Unannounced Core i7 Apple MacBook Pro benchmarks surface

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  • Reply 21 of 124
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    since there is no graphics card info, i don't believe it until i see it



    Straight from the Geekbench site:



    "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."



    And to the previous poster regarding the nVidia 9400M and boards made by Intel (which in fact, Intel does not make any boards for Apple, they simply supply reference designs that Apple can then work with and modify), the current dispute between Intel and nVidia only covers the chipset, not the discreet graphics. Therefore, as much as Apple would hate to do it, they can easily design their boards with an Intel chipset and nVidia or ATI discreet graphics like they were doing before the 9400M. The benefit of the 9400M was that it was a self-contained part that included both the Northbridge and Southbridge chipset and graphics, but it is by no means anything that would prevent a new MacBook from coming to market with more powerful graphics than Intel can currently provide; it's simply yet another chip that has to be power-managed and taken in to consideration for heat and dissipation purposes.
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  • Reply 22 of 124
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,009member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    LOL these Geekbench scores are TWICE those of my '06 Core Duo MacBook (2.0 GHz). This will be quite the upgrade for me:



    It's amazing how quickly tech improves.



    Imagine the jump for me (from my Ti PowerBook)! I just hope I can scrape together the $$...
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  • Reply 23 of 124
    Truth told, at the time I wish I could have waited for an i5 or i7 mobile CPU but I had to pull the trigger before 2009 year-end on a 15" MBP. The lure of greater processing muscle with lower power demands is always intoxicating and I was disappointed that I left the dinner table before a delicious performance-dessert was soon set to arrive.



    Yet, for my usage the greatest single performance bump was already on the menu. When compared to the salacious speed descriptors that always follow a chip that hereto now occupied the spec (and marketing) limelight, this newcomer to my plate has singlehandedly changed my computer experience by an order of magnitude far greater than I could have imagined. I almost dismissed it because of its price but I figured I wanted to taste what a growing number of people -- Anand Lal Shimpi, in particular -- have experienced and if it meant some extra belt-tightening, so be it.



    Now, a simple three-letter acronym makes me weak at the knees: SSD.





    Wow...... Simply wow?... There?s not much else to say.





    Yes, it's still nascent days for SSD's, their track record is short with some notable past growing pains, capacities are modest relative to their rotational storage counterparts, and there's a question mark on how Apple has implemented OS X and SSD storage optimization (i.e. OS X balks at some controller-firmware combinations with some off-the-shelf SSD's) but right now, I'm still drunk on SSD performance.





    i7m, who?



    .
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  • Reply 24 of 124
    Hmm, well the timing seems right if they refresh sometime between now and July. WWDC 2010? I hope it's sooner.



    Can't wait!
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  • Reply 25 of 124
    bartfatbartfat Posts: 434member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    LOL these Geekbench scores are TWICE those of my '06 Core Duo MacBook (2.0 GHz). This will be quite the upgrade for me:



    It's amazing how quickly tech improves.



    Same here But then, it has been 4 long years.... And I'm running on the 1.8 Ghz version, so yay, even more of an upgrade Darn, I think I got beaten by the Powerbook in the bad performance-to-upgrade ratio though...
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  • Reply 26 of 124
    vrkiranvrkiran Posts: 110member
    That's the most BS story ever covered on AI. Any hackintosh enthusiast worth his salt would know that the identification parameters are completely bogus and you can make a desktop look like a laptop and laptop look like Sammy Sosa.



    Stop wasting people's time on Saturdays.
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  • Reply 27 of 124
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Hey AI folks, will the new MacBook Pro sport the NVIDIA Optimus graphics? It's apparently scheduled to come out next week! Another sign pointing to new MacBooks around the corner, perhaps?



    http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/...rand_Name.html



    Also, I almost forgot about ol' MacWorld San Fran, now that Apple doesn't keynote it or announce new products there. Or do they? I mean if they are going to introduce a new MacBook/MacBook Pro...they may as well do it at MWSF! It starts next week! Although when I checked the Expo website it didn't seem Apple was giving any presentations or would even present...Hm.
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  • Reply 28 of 124
    igeniusigenius Posts: 1,240member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogzilla View Post


    Of course, the day after I pick up my MacBook Pro. Oh well, this is a great little computer and I have no regrets. Besides, now I wont get a first production round unit that will be more likely to have issues.



    Can't you just return it?
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  • Reply 29 of 124
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vrkiran View Post


    That's the most BS story ever covered on AI. Any hackintosh enthusiast worth his salt would know that the identification parameters are completely bogus and you can make a desktop look like a laptop and laptop look like Sammy Sosa.



    Stop wasting people's time on Saturdays.



