Macworld Lab has all four standard configuration MacBook Air models, and our Speedmark 6.5 overall performance benchmark test suite shows impressive results for drive-intensive tests and much-improved 3D game performance. And surprisingly, despite slower clock speeds, processor performance also improved over previous versions of the MacBook Air.
Looking at the Speedmark 6.5 results, three things stand out:
- Flash storage is fast;
- The flash-storage capacity did not affect performance;
- The new MacBook Airs are faster than their predecessors.
New versus old
Looking at the performance differences between the new 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air and the 2009 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air, we see that the Speedmark 6.5 score actually doubled from 54 to 108. A lot of the gains were in drive tests, where the flash storage in the new MacBook Air took just 13 seconds to duplicate a 1GB file compared to the older Air?s sluggish 4200-rpm hard drive that took more than five times longer, a painful 69 seconds. Compressing a 2GB folder was 21 percent faster on the new 1.86GHz MacBook Air. Unzipping the compressed file was more than three times faster on the new 1.86GHz MacBook Air than the older model.
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Speedmark 6.5 scores
Higher scores are better.�Older models in�italics.�Best result in bold.
How we tested. Speedmark 6.5 scores are relative to those of a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (Mid 2010) with 2GB of RAM, which is assigned a score of 100. All iMacs were tested with OS X 10.6.4. The MacBook Airs were tested with 2GB of RAM. The MacBook Pros were tested with 4GB of RAM. We duplicated a 1GB file, created a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 1GB files and then unzipped it. We converted 135 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes? High Quality setting. In iMovie ?09, we imported a camera archive and exported it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting. We ran a Timedemo at 1024-by-768 with 4X anti-aliasing on in Call of Duty 4. We imported 200 JPEGs into iPhoto ?09. The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 23 scripted tasks using a 50MB file. Photoshop?s memory was set to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum. For our multitasking test, we timed the Photoshop test again, but with the iTunes MP3 encoding and file compression tests running in the background. We used Handbrake to encode four chapters from a DVD previously ripped to the hard drive to H.264. We recorded how long it took to render a scene with multiprocessors in Cinebench and ran that application's OpenGL, frames per second test. We ran the Evaluate Notebook test in MathematicaMark 7. We ran the WorldBench 6 multitasking test on a Parallels 6 VM running Windows 7 Professional. We timed the import and processing time for 200 photos in Aperture.?Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith, McKinley Noble, Gil Loyola, and William Wang
Though the MacBook Air still uses an integrated graphics subsystem, graphics performance also improved, with the new nVidia GeForce 320M displaying more than three times as many frames per second in our Call of Duty 4 and CineBench GPU tests than the 2009 MacBook Air with its nVidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.
Interestingly, the new 1.86GHz MacBook Air outperforms its predecessor in processor intensive tasks as well, even though they both use a Core 2 Duo processor with the same speed rating. iTunes encoding, Photoshop, HandBrake, MathematicaMark, and CineBench CPU tests were markedly faster on the new system. The new 1.86GHz MacBook Air was even faster than the previous 2.13GHz MacBook Air in all of those same tasks, despite the older system?s supposedly faster Core 2 Duo processor.
Processor speeds have been a hot topic for the MacBook Air. When first released in 2008, the MacBook Air suffered from issues with heat, and Apple?s approach to fixing the problem was to slow down the processor when things started to heat up, usually during processor intensive tasks. So even though you might have a 1.86GHz processor in your MacBook Air, it might be running much slower at times when you could really use the faster speed.
Looking at our benchmark results, it appears that these latest MacBook Air models (even with processor speeds that are slower than their predecessors) are running closer to their specified speeds, and therefore outperforming the ?faster? processors that they replace.
The 11-inch MacBook Air, with its 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo showed similar processing prowess, with Photoshop, HandBrake, Cinebench CPU, and MathematicaMark scores that were faster than the 2009 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air. And with the faster graphics and speedy flash storage, the 11-inch model was 35 percent faster overall than that 2009 2.13GHz MacBook Air.
Small versus ?large?
Comparing the 11-inch 1.4GHz MacBook Air to the new 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air, we see the 13-inch system was about 27 percent faster in overall Speedmark 6.5 performance. The new 13-inch MacBook Air was able to display a few frames per second more than the 11-inch MacBook Air in our Call of Duty and CineBench graphics tests, and was faster in Photoshop, HandBrake, CineBench CPU, and MathematicaMark. Duplicating a 1GB file took the same time on all four of the new flash-storage-equipped Airs: 13 seconds.
MacBook Air versus MacBook Pro
The flash storage helped the new MacBook Air models hold their own against the 13-inch 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. The 13-inch 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air earned a Speedmark score that?s just two points higher than the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro. The 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro was 25 percent faster overall than the 11-inch 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air.
In our file duplication test, the new MacBook Air models were 59 percent faster than the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, with its 320GB, 5400-rpm hard drive. In our file unzip test, both MacBook Air models were faster than the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro; the 11-inch 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air was 28 percent faster, and the 13-inch 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air was 43 percent faster.
The 11-inch MacBook Air and the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro had identical CineBench graphics scores, while the 11-inch MacBook Air was 12 percent faster at Call of Duty. Compared to the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, the 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air was 2 frames per second faster in CineBench Graphics and 21 percent faster in our Call of Duty tests.�In our HandBrake tes, the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro was 43 percent faster than the 11-inch MacBook AIr and 20 percent faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air .
The 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro?s Speedmark 6.5 score is 55 percent higher than the 11-inch MacBook Air, and 22 percent higher than the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, the flash storage in the new MacBook Air still beat the standard hard drive in the Core i5 MacBook Pro, but in tests that could take advantage of the Core i5?s HyperThreading technology (like CineBench and Handbrake) the Core i5 MacBook Pro was twice as fast as the 13-inch MacBook Air and not quite three times as fast as the 11-inch MacBook Air.
Battery life
Compared to their predecessors, the new MacBook Air models show improvement. Looping a movie at full-screen, full brightness and volume set at 1, the 11-inch MacBook Air?s battery ran out of power after 3 hours and 40 minutes. The new 13-inch MacBook Air lasted 4 hours and 25 minutes. The older 2009 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes.
Check back soon for our full review of the new MacBook Air, as well as tests of built-to-order MacBook Air configurations that we have on order.
[James Galbraith is Macworld?s lab director.]
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Speedmark 6.5 scores
Results are in seconds. Lower results are better. Older models in italics. Best result in bold.
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Speedmark 6.5 scores
Call of Duty 4 results are based on framerate; higher results are better. All other test results in the above chart are in seconds; lower results are better. Older models in italics. Best result in bold.
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Speedmark 6.5 scores
CineBench R15 Graphics and MathematicaMark 7 results are a score; higher results are better. All other test results in the above chart are in seconds; lower results are better. Older models in italics. Best result in bold.
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Speedmark 6.5 scores
Results are in seconds. Lower results are better. Older models in italics. Best result in bold.
Source: http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=a57ac33443fbb4c715419039508d59b8
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