Core i5 MacBook Airs zoom past predecessors

#1 Macworld

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:01 AM

Post your comments for Core i5 MacBook Airs zoom past predecessors here

#2 theguycalledtomprnu

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:29 AM

Looking at the scores for Call of Duty makes me think Apple should really be trying to move to AMD's Fusion platform. The graphics performance is really all that is holding the Air back.

Now that TF2 is free-to-play, I kinda want to play it anywhere including my Air.

#3 mgw

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:32 AM

Thanks for this review! I was trying to decide between the $999 and $1199 MacBook Airs and the $1199 MacBook Pro for my son who starts high school in the Fall. Based on these tests, there would be no penalty to getting him the $999 MacBook Air. Saves Daddy a little loot, too!

#4 kabj06

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:37 AM

AMD's A4 would be great for the MBAs.

#5 thejohn

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:39 AM

I can't believe Apple screwed up these machines by not providing a decent graphics card. I guess I'll have to pass on this one. Maybe next time.

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#6 wardoggie

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:42 AM

mgw, on 27 July 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

Thanks for this review! I was trying to decide between the $999 and $1199 MacBook Airs and the $1199 MacBook Pro for my son who starts high school in the Fall. Based on these tests, there would be no penalty to getting him the $999 MacBook Air. Saves Daddy a little loot, too!

The MBA has a smaller screen. I think (i.e., I don't have one to test my theory) an 11" screen would be too small to do much work. But I think a 13" screen is too small, too. I prefer the 15" MBP, but that would cost Daddy a lot of loot

#7 KPOM

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:55 AM

I'm guessing that your 13" had the Toshiba SSD and your 11" the Samsung SSD, which may explain why the file operations took longer on the 13". Can you confirm by checking the system preferences?

This post has been edited by KPOM: 27 July 2011 - 09:57 AM

#8 KPOM

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:56 AM

thejohn, on 27 July 2011 - 09:39 AM, said:

I can't believe Apple screwed up these machines by not providing a decent graphics card. I guess I'll have to pass on this one. Maybe next time.

Where would you fit one? They didn't even fit one into the 13" Pro, so of course it wasn't going to make it to the Air, which was never a gaming machine. It's Intel's pigheadedness here, since they won't license IGPs from other manufacturers anymore. Hopefully someone makes use of the Thunderbolt port to offer an external GPU like on the Sony Vaio X.

#9 KPOM

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 09:59 AM

mgw, on 27 July 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

The 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD might become limiting, though. The $1199 Air with 4GB and 128GB SSD should easily be enough to make it until it's time to give him a graduation present.

#10 tfrogh

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 10:18 AM

Too bad they come with Lion. Our Corporate Road Warriors would like to speed coupled with the low weight.

No Rosetta, no purchase.

While the $999 Air seems like it can replace the MacBook, it only can if one merely looks at price. The MacBook had an Optical Drive built-in. It also had the option for a really nice fat HD. Quite frankly, my Core Duo MacBook now boots faster than any Mac I have ever seen since installing a 500GB HD which has 4GB of Flash memory for frequently accessed files.

Sorry, the Air is no real replacement for the MacBook IMHO.

#11 owmyheadhurts

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 10:38 AM

mgw, on 27 July 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

Nice daddy!

#12 John__B

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 10:41 AM

I'd like to see how the 13" MBA w/ 1.8GHz i7 processor and 256GB flash storage stacks up. It may not be a "standard configuration" but they are stocking them at Apple Stores.

#13 Bob_Hudson

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Posted 27 July 2011 - 11:24 AM

The reality is that most people can do all of their computing on an iPad with 32GB: check email, surf the web, take and edit photos and movies, keep a calendar, etc.

There are a relative handful of people (mostly the ones who read this website) who have computing requirements beyond what is on the iPad and maybe another brand or two of tablet, and the performance and capabilities of Macbooks - Pro and Air - suit even many if not most "advanced" needs. If you do still need a DVD writer for the Air, you can buy a USB2 DVD writer for under $40 and if you need more storage there are 32GB flash drives for little money, and even 250GB portable disk drives go for about $50. So add a couple of accessories you dig out and plug in only when needed and there's not a lot you can't do with these and you have low weight and power consumption.

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