Performance difference between MacBook Pro (2.8 GHz) vs Air (1.7 GHz)?
- by jonathanconway
I'm comparing these two Apple laptops:
MacBook Pro (13", 2011 model):
2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory on 2.4GHz configuration
MacBook Air (13", 2011 model):
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with 3MB shared L3 cache
4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory
Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
There's definitely a gap between them in terms of CPU speed and graphics, but what practical difference would this make on a day-to-day basis?
On the one hand, I love the sleek, thin appearance of the Air.
On the other hand, I don't want a machine that's going to be dog-slow when doing tasks such as running Virtual Machines, dual-booting to Windows and running multiple instances of Visual Studio, and maybe some light gaming.
Is there going to be a major difference that makes the MacBook Pro a more attractive purchase?
