MacBook Pro Benchmarks (June 2009)

I’ve updated the Mac Benchmark chart with Geekbench results for the new MacBook Pros announced at WWDC earlier this month. I’ve included the results for these new MacBook Pros below, along with results for the previous generation of MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

Results were collected from the Geekbench Result Browser for Macs with standard processors (i.e., no processor upgrades or overclocked processors). I’ve reported the average overall score for each model and processor combination. A score of 1000 is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive, and higher scores are better.

Results

MacBook Pro (15/17-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9900 3.06 GHz (2 cores)		 3989
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800 2.93 GHz (2 cores)		 3888
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800 2.93 GHz (2 cores)		 3872
 
MacBook Pro (15/17-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3764
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3652
 
MacBook Pro (15/17-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3580
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3548
 
MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53 GHz (2 cores)		 3437
 
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53 GHz (2 cores)		 3436
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3405
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz (2 cores)		 3293
 
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7550 2.26 GHz (2 cores)		 3140
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3139
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3127
 
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz (2 cores)		 3126
 
MacBook (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 2.13 GHz (2 cores)		 2904
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2708
 
MacBook (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2616
 

Posted June 22nd, 2009 in Apple, Geekbench, Mac OS X, MacBook, MacBook Pro | Comments

Illuminated Keyboard

A few years ago I bought a 15″ PowerBook with an illuminated keyboard. At the time, I didn’t think much of the keyboard:

The keyboard backlight is an interesting idea, and looks very cool, but I’m not sure how practical it is. It’s only really visible when in a pitch-black room, and I can’t remember the last time I used a laptop in a room that dark (save when I was testing the keyboard backlight).

A few days ago, I bought a 15″ MacBook Pro with an illuminated keyboard and unlike the first time around I can’t say how much I’ve missed, and how much I appreciate, having a backlit keyboard.

You see, in between the PowerBook and the MacBook Pro I had a MacBook with a regular keyboard. That keyboard was hard enough to read in dim lighting, let alone complete darkness. Now, though, I have no problem reading the keys.

If you’re considering between an illuminated and a regular keyboard, might I recommend going with the illuminated keyboard. Even if it doesn’t seem like much at first, you’ll soon come to appreciate it.

Posted June 16th, 2009 in Apple, MacBook Pro | Comments

Mac Pro Benchmarks (Early 2009)

Apple released a lot of new hardware this month, and while I was able to post Geekbench results for the new iMac and Mac mini fairly quickly, it took a little while longer to get Geekbench results for the new Mac Pro.

While other folks, such as Rob-ART over at BareFeats, have done an excellent job compiling benchmark results for the latest Mac Pros, I still wanted to post Geekbench results for not just the latest Mac Pros, but all of the Mac Pros that Apple has produced.

Setup

I’ve gathered Geekbench scores for the all of the Mac Pros that Apple has released. Scores were collected from the Geekbench Result Browser for Mac Pros with standard processors (i.e., no processor upgrades, overclocked processors, or Hackintoshes).

I’ve reported the average overall score for each model and processor combination.

If you haven’t used Geekbench before here’s how it measures performance. Geekbench compares a computer’s performance against a “baseline system” (currently a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz in Geekbench 2). A computer that has the same performance as the baseline system scores 1000 in Geekbench. A computer that’s twice as fast as the baseline scores 2000 while a computer that’s twice as slow scores 500.

Finally, Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance which is why models with the same processors but different video cards have roughly the same score.

Mac Pro Benchmarks

Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Intel Xeon X5570 2.93 GHz (8 cores)		 14904
 
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Intel Xeon X5550 2.67 GHz (8 cores)		 14458
 
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Intel Xeon E5520 2.27 GHz (8 cores)		 11803
 
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Intel Xeon W3540 2.93 GHz (4 cores)		 9112
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5482 3.2 GHz (8 cores)		 9039
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5472 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8737
 
Mac Pro (8-core)
Intel Xeon X5365 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8629
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores)		 8319
 
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Intel Xeon W3520 2.67 GHz (4 cores)		 8144
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz (4 cores)		 5538
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (4 cores)		 5438
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66 GHz (4 cores)		 4975
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 GHz (4 cores)		 3884
 

Conclusions

What’s interesting is the performance of the 2008 and 2009 entry-level Mac Pro; both Macs have roughly the same performance, but the newer Mac Pro has a lower processor frequency and fewer cores. The new Nehalem architecture is clearly better than the older Core architecture. While it would be nice if the new entry-level Mac Pro was faster than the old entry-level Mac Pro, the new Mac Pro is cheaper, a change that makes more sense given the state of the economy.

