The decision between purchasing a MacBook Air versus a MacBook Pro used to be about sacrificing speed and power for a thin, light, ultra-portable package. According to new benchmarks, however, that may no longer be the case, as the newly released MacBook Pros achieve comparable benchmark results to 2010’s high-end MacBook Pro.
Early benchmark results from LaptopMag.com have revealed that Apple’s new MacBook Airs provide pretty amazing performance improvements over the previous generation, and even over other Apple notebooks.
According to GeekBench results, the new MacBook Airs more than double the scores of the previous generation models, and also compare very favorably to the high-end MacBook Pros from last year. The new high-end 13″ MacBook Air earned a score of 5860, demonstrating a performance boost of 100%, while the 11-inch model demonstrated a 149% increase.
Basically, that means that $1000 11-inch MacBook Air can duke it out toe-to-toe with last year’s much 17-inch MacBook Pro, which sold for well more than double the cost!
While real-world tests have yet to be performed, the notion of the MacBook Air overtaking the rest of Apple’s MacBook models seems like a more and more appealing idea – If only they offered a 15″ model with a couple more ports and a hi-res screen – maybe next year!