    Geekbench grabs the CPUID. That can't be faked (it can be faked to the OS by changing a string, but not an API call that directly queries the CPU).
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  • Reply 30 of 124
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dagamer34 View Post


    Geekbench grabs the CPUID. That can't be faked (it can be faked to the OS by changing a string, but not an API call that directly queries the CPU).



    of course it can be faked... perhaps not the api call but the information sent to the server can be compromised... anyone knows if geekbench uses encryption for submitting data to their servers?
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  • Reply 31 of 124
    finetunesfinetunes Posts: 2,065member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PeterO View Post


    Truth told, at the time I wish I could have waited for an i5 or i7 mobile CPU but I had to pull the trigger before 2009 year-end on a 15" MBP. The lure of greater processing muscle with lower power demands is always intoxicating and I was disappointed that I left the dinner table before a delicious performance-dessert was soon set to arrive.



    Yet, for my usage the greatest single performance bump was already on the menu. When compared to the salacious speed descriptors that always follow a chip that hereto now occupied the spec (and marketing) limelight, this newcomer to my plate has singlehandedly changed my computer experience by an order of magnitude far greater than I could have imagined. I almost dismissed it because of its price but I figured I wanted to taste what a growing number of people -- Anand Lal Shimpi, in particular -- have experienced and if it meant some extra belt-tightening, so be it.



    Now, a simple three-letter acronym makes me weak at the knees: SSD.





    Wow...... Simply wow?... There?s not much else to say.





    Yes, it's still nascent days for SSD's, their track record is short with some notable past growing pains, capacities are modest relative to their rotational storage counterparts, and there's a question mark on how Apple has implemented OS X and SSD storage optimization (i.e. OS X balks at some controller-firmware combinations with some off-the-shelf SSD's) but right now, I'm still drunk on SSD performance.





    i7m, who?



    .



    I couldn't wait and bought my MBP last year. The one thing I did install in my MBP was the 256 GB SSD. But as I've done some more research on SSD's and found out that they do have some issues. One of the first questions that I had was whether you needed to run some of the HDD disk repair and optimization soft ware on SSD's and did they work. The one thing that Apple should do in its next OS upgrade is to include a TRIM app to optimize SSD's. Although I haven't had the problem, there are reports of read and write speeds dropping off as you use more space and erase and re-write on the SSD.



    For those who get the new iCores, if its in the budget look into installing a SSD, but do the research first.
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  • Reply 32 of 124
    Projected 2010 calendar:



    January - announce iPad

    February - announce and ship new MacBook Pro

    March - ship iPad, announce iPhone OS 4

    April - announce and ship new Mac Pro and new displays

    May - announce and ship new iMac with Radeon 5xxx graphics

    June - announce and ship new iPhone

    July - summer break

    August - summer break

    September - announce and ship new iPods

    October - announce and ship new MacBook and MacBook Pro

    November - winter break

    December - winter break
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  • Reply 33 of 124
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bregalad View Post


    Projected 2010 calendar:



    January - announce iPad

    February - announce and ship new MacBook Pro

    March - ship iPad, announce iPhone OS 4

    April - announce and ship new Mac Pro and new displays

    May - announce and ship new iMac with Radeon 5xxx graphics

    June - announce and ship new iPhone

    July - summer break

    August - summer break

    September - announce and ship new iPods

    October - announce and ship new MacBook and MacBook Pro

    November - winter break

    December - winter break



    A reason to hate breaks
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  • Reply 34 of 124
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FineTunes View Post


    I couldn't wait and bought my MBP last year. The one thing I did install in my MBP was the 256 GB SSD. But as I've done some more research on SSD's and found out that they do have some issues. One of the first questions that I had was whether you needed to run some of the HDD disk repair and optimization soft ware on SSD's and did they work. The one thing that Apple should do in its next OS upgrade is to include a TRIM app to optimize SSD's. Although I haven't had the problem, there are reports of read and write speeds dropping off as you use more space and erase and re-write on the SSD.



    For those who get the new iCores, if its in the budget look into installing a SSD, but do the research first.



    Yea, wear-leveling and read/write optimization with OS X is a concern for me, too. During my research I found no details on how it's handled. TRIM support isn't documented, nor is there an Apple or OEM utility for Apple-branded SSD. Initially, I figured I'd buy my MBP with a stock rotational drive and swap it for a larger and less expensive Intel SSD once the machine was in my hands but after coming up empty handed for answers with Apple Pre-Sales tech support and reading through a number of discussion boards describing a range from no to catastrophic problems with non Apple-branded (read: without Apple's allegedly exclusive controller firmware doing some TRIM-type duties) SSD's, I figured the safer bet was to keep all laptop hardware squarely in Apple's house. If I run into SSD problems, like a telltale slowdown, Apple has no finger to deflect responsibility.



    Parenthetically, it drives me nuts that I'm that partially hamstrung with my post-purchase storage options. If I'm in a pinch I can drop in an off the shelf rotational drive while I wait for an Apple replacement but I'd be much happier if I could leapfrog SSD's in the field and be done without the immediate downtime an Apple Care'd SSD replacement will require. Why Apple is so opaque (comme d'habitude) on this technical issue -- something true to all current (that I'm aware of) NAND flash SSD architectures -- is beyond me. At the very minimum, why not issue a list of approved SSD's?





