 times more load, so obviously MBA would destroy rMBP's score. There is no even room for any kind of interpretations or assumptions, that's just plain and simple.

I am afraid but it seems you are one who has some personal vendetta against rMBP (maybe jealous ? ), the link posted above by the person you are arguing with clearly showed head to head comparisons between MBA hd5000 and rMBP Iris.

The rMBP had significantly higher frame rates, and I have no clue why you are moving to personal attacks and putting in smileys only makes you seem like a person with no clue. You have given no results or links to back up what you are saying, it's just in your head trying to somehow make the MBA seem superior to rMBP when it is NOT.

The MBA clearly has an inferior screen even by ultrabook standards, and that is coming from me, who loves his MBA but am not blind to not accept the truth. Good for you to cook things in your head to keep you happy, but it will be better if you don't state them as they are facts.

Also do you have some problem in reading ? When the link above clearly has STATED the graphical comparison between these two machines, the test clearly had both the machines running similar tests, and yet rMBP trumped the MBA easily in the graphical benchmarks.

 

[Benny Jim]

Oh well, am going to order the 11" tomorrow. More confident then ever. Can't wait!

 

[SmOgER]

AnorexicPig, SWPROX

Okay, I thought this was obvious, but let's analyze that source.

We are talking about this particular benchmark as I understand.

Do you see that 1440x900 on the top of the image? That's the resolution in which the test was conducted on both machines. Is it a native resolution of rMBP? No it isn't.

Still don't get it? I got it covered, carry on.

I understand that retina looks better, but no matter how hard you try you can not deny the fact that running it at native resolution is much more demanding than running it at 1440x900. I thought that's obvious, but guess for some it isn't.

Running the tests on the same resolutions the rMBP will perform better, but doing so in real life scenario will just mean that you are not utilizing your retina display (as your retina screen becomes 1440x900 effectively). Now if you try to compare performance on their native resolutions, which we should be doing (1440x900 vs 2560x1600), one more time and once and for all, the perfomance WILL differ drastically in favor for MBA and there is nothing much more to talk about here.

 

[Benny Jim]

So i ended up going ahead and pulled the trigger, purchasing the new Air i5/8/512 and am happy with my purchase. After doing the Migration Assistant transfer of 320 GB of data from my 09 Pro to this machine, I'm in full swing. Coming from a macbook pro that's 5 years old I'm happy with the screen on this thing. Also its snappy as which is what i was looking for. Love the smaller form factor because honestly it"s generally always used on my lap on the couch.

I did what everyone else seems to do and checked my about this mac. It does read mid 2013. I wanted a response from Apple and they confirmed that they are going to release either some firmware or software that will fix this issue on the current 2014 models.

Also I ordered the 512 SSD. When I checked storage it says that 479 GB is available from the 500GB hard drive. 500GB? Where's my other 12GB I paid for I thought. I also spoke to Apple on this and they assured me that the SSD is 512 but Samsung & Toshiba don't show the exact size with there hard drives which I found strange. Mine is a Samsung which from reports are the faster ones so on that front I'm happy. Still a little confused about the 500GB tho.

I definitely feel this machine will suit my needs for years to come which was my main concern when starting this thread. I couldn't give a damn about the retina Air now