To test out the two different MacBook Air drive types, the solid state 64GB and the 80GB mechanical 4200rpm drive, we obtained two 1.6GHz MacBook Airs, one with the SSD and one with the mechanical drive. We ran a variety of 8 different tests, that we felt would all stress the drive's performance. What we found was that the SSD under certain applications, is much faster than the rotation drive ... If you are choosing among MacBook Airs.
We also noted much more crispness in the time items took to appear on screen, and in the loading of applications. Also the MacBook Air with SSD woke up from sleep much faster than the rotation one. But these items are pretty minor atmospheric things. If an item takes 4 seconds to open as opposed to 6 is that really going to break your day? It is great for us impatient people, who thrive on even the illusion of performance, but is the rush worth the extra $999. For some Power Users, perhaps in some cases, the answer to this would be ... Yes.
We will make comments below each test result, but to get you started, in one of the tests below we saw over a 100% performance improvement for the SSD.
Folder Copy (33,000 files 1.8GB Size) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
272.8 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
438.3 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 61% Faster For Comparison MacBook 2.0GHz 80GB Drive 5400rpm
279 Seconds MacBook Pro 2.6GHz 160GB Drive 5400rpm
276.4 Seconds
Notes: This is one of our two standard boilerplate hard drive tests (the other one is directly below). As you can see, quite a few files are being duplicated here. This test requires some processing power (between 10 to 15 percent of the processing capacity of the laptop). As you can see the SS drive leads by a wide margin. Lots and lots of quick drive reads and writes.
Single File Copy (7GB Size) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
410.2 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
441.2 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 8% Faster For Comparison MacBook 2.0GHz 80GB Drive 5400rpm
354.1 Seconds MacBook Pro 2.6GHz 160GB Drive 5400rpm
327.4 Seconds
Notes: Our second standard drive test (we are able to include the MacBook and MacBook Pro scores because we have results for our standard tests for them ... But not for some of the custom tests below, which we came up with specifically for the MacBook Air). Here the SSD does not have much of an advantage .... Large sequential reads and writes by the SSD.
Boot Time (From Cold Start) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
31.2 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
52.1 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 67% Faster
Notes: OK again our boot time was much faster for the SSD machine. Similar to the performance gain we saw with Folder Test.
Photoshop Blur Filter Render (2GB Size, 4800 Resolution) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
372.5 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
679.5 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 82% Faster
Notes: OK, now this will be of interest to Power Users. The usual file size we use to run this test is a 20MB file. We set that up a long time ago when machines came with less RAM and we wanted all processing activity to take place within RAM ... As opposed to swapping out to the scratch file of the hard drive. And indeed when we ran this test with the 20MB files both version of this machine turned in almost exactly the same scores .... Just as they should have since the drives were not utilized at all. However when we upped the file size to 2GB ... Which means, given Photoshop's appetites, that the hard drive would be forcefully brought into the mix, we saw a 82% improvement. So if you work with RAM hungry programs and big files you may want to give the SSD some consideration ... again comparing Apples to Apples.
Save Photoshop File (2GB Size, 4800 Resolution) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
203.9 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
461.3 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 126% Faster
Notes: Writing a large Photoshop file to the drive also is much, much faster .... Again probably due in part to the faster scratch disk of the SSD
Open Photoshop File (2GB Size, 4800 Resolution) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
187.1 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
203.6 Seconds Advantage: Solid State Drive 9% Faster
Notes: Here though, opening a large file shows little advantage .... Similar to our single file copy test
Import File Into iMovie (900MB Size) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
1028 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
1011.4 Seconds Advantage: Statistical Dead Heat For Comparison MacBook 2.0GHz 80GB Drive 5400rpm
916.2 Seconds MacBook Pro 2.6GHz 160GB Drive 5400rpm
875.2 Seconds
Notes: No difference here. Again we are reading a large file off the drive.
Import File Into iDVD (1GB Size) MacBook Air 1.6GHz 64GB Solid State Drive
272.8 Seconds MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB Mechanical Drive 4200rpm
265 Seconds Advantage: Statistical Dead Heat
For Comparison MacBook 2.0GHz 80GB Drive 5400rpm
196.6 Seconds MacBook Pro 2.6GHz 160GB Drive 5400rpm
181.2 Seconds
Notes: No difference here. Again we are reading a large file off the drive.
So what is the bottom line: It is quite clear that if you are comparing Apples to Apples, the solid state drive is much faster. But that is largely due to the fact that the rotation drive that Apple is putting into the MacBook Air is pretty much a dog. My guess is that Apple put such a poor performing rotational drive into the MacBook Air, because to get the technology they wanted (a light, small footprint drive that fit within their budget), they had to make some compromises, and speed was one of them. Unless you are a power user you will not see much benefit from the SSD over the rotational drive. It will be faster when you need it to be, and will be more 'snappy,' if that is important to you. But the MacBook Air is all about cool, and it is cool ... And having a SSD is cool too .... But is it 'cool' enough for you to lay down an extra $1,000.
MacBook Air Compromises
1) Performance tops out at 1.8GHz
2) Small drive capacity
3) Paucity of Ports
4) RAM, as of now, cannot be increased from the stock 2GB (another reason to consider the SSD, which can act as a faster swap disk)
5) No optical (DVD) drive built-in (a blessing and a curse)
6) For at least 6 months or so you will have to put up with the "Is that the new thin Apple laptop ..." conversation starter whenever you are out and about with your Book.
On the Positive Side
1) Cool, Cool, Cool, Cool (I mean if that is something you care about ...)
2) Light, Light, Light (If you are used to lugging a MacBook around, the MacBook Air will seem like a bag of potato chips)
3) Thin, Thin Thin
4) To me, it seems more rugged than the MacBook Pro (If you get the SSD that should be more rugged too ... Lacking moving parts)
As you can see, on the practical front the MacBook Air wins very few points (it is light and may have slightly better battery life than the current MacBook). But, as is typical with Apple products, especially first runs of a product line, its seductiveness dares you to find something not to like about it, and if you do, like a besotted idiot, you rationalize away its imperfections .... (When was the last time I used the optical drive anyway? .... Really? Really, was it just last week? I don't think so Honey)
The MacBook Air fits the bill for the market segment it is aimed at (light, small, practical for general type work), but asks you take a little bit of step further down the road, than where you are right now .... My guess is that many Mac users will take that step.
David Engstrom (Who will be using a MacBook Air with SSD for the next year and a half .... Once he gets his hamstrings repaired)
Latest Apple MacBook Air Reviews From Around The Net
Disclaimer: Remember to treat all benchmark scores with caution, and do not rely on performance scores from us in making mission critical decisions. We endeavor to make the information we provide as accurate as possible, but make no direct or expressed guarantee that this is the case
Price Information
Performance
Compared to iMac Core Duo 1.83 GHz
Processor ... 27% Slower
Graphics ..... 41% Slower
Hard Drive ... 35% Slower
Multi-File Copy ... 30% Slower
Game .......... 59% Slower
Application ... 18% Slower About the Tests
This section updated: Monday, April 27, 2009
MacBook Air - 13-inch 1.6GHZ- Z0ER-1.6GHZ - Originally $2,798
* 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2GB memory
* Intel GMA X3100 graphics
* 64GB Drive Solid State
* Optional External SuperDrive Custom Configuration Options
More Specs
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