The MacBook Air: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 13, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
Performance Summary
Quite possibly the most surprising results we saw in our tests were those that compared the MacBook Air to the original Core Duo based MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is two years old now and in that time, Apple has managed to offer the same if not better performance as the first MBP in the MacBook Air. Battery life of the first MacBook Pro is also equalled by the Air.
Comparing the top of the line MacBook Pro from 2 years ago to the highest end MacBook Pro today shows the other side of the Moore's Law coin: performance and battery life improves tremendously over time. While Apple can now cram the performance of the first MacBook Pro into the Air's chassis, it can also offer nearly twice the performance and battery life into the same size chassis as the original MBP. Obviously the improvements come from more than just a faster, more efficient CPU (LED backlight, newer hard drive tech, etc...), but the culmination is tremendous.
When looking at the MacBook Air as a 1 - 2 year purchase, the performance difference between a 2 year old MacBook Pro and a present day one is great enough that we'd almost say the somewhat disposable nature of the Air isn't such a big deal. So what if you have to toss it and buy a new one in 2 years? Chances are, you'll probably want to anyways thanks to the sort of performance gains you'll see.
A two year upgrade cycle also puts you in sync (byebyebye) with Intel's major CPU architecture refreshes, theoretically giving you major increases in performance and power each time you snag a new notebook. I honestly didn't realize how slow my MacBook Pro had become until I benchmarked the latest model, the performance/battery life figures speak for themselves.
It's also nice to wonder if the MacBook Air 2 years from now will offer performance similar to the 2.6GHz MacBook Pro we compared to today. With a much faster SSD and 45nm Nehalem based CPU, I think that may actually be a conservative estimate.
Subjective Performance
I've been using a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro, both originals (that's Core Duo and Core 2 Duo based respectively) ever since their release. The Mac Pro gets regular usage while the MacBook Pro is more for trips or when it's really nice outside. Compared to both of these systems, the MacBook Air doesn't feel sluggish at all.
I opted for the 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo because of the lack of a CPU upgrade path, unlike my Mac Pro which gladly accepted 3.0GHz Xeons when I asked it nicely. For its intended purposes, the MacBook Air performs admirably - and as you'll see from the performance results, it actually does surprisingly well compared to the original MacBook Pro.
By far the most noticeable performance issue has to do with the mechanical disk drive. Spotlight searches, application launches and even boot time are all noticeably slower than I'd like and it's all thanks to that 1.8" 4200RPM HDD.
Sequential transfer speeds of large files isn't a problem, but random small file access (e.g. a Spotlight search) is hard on the drive. Simultaneous reads and writes will also make the disk choke, especially if they are moderately strenuous. Basic web browsing and downloading isn't a big deal, but add some file copies and reading of 10MP images and then you're looking at a frustrating time. The SSD fixes these issues for the most part because of its much improved random read/write performance, thanks to the lack of rotational latency.
Overall I'd say the MacBook Air is the perfect speed for its intended use, even taking into account the disk performance issues. Usually I'm left disappointed by the performance of the ultra portables I've used, but that's because they are generally relying on very low clock speed ULV processors to do all the work. Apple's use of a 1.6 - 1.8GHz Core 2 was the right decision in my opinion.
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
You are correct - it looks like the power draw is identical to any other USB optical drive. I don't see any indication of any hardware based authentication tied to the drive, although I haven't specifically tested it.Take care,
Anand
Brau - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
Wow. Thank you very much for looking into it. IF you do get a chance to test out the drive on another MBA, I'd sure like to know the result. I'm really hoping they haven't invoked any limitations similar to Remote Disk under the assertion that people could use it to share media content.Cheers,
Brau
Xenoterranos - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
Bravo Anand. I loved the review, and it reminded me of why I started reading Anandtech in the first place.I honestly couldn't care less about the Macbook Air, but the review was top notch.
mlambert890 - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
So Anand...Seriously.. the Mac koolaid is making you drunk.
