Benchmarked: Macbook Air 11″ (Late 2010) vs Macbook Pro 13 (Late 2009)
Posted by Jimmy Selix in Apple Mac
As a new Macbook Air 11″ owner, my first impressions in regards to performance were very good. Even though my MBA 11 is running a slower CPU than my late 2009 Macbook Pro 13 (1.6ghz vs 2.26ghz), the MBA just seemed faster. Today we will take a look at some unofficial 3DMark2006 tests ran on both of my setups. These tests were ran in VMWare Fusion and in Boot Camp Windows 7 on both machines and in very similar test environments. Keep reading for all of the stats and numbers.
First things first, here are the physical specs on each of the machines we tested.
Macbook Pro 13″ (Late 2009 Model)
Intel C2D 2.26Ghz (P7550)
4GB DDR RAM
5400 RPM, SATAII Western Digital Harddrive (500GB)
Nvidia GeForce 9400M video (246MB)
Boot Camp – Windows 7 Ultimate Ed 64-Bit
Macbook Air (Late 2010 Model)
Intel C2D 1.6Ghz (Shows as a U9600 in 3DMark)
4GB DDR3 RAM
128GB SSD Flash
Nvidia GeForce 320M (322MB)
Boot Camp – Windows 7 Ultimate Ed 64-Bit
Test Notes / Environment:
I have both Macbooks setup with Boot Camp and Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (64bit) on each. Each is running the latest VMWare Fusion 3 for virtual machine testing and each VM is allocated the same 1 cpu core and 2GB of RAM.
I ran the default 3DMark 2006 benchmark on both machines in Windows 7 in both VMWare and booting to Windows 7 directly via Boot Camp. My virtual machine used was my Boot Camp Partition. I also ran each test twice to make sure results were not skewed.
The results may surprise and delight a few of you!
3D Mark Scores
SM2.0 Scores
HDR / SM3.0 Scores
CPU Scores
Conclusion:
Some opponents and naysayers of the new Macbook Air 11″/13″ don’t really have much an argument against the CPU or overall speed of the laptop. Compared to most netbooks, the Macbook Air surpasses any of them with ease. Heck, it even bested my late 2009 Macbook Pro 13 on most tests except for the CPU score.
The numbers don’t lie and the experience you get does relate to the benchmark scores. I did feel like the Macbook Air felt faster and smoother running. VMware Fusion ran rather well on it and loaded my virtual Windows 7 much faster (Flash SSD definitely makes a difference in overall system speed vs my 5400RPM platter harddrive in the Macbook Pro 13). This test may not be the fairest one for the MBP13 since it didn’t have an SSD drive and in turn the numbers could jump back in its favor with such an upgrade. So there you have it, the stats and benchmarks.
Detailed numbers are below for the stat freaks 
Detailed Score Results:
| System | 3DMark Score | SM2.0 Score | HDR/SM3.0 Score | CPU Score |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 2164 | 771 | 802 | 1992 |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 2167 | 771 | 806 | 2002 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 457 | 177 | 143 | 986 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 477 | 190 | 143 | 991 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 4370 | 1681 | 1946 | 1450 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 4372 | 1686 | 1943 | 1452 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 1165 | 356 | 523 | 707 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 1163 | 356 | 523 | 704 |
| MBP13 Win7 – Average | 2165.5 | 771 | 804 | 1997 |
| MBA11 Win7 – Average | 4371 | 1683.5 | 1944.5 | 1451 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 – Average | 1164 | 356 | 523 | 705.5 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 – Average | 467 | 183.5 | 143 | 988.5 |
________________________
| System | GT1 – Return to Proxycon | GT2 0 – Firefly Forest | CPU1 – Red Valley |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 5.5 | 7.3 | 0.6 |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 5.5 | 7.3 | 0.6 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.3 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 14.1 | 13.9 | 0.5 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 14.1 | 14 | 0.5 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 0.2 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 0.2 |
| MBP13 Win7 – Average | 5.5 | 7.3 | 0.6 |
| MBA11 Win7 – Average | 14.1 | 13.95 | 0.5 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 – Average | 2.2 | 3.75 | 0.2 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 – Average | 1.6 | 1.45 | 0.3 |
_________________
| System | CPU2 – Red Valley | HDR1 – Canyon Flight | HDR2 – Deep Freeze |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 1 | 6.6 | 9.4 |
| MBP13 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 1 | 6.7 | 9.4 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 0.7 | 16 | 23 |
| MBA11 Win7 (Boot Camp) | 0.7 | 15.9 | 23 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 6.1 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 6.1 |
| MBP13 Win7 – Average | 1 | 6.65 | 9.4 |
| MBA11 Win7 – Average | 0.7 | 15.95 | 23 |
| MBA11 VMWare Win7 – Average | 0.4 | 4.4 | 6.1 |
| MBP13 VMWare Win7 – Average | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
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The Conversation
Follow the reactions below and share your own thoughts.
October 29, 2010 at 1:58 pm, Anonymous said:
Ouch! I think you just destroyed my ideas about the MBA! I’ll have to review the data in detail and see if I can revive my preconceived notions.
October 29, 2010 at 7:23 pm, Romil Lservice said:
Try these tests with geekbench, you might get different results……..
On OSX, MB PRO is still faster then MBA
October 29, 2010 at 11:47 pm, jimmyselix said:
working on those benchmarks as i type
going to be using geekbench too
i’m assuming it would be too since OS X is optimized for the hardware unlike Win7 (even though drivers are decent, still not native OS X)
the ssd really does it though since i only have a slower 5400rpm drive in the MBP13.
GeekBench next up
November 12, 2010 at 11:20 pm, jimmyselix said:
geekbench and xbench scores are in the full review i did.
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/9434/macbook-air-11-the-review/
October 29, 2010 at 7:49 pm, Hfs said:
I like how it has win 7 on a mac…
November 04, 2010 at 1:12 am, jimmyselix said:
i figure this will give those netbook comparers are real benchmark to run against their machines they so love
its NOT A NETBOOK!!
November 20, 2010 at 9:24 pm, theMikeroy said:
The comparisons in Fusion are interesting, and naturally the CPU scores would be half if you’ve only assigned 1 CPU core, wheras running natively gives you 2. I’d be interested to know if setting Fusion to run with 2 CPU’s assigned to the VM would yield a higher score.
December 08, 2010 at 1:32 pm, Kamen said:
That CPU score of 1451 would put it in the same league as the previous gen of MBA with 9400M. Thanks a ton for showing this info as it’s usually left out by less experienced testers, but is critical for users who do want a speedy notebook as opposed to a purely gaming one.
December 09, 2010 at 12:39 am, jimmyselix said:
yea, it def feels snappier than the older MBA. i had a mba rev a with the ssd and my new mba 11″ keeps up just fine and then some since the ssd is actually flash and much faster. battery life is much improved too! however, i am missing the backlit keyboard and irda (used to use apple remote w/frontrow for movie watching in my bed on older mba and mbp13) though.
thanks for stopping by!