Old Macbook Pro vs new Macbook Air

[Nico Jones]

Hello all,

I currently have an old Macbook Pro, which I barely use any more for AE work. I’m thinking of getting one of those new MAcbook Airs, because portability is a bigger factor than power for at the moment.

However I’d still like to be able to do a spot of AE work on the Air if I get one. So my question to the tech-gurus is: my existing Macbook is a 2.4 GHz Core Duo. How would a new Macbook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 stack up against that performance-wise? 4GB of RAM in both.

I know 2.4 GHz is more than 1.7GHz, but I wasn’t sure if that was an accurate reflection of performance any more. And i presume the SSD will make things a little nippier anyway.

Thanks!

Nico

[Nico Jones]

Ah yes of course. Thanks for the reply. Render speed isn’t a dealbreaker really. I’d primarily use it for prep work or personal stuff, not hardcore HD epics. My MB Pro as it is isn’t great for rendering.

I suppose I was just looking for a general point of view as to the suitabilty of the new Airs for AE work. If they can handle moderate projects but take an age to render, I could probably live with that.

I know the early Airs were barely able to do anything; just wanted to see if the speed increases since then have made much of a difference…

Nico J BB