MBP (2010) vs MBA (2012)

[nlr]

Hello,

I currently have a top spec 2.66ghz MacBook pro with high res from 2010 and was wondering what sort of benefits would I get from replacing it with a highest spec 11" MBA 2012? How's the battery? GPU for low mid range games?

People have told me it would be quicker but doesn't my current mbp have a higher clock speed?

Thanks

 

[JRY]

i think it depends if your current MBP has a SSD or not. because thats where the speed bottleneck would be.

 

[coughs]

Yes it would be quicker

 

[shine]

It also depends on what you tasks you perform with your MBP. As above the HDD would be a bottleneck in your current laptop v the Air.

 

[nlr]

I have a c400 and I run cs5, wow and Diablo 3

 

[lamboman]

Performance-wise, the MBA is going to be a fair bit quicker. In gaming, they'll probably be similar, I'd say the newer machine would be slightly faster, just as an educated guess. Keep in mind the MBA 11" will offer a higher frame rate due to the lower resolution display. Battery life will be pretty much bang on with what Apple quote (I think it's still 5 hours), possibly slightly longer.

A worthy upgrade provided that you know you need the extra performance, and you have an external display. However, I'd personally spend the extra £70 to get the 13" model, that way you are seeing no disadvantages whatsoever compared to your current MBP (display resolution).

 

[uniQ]

Unless you need to upgrade. Wait for Haswell.

 

[nlr]

Thanks for all the replies it really has helped. does anyone know what improvements haswell will bring?

 

[uniQ]

One of the main will be battery life which will be very significant for all laptops especially the 11" MBA.

The plan is that not only will the CPU consume much less power than current CPUs, but that the system around it will also be heavily optimised for extending battery life. ‘We’re architecting a system-level power management framework that’s supported by efficient system design throughout the ecosystem that has the opportunity to reduce the platform power by a factor of more than 20 times over our current designs.

‘This means that we’ll be able to enable all-day usage and more than a ten-days, always-connected standby capability on a single charge.’

Then all the usual; improved CPU, improved GPU etc etc.