MacOSG: MacBook Air performance tests
Posted by Dave Merten 
Jan 28, 2008 at 4:40pm
Thinking of getting a MacBook Air? Well if you plan on doing anything beyond light-duty work—such as word processing, surfing and email—you may want to “think different” and get another Apple notebook instead. A MacBook Air may be light as a feather, but it’s slow as molasses when compared to other Apple notebooks doing certain tasks.
Macworld recently posted some extensive lab tests of the new MacBook Air. Their tests revealed that with the slower processor (1.6GHz) and hard drive (4200RPM), they make the MacBook Air quite a bit slower than the other Apple notebooks. Even the the ultra-compact 1.83GHz Mac mini Core 2 Duo beat the MacBook Air. However, the MacBook Air does beat a PowerPC 1.67Ghz 15-inch PowerBook G4.
Below is a graph showing the various speed tests.
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Speed test graphic courtesy of Macworld.
Dave Merten Says:
Hi John,
It’s not my intention to ‘blast’ the MBA. I’m just trying to give informed statistics and information to help people with their buying decisions.
Personally, I think the MPB is a marvelous piece of engineering, typical of all Apple products. Only time will tell how well it will sell.
Posted on January 28, 2008
Chris Says:
I call BS. You’re intention IS to ‘blast’ the MBA. Most people have computers that are at least a year old, and those computers are fast enough for most tasks. In fact, they’re overkill for many tasks. The MBA is significantly faster than those computers, yet your only comparison is to the most current systems so that you can claim that “it’s slow as molasses.”
You’ve deliberately implied that raw speed is a critical factor when buying a computer today, and it really isn’t. Just about every system you can buy is far faster than the average user needs. Speed should be a footnote in any discussion about a laptop, unless of course, your intention is to blast away.
Posted on January 29, 2008
Dan Says:
Not to be argumentitive to the other posters, but I found these benchmarks to be informative. I don’t have much experience with “other 3 pound notebooks” as the first poster suggests, but I do own three Mac laptops currently, so I find this data useful for comparison.
As for the second critical poster, understanding the limits of “raw speed” is a critical factor for some of us. Please don’t categorize all users by your own speed needs.
Posted on January 31, 2008
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Dave Merten
Dave was one of the founding guides at ‘The Mining Company,’ now known as About.com, in February 1998. Dave was their ‘Focus on Mac Support’ guide. In 2004 he started ‘G5 Owners Support Group,’ and in 2005, renamed it ‘Mac Owners Support Group.’ In 2006, he started the ‘MacOSG Support Corner’ column here at Macsimum News.
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John Dawson Says:
What’s with this site? What irks you so much about the MBA that you lose all perspective on what the MBA is? Why don’t you instead blast the MB or MBP on being so heavy or so thick? Or, why not just compare the MBA to other 3 pound notebooks.
Posted on January 28, 2008