Initial 2018 MacBook Air benchmarks show modest improvement over 2017 MacBook

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 49
    patsupatsu Posts: 430member
    Hmm...I believe Laporte said they were using the same processors.
    We are not talking about buying a pair of shoes right ? Architecture and how you use the high tech parts matter here.

    T2 is said to be based on A10.
    The A10 Geekbeqnch scores are 3500+ (single core), 6000+ (multi-cores).

    If Geekbench can also run on the T2, it would measure the total compute power of the new Macs. Some percentage of the A10 scores would be added to the Intel-only CPU/GPU scores (4248 single core, 7828 multi-cores)

    We don’t have the necessary tools to measure the Mac’s performance here.
    edited November 2018 radarthekat
  • Reply 22 of 49
    thttht Posts: 5,444member

    Leo Laporte warned about this on MacBreak Weekly as he’s been using a Surface Go which uses the same whisky lake chips.
    Not even close, the Surface Go is less than half the performance of the air:

    http://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/10588316
    Hmm...I believe Laporte said they were using the same processors.
    The Surface Go uses a Pentium 4415Y. It’s a Kaby Lake chip with a max clock of 1.6 GHz and 2 MB cache, no Hyperthreading. 

    The MBA uses a Core i5-8210Y. It’s an Amber Lake chip with base clock of 1.6 GHz, turbo of 3.6 GHz, 4 MB cache and Hyperthreading. 

    The Core i5-8210Y will be about 2x as fast as the Surface Go in CPU and about 1.2x as fast in GPU. The SSD is likely to be 2x as faster or faster. They are different class machines. No point in comparing them. 

    Like with the Atom Surface 3 or the ARM Surface models, I do not think they can be successful by virtue of having 10” screens as that is too small to run Windows software. 

    Edit: read the wrong row in ark on the 4415Y Hyperthreading. It does have it. 
    edited November 2018 patsu
  • Reply 23 of 49
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,107member
    Well, now I don't feel so bad about my 2013 MBA 11" coming in at 3700 and 6834.
    GeorgeBMacwilliamlondonrtdunham
  • Reply 24 of 49

    FWIW, I bought a 2018 13" MBP for my wife earlier this year. The keyboard isn't an issue at all. We've had no trouble typing on it - no RSI or finger fatigue at all.

    Since the MBA uses the same keyboard, it shouldn't be an issue.

  • Reply 25 of 49
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,700member
    Leo Laporte warned about this on MacBreak Weekly as he’s been using a Surface Go which uses the same whisky lake chips.
    Wrong.  The Surface Go uses this processor which was released by Intel Q2 2017:  https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/products/processors/pentium/4415y.html

    The Retina MBA uses this processor based on the just-released Amber Lake processor:  https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/products/processors/pentium/4415y.html



  • Reply 26 of 49
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,700member
    ascii said:
    The new Macbook Air is not very compelling honestly. As the Zone of Tech guy pointed out, it's only a little bit more for the 13" Macbook Pro which is better on nearly every metric.
    Seeing these benchmarks I really don’t get the point of this machine now. All the reasons people were buying the older model (price, ports, keyboard, MagSafe) are missing. I guess buy this over the nTB MBP if you must have Touch ID? Is the nTB MBP that much heavier?
    Compared to the old MBA, the Retina MBA is a decent performance jump

    "In terms of comparison to the mid-2017 MacBook Air, which features a 5th-generation dual-core Intel Core i5 processor at 1.8GHz, the 2018 Retina MacBook is roughly 27 percent faster in single-core and 28 percent faster in multi-core."

