Apple’s 45nm Refresh: New MacBook & MacBook Pro
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 29, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
File Decompression, Photoshop and Quicktime Performance
Using MacPAR Deluxe we took an 800MB archive and deleted 5% of it, forcing MacPAR to read the archive, calculate and write the missing bits, then extract the whole archive:
Once more the slightly lower clocked Penryn MacBook Pro manages close to a 5% lead over the 2.6GHz Merom system.
Our CS3 benchmark is the standard Retouch Artists test that we use in our CPU reviews. We're just timing how long it takes to complete a handful of operations on an image in Photoshop:
Photoshop performance is nearly identical between the 2.5GHz Penryn and 2.6GHz Merom systems.
Finally we have our Quicktime H.264 encode test. All we're doing here is taking a 500MB MPEG-2 avi file and encoding it using Apple's H.264 codec and Quicktime's default settings:
It looks like Quicktime isn't optimized for SSE4 yet as Penryn offers no advantage over Merom.
Overall, the performance differential ends up being a wash - there are some cases where Penryn is faster at lower clock speeds, while others where Merom manages a win - much as we expected.
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myusernamehere - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
either of the displays led backlit?DavidK - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
There's been numerous complaints about the Agere firewire chipset in the previous version of the MacBook Pro. Has it been replaced with the TI set, or is it still the Agere?Tigerotor77w - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
You compared the 2.4 GHz Penryn to the 2.2 GHz Merom, but what about the 2.4 Penryn to the 2.4 Merom? If I'm looking solely at clock speeds, how do those two compare?Additionally, is it conceivable that the $1999 price point remain for the Montevina-based MBPs?
Sunrise089 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Good point, but he compared the notebooks he physically possessed. As in, he bought each of the tested models at one point or another.I strongly believe any future Macbook or Macbook Pro will keep a pricing model determined by the marketing department. Apple has no direct competition (mobile OSX market) so they can simply select the hardware to include that allows them to keep the margins they want.
Tigerotor77w - Saturday, March 1, 2008 - link
Makes sense. Nevertheless, I'm curious how the two 2.4 GHz processors compare (I saw that gizmodo had a comparison, but I'm not sure how that plays out qualitatively).As for the price point, what you said certainly makes sense -- I'm wondering whether they'll keep the $1999 point. Will they give up the sub-$2000 market for 15" notebooks? Or will they want the higher margins on the $2499 MBP?
HopJokey - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Anand,In your article you mentioned that Yonah was built on 90nm technology when in fact it is built on 65nm manufacturing. Thanks.
slashbinslashbash - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
I don't think so Anniend. You want me to do things to you like the sun and the moon. Idiot!acejj26 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
My becomes once the battery ages and no longer manages to hold a full charge.Umm??
acejj26 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
on page 6, you wrote "blacklit" not backlitGary Key - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Fixed. :)