New iPad Pro benchmarks are very close to the 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro
Geekbench tests put the new 1TB iPad Pro in sight of the $3,000 15-inch MacBook Pro's single core and multi-core speed, which may restart the conversation about Macs with ARM chips in the future.
John Ternus, vice president of hardware engineering, presenting iPad Pro
Apple has claimed that its new iPad Pro models were faster than 92 percent of all laptops sold in the last year and now Geekbench scores reveal this includes the 13-inch MacBook Pros, and a close proximity to the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Geekbench compares both single- and multi-core speeds using a series of benchmarking tests and then creating a figure to summarize the results. According to first results on the Geekbench website, the iPad Pro gets a single-core speed of 5030.
The same tests run on a mid-2018 15 inch MacBook Pro got that machine a single-core figure of 5419.
Geekbench scores for iPad Pro (top), MacBook Pro (bottom)
That means the highest-spec iPad Pro's single-core performance is 92.8 percent that of the top end MacBook Pro.
Geekbench's scores for multi-core operations are not quite as close, though. For multi-core performance, the benchmark rates the iPad Pro as 17995 and the MacBook Pro as 21251. That puts the iOS device at 85.68 percent of the laptop.
It's not clear how these tests have been performed so quickly, nor could they be authenticated by AppleInsider on Thursday morning. Geekbench data sets are crowd-sourced, so we may see differing figures as more people get iPad Pros.
It is clear that this test was done using the 1TB version of the iPad Pro which comes with 6GB RAM instead of the 4GB in other models. This is also a comparison of specifications in an artificial test -- real-world speeds of the two machines will be different based on the user's workflow but the relative performance should be the same.
What it also shows is that the relative performance between the Intel processors which power the MacBook Pro and the ARM processor in the iPad Pro. The startlingly close figures give weight to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's claim that Apple will move to ARM for its Macs no later than 2021.
This would be a significant change for Apple but it's far from the first time the company has made such a move. Most recently it moved to Intel from PowerPC but before that the Mac had Motorola processors. It's been reasonable to expect that Apple would manage another transition as smoothly as it did its prior ones but now with these Geekbench figures there is more reason to believe the move would be worthwhile.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
John Ternus, vice president of hardware engineering, presenting iPad Pro
Apple has claimed that its new iPad Pro models were faster than 92 percent of all laptops sold in the last year and now Geekbench scores reveal this includes the 13-inch MacBook Pros, and a close proximity to the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Geekbench compares both single- and multi-core speeds using a series of benchmarking tests and then creating a figure to summarize the results. According to first results on the Geekbench website, the iPad Pro gets a single-core speed of 5030.
The same tests run on a mid-2018 15 inch MacBook Pro got that machine a single-core figure of 5419.
Geekbench scores for iPad Pro (top), MacBook Pro (bottom)
That means the highest-spec iPad Pro's single-core performance is 92.8 percent that of the top end MacBook Pro.
Geekbench's scores for multi-core operations are not quite as close, though. For multi-core performance, the benchmark rates the iPad Pro as 17995 and the MacBook Pro as 21251. That puts the iOS device at 85.68 percent of the laptop.
It's not clear how these tests have been performed so quickly, nor could they be authenticated by AppleInsider on Thursday morning. Geekbench data sets are crowd-sourced, so we may see differing figures as more people get iPad Pros.
It is clear that this test was done using the 1TB version of the iPad Pro which comes with 6GB RAM instead of the 4GB in other models. This is also a comparison of specifications in an artificial test -- real-world speeds of the two machines will be different based on the user's workflow but the relative performance should be the same.
What it also shows is that the relative performance between the Intel processors which power the MacBook Pro and the ARM processor in the iPad Pro. The startlingly close figures give weight to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's claim that Apple will move to ARM for its Macs no later than 2021.
This would be a significant change for Apple but it's far from the first time the company has made such a move. Most recently it moved to Intel from PowerPC but before that the Mac had Motorola processors. It's been reasonable to expect that Apple would manage another transition as smoothly as it did its prior ones but now with these Geekbench figures there is more reason to believe the move would be worthwhile.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
Think of not only the performance but also the margin increase for Apple not buying Intel chips and the effect on AAPL.
I just feel like the RAM, as usual, will be the limit before these insane processors are for future editing programs, 6GB for every model would have been nice, as evidently they don't think it hurts battery life to put it on the 1TB. But ah well, iOS does still feel great with 4GB.
Insane as Apple silicon is though...This is just a mental barrier I can't cross for a tablet with iOS's limits no matter how powerful the silicon, still the clamshell life for me. Maybe 13 will continue to free up some restrictions, like allow direct external hard drive support.
Hurt? Yes. Doomed? Apple is about 5% of their revenue iirc, and they have another two or three years to prepare for the hit? Most of the market won't switch over just because Apples chips are better (see iOS), so Intel will carry on like qualcomm does.
Thankfully, the limitations of iOS wouldn’t affect A-series CPU Macs since they would continue to run MacOS.
I suspect iPad is already causing far greater pain to the x86 world than a switch to ARM on Mac ever will. It will only get worse for x86. At some point a very large segment of the personal computing consumer market will finally realize iPad is already as much, and in many cases has already been for years, much more computer than they will ever need for personal use. The baby boomers are probably one of the last generations to have a ceremonial attachment to big honking claptrap PCs that require swaths of dedicated real estate and half of a den to house and operate. Desktop PCs used to run popular consumer applications today is like having an Allis-Chalmers Combine for mowing your quarter acre suburban lawn. Even Microsoft realizes this with their Surface products, but unfortunately they've incorporated too many Combine features into their vision on personal computing, frankly, because they bought and paid for much of the PC claptrap and baggage. Shrinking claptrap and baggage so it takes up a lot less space doesn't eliminate the claptrap and baggage, it just makes it smaller. The iPad on the other hand, didn't start off with claptrap and baggage. It had only what it needed and subsequent generations have added refinements and massive improvements in performance, capacity, and usability.
Benchmarks are okay I guess, but when you're looking at the iPad you always have to consider that it is not burdened by many of the inefficiencies of desktop PCs. Whatever power it has can be put to better use.
Yep, this would probably already have been a better chip for the new Air, had the software support been in place.
I just hope macOS on ARM doesn't take the opportunity to get any more restrictive...