Most of the laptop owners we know complain that they don’t get enough battery life out of their portable, and the popularity of the iPad with its 10-hour battery has lead many to expect the same of their laptop.
Speaking of battery life, as we mention above the energy efficient Haswell processor makes longer battery life possible, and for many longer battery life will be at the top of their wish list. We are yet to test this build to order model but it sounds like it might be worth the money to upgrade, although there are concerns about the drain on battery life for this supped up model with speculation suggesting that Apple’s battery life success is only possible because it has made sacrifices in terms of clock speed. For an extra £130, Apple will swap out the dual-core 1.3GHz Core i5 processor for a dual-core 1.7GHz Core i7 with Hyper Threading and with Turbo Boost speeds of up to 3.3GHz. If you want a faster processor you can configure your perfect machine at the point of sale (it can’t be updated after you have bought it). In addition, the new Haswell processor requires less power than the Ivy Bridge processor found in last year’s MacBook Air, and as a result Apple has been able to boost the battery life in the new model (more on battery life later). Some may suggest that the fact that the new 1.3GHz Haswell chip beats the old 1.7GHz Ivy Bridge proves the credentials of this new Haswell processor. This is the first time that the smaller MacBook Air has really matched its larger sibling – previous generations were always considered entry level models and there was a time when many users would have disqualified the MacBook Air as a low-end machine lacking adequate power. In fact there is very little difference between the comparable 11-inch and 13-inch models in the current line up. The difference between the 20 11-inch model is more marked than the difference between the new 13-inch models and their predecessors. One reason for this is the faster graphics and faster flash storage in the new MacBook Air, both factors boosted the 2013 generation’s Speedmark 8 score. The individual application tests were very close, with seven tests (including Photoshop and Aperture) within 3 percent of each other.
While it’s true that the GHz difference means that the Haswell processors in the new MacBook Airs actually run at a slower clock speed than the Ivy Bridge processors found in the 2012 models, the new 1.3GHz 11-inch MacBook Air was actually 9 percent faster overall than last year’s 1.7GHz 11-inch Core i5 Ivy Bridge model. The answer is no, but the explanation isn’t that straight forward. One common question regarding the new MacBook AIr is whether the new 1.3GHz models are slower than last year’s 1.7GHz model. The new MacBook Air 1.3GHz processor compared to the old 1.7GHz processor
0 kommentar(er)
