Earlier this week , Apple unveiled its updated line of MacBook Pros . We received our first of these fresh MacBook Pro models , the $ 1799 entree - floor 15 - inch model with a 2.4GHz Core i5 CPU , and our run results show a spectacular improvement over the $ 1699 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro it replaces .
Even though the CPU stop number has actually decreased from 2.53GHz in the late accounting entry - grade 15 - inch MacBook Pro to 2.4GHz in this Modern launching degree model , the new system was 23 pct quicker in our overall system performance trial suite , Speedmark 6 . The new 15- and 17 - inch MacBook Pros use Intel ’s Core i5 and Core i7 processors rather than the Core 2 Duos previously find throughout the MacBook Pro product line .
These Core i5 and Core i7 processors have a few interesting public presentation features , include Hyper - Threading , which uses virtual cores to double the amount of processing cores present to the operating system . These Core i5 and Core i7 central processor have dual cores , but OS X treat them as have four cores . Another Core i5 / Core i7 technology , Turbo Boost , allows the processor to speed up for a shortsighted period of time ( when necessary ) or keep out down idle cores and give the resources to the cores in usance . Turbo Boost can increase the clock focal ratio of the 2.4GHz Core i5 C.P.U. up to 2.93GHz .
The new entry - tier 15 - inch MacBook Pro features a 320 GB , 5400 - rev gruelling private road , up from the 250 GB , 5400 - rpm hard drive regain in the model it replaces .
The 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro was a little more than 10 percent quicker than the mid-2009 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro in our Photoshop test rooms , 26 percentage quicker in the Cinebench processor tryout , 29 per centum quicker in Aperture , and 38 percent quicker in the MathematicaMark 7 test .
The 15- and 17 - column inch MacBook Pros sport a new nontextual matter swap engineering that mechanically and seamlessly switches between Intel HD integrated art and distinct Nvidia GeForce GT 330 M artwork . Apple take that this graphics subsystem is much faster than Nvidia GeForce 9400 M integrated graphics found in the previous entrance - grade 15 - inch MacBook Pro , which did not have a 2nd discrete graphics chip . In our Call of Duty 4 test , the new 15 - inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro impressed us by display 3.5 times as many frames per secondly as last year ’s submission - grade 15 - column inch MacBook Pro with the 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo and Nvidia GeForce 9400 M graphics .
Benchmarks: 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5
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Call of Duty score is in frames per second . MathematicaMark is a carrying into action mark . All others are in minutes : seconds . All systems were test with 10.6.3 and 4 GB RAM . The Photoshop Suite trial run is a set of 14 written tasks using a 50 megabyte data file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 percentage and History was set to Minimum . We recorded how long it claim to render a scene with mulitprocessors in CinemaBench . We used Compressor to encode a MOV file to the covering ’s H.264 for video podcast setting . We timed the import and thumbnail / prevue macrocosm time for 150 photos . In iMovie , we spell a camera archive and export it to iTunes for Mobile Devices setting . We convert 90 moment of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality background . We Unzipped a 2 GB archive in the Finder . We ran WorldBench 6 multitasking mental testing on a Parallels VM . We spell 150 JPEGs into iPhoto . We pull a videodisk chapter to the punishing driveway and open a 500 Thomas Nelson Page word of honor document in Pages ’ 09 .—Macworld science laboratory testing by James Galbraith , Chris Holt , Lynn La , and Meghann Myers .
Not only was the new entry - level MacBook Pro faster than the model it replaces , but it was also profligate than the previous “ proficient ” and “ beneficial ” configuration in the 15 - inch card , which used 2.66GHz and 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processors , severally . compare the new 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro with the premature top - of - the - personal line of credit 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro , the new entry - level 15 - column inch was 5 percentage quicker in our Speedmark 6 testing , with 7 - percent faster score in our Photoshop test , a 17 - percent quick Cinebench CPU scotch , a 16 - percent faster MathematicaMark 7 mark , and a 19 - percent faster Aperture score . iPhoto and Compressor grade between the novel entry - level and the previous high - ending 15 - inch MacBook Pro were very similar . The only test that the i5 MacBook Pro did n’t prevail in was our WorldBench 6 ’s multitask trial ( a Windows test run for in Parallels Desktop ) , which the 2.8GHz MacBook Pro pull ahead conveniently .
When comparing the i5 MacBook Pro to a 27 - inch iMac 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac , thing did n’t go as well for the MacBook Pro . The results underscore the iMac ’s advantage of having four processing cores all running faster than the MacBook Pro ’s i5 chip and a faster spinning 7200 - revolutions per minute 1 TB hard drive . ( The iMac uses the desktop version of the Core i5 that has four cores but no accompaniment for Hyper - Threading . The MacBook Pros use the wandering version of the Core i5 and i7 . ) We found the i5 iMac to be 44 per centum quicker than the new 15 - in MacBook Pro , finishing the Cinebench CPU render 41 percent quicker than the laptop did . Even the Call of Duty 4 skeletal frame rate tests were about 28 percent quicker on the iMac .
Benchmarks: 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 vs. 27-inch iMac/2.66GHz Core i5
Will the fast 2.53GHz Core i5 or 2.66GHz Core i7 MacBook Pros give the iMac a run for its money ? Check back before long for more results — we now have the entire unexampled MacBook Pro card in our Lab undergo examination .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld ’s research lab director . ]
