Part IV: MacBook Air: Initial impressions

Performance & Use

The MBA can come in a few different configurations, the most important differentiating factors being the processor (1.6 or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) and the hard drive (80GB PATA drive or 64GB solid-state drive). Our test model for review had a 1.6GHz processor, 80GB hard drive and was equipped with the standard 2GB of memory, essentially representing the ‘entry level’ MBA. The solid-state drive, while slightly smaller in terms of storage and costing roughly $1000 more, holds the (as of yet untested) promise of faster boot up times, better power consumption, and better vibration/shock resistance.

To put the hard drive space in perspective, 80GB is now the capacity of the low end iPod Classic. This means, of course, that anyone with a substantial digital music library or video collection will likely find the MBA unsuitable as a standalone computer due to space constraints (or require the purchase of an external hard drive). For standard text documents, excel sheets, email archives, and reasonable photo libraries, the hard drive space will likely be adequate. Whether or not the MBA can serve as one’s standalone computer will likely depend on whether or not that person is inherently a "media-based" person or not.

In terms of pure processor speed, the 1.6GHz processor places the MBA firmly in last place among Apple’s current products, even behind the Mac Mini. Despite a processor on the low end of the lineup, the MBA felt snappy and responsive during general use, with most of the standard applications (iPhoto, iTunes, Safari, etc) loading in just a few seconds. Boot times to the login screen were just shy of 70 seconds – a length of time that will likely seem a bit slow to anyone used to Intel based PC and seem quite fast to anyone upgrading from a prior PowerPC based model.

Filed under: Apple
Other story tags: MacBook Air, review, benchmark