MacBook Air: 1.8GHz SSD vs 1.6GHz HDD [Updated]
ArsTechnica compares the Solid State Drive (SSD) and Hard Disk Drive (HDD) versions of the MacBook Air to see if the SSD upgrade is worth the additional cost.
Their benchmark results are consistent with earlier benchmarks revealing that the SSD drive is slower at writing and sequential reads than the HDD. The SSD, however, is faster than the HDD at random (non-sequential) disk access.
This difference shows itself in "real world" tests such as Exporting a 60MB Quicktime, Compiling an Application or Unzipping an archive. As expected, the large file export, which performs a large sequential write to disk favored the HDD model. Meanwhile, building Webkit and Unzipping an archive showed off the speed advantage of the SSD.
Ars also looked at battery life of the MacBook Air and in their HDD review found that their Air averaged a paltry 2.5 hour battery life in their "real world tests". Questions of the validity of these results have been raised, with other anecdotal claims of battery life as long as 4-5 hours on the same configuration. Indeed, reports are varied:
Forums: 56% left after 2:15, 5+ hours?; Engadget: 2:25 watching movie, 3:35 light usage
Ars, however, is pretty confident in their battery life tests for their machine and felt it was consistent with some other reports. They found that the SSD didn't seem to offer a significant longer battery life (on average), however, their battery tests were not standardized and the SSD model had a faster processor. (Of note, MacLife found an SSD drive in a MacBook Pro brought a 14% battery life improvement.)
In the end, they felt the SSD upgrade was not worth the additional cost ($999), but noted the biggest advantage of the SSD was a lack of disk-access related slowdowns that they experienced on the HDD model.
Update: Several readers note that the SSD model had a 1.8GHz processor, rather than a 1.6GHz processor, so even equivalent battery life is likely an improvement. Also, another big advantage to SSD is durability -- with no chance of a hard drive "crash".
Their benchmark results are consistent with earlier benchmarks revealing that the SSD drive is slower at writing and sequential reads than the HDD. The SSD, however, is faster than the HDD at random (non-sequential) disk access.
This difference shows itself in "real world" tests such as Exporting a 60MB Quicktime, Compiling an Application or Unzipping an archive. As expected, the large file export, which performs a large sequential write to disk favored the HDD model. Meanwhile, building Webkit and Unzipping an archive showed off the speed advantage of the SSD.
Ars also looked at battery life of the MacBook Air and in their HDD review found that their Air averaged a paltry 2.5 hour battery life in their "real world tests". Questions of the validity of these results have been raised, with other anecdotal claims of battery life as long as 4-5 hours on the same configuration. Indeed, reports are varied:
Forums: 56% left after 2:15, 5+ hours?; Engadget: 2:25 watching movie, 3:35 light usage
Ars, however, is pretty confident in their battery life tests for their machine and felt it was consistent with some other reports. They found that the SSD didn't seem to offer a significant longer battery life (on average), however, their battery tests were not standardized and the SSD model had a faster processor. (Of note, MacLife found an SSD drive in a MacBook Pro brought a 14% battery life improvement.)
In the end, they felt the SSD upgrade was not worth the additional cost ($999), but noted the biggest advantage of the SSD was a lack of disk-access related slowdowns that they experienced on the HDD model.
Update: Several readers note that the SSD model had a 1.8GHz processor, rather than a 1.6GHz processor, so even equivalent battery life is likely an improvement. Also, another big advantage to SSD is durability -- with no chance of a hard drive "crash".
Top Rated Comments
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52 months ago
Jump over to Ars Technica web site and check out their review of the MacBook Air HDD and SSD model. Interesting stuff plus they pose the question is the extra $1,300 for the SSD worth it?
MacBook Air HDD Review
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-review.ars
MacBook Air SSD Review
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-ssd-review.ars
MacBook Air HDD Review
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-review.ars
MacBook Air SSD Review
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-ssd-review.ars
52 months ago
That's what I was worried about. Battery life. I've heard less than good marks on that so far.
52 months ago
Very thorough reviews.
I'm still happy I got the SSD model, though, for one main reason: No more drive crashes. Even though I keep rigorous backups of my data, I've suffered through several HD crashes in my life, and it's painful every time. Switching to SSD will hopefully eliminate (or reduce substantially) that problem for me. Sure, the SSD is a lot of extra coin right now, but prices will come down...
And I'm used to being on the bleeding edge, anyway. It's good geek cred to have the SSD. ;)
I'm still happy I got the SSD model, though, for one main reason: No more drive crashes. Even though I keep rigorous backups of my data, I've suffered through several HD crashes in my life, and it's painful every time. Switching to SSD will hopefully eliminate (or reduce substantially) that problem for me. Sure, the SSD is a lot of extra coin right now, but prices will come down...
And I'm used to being on the bleeding edge, anyway. It's good geek cred to have the SSD. ;)
52 months ago
Disappointing as I wanted to spunk the extra cash on this.
Hmm, building Webkit. I do that all the time.
Hmm, building Webkit. I do that all the time.
52 months ago
Perhaps what this shows is that a larger footprint laptop (say the next MBP) could usefully use both SSD and HDD. Use a small capacity SSD for the OS and a large capacity HDD for storage...
52 months ago
battery life tests are annoyingly inconsistent.
There needs to be a "standard" battery suite that runs, and you let it run until the battery is drained. This is of no help by itself... but at least you could run it against many different machines to get a sense of relative battery life.
arn
There needs to be a "standard" battery suite that runs, and you let it run until the battery is drained. This is of no help by itself... but at least you could run it against many different machines to get a sense of relative battery life.
arn
52 months ago
Would this be altered by going to a larger form factor 2.5" and SATA rather than PATA. i.e. for the MB and MBPs.
52 months ago
Let me be the first to say it in this thread, before anyone beats me to it : who cares about the air, where the hell is that Macbook Pro ? :D:p
Seriously, this is no news : everyone knows by now that writing to flash media is slower than writing to a normal hard drive. I however do not really doubt Arstechnica's results, they have a pretty solid reputation when it comes to reviewing.
Seriously, this is no news : everyone knows by now that writing to flash media is slower than writing to a normal hard drive. I however do not really doubt Arstechnica's results, they have a pretty solid reputation when it comes to reviewing.
52 months ago
battery life tests are annoyingly inconsistent.
Yes but why. Is there anything to learn here about how to extend your battery life?
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