The first 2018 MacBook Air benchmark shows moderate gains over 2017, MacBook Air and MacBook

The first reference for the 2018 MacBook Air was unveiled today on Geekbench, giving us a first glimpse of how the Intel 7W low-power Amber Lake Intel chip is up to the performance of other Macs in the Apple lineup. .

Equipped with an Intel Core i5-8210Y chip at 1.6 GHz and 16 GB of RAM, the model Macbook Air obtained a single-core score of 4248 and a multicore score of 7828.

As expected, it is significantly better than the previous generation Macbook Air with a Broadwell processor clocked at 1.8 GHz, which earned him a single-core score of 3335 and a multicore score of 6119.

It's faster than the fastest Core M chip of the 2017 MacBook models, but not much. The 1.4 GHz MacBook achieved a single-core score of 3925 and a multicore score of 7567, while the base model with a 1.2 GHz Core M chip achieved a single-core score of 3527 and a multicore score of 6654.

Compared to MacBook Pro models, it's not too far from the 2018 13-inch touchbar Macbook Pro with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor in terms of single-core performance, but it can not compete with the four cores in 2018 Macbook Pro. This machine earned a single-core score of 4504 and a multicore score of 16464.

It is also slower than the 13 inches 2017 Macbook Pro No Touch Bar sold by Apple, which earned a single-core score of 4314 and a multicore score of 9071.

Single-core performance

• 2018 Macbook Air – 4248
• 2017 Macbook Air – 3335
• 1.4 GHz 2017 MacBook – 3925
• 1.3 GHz 2017 MacBook – 3630
• 1.2 GHz 2017 MacBook – 3527
• 2.3 GHz 2018 Macbook Pro – 4504
• 2.3 GHz 2017 Macbook Pro – 4314

Multicore performance

• 2018 Macbook Air – 7828
• 2017 Macbook Air – 6119
• 1.4 GHz 2017 MacBook – 7567
• 1.3 GHz 2017 MacBook – 6974
• 1.2 GHz 2017 MacBook – 6654
• 2.3 GHz 2018 Macbook Pro – 16464
• 2.3 GHz 2017 Macbook Pro – 9071

previous Macbook Air The chips used Intel's 15-W U-series chips, but the 2018 model uses a 7-watt Y-series chip with lower power consumption. Concerns were also expressed about its performance compared to the rest of the Mac range.

Based on these Geekbench scores, which are not necessarily indicative of the performance of these machines in the real world, the Macbook Air is greater than the MacBook range right now but is far from the basic level Macbook Pro, which is about right considering its price ($ 1,199 for the Air against $ 1,299 for the Pro). What will the Mac Series look like if and when the 12 inches MacBook is refreshed remains to be seen.

Additional benchmark results are expected shortly, as the Macbook Air should arrive at the first customers on Wednesday, November 7th, and Macbook Air the journals should come out before.