Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Apple onTuesdayreleased a minor update to its MacBook Air line of laptops . The changes include a subtle 100MHz increase in processor speed and a welcome $ 100 decrease in monetary value . And while the faster processor did aid the new MacBook Airs in our software tryout , the flashgun storage did n’t perform as well as we ’d expected .
As with last class ’s crinkle , the new MacBook Air is available in two 11 - in and two 13 - in standard configurations . All of the models are built around the same Intel 1.4GHz double - nucleus Core i5 ( Haswell ) processor . The raw processors are a bump up from the 1.3GHz Core i5 central processing unit in the mid-2013 MacBook Air .
All other specification remain the same across the control panel : 4 GB DDR3 memory , Intel HD 5000 integrated graphics , and either 128 GB or 256 GB of PCIe - connected flash warehousing mental ability . The 11 - column inch MacBook Air is $ 899 with 128 GB of flash storage and $ 1099 with 256 GB . The 13 - inch model with 128 GB of flash storage is $ 999 , while its 256 GB similitude is $ 1199 .
Speedmark 9 scores
Higher answer are better . good result inbold . citation models initalics.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and Albert Filice
To see how the new MacBook Air do in comparability to its predecessor , we turn to our overall system performance benchmark suite , Speedmark 9 . We try the $ 899 11 - in MacBook Air with 128 GB of storage and the new $ 1199 13 - inch MacBook Air with 256 GB of memory board , and our consequence show that the Modern laptops were 2 to 5 percent faster than the mid-2013 MacBook Air in trial run involving Photoshop , iTunes , Handbrake , Cinebench CPU , Aperture , and PCMark 8 ’s Office diligence test ( running in Parallels ) .
Finder tests
Results as times in seconds . Lower resultant role are better . skillful result inbold . Reference models initalics .
Interestingly , the new MacBook Air plough in slower test results than the mid-2013 MacBook Air in our storage performance tests . ( The mid-2013 MacBook Airs we have on hand are an 11 - inch 1.3GHz model with 256 GB of newsbreak storage and a 13 - inch 1.3GHz modeling with 128 GB of storage . ) Copying 6 GB of files and folders took 28 second on last year ’s 11 - inch MacBook Air , but took nearly twice as longsighted ( 54 second gear ) on this yr ’s 11 - inch model . With solid - state storage , lower electrical capacity drives are often slower performers , and last year ’s 11 - inch had the high mental ability 256 GB of flash . However , the new 11 - inch framework was also slow than last yr ’s 13 - inch model with 128 GB of flash storage .
compact a 6 GB pamphlet also took quite a bit longer on the unexampled MacBook Air and Unzipping was just evidently dull , with the young 11 - inch taking closely three times as long to perform the task as last year ’s 11 - column inch MacBook Air .
We simplify the 6 GB information fructify we practice in our transcript , compress and uncompress tests to use fewer but larger filing cabinet ( 1765 versus 8797 ) and feed the trials again . Both the 2013 and 2014 vintage of MacBook Airs were faster at manipulating this data point set . The performance deviation narrowed considerably , as well , but the 2014 11 - inch MacBook Air with 128 GB of flash computer storage was still the tiresome of the group in these three tests ; it was 35 percent slower than the mid-2013 13 - inch MacBook Air with the same flash storage mental ability when copy file , and 53 per centum slower than that organisation when decompress the Indian file . Zipping the file was only 3 percent boring on the 2014 11 - inch MacBook Air .
We also ran Blackmagic Design ’s Disk Speed Test , which showed the flash storehouse in the new models running slower than the same capacities in the late coevals . The mid-2013 MacBook Air with 128 GB of instant storage averaged 445 MBps while pen datum and 725 MBps while read . The 2014 MacBook Air with the same capacity average 306 MBps while authorship and 620 MBps while reading . The mid-2013 11 - column inch MacBook Air with 256 GB scored an average of 687 MBps writing and 725 MBps recitation , while the brand new MacBook Air with 256 GB of ostentation storage averaged 520 MBps writing and 676 MBps version .
We ran OS X ’s Disk Utility and saw that all four driving force are dissimilar and came from three different source : two from Samsung , one from Toshiba and one from SanDisk . The drive in the new 11 - in MacBook Air is identified as Apple SSD TS0128F , while an Apple SSD SD0256F is found in the newfangled 13 - inch . We have an Apple SSD SM0256F in the mid-2013 11 - inch MacBook Air and an Apple SSD SM0128F in the mid-2013 13 - column inch MacBook Air . Apple does n’t specify which manufacturer ’s drives they use in their system , just the capacity and eccentric of cause include .
discipline back soon for Macworld ’s complete review of the mid-2014 MacBook Air .
Next page: Complete test results
iMovie 10.0.1 enhance/export
Lower results are better . Best result inbold . Reference example initalics .
iPhoto 9.5.1 import
iTunes 11.1 AAC to MP3 encode
HandBrake 0.9.5 encode
Photoshop CC action script
Aperture 3.5.1 import/process
Cinebench R15 CPU
MathematicaMark 9
Higher results are good . Best result inbold . Reference example initalics .
Parallels 9-PCMark 8 Office
Unigine Heaven and Valley 1280-by-720
Results are frames per secondly ; higher results are better . Best result inbold . Reference mannequin initalics .
