Exactly How Great Is the Macbook Air's Overall Performance? Let's Take a Look   by Dexter

in Computers / Laptops    (submitted 2010-11-26)

The 11-inch MacBook Air's 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo has an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) processor. The only real issue I have with this processor is that it's based on a prior-generation Intel technology. Meanwhile, the Acer 1830T (Core i5-430um) and Asus UL20FT-A1 (Core i3-330um) operate on Intel's most recent Core processors-also of the ULV variant, but considerably faster. The two MacBook Air configurations start with 2GB of DDR3 memory; doubling memory to 4GB will cost more money. Meanwhile, the majority of the MacBook Air's peers are standardizing on 4GB of DDR3 memory. These two elements (processor and memory) were drags on overall performance.

We do our ranking with performance benchmark tests, but remember, running performance benchmark assessments doesn't dictate whether a specific task can be done; it's how fast it can be done in contrast to other laptop computers in its class. In this case, the MacBook Air is not the fastest laptop computer. It took nearly four times as long to encode a video than a comparable laptop. Because the Photoshop test is memory intensive, the MacBook Air trailed against similar Asus and Toshiba laptops.

Keeping that in mind, let’s consider how great the battery functionality is.

The 11-inch MacBook Air's 35WH electric battery is the aspect that uses up a lot of the area internally, yet the size is the same as a 4-cell. That is not very much, but Apple made the most of it. According to the business, the 11-inch MacBook Air provides roughly 5 hours of Internet browsing time. We tried it running down a MP4 video file in Mac OS 10.6.4, a very decisive means of running down the battery than Internet browsing. The 11-inch MacBook Air completed in three hours, 44 minutes. We also performed a battery rundown in Windows 7, using MobileMark 2007, which doesn't utilize MAC OS 10's energy management technologies. The 11-inch Macbook Air completed in three hours 52 minutes, which happens to be well shy of Toshiba's and Acer's eight hour ratings. It may also help that the Toshiba and the Acer notebook computers have much more substantial battery packs.

Overall, the machine’s effectiveness isn’t flawless, yet it shouldn’t let you down. You could unquestionably do a lot worse, particularly when it comes to compact and lightweight laptops. This laptop computer is miles in front of netbook computers.

About the Author

Dexter loves to write about technology and you can read more about the new Macbook Air and his new Macbook Air site.