    https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/01/macbook-air-geekbench-results/
    rtdunham
  • Reply 27 of 49
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    ascii said:
    The new Macbook Air is not very compelling honestly. As the Zone of Tech guy pointed out, it's only a little bit more for the 13" Macbook Pro which is better on nearly every metric.
    Except weight and thinness.
    Measuring at what point? The Air is a wedge shape that at its thickest point is thicker than the MBP 13.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 28 of 49
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    ascii said:
    The new Macbook Air is not very compelling honestly. As the Zone of Tech guy pointed out, it's only a little bit more for the 13" Macbook Pro which is better on nearly every metric.
    Seeing these benchmarks I really don’t get the point of this machine now. All the reasons people were buying the older model (price, ports, keyboard, MagSafe) are missing. I guess buy this over the nTB MBP if you must have Touch ID? Is the nTB MBP that much heavier?
    They were plugging a hole in the line-up. 
    Now they can run free with the MBP and blow it out to its full potential as a high end, power machine without losing the general market.  
    And, for the MacBook:   Stay tuned.  I suspect that will likely convert it into a revolutionary product with an "A" series processor -- the Apple design team can run free knowing that they have the base laptop audience covered.

    Yeh, the 2018 MBA is not shaking up the industry.  But it does enable Apple to position itself to fill out the Mac line to fulfill its destiny.
    rogifan_newbaconstang
  • Reply 29 of 49
    tht said:

    Leo Laporte warned about this on MacBreak Weekly as he’s been using a Surface Go which uses the same whisky lake chips.
    Not even close, the Surface Go is less than half the performance of the air:

    http://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/10588316
    Hmm...I believe Laporte said they were using the same processors.
    The Surface Go uses a Pentium 4415Y. It’s a Kaby Lake chip with a max clock of 1.6 GHz and 2 MB cache, no Hyperthreading. 

    The MBA uses a Core i5-8210Y. It’s an Amber Lake chip with base clock of 1.6 GHz, turbo of 3.6 GHz, 4 MB cache and Hyperthreading. 

    The Core i5-8210Y will be about 2x as fast as the Surface Go in CPU and about 1.2x as fast in GPU. The SSD is likely to be 2x as faster or faster. They are different class machines. No point in comparing them. 

    Like with the Atom Surface 3 or the ARM Surface models, I do not think they can be successful by virtue of having 10” screens as that is too small to run Windows software. 

    Edit: read the wrong row in ark on the 4415Y Hyperthreading. It does have it. 
    Laporte said they were both whisky lake. These Intel names and different classes of chips are so confusing.
    Carnage
  • Reply 30 of 49
    aknabiaknabi Posts: 211member
    Well this could get interesting if they drop an A12X+ into the first ARM MacBook... let's say it's the current MB... they'll have a low-cost Mac that punches like a 6-core i7 MBP... can't let that happen so they may have to cripple the first low-end ARM Macs to give the MBP a fighting chance  :D
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 31 of 49
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    My 8 Plus scores higher Geekbench scores than that! Does that mean it’s more powerful than Apple’s latest laptop?
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 32 of 49
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    It seems Apple trying to line up the new Macbook Air between 12" Macbook and 13" Macbook Pro. We have to wait for the performance benchmarks of new Air to compare with 2018 I5 Macbook Pro but the price wise, it seems Macbook Air(256GB) at $1399 vs on sale for 2018 Macbook Pro(256GB) at $1599 is only $200 price difference and increase of 0.25lb weight but the performance difference is substantial. So, why buy 2018 Macbook Air vs Pro ??? Idea of new Macbook Air was to spec wise closely replace 2018 Function Keys Macbook Pro.
    edited November 2018
  • Reply 33 of 49
    thttht Posts: 5,444member
    1983 said:
    My 8 Plus scores higher Geekbench scores than that! Does that mean it’s more powerful than Apple’s latest laptop?
    Yes.

    Edit: Well, if there are AVX2 dominant apps, the MBA is probably about as fast as the A11 or vice verse for those type of problems.
    edited November 2018
  • Reply 34 of 49
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,700member
    tht said:

    Leo Laporte warned about this on MacBreak Weekly as he’s been using a Surface Go which uses the same whisky lake chips.
    Not even close, the Surface Go is less than half the performance of the air:

    http://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/10588316
    Hmm...I believe Laporte said they were using the same processors.
    The Surface Go uses a Pentium 4415Y. It’s a Kaby Lake chip with a max clock of 1.6 GHz and 2 MB cache, no Hyperthreading. 