The new mid- and high-end Mac Pros, on the other hand, are insanely fast (and insanely expensive). Currently it’s these models that are dominating most of the top spots in the Geekbench Result Browser. The only computer that can beat the Mac Pros’ score is a 32-core server from IBM.

Posted March 31st, 2009 in Geekbench, Mac OS X, Mac Pro | Comments

iMac and Mac mini Benchmarks (Early 2009)

Yesterday, Apple updated its entire desktop lineup. This update had been a long time coming, especially since the Mac Pro hadn’t been updated since January 2008 and the Mac mini hadn’t been updated since August 2007!

However, a lot of people were disappointed with the updates, since it felt like an incremental update rather than a substantial upgrade. Now that Geekbench results are coming in for the new iMac and Mac mini, we can look at one aspect of the updated hardware — processor performance — and see if the upgrade is incremental or substantial.

Setup

I’ve gathered results for the latest iMacs and Mac minis and compared them against previous generations (note that results for some hardware configurations aren’t available yet; I’ll update the post when they are available). Results were collected from the Geekbench Result Browser for Macs with standard processors (i.e., no processor upgrades or overclocked processors). I’ve reported the average overall score for each model and processor combination.

If you’re unfamiliar with Geekbench and how it measures performance, a score of 1000 is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive. Higher scores are better. Also, Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance which is why models with the same processors but different video cards have roughly the same score.

iMac Benchmarks

iMac (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8435 3.06 GHz (2 cores)		 4105
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8435 3.06 GHz (2 cores)		 4004
 
iMac (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8335 2.93 GHz (2 cores)		 3873
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8235 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3736
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3631
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8335 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3578
 
iMac (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8135 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3556
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8135 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3213
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3144
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2671
 

Mac mini Benchmarks

Mac mini (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2768
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2583
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2379
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T2300 1.67 GHz (2 cores)		 2139
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T1200 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 1391
 

Conclusions

Processor performance hasn’t increased substantially in the latest hardware; the performance increase seems to scale with processor speed. This isn’t surprising, since neither the iMac nor the Mac mini moved to a new processor architecture.

You might want to keep this in mind if you’re looking for a new Mac; you might be better off getting a discontinued (or refurbished) previous-generation Mac rather than one of the new Mac models.

Posted March 4th, 2009 in Geekbench, Mac OS X, Mac mini, iMac | Comments

Geekbench 2.1.2

Geekbench 2.1.2 has been released! Geekbench 2.1.2 features the following changes:

  • added support for MacBook (Early 2009) and MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2009)
  • fixed a bug where PowerPC 64-bit results were flagged as invalid
  • fixed a bug where “threads” and “cores” labels were swapped in the results view

Geekbench 2.1.2 is a free update for all registered Geekbench 2 users.

Posted February 27th, 2009 in Geekbench | Comments

Geekbench 2.1.1

Geekbench 2.1.1 has been released! Geekbench 2.1.1 features the following changes:

  • added support for MacBook (Late 2008), MacBook Air (Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
  • added support for Intel Core i7 and AMD Phenom II processors
  • added the distinction between processor cores and processor threads
  • updated benchmark result user interface
  • fixed core/thread counting bugs for Intel Core i7 processors
  • fixed a startup crash that occurred under Vista’s diagnostic mode
  • fixed a crash that occurred when running Geekbench for Windows under Wine
  • fixed a bug that exaggerated benchmark performance under Geekbench for Windows (64-bit version)

Geekbench 2.1.1 is a free update for all registered Geekbench 2 users.

