Right now I’m busy working on Geekbench 2.2 so I’ve only done an abbreviated performance comparison of the new MacBook Airs that Apple released last week.

I’ve grabbed Geekbench 2 scores from the Geekbench Browser for all of the MacBook Air models, as well as the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro models (it being the most logical comparison outside of the Air lineup). I’ve also included scores for the iPad and the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro models (as they’re the products most folks will be comparing the new Airs against).

Update: I’ve updated the chart with scores for the 1.6GHz and 2.13GHz MacBook Airs, as well as for the latest 13-inch MacBook.

If you’re not familiar with Geekbench 2, higher Geekbench 2 scores are better. Also, keep in mind that Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance; it won’t measure the benefits of new video cards or storage devices.

Geekbench 2 Scores

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores)
3655
 
MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)
3358
 
MacBook (Mid 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)
3345
 
MacBook Air (13-inch Late 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9600 2.13 GHz (2 cores)
3003
 
MacBook Air (13-inch Late 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores)
2695
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores)
2444
 
MacBook Air (11-inch Late 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo U9600 1.6 GHz (2 cores)
2280
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9300 1.6 GHz (2 cores)
2255
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7700 1.8 GHz (2 cores)
2100
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 1.6 GHz (2 cores)
2031
 
MacBook Air (11-inch Late 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 1.4 GHz (2 cores)
2026
 
iPad
Apple A4 (1 core)
453
 

There are two ways you can look at the new 11-inch MacBook Air; it’s either a much smaller but slower MacBook Pro, or a much faster but larger iPad. The 11-inch MacBook Air is small enough that I’d consider bringing it instead of an iPad, but I’d worry it’s not fast enough (or have enough screen space) to be my primary laptop.

The 13-inch MacBook Air is a much more straightforward product; it has 80% of the processor performance of the latest 13-inch Pro, making it an acceptable substitute for users looking for a slightly more portable Pro.