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MacBook Air Q&A
Update Published May 9, 2014
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How fast are the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models compared to one another and to earlier MacBook Air models? How fast are all of these models compared to the 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro?
Please note that the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models have been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and can be useful for anyone considering one of these notebooks on the used market.
In the company press release for the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models -- the MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.3 11" (Mid-2013), "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Mid-2013), "Core i5" 1.3 13" (Mid-2013), and "Core i7" 1.7 13" (Mid-2013) -- Apple places more emphasis on "all day battery life" than performance, but also boasts that the systems have "faster graphics" that provide "up to 40 percent faster performance for gaming and graphics intensive apps" as well as PCIe-based flash storage that is "up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation."
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (Left - 11" MacBook Air, Right - 13" MacBook Air)
Although faster graphics and storage are positive, even a quick review of a comparison between the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models and the "Mid-2012" models replaced shows that the "Mid-2013" line has processors with slower clockspeeds. The two lines use different architectures, so it is unreasonable to speculate regarding the real-world performance variation between them, but it would be reasonable to wonder if the newer architecture, faster graphics, and faster storage are enough of an improvement to offset the slower raw processor clockspeeds.
Consequently, how much faster or slower the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models are compared to the "Mid-2012" MacBook Air and "Early 2013" Retina MacBook Pro systems only can be determined via benchmarks and real-world testing. Objective graphics and storage performance details can be useful, too.
General Performance Overview
For a solid overview of the performance difference between the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models and other Macs, EveryMac.com's own Ultimate Mac Comparison makes it quick to compare side-by-side 32-bit-and 64-bit Geekbench benchmark averages with all other G3 and later Macs for thousands of possible performance comparisons.
The Geekbench benchmark shows that the stock 11-Inch and 13-Inch models -- the MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.3 11" (Mid-2013) and "Core i5" 1.3 13" (Mid-2013) -- essentially are the same speed, which one would expect given the essentially identical performance-related components.
Likewise, the custom processor configured models -- the MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Mid-2013) and "Core i7" 1.7 13" (Mid-2013) -- are both around 17% faster than the stock models. Obviously, many are interested in 17% more performance regardless of price, but as the original US$150 upgrade cost between 11.5% and 15% more than the stock configurations, it represented a fairly reasonable value at the time of initial purchase, too.
Compared to the "Mid-2012" line, Geekbench shows that the "Mid-2013" systems roughly are between 1% and 8% faster than the model each replaced:
| Mid-2012 MacBook Air | Mid-2013 MacBook Air | Percent Faster |
| "Core i5" 1.7 11-Inch | "Core i5" 1.3 11-Inch | 8% |
| "Core i7" 2.0 11-Inch | "Core i7" 1.7 11-Inch | 4% |
| "Core i5" 1.8 13-Inch | "Core i5" 1.3 13-Inch | 1% |
| "Core i7" 2.0 13-Inch | "Core i7" 1.7 13-Inch | 4% |
Compared to the "Early 2013" Retina Display MacBook Pro models available new at the time the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models were introduced -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.6 13" (Early 2013) and "Core i7" 3.0 13" (Early 2013) -- the standard and custom processor "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models are in the neighborhood of 10% to 12% slower overall.
Other Benchmarks & Real-World Test Results
Geekbench provides a convenient overview of overall performance, but other benchmarks and real-world application tests still can be helpful, particularly for graphics performance and disk-related tasks.
In a pair of reviews, the industry-standard Macworld hit both the standard and BTO 11-Inch and 13-Inch MacBook Air models with the publication's own Speedmark 8 benchmark and reported results quite similar to Geekbench. For graphics and disk-related tasks, however, the results were much more substantial and nuanced alike:
The Intel HD Graphics 5000 in the new [11-inch 'Mid-2013'] system pushed 24 percent more frames per second in Cinebench's Open GL test and produced an 8 percent higher frame rate in Portal 2. The faster flash storage in the new MacBook Air lived up to the hype, transferring 6 GB of files and folders 51 percent faster than last year's Air. . .
The older [13-inch 'Mid-2013' MacBook Air] system was faster in eight of the 15 tests, including our iMovie export, which was 34 percent faster on the older 13-inch. The new 13-inch model was faster in seven of the tests, with 30 percent faster frame rates in Cinebench's Open GL test and a 28 percent faster file copy result. Matching up the new 13-inch MacBook Air with the current 13-inch 2.6 GHz Core i5 dual core Ivy Bridge Retina MacBook Pro, the Pro earned a 14 percent faster Speedmark score. In the individual application tests, the Retina MacBook Pro was faster across the board -- with the exception of graphics and storage speeds.
The excellent ArsTechnica reviewed the stock 13-Inch MacBook Air and found overall performance compared to its predecessor to be "pretty much a wash" but the difference in graphics performance was more notable:
The HD 5000 [graphics card in the 'Mid-2013' MacBook Air] proves to be a consistently better performer than the HD 4000 [graphics in the 'Mid-2012' MacBook Air], and it handles older and lighter games at the panel's resolution of 1440x900 without breaking a sweat. As Bioshock Infinite shows [with a maximum FPS of 36], though, newer and more graphically intensive games won't be playable unless you turn the settings down. In many cases, we're looking at pretty small performance boosts.
In the most in-depth testing of all, AnandTech bombarded the stock 13-Inch MacBook Air with an onslaught of benchmarks and application tests. For graphics, AnandTech reported that "16% seems to be the magic number as that's exactly how much faster HD 5000 is compared to HD 4000" and in disk use the notebook provides "roughly 300MB/s reads and 300MB/s writes when copying a large dmg from/to the MacBook Air’s PCIe SSD (compared to roughly 200/200MBps on the old Samsung SATA SSD from the rMBP15)."
In addition to Geekbench for overall performance and the above reviews for graphics and storage performance, the details oriented BareFeats likewise compares the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air to its predecessors and the Retina Display MacBook Pro models with a variety of quick to read benchmarks and real-world tests that likewise may be of interest.
Performance Summary
Ultimately, the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models are more-or-less the same speed as the "Mid-2012" MacBook Air models replaced overall, with the significant, but not earth shattering performance improvements for graphics and disk-related tasks essentially picking up the slack for the slower processors.
Compared to the "Early 2013" 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air models trail in performance overall, but actually are faster in some graphics and disk-related tasks. Nevertheless, the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models are best suited for one who places more emphasis on battery life than performance.
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In the UK, site sponsor Hoxton Macs sells used MacBook Air models with a one-year warranty and free next day delivery throughout the UK. Delivery across Europe also is available starting at just £9.99 for two-day delivery to France and Germany.
In Australia, site sponsor Mac City likewise has a variety of used MacBook Air models sold at low prices and available with a free warranty and fast shipping across Australia.
Also see: What is the battery life of the "Mid-2013" MacBook Air models in "real-world" usage tests? Is it really as long as Apple claims?
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