MacBook Air (Mid 2013)
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MacBook Air 2013 vs 2012: Performance, Battery Life, Price and More!

MacBook Air (Mid 2013)
MacBook Air (Mid 2013)

Apple MacBook Air 2013 has been announced during WWDC2013 and available immediately. The new MacBook Air (MBA) looks and weight identical to the old MBA, the changes are inside. New MBA uses Intel fourth-generation Intel core processors “Haswell” with Intel HD Graphics 5000, faster SSD, supports WiFi 802.11ac.

It doesn’t sound like a lot of changes, does it? Let’s check out each feature and compare with previous MacBook Airs.

Table of Contents

Intel Haswell Inside

New MacBook Air (Mid 2013) is the first Apple computer with Intel fourth-generation Intel Core processors, code name “Haswell” with Intel HD Graphics 5000. It replaces Ivy Bridge processor and Intel HD Graphics 4000 used in old MBA models.

The clock speed drops to 1.3GHz for all new MBA models, thus requires less power. Previously, it was 1.7GHz for 11-inch MBA 2012, and 1.8GHz for 13-inch MBA. Anyway, the max turbo remains 2.6GHz.

Much battery life

Apple says new MBA is “all-day battery” – up to 12 hours of battery life for 13-inch MacBook Air and 9 hours for 11-inch MacBook Air.

In Macworld lab test, 11-inch MacBook Air lasted 6 hours and 6 minutes and 13-inch MacBook Air lasted 8 hours and 18 minutes.

The results are much better than MacBook Air 2012 models: 11-inch MBA was only 3 hours and 34 minutes; MBA 13-inch was only 4 hours 55 mins.

Better graphic performance

The new MacBook Air Haswell processor build-in Intel HD Graphics 5000 which is, say Apple, 40% faster than HD Graphics 4000 used in previous MBAs.

MacBook Air Cinebench OpenGL chart
MacBook Air Cinebench OpenGL chart

A Cinebench OpenGL benchmark tested by Macworld shows that new MBA is up to 30% faster than its predecessor.

Faster SSD

Instead of using SATA SSD, new MacBook Air uses PCIe based SSD (same as new Mac Pro 2013), AnandTech reports. Two PCIe 2.0 interface in new MacBook Air capable of 1GB/s data transfer speed. A disk performance test reveals read/write performance of nearly 800MB/s!

Depending on the drive, general maximum transfer rate for SATA SSD is ranging from 100MB/s to 600MB/s.

Doubled space, Dual microsphones

Noticed that Apple has doubled MacBook Air 11“ model storage capacity from 64GB to 128GB, and from 128GB to 256GB for high-end MacBook Air 11”. The storage space for 13″ models remain unchanged.

New MacBook Air now comes with dual microphones to help noise cancellation and improve sound quality.

Also, WiFi 802.11ac gives you up to 3 times faster performance when connected to a 802.11ac router.

MacBook Air performance: 2013 vs. 2012

New processor, better graphic, faster SSD… Do they mean that MacBook Air 2013 has better overall performance than MacBook Air 2012?

MacBook Air Speedmark 8 chart
MacBook Air Speedmark 8 chart

Not really. Do not forget that new MacBook Air has slower processor clock speed. In fact, both generations earn identical Macworld’s Speedmark 8 scores. The major advantage of MacBook Air 2013 over MacBook Air 2012 is, you guess it, “all-day battery life”.

MacBook Air (Mid 2013) Lineup

Check out the following table for the new MacBook Air (Mid 2013) lineup models and prices in Malaysia.

MacBook Air Mid 2013 lineup
MacBook Air Mid 2013 lineup

Available configurations are 1.7GHz dual-core i7 processor, 8GB RAM. High-end models are configurable to 512GB SSD.

New price for MacBook Air 2012

With the new MacBook Air announced, Apple resellers are clearing their old MacBook Air 2012 stocks. The following is the MacBook Air 2012 price list from Machines Apple Reseller:

  • MacBook Air 11″/1.7/i5/4/64GB (MD223ZP/A) RM2,699
  • MacBook Air 11″/1.7/i5/4/128GB (MD224ZP/A) RM2,849
  • MacBook Air 13″/1.8/i5/4/128GB (MD231ZP/A) RM2,999
  • MacBook Air 13″/1.8/i5/4/256GB (MD232ZP/A) RM3,599

It is RM300 different for MBA 13“ models and up to RM750 different for MBA 11” models (doubled SSD capacity, remember?).

LiewCF’s Buying Advice

If long battery life and better graphic performance are not worth few hundred bucks for you, then grab the MBA 2012 while still available.

If you would like to use MBA for the next 5 years, I would suggest you max up the RAM to 8GB because it is not upgradeable after purchase. (MacBook Air SSD is upgradeable)

If you are looking for a second notebook while travelling, the 11″ MBA is a good choice. It is lightweight, powerful, long battery life machine at RM3000.

The 13″ MBA is good enough to be your only computer, or even a desktop replacement (connect to external display). But I will wait for the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display (2013) announcement first.

You can buy new MacBook Air now, shipping in Malaysia from Mid July.

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