MacBook Air benchmarks for maxed-out 11-inch model
Their results weren't exactly surprising. If you get the slightly faster 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and double the standard RAM to 4GB, you'll get about 16 percent better performance over the base 1.4GHz / 2GB model. Most of that improvement is probably due to the extra RAM; the benchmarks didn't show the performance of the slower CPU model with 4GB of RAM.
Anandtech also ran Aperture 2 RAW import, battery life, video encoding and 3D rendering tests, all of which demonstrate (duh!) that the MacBook Pro is really the laptop to use for these types of applications. As many Mac pundits have pointed out, the MacBook Air is great for web surfing, writing, iLife and iWork. If you're going to be running graphics or CPU-intensive applications, though, you're going to be disappointed with a MacBook Air.
[via Engadget]
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Those sweet, thin little MacBook Airs are sure making a lot of Mac-heads drool, even though they are not the speediest Macs in the world...
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This test would be more accurate with CS5 in 64bit. The MBP can have up to 8gb of ram which CS4 will not utilize. That ram will create a bigger gap between the MBP and MBA.
November 08 2010 at 5:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHow could anyone do any real productive graphics work on an 11.6" screen? Being a designer myself, I have a hard time on anything smaller than 15" (cue the 'yeah thats what she said' jokes. Lol)
November 08 2010 at 5:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAs I thought, the Air still isn't really adequate for those doing a lot of Photoshop work. Phew, my bank account is safe.
..for now.
you'd have to be insane to consider the Air for anything but casual use.
November 08 2010 at 1:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhy via Engadget? This was sourced from Anandtech.com.
November 08 2010 at 1:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI would love to see how the 13" with the 2.13 processor and 4gb of ram would do on that list.
November 08 2010 at 1:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyand in other news, power strimmers beat hairstyling scissors for trimming hedges.
November 08 2010 at 1:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI have the 11.6" maxed out model. It's plenty fine for what I use it, mobile computing on the go. If I want to do some Photoshop, etc, I use my MacPro for that. It's too bad the MBAs max out at 4GB RAM.
November 08 2010 at 1:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe problem I find is that iWork and iLife, specifically iPhoto, is really sluggish on my 2.26GHz late '09 MacBook Pro. It makes me wonder about the performance on the Airs. It's becoming that it isn't just Photoshop but that most applications now need quite some horsepower behind them to be functional and I personally don't think the new Airs provide it.
November 08 2010 at 1:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe more reviews I read the more I think the 13" is going to be my next machine.
November 08 2010 at 12:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDeals of the Day
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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