Posted February 3rd, 2009 in Geekbench | Comments

PC Performance (January 2009)

It’s been over a year since I’ve updated the PC Performance chart. Why did it take so long? Well, over the last year I’ve made a lot of architectural changes, both to Geekbench and to the Geekbench Result Browser, that broke the chart generation scripts. After the Geekbench 2.1 release (and after the holidays) I had time to sit down and re-write the scripts, so here’s the latest installment of the PC Performance chart.

Setup

Results were collected from Geekbench 2 for Windows running on PCs with at least 512 MB of RAM and with processors that weren’t overclocked.

I’ve reported the average overall score for each processor. If you’re unfamiliar with Geekbench and how it measures performance, a score of 1000 is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive. Higher scores are better.

Results

Intel Core i7 920
16 cores @ 2670 MHz		 7503
 
AMD Phenom II X4 940
4 cores @ 3000 MHz		 5875
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9770
4 cores @ 3200 MHz		 5271
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9650
4 cores @ 3000 MHz		 5107
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
4 cores @ 2830 MHz		 4925
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme Q6800
4 cores @ 2930 MHz		 4886
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
4 cores @ 2830 MHz		 4801
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme Q6850
4 cores @ 3000 MHz		 4791
 
AMD Phenom 9950
4 cores @ 2600 MHz		 4724
 
AMD Phenom 9850
4 cores @ 2500 MHz		 4412
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400
4 cores @ 2660 MHz		 4298
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700
4 cores @ 2660 MHz		 4259
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4 cores @ 2500 MHz		 4185
 
AMD Phenom 9750
4 cores @ 2400 MHz		 4104
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
4 cores @ 2330 MHz		 4000
 
AMD Phenom 9650
4 cores @ 2300 MHz		 3965
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
4 cores @ 2400 MHz		 3960
 
AMD Phenom 9550
4 cores @ 2200 MHz		 3872
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
2 cores @ 3330 MHz		 3855
 
AMD Phenom 9600
4 cores @ 2300 MHz		 3846
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
2 cores @ 3330 MHz		 3794
 
AMD Phenom 9500
4 cores @ 2200 MHz		 3652
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
2 cores @ 3160 MHz		 3451
 
AMD Phenom 8650
3 cores @ 2300 MHz		 3367
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 3343
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 3334
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+
2 cores @ 3200 MHz		 3307
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 3291
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
2 cores @ 2930 MHz		 3102
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 3093
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 3083
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
2 cores @ 2660 MHz		 3065
 
AMD Phenom 8450
3 cores @ 2100 MHz		 3063
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
2 cores @ 2660 MHz		 3022
 
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 2947
 
AMD Athlon 64 FX-62
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 2923
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
2 cores @ 2660 MHz		 2895
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 2894
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200
2 cores @ 2530 MHz		 2810
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
2 cores @ 2600 MHz		 2691
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2 cores @ 2400 MHz		 2656
 
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60
2 cores @ 2600 MHz		 2650
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
2 cores @ 2330 MHz		 2640
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
2 cores @ 2600 MHz		 2612
 
AMD Athlon X2 4850e
2 cores @ 2500 MHz		 2603
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+
2 cores @ 2400 MHz		 2466
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E4700
2 cores @ 2600 MHz		 2440
 
Intel Pentium Dual E2200
2 cores @ 2200 MHz		 2418
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
2 cores @ 2400 MHz		 2416
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420
2 cores @ 2130 MHz		 2412
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
2 cores @ 2130 MHz		 2357
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400
2 cores @ 2000 MHz		 2206
 
Intel Pentium Dual E2180
2 cores @ 2000 MHz		 2200
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400
2 cores @ 2000 MHz		 2194
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
2 cores @ 2200 MHz		 2183
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
2 cores @ 2200 MHz		 2173
 
AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350
2 cores @ 2100 MHz		 2150
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320
2 cores @ 1860 MHz		 2111
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+
2 cores @ 2100 MHz		 2111
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
2 cores @ 1860 MHz		 2102
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
2 cores @ 1800 MHz		 2091
 
Intel Pentium D 945/950
2 cores @ 3400 MHz		 2065
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2 cores @ 2000 MHz		 2053
 