    The MBA uses a Core i5-8210Y. It’s an Amber Lake chip with base clock of 1.6 GHz, turbo of 3.6 GHz, 4 MB cache and Hyperthreading. 

    The Core i5-8210Y will be about 2x as fast as the Surface Go in CPU and about 1.2x as fast in GPU. The SSD is likely to be 2x as faster or faster. They are different class machines. No point in comparing them. 

    Like with the Atom Surface 3 or the ARM Surface models, I do not think they can be successful by virtue of having 10” screens as that is too small to run Windows software. 

    Edit: read the wrong row in ark on the 4415Y Hyperthreading. It does have it. 
    Laporte said they were both whisky lake. These Intel names and different classes of chips are so confusing.
    He's wrong.  The MBA is using a newer generation Amber Lake which is twice the performance of the processor used in the Surface Go.

    https://www.anandtech.com/show/13531/apple-2018-macbook-air-announced
    edited November 2018
  • Reply 35 of 49
    thttht Posts: 5,444member
    tht said:
    The Surface Go uses a Pentium 4415Y. It’s a Kaby Lake chip with a max clock of 1.6 GHz and 2 MB cache, no Hyperthreading. 

    The MBA uses a Core i5-8210Y. It’s an Amber Lake chip with base clock of 1.6 GHz, turbo of 3.6 GHz, 4 MB cache and Hyperthreading. 

    The Core i5-8210Y will be about 2x as fast as the Surface Go in CPU and about 1.2x as fast in GPU. The SSD is likely to be 2x as faster or faster. They are different class machines. No point in comparing them. 

    Like with the Atom Surface 3 or the ARM Surface models, I do not think they can be successful by virtue of having 10” screens as that is too small to run Windows software. 

    Edit: read the wrong row in ark on the 4415Y Hyperthreading. It does have it. 
    Laporte said they were both whisky lake. These Intel names and different classes of chips are so confusing.
    Yes, they are confusing. The only way to know what performance an Intel computer has is to know the precise product name, namely the 4, 5, 6 digit part of the product name, like 4415Y or 8700, 8250U, or 9900K, (and not the Core i3, i5, i9 branding names) and then you look it up in their database. So, it is not surprising LaPorte is confused.

    There are currently 3 Whiskey Lake SKUs being sold. As far as I can tell, none of them are in any Surface product currently. So, he is confused if he saying there are Whiskey Lake chips in Surface products, while the new MBA has an Amber Lake chip. The Surface Go uses a scaled down Kaby Lake processors so that it can be sold at cheaper prices, about $150 MSRP. The laptop Core i chips are typically have MSRP of $250 to $350. The Surface Go, in order to sell at $400, would have a BOM of maybe $180 at most. The processor in it really can’t be more than $80, maybe. So, it has to be a low performance processor from Intel.

    Kaby Lake chips span 5 W to 95 Watt processors, which rolled out across 2016 and 2017
    Amber Lake chips are 5 Watt processors, successor to Kaby Lake 5 W processors from 2017
    Whiskey Lake chips are 15 Watt processors, successor to Coffee Lake processors in 2017
    Coffee Lake chips are 15 Watt to 95 Watt processors, successor to Kaby Lake 15 to 95 Wat processors in 2017


    baconstang
  • Reply 36 of 49
    tht said:
    tht said:
    The Surface Go uses a Pentium 4415Y. It’s a Kaby Lake chip with a max clock of 1.6 GHz and 2 MB cache, no Hyperthreading. 

    The MBA uses a Core i5-8210Y. It’s an Amber Lake chip with base clock of 1.6 GHz, turbo of 3.6 GHz, 4 MB cache and Hyperthreading. 

    The Core i5-8210Y will be about 2x as fast as the Surface Go in CPU and about 1.2x as fast in GPU. The SSD is likely to be 2x as faster or faster. They are different class machines. No point in comparing them. 

    Like with the Atom Surface 3 or the ARM Surface models, I do not think they can be successful by virtue of having 10” screens as that is too small to run Windows software. 

