MacBook Air 2018 benchmarks show 28% performance increase over last year’s model

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But is that enough?

MacBook Air 2018

Apple officially unveiled the MacBook Air 2018 on Tuesday October 30, and benchmark results have emerged on the internet that show a noticeable improvement over 2017’s MacBook Air, though some people may feel the boost doesn’t go far enough.

The Geekbench results, which are a benchmark used by many people (us included) to test the processing power of computers, show that the new MacBook Air 2018 with Retina display sporting a 1.6GHz dual-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5 processor scores 4,248 in the single core test, and 7,828 in the multi-core test.

As 9to5Mac observes, this is around 27% and 28% faster than the single core and multi-core scores of the MacBook Air 2017, respectively.

This means you’re certainly going to get a better performance out of the new MacBook Air compared to last year’s model, though some people may be disappointed to see that the leap isn’t quite as drastic as they hoped.

MacBook Air 2018 Geekbench results

(Image credit: Geekbench)

Power profile

The MacBook Air 2018 is 20% more powerful than the 12-inch MacBook in single core Geekbench tests, and 17% faster in multi-core scores.

The 9to5Mac website also compared the scores with the MacBook Pro 2017 without Touch Bar, which scores roughly the same as the new MacBook Air when it comes to single-core performance, but is about 16% faster than the MacBook Air when it comes to multi-core performance. 

However, the MacBook Pro 2017 is around $100 (£80, AU$140) more expensive than the MacBook Air 2018, which makes the newer Mac a much more compelling purchase.

Against the new MacBook Pro 2018, however, the MacBook Air 2018 doesn’t stand a chance, with multi-core scores being almost double in favor of the Pro. This shouldn’t be too surprising considering the more expensive nature of the MacBook Pro, which is geared more towards professional use cases.

While Geekbench (or any benchmark scores, for that matter) don’t show the whole picture when it comes to performance, these scores at least give us an idea of where the MacBook Air 2018 sits when it comes to MacBook performance.

We’ll have our full MacBook Air 2018 review up next week, where we’ll take a closer look at what kind of performance we can expect from Apple’s latest laptop.

Matt Hanson
Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he's reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.