Intel Pentium Dual E2160
2 cores @ 1800 MHz		 2049
 
Intel Pentium D 840
2 cores @ 3200 MHz		 2006
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
2 cores @ 2000 MHz		 1991
 
Intel Pentium D 935
2 cores @ 3200 MHz		 1938
 
Intel Pentium D 940
2 cores @ 3200 MHz		 1934
 
Intel Pentium 4 670/672
2 cores @ 3800 MHz		 1911
 
Intel Pentium D 830
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 1886
 
Intel Pentium D 925
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 1882
 
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
1 core @ 2600 MHz		 1879
 
Intel Pentium D 925/930
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 1843
 
AMD Athlon 64 3800+
1 core @ 2400 MHz		 1756
 
Intel Pentium 4 560
2 cores @ 3600 MHz		 1752
 
Intel Pentium D 820
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 1741
 
Intel Pentium D 920
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 1734
 
Intel Pentium 4 551
2 cores @ 3400 MHz		 1726
 
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
1 core @ 2400 MHz		 1711
 
Intel Pentium D 915
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 1694
 
Intel Pentium D 805
2 cores @ 2660 MHz		 1685
 
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
1 core @ 2200 MHz		 1631
 
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1 core @ 2200 MHz		 1584
 
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
1 core @ 2200 MHz		 1557
 
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1 core @ 2000 MHz		 1446
 
Intel Pentium 4 630
2 cores @ 3000 MHz		 1443
 
Intel Pentium 4 541
2 cores @ 3200 MHz		 1406
 
Intel Pentium 4 520/620
2 cores @ 2800 MHz		 1375
 
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
1 core @ 1800 MHz		 1330
 
Intel Pentium 4 519K/524
1 core @ 3060 MHz		 1308
 
Intel Pentium 4 515/516
1 core @ 2930 MHz		 1256
 
AMD Athlon 64 2800+
1 core @ 1800 MHz		 1218
 
Intel Pentium 4 506
1 core @ 2660 MHz		 1044
 

Posted January 26th, 2009 in Geekbench, Hardware, Windows | Comments

Mac Performance (January 2009)

Welcome to the most recent installment of Primate Labs‘ Mac Performance chart, a carefully crafted compilation of Mac performance that’s generated from the user-submitted results in the Geekbench Result Browser.

Like other updates, this update includes the latest Apple hardware (in this case the MacBook, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro Apple released in November). Unlike other updates, this update doesn’t just present all of the Macs together in one large chart; it also splits the Macs into four different categories making the results easier to view and understand:

Setup

Results were collected from the Geekbench Result Browser for Macs with standard processors (i.e., no processor upgrades, overclocked processors, or Hackintoshes) with at least 512MB of RAM.

I’ve reported the average overall score for each model and processor combination. If you’re unfamiliar with Geekbench and how it measures performance, a score of 1000 is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive. Higher scores are better.

Also, keep in mind that Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance which is why, for example, MacBook and MacBook Pro scores are so similar, despite both having radically different graphics adapters.

Pro Laptop Performance

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3598
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6 GHz (2 cores)		 3304
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6 GHz (2 cores)		 3271
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz (2 cores)		 3254
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5 GHz (2 cores)		 3167
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3090
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3059
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3045
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2949
 
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2917
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz (2 cores)		 2836
 
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2734
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2600 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2656
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch)
Intel T2600 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2626
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2444
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores)		 2382
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2261
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9300 1.6 GHz (2 cores)		 2229
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7700 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 2137
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 1.6 GHz (2 cores)		 1981
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 851
 
PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 15-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 850
 
PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 17-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 843
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 822
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 774
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5/1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 741
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 740
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch 1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 721
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5/1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 694
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 693
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch 1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 677
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch FW800)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 660
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 568
 
PowerBook G4 (1 GHz/867 MHz)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 547
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch FW800)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 542
 
PowerBook G4 (1 GHz/867 MHz)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (1 core)		 507
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 468
 
PowerBook G4 (DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 800 MHz (1 core)		 462
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (1 core)		 427
 
PowerBook G4 (DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 667 MHz (1 core)		 407
 
PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 667 MHz (1 core)		 353
 
PowerBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7410) 500 MHz (1 core)		 322
 
PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 550 MHz (1 core)		 279
 
PowerBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7410) 400 MHz (1 core)		 265
 
PowerBook G3 (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 256
 
PowerBook G3 (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 400 MHz (1 core)		 215
 

What strikes me every time I look at this chart is how stable (or stagnant, depending on how charitable you’re feeling) PowerBook performance was after the introduction of the aluminum PowerBooks; it’s a reminder of how out-of-date the PowerPC G4 was then. When Apple switched to Intel processors, Pro laptop performance almost tripled overnight. Even the slowest MacBook Air, which many people regard as “too slow” to do “real work” on, is over twice as fast as the fastest PowerBook.

Pro Desktop Performance

Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5482 3.2 GHz (8 cores)		 8853
 
Mac Pro (8-core)
Intel Xeon X5365 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8516
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5472 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8475
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5472 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8283
 
Xserve (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores)		 8203
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores)		 8091
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz (4 cores)		 5508
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (4 cores)		 5395
 
Xserve (Late 2006)
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66 GHz (4 cores)		 5107
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66 GHz (4 cores)		 4940
 
Xserve (Late 2006)
Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 GHz (4 cores)		 3883
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 GHz (4 cores)		 3847
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.5 GHz (4 cores)		 3244
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.7 GHz (2 cores)		 2256
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.5 GHz (2 cores)		 2092
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)		 2075
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)		 1953
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1805
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1735
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1704
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1684
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1581
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1571
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1547
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.42 GHz (2 cores)		 1167
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1078
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (2 cores)		 1051
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1042
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.6 GHz (1 core)		 950
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (2 cores)		 867
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (2 cores)		 830
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (2 cores)		 730
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 704
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (2 cores)		 650
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 581
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 933 MHz (1 core)		 541
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7410) 533 MHz (2 cores)		 527
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 867 MHz (1 core)		 478
 
Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (2 cores)		 458
 
Power Mac G3 (Blue and White)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 449 MHz (1 core)		 449
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 428
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 733 MHz (1 core)		 369
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7410) 533 MHz (1 core)		 354
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 467 MHz (1 core)		 310
 
Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (1 core)		 285
 
Power Mac G4 Cube
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (1 core)		 284
 
Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 400 MHz (1 core)		 256
 
Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 350 MHz (1 core)		 233
 
Power Mac G3 (Blue and White)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 349 MHz (1 core)		 207
 

Pro desktops weren’t held back by the PowerPC G4 because they were able to take advantage of IBM’s PowerPC G5. While the PowerPC G5 never reached the 3GHz promised by Steve Jobs in 2003, they did provide better performance than the PowerPC G4 and served the PowerMac well until Apple switched to Intel.

Now, with the switch to Intel, the latest Mac Pro is the fastest Mac available (and one of the fastest computers available) thanks to its two quad-core processors.

Consumer Laptop Performance

MacBook (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3093
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3088
 
MacBook (Late 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz (2 cores)		 2862
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2741
 
MacBook (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz (2 cores)		 2728
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2691
 
MacBook (Late 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2651
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2566
 
MacBook
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2449
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2355
 
MacBook
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2289
 
iBook G4 (Mid 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 717
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 709
 
iBook G4 (Mid 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 668
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.2 GHz (1 core)		 614
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.07 GHz (1 core)		 560
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 933 MHz (1 core)		 500
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 486
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 800 MHz (1 core)		 425
 
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
PowerPC 750FX 800 MHz (1 core)		 379
 
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
PowerPC 750FX 700 MHz (1 core)		 362
 
iBook (Dual USB)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 226
 
iBook (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 467 MHz (1 core)		 223
 

Much like Apple’s pro laptops, Apple’s consumer laptops were held back by the out-of-date PowerPC G4; switching to Intel almost tripled MacBook performance overnight.