    Edit: read the wrong row in ark on the 4415Y Hyperthreading. It does have it. 
    Laporte said they were both whisky lake. These Intel names and different classes of chips are so confusing.
    Yes, they are confusing. The only way to know what performance an Intel computer has is to know the precise product name, namely the 4, 5, 6 digit part of the product name, like 4415Y or 8700, 8250U, or 9900K, (and not the Core i3, i5, i9 branding names) and then you look it up in their database. So, it is not surprising LaPorte is confused.

    There are currently 3 Whiskey Lake SKUs being sold. As far as I can tell, none of them are in any Surface product currently. So, he is confused if he saying there are Whiskey Lake chips in Surface products, while the new MBA has an Amber Lake chip. The Surface Go uses a scaled down Kaby Lake processors so that it can be sold at cheaper prices, about $150 MSRP. The laptop Core i chips are typically have MSRP of $250 to $350. The Surface Go, in order to sell at $400, would have a BOM of maybe $180 at most. The processor in it really can’t be more than $80, maybe. So, it has to be a low performance processor from Intel.

    Kaby Lake chips span 5 W to 95 Watt processors, which rolled out across 2016 and 2017
    Amber Lake chips are 5 Watt processors, successor to Kaby Lake 5 W processors from 2017
    Whiskey Lake chips are 15 Watt processors, successor to Coffee Lake processors in 2017
    Coffee Lake chips are 15 Watt to 95 Watt processors, successor to Kaby Lake 15 to 95 Wat processors in 2017


    Thanks for the explanation.
  • Reply 37 of 49
    I just don’t get the new MacBook Air. Why not update the MacBook line and get rid of the Air altogether?
    Besides this is not a very compelling product. Get a MacBook Pro 13” instead for just a bit more and have much more power available. 

    Ps: am I seeing this right - is the new iPad much faster benchmark wise?
    I agree they should just keep updating the MacBook line and let the air die but apple needs many different products to keep their stock investors happy. The fact this one has 2 ports is very tempting since the MacBook only has one port to power and you need to get a hub if you want more ports. 
    baconstang
  • Reply 38 of 49
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    I just don’t get the new MacBook Air. Why not update the MacBook line and get rid of the Air altogether?
    Besides this is not a very compelling product. Get a MacBook Pro 13” instead for just a bit more and have much more power available. 

    Ps: am I seeing this right - is the new iPad much faster benchmark wise?
    I agree they should just keep updating the MacBook line and let the air die but apple needs many different products to keep their stock investors happy. The fact this one has 2 ports is very tempting since the MacBook only has one port to power and you need to get a hub if you want more ports. 
    Apple, like all great companies, keeps their stock holders happy by keeping their customers happy!

    In this case, it was by filling some voids in their product line by bringing a couple key products up to date.
  • Reply 39 of 49
    ascii said:
    The new Macbook Air is not very compelling honestly. As the Zone of Tech guy pointed out, it's only a little bit more for the 13" Macbook Pro which is better on nearly every metric.
    Well I have a 2016 MacBook Pro and I’m trading it in for lightness, usb c ports that aren’t loose, vastly better battery life, Touch ID without the annoying Touch Bar and the cool gold color.   The weight and the 4-5 hours of actual battery life make my Pro less portable.  If the Air is fast enough not to be encumbered, who gives a damn about specs?
    Solibaconstang
  • Reply 40 of 49
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    patsu said:
    Hmm...I believe Laporte said they were using the same processors.
    We are not talking about buying a pair of shoes right ? Architecture and how you use the high tech parts matter here.

    T2 is said to be based on A10.
    The A10 Geekbeqnch scores are 3500+ (single core), 6000+ (multi-cores).

    If Geekbench can also run on the T2, it would measure the total compute power of the new Macs. Some percentage of the A10 scores would be added to the Intel-only CPU/GPU scores (4248 single core, 7828 multi-cores)

    We don’t have the necessary tools to measure the Mac’s performance here.
    T2 means nothing in the context of app behavior running on the Intel chip.  “”Disk”” I/O might be impacted but that they is only the of concern for a small number of apps. 

    It it amazes me that people don’t grasp the intent of benchmarking.   If benchmarks show a trivial boost in performance then that is what you will experience the hardware means little.  
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