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.
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biassj - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Yes, I hope they have cheaper option. I really don't care about touch screens also pointless IMO if it's not a Tablet/Hybrid. I use Windows 8 with desktop just fine.weiran - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
1080p seems like a pointless midway between 1x and 2x on a 13" display. At 1x text is too small, at 2x it's too big (and the effective resolution is way too low), and I imagine it wouldn't look great at 1.5x.Personally I'd rather have a lower power 1440x900 panel, or the full 2880x1800 resolution.
darwinosx - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Exactly.Synaesthesia - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Hopefully Apple has a nice update to the 13" Retina Macbook Pro's, maybe thinner with better battery life.darwinosx - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
The rumor is they are thinner. The 13" retina which is what I have is already pretty close to the Air.darwinosx - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
Yeah twice the gnu, wi-fi, and 12 hr batter life are so disappointing...sherlockwing - Monday, June 24, 2013 - link
The battery life is impressive, but I can't stand using a 1440X900 TN panel laptop after using an IPS monitor for the last year.doobydoo - Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - link
Clearly you don't own a Macbook Air. It's absolutely fine switching between it and my 30" Dell.Blindsay - Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - link
I do, and i agree with himappliance5000 - Friday, December 20, 2013 - link
I do and I agree with doobydoo. I use my 27"NEC for highly calibrated work and the air for other stuff. It's a nice screen with good color.