Updated Retina MacBook Pros seeing 3-5% performance bumps
Following Apple's recent announcement of minor spec bumps in its Retina MacBook Pro line, Primate Labs has run the new devices through benchmark tests, finding slight jumps in performance for the new models.
Primate Labs ran the refreshed Retina lineup through its cross-platform Geekbench 2 benchmark utility. The developers then compared the refreshed Retina MacBooks' results against those of their predecessors.
The 13-inch model, which got a 100MHz bump in processor speed, saw a three to five percent jump in performance on the Geekbench 2 test. Likewise, the 15-inch model, which also got a 100MHz spec bump, saw performance improve between three and five percent. Primate Labs attributes the jump entirely to the new processors.
The new Retina models are available now and were announced along with a price reduction in the line. The 13-inch model now starts at $1,499 for a model with a 128GB SSD, while the model with a 2.6GHz processor and 256GB SS sells for $1,699.
Primate Labs ran the refreshed Retina lineup through its cross-platform Geekbench 2 benchmark utility. The developers then compared the refreshed Retina MacBooks' results against those of their predecessors.
The 13-inch model, which got a 100MHz bump in processor speed, saw a three to five percent jump in performance on the Geekbench 2 test. Likewise, the 15-inch model, which also got a 100MHz spec bump, saw performance improve between three and five percent. Primate Labs attributes the jump entirely to the new processors.
The new Retina models are available now and were announced along with a price reduction in the line. The 13-inch model now starts at $1,499 for a model with a 128GB SSD, while the model with a 2.6GHz processor and 256GB SS sells for $1,699.
Comments
Haswell isn't coming until Q3, probably 5 to 6 months from now, if not Q4. 15 months or so between refreshes for the rMBP 15" is long time. Nice that they did a bump.
If you look at the processors on Intel's site they are different class in several ways.
2013 RMBP — i7-3740QM (6M cache, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 2.70 GHz, 22nm) — $378
Comparison between two processors: http://ark.intel.com/compare/70847,64889
That accounts for a big part of the price drop yet the performance is still on par between those two chips. The older chip has more cache but the newer one has a slightly faster graphics output. All in all it's less than 0.35% faster according to those numbers and if you ran them again it's so close it could go the other way. The take away is that Apple was able to reduce the price dramatically without a loss of performance.
So having a major price drop and it's slightly faster on top of it isn't a good thing?
"MaBook Pro" in the headline. "Ha ha." As Nelson would say.
Sorry. Just love spotting errors. And pointing them out.
AppleInsider loves making errors.
They're not going to get anything for at least one year.
Originally Posted by THT
Haswell isn't coming until Q3, probably 5 to 6 months from now, if not Q4. 15 months or so between refreshes for the rMBP 15" is long time. Nice that they did a bump.
The first laptop chips are released in May. Those aren't MacBook family chips, but they'll be out. I figure June/July for the rest. Just in time for one of the best WWDCs in recent memory (MacBook family, Mac Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, and hopefully the AirPort family).
Are the rMBP's still choppy? I played with the original gen ones in the store, and while the display is awesome, it lagged on things like Expose and scrolling in Safari. I think I'm going to pick one up with Haswell, but just curious if choppiness is still happening.
Doesn't seem like they give a crap enough to actually change it. Imagine... Imagine a world... where proof reading still gets done...
Originally Posted by dysamoria
Doesn't seem like they give a crap enough to actually change it.
I fixed it on the forum. Can't fix any main page errors, but anything wrong you see in the article I'll always be glad to edit on the forum page.