MacBook Air Performance: A Quick Look At Two Siblings
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Only time to post these quick results of some of our MacBook Air testing. We have an extensive report coming out on the performance of the Solid State hard drive later on in the week. Despite what you may have heard the SSD is much faster in certain circumstances when compared to its siblings .... More to follow later.
Processor Single
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
1624 Points
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
1716 Points Advantage: Slight advantage to Mechanical Drive MacBook Air ... Though really close to the margin of error
Processor Multiple
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
2620 Points
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
2666 Points Advantage: Statistically the same
Graphics Card
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
1651 Points
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
1641 Points Advantage: Statistically the same
The four tests above are based on CineBench R10 which you can download and run on your own machine to compare to the scores above
Hard Drive Multi-File (33,000 files 1.8GB Size)
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
272.8 Seconds
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
438.3 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive MacBook Air 61% Faster
Hard Drive Single (7GB Size)
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
410.2 Seconds
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
441.2 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive MacBook Air 8% Faster
Photoshop Filter Suite - (20MB File)
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
279 Seconds
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
266 Seconds Advantage: Slight advantage to Mechanical Drive MacBook Air ... Though really close to the margin of error
iMovie Import (1GB File)
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
1028 Seconds
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
1011.4 Seconds Advantage: Statistically the same
iDVD Import (1GB File)
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
272.8 Seconds
MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive
265 Seconds Advantage: Statistically the same
Disclaimer: Remember to treat all benchmark scores with caution, and do not rely on performance scores from us in making mission critical decisions. We endeavor to make the information we provide as accurate as possible, but make no direct or expressed guarantee that this is the case
Price Information
MacBook Air - 13-inch 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Z0ER - Originally $2,798 (Now $2,398)
Basic Stats
MacBook Air - Z0ER-1.6GHZ
13 Inch Screen 1280x800
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4MB L2 Cache - Shared
800 MHz Frontside Bus
2GB memory
Intel GMA X3100 graphics
144MB Graphics Memory - Shared
64GB Drive Solid State
Optional External SuperDrive
(DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in wireless
1 USB 2.0 Ports
37-watt-hour battery
3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)
Built-in iSight
Released 1/15/08 Custom Configuration Options
= Current Model = Previous Model = Unavailable = Unknown/Delay = Installation Fee ($20 to $40)
Extras = Canadian Dollars
New, Closeout, OpenBox, Refurbished and Used
Note
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MacBook Air - 13-inch 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - MB003LL - Originally $1,799
Basic Stats
MacBook Air - MB003LL/A
13 Inch Screen 1280x800
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4MB L2 Cache - Shared
800 MHz Frontside Bus
2GB memory
Intel GMA X3100 graphics
144MB Graphics Memory - Shared
80GB HardDrive (4200 rpm)
Optional External SuperDrive
(DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in wireless
1 USB 2.0 Ports
37-watt-hour battery
3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)
Built-in iSight
Released 1/15/08 Custom Configuration Options