Application loading times?- macbook air rev a vs rev b vs unibody macbook (all HDD)

[villan]

Hi, I cant remember if ive posted here before or not but i have spent roughly half my life (or it just feels like it) deciding between these three notebooks and i know all the advantages, disadvantages, problems, etc but i would love to know how the loading times for various applications vary between the three. Someone here said that the rev b takes about 25% longer to open an application than the macbook. How accurate is this? So basically if anyone can tell me how long any app takes to load on their macbook air or unibody it would be a gr8 help (i know i can live with all of the airs other disadvantages but this hasnt been talked about too much). Thanks

btw a ssd is not an option and obviously the macbook is gonna be faster than the air, im just wondering how much faster

 

[Insulin Junkie]

So basically if anyone can tell me how long any app takes to load on their macbook air or unibody it would be a gr8 help

I can't tell you about the air, but even on the unibody, it would depend on the kind of application. My unibody times (2.0ghz, 2gb ram, presently) (Calculated from clicking on the icon to when the program is fully loaded & usable)

Firefox: 2-4 seconds
iTunes: 4 seconds
iMovie: 7-8 seconds
Microsoft word 8-10 seconds

I think you get the idea. What would it be on the Air? I'd add maybe 1 or 2 seconds on a HDD version, as the processor speed is slightly lower.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the air seems to have overheating issues sometimes, and overheating can cause a slowdown when loading apps.
Hope this helped a bit.

 

[pellets007]

You have to make sure that all times are after a restart. Otherwise, OS X's cache will add an extra variable to your time.

as the processor speed is slightly lower.

It's more to do with the RPM.

 

[stoconnell]

I cannot give you much of a comparison, but of those, I would expect the Rev A MBA to be the slowest given slower memory bus speed (DDR2 v DDR3), 50% less L3 cache in the chip vs. Rev B MBA (4MB vs. 6MB), however both of MBAs have the slower 4200 RPM HDDs and will suffer more from I/O wait than the either of the MBs (esp. if you upgrade the HDDs to 7200 or SSD). The other thing is if you don't reboot or quit and restart applications very often and don't push the 2GB RAM, the hit on the initial load of the apps will be negligible as, once they are launched, you should be good to go. If you need the portability and can live with the compromises, get the Rev B MBA (if it fits in your budget). The MB is a very nice machine with some built-in future proofing (memory is expandable, hard drives are readily replaced, etc -- neither of which are real options with the MBA -- drives maybe) so you cannot go too wrong there either if the viewing angles/black levels, etc on the LCD don't bother or concern you too much (this is a very subjective and touchy subject) .

Good luck with your decision.

 

[villan]

I can't tell you about the air, but even on the unibody, it would depend on the kind of application. My unibody times (2.0ghz, 2gb ram, presently) (Calculated from clicking on the icon to when the program is fully loaded & usable)

Firefox: 2-4 seconds
iTunes: 4 seconds
iMovie: 7-8 seconds
Microsoft word 8-10 seconds

I think you get the idea. What would it be on the Air? I'd add maybe 1 or 2 seconds on a HDD version, as the processor speed is slightly lower.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the air seems to have overheating issues sometimes, and overheating can cause a slowdown when loading apps.
Hope this helped a bit.

Thats exactly the kind of info i was looking for so thanks and thanks to everyone else for their help. I cant imagine a couple of seconds ever being a problem and the screen quality is probably more important to me than a slight difference in performance. Also, the look and the size of the unibody and the air are the main reasons i want a mac and the air is obviously the best at both of those things so i am fairly certain the air is the right laptop for me. Now i just need to try and buy the rev b rather than the a but if the worst comes to the worst then i will just buy the a and im sure i'll be very happy with it. Thanks to everyone who has ever replied to anyones question on this forum, youve been a big help

 

[uberamd]

Thats exactly the kind of info i was looking for so thanks and thanks to everyone else for their help. I cant imagine a couple of seconds ever being a problem and the screen quality is probably more important to me than a slight difference in performance. Also, the look and the size of the unibody and the air are the main reasons i want a mac and the air is obviously the best at both of those things so i am fairly certain the air is the right laptop for me. Now i just need to try and buy the rev b rather than the a but if the worst comes to the worst then i will just buy the a and im sure i'll be very happy with it. Thanks to everyone who has ever replied to anyones question on this forum, youve been a big help

For what its worth, I just got a Rev A MBA, and it runs great. I can use Leopard and run a VM in Virtual Box, no problem. For the size, its very responsive, and a joy to carry around.

 

[villan]

Thanks uberamd, There do seem to be a lot of happy rev a owners around but the UK apple store hasn't had a refurbished rev a in stock for ages now so i think that they might be all gone... and they seem to have a very similar price on ebay to the rev bs so it looks like im not gonna have too much choice anyway

 

[youssefm]

This thread is actually really helpful, I was wondering the same thing because I wanna go ahead and purchase an air.. I saw youtube videos though, and the SSD model is extremely quick at loading things.. so hopefully the HDD one isn't far behind

 

[villan]

This thread is actually really helpful, I was wondering the same thing because I wanna go ahead and purchase an air.. I saw youtube videos though, and the SSD model is extremely quick at loading things.. so hopefully the HDD one isn't far behind

The loading times would be noticeably slower than the SSD model. Take a look at the video on youtube which compares the boot time of the macbook air compared to a dell mini 9 with a SSD, it really shows how much of an effect a SSD makes. Although, loading and boot times are the main difference between a SSD and a HDD so i dont think it is worth the price difference for most people.