Consumer Desktop Performance

iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8435 3.06 GHz (2 cores)		 3984
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8235 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3714
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3626
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8335 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3553
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8135 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3190
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3138
 
iMac (24-inch)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 3007
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2957
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2817
 
iMac (24-inch)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2792
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2665
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2615
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2580
 
iMac (Early 2006)
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2509
 
iMac (17-inch Late 2006 CD)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2390
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2376
 
iMac (Early 2006)
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2324
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T2300 1.67 GHz (2 cores)		 2138
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T1200 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 1393
 
iMac G5 (iSight)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.1 GHz (1 core)		 1200
 
iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.0 GHz (1 core)		 1110
 
iMac G5 (iSight)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.9 GHz (1 core)		 1103
 
iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1032
 
iMac G5
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1006
 
iMac G4 (20-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.92 GHz (1 core)		 1002
 
iMac G5
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.6 GHz (1 core)		 839
 
Mac mini (Late 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 829
 
Mac mini
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 789
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 773
 
Mac mini (Late 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 756
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.4 GHz (1 core)		 718
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 713
 
Mac mini
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 704
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 691
 
iMac G4 (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 662
 
iMac G4 (20-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 633
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 534
 
iMac G4 (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 532
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 405
 
iMac (Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 405
 
iMac G4 (17-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 404
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 700 MHz (1 core)		 360
 
iMac (Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 700 MHz (1 core)		 351
 
iMac G3 (Early 2001)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 600 MHz (1 core)		 287
 
iMac G3 (Early 2001)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 255
 
iMac (Summer 2000)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 245
 
iMac (Slot Load)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 400 MHz (1 core)		 206
 

While the switch to Intel brought performance benefits to consumer desktops thanks to faster processors, they also brought performance benefits thanks to multi-core processors. Think about it; none of Apple’s PowerPC-based consumer desktops are multi-core, while almost all of Apple’s Intel-based consumer desktops are multi-core. With so much multi-core aware software available today for Mac OS X, running a single-core Mac seems almost quaint.

Mac Performance

Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5482 3.2 GHz (8 cores)		 8853
 
Mac Pro (8-core)
Intel Xeon X5365 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8516
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon X5472 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8475
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5472 3.0 GHz (8 cores)		 8283
 
Xserve (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores)		 8203
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (8 cores)		 8091
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz (4 cores)		 5508
 
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Xeon E5462 2.8 GHz (4 cores)		 5395
 
Xserve (Late 2006)
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66 GHz (4 cores)		 5107
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66 GHz (4 cores)		 4940
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8435 3.06 GHz (2 cores)		 3984
 
Xserve (Late 2006)
Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 GHz (4 cores)		 3883
 
Mac Pro
Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 GHz (4 cores)		 3847
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8235 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3714
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3626
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8 GHz (2 cores)		 3598
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8335 2.66 GHz (2 cores)		 3553
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6 GHz (2 cores)		 3304
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6 GHz (2 cores)		 3271
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz (2 cores)		 3254
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.5 GHz (4 cores)		 3244
 
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8135 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3190
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5 GHz (2 cores)		 3167
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3138
 
MacBook (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3093
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3090
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3088
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3059
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz (2 cores)		 3045
 
iMac (24-inch)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 3007
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2957
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2949
 
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7600 2.33 GHz (2 cores)		 2917
 
MacBook (Late 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz (2 cores)		 2862
 
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz (2 cores)		 2836
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2817
 
iMac (24-inch)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2792
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2741
 
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo)
Intel Core 2 T7400 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2734
 
MacBook (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz (2 cores)		 2728
 
MacBook (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2691
 
iMac (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2665
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2600 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2656
 
MacBook (Late 2007)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2651
 
MacBook Pro (17-inch)
Intel T2600 2.16 GHz (2 cores)		 2626
 
iMac (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2615
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2580
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2566
 
iMac (Early 2006)
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2509
 
MacBook
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2449
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2500 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 2444
 
iMac (17-inch Late 2006 CD)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2390
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores)		 2382
 
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2376
 
MacBook (Late 2006)
Intel Core 2 T5600 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2355
 
iMac (Early 2006)
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2324
 
MacBook
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2289
 
MacBook Pro
Intel T2400 1.83 GHz (2 cores)		 2261
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.7 GHz (2 cores)		 2256
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo L9300 1.6 GHz (2 cores)		 2229
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T2300 1.67 GHz (2 cores)		 2138
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7700 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 2137
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.5 GHz (2 cores)		 2092
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)		 2075
 
