The 2011 MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch): Thoroughly Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 28, 2011 3:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Apple
- Mac
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- MacBook Air
- Laptops
SSD Performance
Last year's MacBook Air was the first Mac to ship without a mechanical hard drive or an option to install one. Using a custom form factor, Apple partnered with Toshiba (and later Samsung) to build value SSDs for the MacBook Air line.
Although Apple has tested solutions from Intel, Marvell and SandForce, to date it hasn't opted to ship any of them to market. Toshiba and Samsung offer much better pricing and don't mind being silent members of the supply chain. There are also reliability benefits. While Toshiba and Samsung may not perform as well as the aforementioned controller makers, they've definitely had fewer issues.
My 13 had a Toshiba based drive while my 11 had a Samsung drive. You can tell what controller you have by looking at the model string in a System Report from your machine. The SM prefix indicates a Samsung drive while the TS indicates Toshiba:
Both controllers are limited to 3Gbps operation (neither company has released a 6Gbps controller) but performance does vary pretty significantly between the two:
| 2011 MacBook Air SSD Performance Comparison | ||||||
| 4KB Random Read (QD3) | 4KB Write Read (8GB LBA Space QD3) | 128KB Sequential Write | 128KB Sequential Read | |||
| 13-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) - Toshiba SSD | 18 MB/s | 1.65 MB/s | 204.2 MB/s | 189.5 MB/s | ||
| 11-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) - Samsung SSD | 44.6 MB/s | 27.2 MB/s | 258.0 MB/s | 234.4 MB/s | ||
| 11-inch MacBook Air (Late 2010) - Toshiba SSD | 31.1 MB/s | 2.49 MB/s | 147.0 MB/s | 113.0 MB/s | ||
The Samsung drive has much better random and sequential performance, maxing out the 3Gbps interface when it comes to sequential reads.
In regular use I doubt you'd notice a huge performance difference between the two, but if you want the fastest drive you want the Samsung. Compared to last year's MacBook Air (Toshiba) you get a huge boost in sequential read/write performance.
Both drives support TRIM under OS X.
WiFi
Unlike other members of the 2011 Mac family, the MacBook Air retains a WLAN stack with 2 receive and 2 transmit antennas via the Broadcom BCM4322. The WLAN solution in the Air is capable of up to two simultaneous spatial streams, topping out at 270Mbps.
In practice this results in peak performance over 802.11n at around 128.8Mbps. Testing at the same distance I tested the MacBook Pro and iMac at, the results drop to 116.8Mbps.
| 802.11n Network Performance Comparison | ||||||
| 27-inch iMac (Mid 2011) | 15-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2011) | 13-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) | 11-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) | |||
| Peak Network Transfer Speed | 150Mbps | 133Mbps | 116.8Mbps | 116.8Mbps | ||
The new Air also supports Bluetooth Low Energy, although without any Bluetooth LE devices on hand I was unable to test the feature.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
103 Comments
View All Comments
GotThumbs - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
While Apple has created a pretty cool setup. I feel their breeding a reliance of proprietary devices for Apple users and a market for accessories (similar to IPAD) to gain standard connections provided on other systems. This trend is limiting choices for apples users. I build my own systems and rarely use a laptop. I do have a tablet for light moble use (email, quick web browsing, etc.)I'd be interested to see if Apple uses any of AMD's Llano APU's in future systems. Else there seems to be an exclusivity reminiscent of Dell and Intel in Dells earlier years.
GotThumbs - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Clarification: An Android tablettipoo - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
The HD3000 graphics in the MBA aren't the same as the regular, the regular one clocks at 650MHz and turbos up to 1.3GHz and the Low Voltage one 350MHz - 1.2GHz. Since they score similarly in most benchmarks, I wonder if the performance would go down over time as the thermal envelope no longer allows boosting? Likewise for the CPU? Any input on that?futurepastnow - Sunday, July 31, 2011 - link
Most graphics tests (and many games) don't place a heavy load on the CPU at the same time as the GPU, so the GPU can probably use its full turbo as the CPU cores are nearly idle. If both CPU and GPU are both being worked hard, that may change. This is probably reflected in the Starcraft 2 test.As to your second question, it depends on how much extra capacity Apple engineered into the cooling system. Performance should not decrease over time if the fan can adequately cool the processor, even at its highest heat output.
papawapa - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
I've been waiting for this review since the launch of the new Air. Thanks Anand! I'm taking a close look at the 13".tipoo - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Yikes, that is a huge drop between the two. Most sites are saying the 13' usually gets the slower controller, which is a bummer because that's what I was considering. How much impact does 4k random read performance have on general feel?tipoo - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
You guys have a decibel meter in your lab, right? I'd really like to see idle and load readings for laptop reviews. I think it was there in some of them, but never in a mac article.frumpsnake - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
The Airs are listed as Macbook Pros under Clock Speed Scaling Comparison on page 3.TEAMSWITCHER - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
"Apple did almost exactly what I asked for and built a monitor with more IO. It's called the Thunderbolt Display and it features an integrated USB 2.0, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet and audio controller."Please tell me your gonna review this monster when it ships. I have been wanting something like this for MacBook Pro since 2007.
bji - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Can you comment on the fan noise? The fan wasn't even mentioned at all in the review except to talk about where its output vent is positioned. I have been spoiled by a fanless laptop for years now and I am really sensitive to annoying fan noise now. I had intended to wait until Ivy Bridge came out in the hopes that it would have reduced thermals and that Apple would make a fanless Macbook based on it. But in the meantime I'd love to know how often the fan spins up on the current Sandy Bridge Macbook Airs and what the volume of it is when it is spinning. Thanks!