The 2013 MacBook Air Review (13-inch)
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 24, 2013 12:01 AM ESTMore GPU Performance Numbers
The next set of benchmarks are taken from our 2013 Laptop Bench. Here we're comparing to HD 4000 and HD 4400, both using Acer S7s. Compared to HD 4400 the HD 5000 in Apple's 2013 MBA ends up being around 15% faster in most tests. Compared to Ivy Bridge/HD 4000 the gap ranges from lower single digits in thermally constrained environments to 25% or 40% in the best case scenarios.
3DMark GPU Performance
We close out our look at Intel's HD 5000 performance using a historical collection of 3DMark data. The comparison gives us some more data points to characterize Intel's HD 5000. The data here is all best case scenario for HD 5000 as there are no situations where we hit thermal limits.
On average, Intel's HD 4400 ends up being 18% faster than HD 4000, while Intel's HD 5000 is 31% faster.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
233 Comments
View All Comments
Sm0kes - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
I would presume that the rMBP's would get the Thunderbolt 2 refresh if they are released around the same time.mikk - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Do I miss something or isn't there an info about the exact memory configuration? In particular important for iGPU tests.darwinosx - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Nobody is going to take such an immature poorly written post seriously. It screams high school kid whose daddy buys his laptop on sale at best Buy.Subyman - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Fantastic read as always. Great job finding the ac file transfer culprit. Maybe some consulting work from Apple is in the future? :)helloworldv2 - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
I bought the i7 version with 8GB ram and and 512GB SSD. I think with real world usage (some browsing, mail on, a little office, running some terminal stuff that utilizes both cores 100% for an hour or so), battery life is something like 5-7 hours. Pretty good, but rather disappointing in the light of the advertised 12 hours. It's by no means an 'all day computer'..secretmanofagent - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Did you read what Apple said? 12 hours is for the i5 13" MBA.http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/features.html
"Testing conducted by Apple in May 2013 using preproduction 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-based 13-inch MacBook Air units and preproduction 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-based 11-inch MacBook Air units. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The HD movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 720p content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The standby test measures battery life by allowing a system, connected to a wireless network, to enter standby mode with Safari and Mail applications launched and all system settings left at default. Battery life varies by use and configuration. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information."
Would be a shame to have to read, though.
helloworldv2 - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
I did read it. I knew I wouldn't get 12 hours out of it with normal use. However, I was expecting more than 5 hours, that's for sure. Also, many reviews hype how amazing the battery life is. IMO it's just OK. Definitely far from amazing..Paapaa125 - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Are you sure you got the Haswell version? If you get only 5h with light usage using 75% brightness, something is totally wrong.helloworldv2 - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Yes, I'm sure. With light usage, meaning nothing but a few tabs in FF, I get maybe 7-8 hours (display in full brightness). Rather unremarkable, I would say. It's a fine machine, nonetheless. Just don't expect miracles with the battery..Paapaa125 - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Ah, try Safari and also set the brightness to 75%. Apple figure (12h) has been done with brightness set to 75%. This has a big impact to battery life. Set it to 50% and you might get even more.You can't compare figures which have been achieved with different brightness levels.