MacBook Air
Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 1.6 GHz (2 cores)		 1981
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)		 1953
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1805
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1735
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1704
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 2.0 GHz (2 cores)		 1684
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1581
 
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1571
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (2 cores)		 1547
 
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Intel T1200 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 1393
 
iMac G5 (iSight)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.1 GHz (1 core)		 1200
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.42 GHz (2 cores)		 1167
 
iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.0 GHz (1 core)		 1110
 
iMac G5 (iSight)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.9 GHz (1 core)		 1103
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1078
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (2 cores)		 1051
 
Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1042
 
iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1032
 
iMac G5
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.8 GHz (1 core)		 1006
 
iMac G4 (20-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.92 GHz (1 core)		 1002
 
Power Mac G5
PowerPC G5 (970) 1.6 GHz (1 core)		 950
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (2 cores)		 867
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 851
 
PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 15-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 850
 
PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 17-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 843
 
iMac G5
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 1.6 GHz (1 core)		 839
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (2 cores)		 830
 
Mac mini (Late 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 829
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.67 GHz (1 core)		 822
 
Mac mini
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 789
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 774
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 773
 
Mac mini (Late 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 756
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5/1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 741
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 740
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (2 cores)		 730
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch 1.5 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.5 GHz (1 core)		 721
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.4 GHz (1 core)		 718
 
iBook G4 (Mid 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.42 GHz (1 core)		 717
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 713
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 709
 
Mac mini
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 704
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 704
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5/1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 694
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 693
 
eMac (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 691
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch 1.33 GHz)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 677
 
iBook G4 (Mid 2005)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.33 GHz (1 core)		 668
 
iMac G4 (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 662
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch FW800)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 660
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (2 cores)		 650
 
iMac G4 (20-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.25 GHz (1 core)		 633
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.2 GHz (1 core)		 614
 
Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 581
 
PowerBook G4 (17-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 568
 
iBook G4 (Early 2004)
PowerPC G4 (7447A) 1.07 GHz (1 core)		 560
 
PowerBook G4 (1 GHz/867 MHz)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 547
 
PowerBook G4 (15-inch FW800)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 542
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 933 MHz (1 core)		 541
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 534
 
iMac G4 (USB 2.0)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 532
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7410) 533 MHz (2 cores)		 527
 
PowerBook G4 (1 GHz/867 MHz)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (1 core)		 507
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 933 MHz (1 core)		 500
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 486
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 867 MHz (1 core)		 478
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7447/7457) 1.0 GHz (1 core)		 468
 
PowerBook G4 (DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 800 MHz (1 core)		 462
 
Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (2 cores)		 458
 
Power Mac G3 (Blue and White)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 449 MHz (1 core)		 449
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 428
 
PowerBook G4 (12-inch)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 867 MHz (1 core)		 427
 
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 800 MHz (1 core)		 425
 
PowerBook G4 (DVI)
PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) 667 MHz (1 core)		 407
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 405
 
iMac (Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 405
 
iMac G4 (17-inch Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 800 MHz (1 core)		 404
 
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
PowerPC 750FX 800 MHz (1 core)		 379
 
Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 733 MHz (1 core)		 369
 
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
PowerPC 750FX 700 MHz (1 core)		 362
 
eMac
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 700 MHz (1 core)		 360
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7410) 533 MHz (1 core)		 354
 
PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 667 MHz (1 core)		 353
 
iMac (Flat-Panel)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 700 MHz (1 core)		 351
 
PowerBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7410) 500 MHz (1 core)		 322
 
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 467 MHz (1 core)		 310
 
iMac G3 (Early 2001)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 600 MHz (1 core)		 287
 
Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (1 core)		 285
 
Power Mac G4 Cube
PowerPC G4 (7400) 450 MHz (1 core)		 284
 
PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7441/7450/7451) 550 MHz (1 core)		 279
 