    -- no doubt you've seen/read Anandtech's ongoing and storied articles on SSD's:

    http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631





    Mahalo
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  • Reply 35 of 124
    ouraganouragan Posts: 437member
    Quote:

    Assuming the aforementioned benchmarks aren't the result of a one-off custom hack, it's reasonable to presume Apple may use a combination of Core i5 and Core i7 chips to power its forthcoming MacBook Pro refresh, starting with the 2.26GHz (430M) or 2.4GHz (520M) Core i5 variants on the low end, stepping up to 2.53GHz (540M) Core i5 on the mid-range model, and maxing out with the 2.66GHz 620M Core i7 on the high-end offerings.





    And what about quad-cores for some real performance gains? If HP can do it with a mobile core i5, then Apple should be able to do it.





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  • Reply 36 of 124
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,581moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bregalad View Post


    Projected 2010 calendar:



    January - announce iPad

    February - announce and ship new MacBook Pro

    March - ship iPad, announce iPhone OS 4

    April - announce and ship new Mac Pro and new displays

    May - announce and ship new iMac with Radeon 5xxx graphics

    June - announce and ship new iPhone

    July - summer break

    August - summer break

    September - announce and ship new iPods

    October - announce and ship new MacBook and MacBook Pro

    November - winter break

    December - winter break



    Unfortunately, I think only the discrete MBPs will be updated to the new architecture but I expect the Macbook and Mini to get CPU increases. The lowest iMac kept the 9400M with Core 2 Duo.



    The benchmarks listed here are a little disappointing relative to the 3GHz Core 2 Duo:



    http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-C...r.23748.0.html



    but they back up the article in that the 2.66GHz Core i7 is only about 10-15% faster than the 3GHz Core 2 Duo. It will run cooler and draw less power but the performance will seem pretty much the same.



    The Core i5-520M would have been the biggest boost as this would bring the entire low-end lineup to between the 2.8GHz and 3GHz Macbook Pro but I'd much rather see the Mini and Macbook jump to a 2.53GHz entry point with 9400M than 2.53GHz Core i5 with Intel's graphics.



    Mini: 2.53GHz + 9400M - there is a 2.66GHz and possibly a 2.8GHz upgrade option they can manage

    Macbook: 2.53GHz + 9400M

    Macbook Pro 13": same as the Mini

    MBP 15": lowest model 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo with 9400M, then a 15" with the core i7 and a high end NVidia (GTS 250M) or ATI card (5650) and a 17" with the same. There could be a model with a core i5.



    I expect all of the laptops to be updated with LED backlit IPS screens. This Tuesday is a possibility.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan


    And what about quad-cores for some real performance gains? If HP can do it with a mobile core i5, then Apple should be able to do it.



    45W TDP vs 35W I'd imagine. The Core i7-720QM is also only 25% faster than the Core i7-620M because it's much lower clocked:







    http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...st.2436.0.html
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  • Reply 37 of 124
    benroethigbenroethig Posts: 2,782member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Have they ever used a CPU with a 45W TDP in a MBP?



    No, but HP has shown that you can can cool even the highest end CPUs and GPUs in a notebook if you remove the optical drive from the design with the Envy. Of course that would have other repercussion elsewhere.
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  • Reply 38 of 124
    I was originally going to say that not a very good score for a quad-core i7, until I realized it's not a quad-core.



    Doesn't make a whole lot of sense that they'd put another dual-core processor in a Macbook Pro. Definitely the Macbook and maybe the 13" Macbook Pro, but not the 15" or the 17".



    But dagamer34 is right, you can't fake the system ID with Geekbench because it pulls it from the BIOS.



    I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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  • Reply 39 of 124
    Well, at least it pulls it from the BIOS on normal PCs. Apparently you can play games with the software BIOS used on Macs with kernel extensions:



    http://www.00235.insanelymac.do1.uk....p/t108277.html



    So I would say that makes this article purely FUD until Apple actually comes out with something.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by trboyden View Post


    I was originally going to say that not a very good score for a quad-core i7, until I realized it's not a quad-core.



    Doesn't make a whole lot of sense that they'd put another dual-core processor in a Macbook Pro. Definitely the Macbook and maybe the 13" Macbook Pro, but not the 15" or the 17".



    But dagamer34 is right, you can't fake the system ID with Geekbench because it pulls it from the BIOS.



    I guess we'll have to wait and see.



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  • Reply 40 of 124
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BenRoethig View Post


    No, but HP has shown that you can can cool even the highest end CPUs and GPUs in a notebook if you remove the optical drive from the design with the Envy. Of course that would have other repercussion elsewhere.



    Speaking of repercussion, the battery in the Quad Core-i7 Envy is awful. I can't imagine that is a viable trade off for Apple.
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