How Fast Are the New MacBook Airs?

We ’re taking our meter with the new MacBook Airs , trying to find out if you could really count on these wonder bomber to swear out as your main machine . But some former benchmark are already out , and here ’s how they search :

The Benchmarks:

MacWorld run a thorough Speedmark 6.5 benchmarkon all four stock new MacBook Air models .

The Results:

Surprisingly , MacWorld foundthat the raw 1.86GHz MacBook Airs trounced the older Airs across the board , grabbing an overall mark of 108 compare to the older 1.86GHz MBA ’s 54 and the 2.13GHz MBA ’s 63 . The satisfying state drives helped the new MBAs sear their predecessor in drive - intensive tests , and even central processor - heavy tests involving iTunes encoding and Photoshop were snappier on the new Airs , despite their take in the same 1.86GHz processor . That slow clock speed also celebrate the raw MBAs from getting overly warm , a problem that was vernacular with older adaptation .

Less surprisingly is that the 13″ MacBook Air outperformed the Core2Duo 13″ MacBook Pro in many tests , edging it out overall with a score of 108 compared to the MBP ’s 106 . The new MBAs were 59 % faster than the 13″ MacBook Pro in data file gemination exam , 43 % faster in file unzipping , and roughly 21 % quicker in MacWorld ’s Call of Duty psychometric test .

When it came to video encryption , though , the 13″ MacBook Pro win out : it was 20 % quicker than the new 13″ Air and 43 % libertine than the 11″. And while the raw MacBook Air ’s flash storage kept it apace with the 15″ Core i5 MacBook Pro in thrust tests , when it come to mental test that take in advantage of HyperThreading , the Core i5 MacBook Pro was doubly as fast as the 13″ MBA and three time as tight as the 11″ MBA .

Iniu Portabe Charger

In theirreview of the 11″ MacBook Air , PC Magbenchmarked the MBA against its ultraportable PC twin and constitute that while it was impressive for 3D gambling , it fell behind in several other categories .

The rationality why Apple opt to stay with a Core 2 Duo was so that it can benefit from a better graphics environment , specifically Nvidia ’s integrated one . The Nvidia GeForce 320 M graphics chip is the MacBook Air ’s one redeem feature in term of performance . Though it ’s not the sort of laptop computer you ’d bring to a LAN party , it ’s a better gambling solution than Intel ’s integrated graphics - the kind observe in the Asus Ul20FT - A1 , Acer AS1830T-3721 , and Toshiba T235 - S1350 . Its 3DMark 06 scores ( 4,569 and 3,984 ) were at least three - times better than the residue of the field of battle . It was the only laptop computer that could handle our 3D intensive gaming demos , Crysis and Lost Planet 2 .

But overall , they concluded :

24tb Seagate Drive

the [ 11″ ] MacBook Air is not the alert laptop computer . It took almost four multiplication ( 23 minutes 23 second ) as long to encode a picture than the Toshiba T235 - S1350 ( 6:24 ) . Because the Photoshop CS5 trial is remembering intensive , the MacBook Air ( 14:03 ) trailed against the Asus UL20FT - A1 ( 9:31 ) and Toshiba T235 - S1350 ( 11:28 ) .

The Takeaway

The 13″ MacBook Air can probably put back your main machine ; the 11″ MacBook likely not . The 13″ MacBook Air can go toe - to - toe and in many showcase outmatch the current 13″ MacBook Pro , but if you ’re go to be doing heavy telecasting oeuvre and are n’t afraid to go to 15″ , the Core i5 MacBook Pros still have the best performance . The 11″ MBA is no slouch , but it ’s not most as convincing as a chief - motorcar contender as the 13″ , specially for multimedia - heavy chore . It ’s worth noting that the new MacBook Airs ’ increase resolution make them seem a snatch bigger than they are , in terms of what you’re able to mob on the display — the 11″ is essentially equivalent to the 13 MBP and the 13″ Air tantamount to the 15″ MBP .

calculate for our full take on the new MacBook Airs soon . [ MacWorld , PCMag ]

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