PowerBook G4
PowerPC G4 (7410) 400 MHz (1 core)		 265
 
Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 400 MHz (1 core)		 256
 
PowerBook G3 (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 256
 
iMac G3 (Early 2001)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 255
 
iMac (Summer 2000)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 245
 
Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)
PowerPC G4 (7400) 350 MHz (1 core)		 233
 
iBook (Dual USB)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 500 MHz (1 core)		 226
 
iBook (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 467 MHz (1 core)		 223
 
PowerBook G3 (FireWire)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 400 MHz (1 core)		 215
 
Power Mac G3 (Blue and White)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 349 MHz (1 core)		 207
 
iMac (Slot Load)
PowerPC G3 (740/750) 400 MHz (1 core)		 206
 

Final Thoughts

I’m always amazed at the performance drought the PowerPC G4 inflicted on Apple in general and on Apple laptops in particular before the switch to Intel; laptop performance is generally unchanged between 2003 and 2006 (desktops were at least able to use the PowerPC G5).

Once Apple switched to Intel, performance has increased (and increased significantly) with almost every update. Apple shouldn’t have to worry about getting stuck in another performance drought again.

Posted January 26th, 2009 in Apple, Geekbench, Mac OS X | Comments

Geekbench 2.1.0

Geekbench 2.1.0 has been released! Geekbench 2.1.0 features the following changes:

Even though several changes were made to the benchmarks, every effort was made to ensure Geekbench 2.1 scores are comparable to Geekbench 2.0 scores. At the (ahem) Primate Labs software testing lab the difference between 2.0 scores and 2.1 scores was less than 5% on the same machine.

Geekbench 2.1.0 is a free update for all registered Geekbench 2.0 users.

Posted December 19th, 2008 in Geekbench | Comments

MacBook Air Performance (December 2008)

When Apple released the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros last month, Apple also updated the MacBook Air. While the changes for the MacBook Air weren’t as radical, there were still a number of improvements made such as a new chipset, faster RAM, better graphics cards, and faster processors (at least for the high-end model).

What do these improvements mean for processor performance? My initial guess is that, like the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, it doesn’t mean much, but let’s look at some Geekbench results to see if that’s the case.

Setup

I used Geekbench 2, our cross-platform benchmark, to measure the processor and memory performance of the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Here is the configuration of the four test machines.

  • MacBook Air (Late 2008)

    • Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz or
    • Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz
    • 2.00 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
    • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F2523)

  • MacBook Air

    • Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz or
    • Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz
    • 2.00 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
    • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F33)

Geekbench 2 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000 (which is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive). Higher scores are better.

Results

Overall Performance

MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz		 2519
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 2245
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz		 2459
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 2018
 

Integer Performance

MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz		 2057
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 1834
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz		 2079
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 1728
 

Floating Point Performance

MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz		 3347
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 2905
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz		 3290
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 2621
 

Memory Performance

MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz		 2328
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 2127
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz		 2011
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 1704
 

Stream Performance

MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.86GHz		 1627
 
MacBook Air (Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 1602
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.80GHz		 1777
 
MacBook Air
Core 2 Duo @ 1.60GHz		 1551
 

Conclusions

I thought the new MacBook Air wouldn’t be that much faster than the old MacBook Air, and it turns out I’m partly right (or partly wrong, depending on how you look at it). While the high-end MacBook Air is only slightly faster, the low-end MacBook Air is almost 10% faster (a dramatic improvement).

Keep in mind, too, these benchmarks ignore one of the big improvements to the MacBook Air — the new graphics chipset. While Geekbench isn’t able to measure graphics performance (an unfortunate limitation) benchmarks elsewhere show the huge gains NVIDIA’s integrated graphics have over Intel’s integrated graphics.

So if you’re thinking about buying a MacBook Air, don’t be too concerned that processor performance hasn’t improved for the high-end MacBook Air; the new graphics cards will certainly make up for it. Plus, while many complain about the low performance of the MacBook Air, remember it’s faster than the first round of Intel-based laptops and all of the dual-processor PowerMac G5s.

Posted December 16th, 2008 in Apple, Geekbench, Mac OS X, MacBook Air | Comments

Newer Entries »
  « Older Entries