Youd be "blown away" if Dell and Gateway took away the removable batteries from their existing thin and lights (they dont make ultraportables, and neither does Apple), made them thinner, and removed a bunch of ports and the optical drives?
Were you "blown away" by the Sony X505? Or how about any of the MANY PC based notebooks that are a LOT smaller and lighter than the MBA?
I guess not. They're not that nice white color with the Apple logo and arent held up by Jobs at the Mac expo.
Are PC guys really getting THIS desperately bored that now we're going to join the flocks swooning over any crap Apple chucks into the marketplace?
At least be honest man. If the MBA had a Dell or Gateway logo you would TEAR IT APART for lack of ports, too large of a footprint, weight that was mediocre since there is a BIG list of sub 3lb PC notebooks and.... NON REMOVABLE BATTERY.
mlambert890 - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
Not to be picky but, well, *PC* reviews are always picky. There is NO WAY the MBA is an "ultraportable"Its HUGE in terms of the dimensions that mean something - LxW. It is a THIN AND LIGHT.
Im typing this on a Fujitsu P1610. THAT is an ultra-portable - 9.1x6.5x2.2lbs
13x9 is massive. My Sony SZ had similar dimensions and I couldnt open it in a cramped coach seat on a plane.
People keep talking about how "the MBA is for special people - you dont get it". MANY of us *do* "get it". There are ALOT of travelers like myself who have been using notebooks in this space for YEARS.
Apple has given us yet another ~13x~9x~3lb notebook. The only difference is this one is THINK (useless) and has NO REMOVABLE BATTERY (big problem)
I keep seeing Mac lunatics ranting about how the battery *IS* removable because you can surgically remove it. Its funny because thats pretty directly counter to the argument of "only special people use this type of notebook" since those "special people" are executives and road warriors who NEED TO SWAP BATTERIES WHILE ON A PLANE and also need to open the thing on a plane.
Sorry to all the drooling Mac-o-philes, but the MBA is a miss.
Griswold - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
But but... its only 10 tiny screws of varying sizes that need to be removed to change the battery - anyone can do that on a plane!;)
Souka - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
13.3" screen and 3lbs...Why not a
faster laptop
heckuv a lot more durable (proven)
2.2lb (26% lighter!)
upto 4GB of ram
upto 200GB SATA HD, not old school PATA...
Wi-fi a/b/g/n + EVDO broadband (Verizon or AT&T...you can choose!)
you can CHOOSE what CPU, RAM, an HD you want....
fingerprint reader
hardware based security encryption (if you set it up and lose your laptop the data is %100 safe)
choice of 4 or 8 cell battery....carry an extra and change without taking 10 screws out...or upgrade at any time
can be purchasd in tablet-form...uber cool
Oh yeah...prices start at hundreds less than Macair
what am I talking about?? Lenovo X61...and other laptop makers are in the SUB 3lb market....
True...Lenovo's development is way more experienced at ultra-portables than Apple... and I do say the Apple is "pretty" and sleek... but if I had a kid in college, I'd spend the $$ on a Lenovo laptop as I know it'll take the abuse much better than the Macbook air and heckuv lot less likely to be stolen...
My $.02...
OccamsAftershave - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
And a X61 with a Penryn, 100GB HD and Ultrabase+DVD is $1600 vs. Air+DVD $1900.Only comparison negatives: with an 8 cell X61 is 3.3 lbs and resolution is XGA, not WXGA+.
(And the 4 cell weighs 2.7 lbs. not 2.2 lbs.)
lopri - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - link
What happened to the special, customized, and powerful Core 2 Duo CPU that Intel designed just for Apple?
aliasfox - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link
It may be 50% faster than the 1.2 GHz ULV processors in most other ultraportables, but that also means it's also about 50% slower than most mainstream high end CPUs (2.2 GHz and up).Slow hard drive doesn't help either.