Macworld Lab uses a Speedmark 8 score that ’s an index number of how well a Mac performs overall . We take the carrying into action results from the 15 individual test that make up Speedmark and seethe them down to a single number . The service line system is a 2011 Mac mini with a 2.3GHz Core i5 dual - core processor , 2 GB of RAM , a 500 GB strong drive , and incorporate Intel HD 3000 graphics . That system has a grievance of 100 .
With a score of 275 , our top - do system ( so far ) is the stock configuration of the 15 - inch 2.6GHz Core i7 Retina MacBook Pro ( mid 2012 ) , with 8 GB of RAM , 500 GB of flash storage , and a duple graphics organisation ( incorporate Intel HD Graphics 4000 and 1 GB Nvidia GeForce GT 650 M ) . The dull Mac we test — with a score of just 48 — is the 13 - inch 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air ( 2008 ) with 2 GB of RAM , 120 GB of ostentation storage , and integrated Intel GMA X3100 computer graphic .
Below is a table listing the Speedmark 8 scores of Apple ’s current Mac lineup . We also have a leaning of score of all the Macs that were available in the Macworld Lab .
Speedmark 8 Scores: Current Macs
All answer are grade . high scores are better . undecomposed results inbold .
Individual application tests explained
Speedmark 8 is comprised of 15 different coating - based tests that can run on all ship Macs . The tests are designed to value the dissimilar subsystem : CPU , GPU , computer storage , and memory . Here ’s a equipment failure of the item-by-item trial that make up Speedmark 8 .
Mac OS X Finder tests
Three trial : Duplicate 2 GB Folder , Compress 6 GB Folder , and Uncompress 6 GB File Archive The duplicate and uncompress tasks certify the speed of the organisation ’s internal storage . Flash store drives do much considerably in this trial .
The 15 - in Retina MacBook Pros were the fastest , reduplicate the 6 GB brochure in just 37 seconds and uncompressing in 41 seconds . A 2008 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro was the slowest at both , charter more than 7 minutes for each .
Compressing a 6 GB leaflet is more of a processor mental test than a storage trial run . Times tramp from 280 bit for our BTO 2011 iMac to 480 seconds for a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo 11 - inch Macbook Air from 2010 . In fact , the bottom six systems in this trial were all 2010 and old MacBook Airs .
iMovie ‘11 tests
Import Two - Minute Clip from Camera Archive , and Share ( export ) Movie to iTunes for Mobile Devices . The 15 - in Retina MacBook Pros were the fastest at the importing , followed by the 12 - essence Mac Pros . The iMacs turn in the fast exportation times .
HandBrake 0.9.5 64-bit test
Encode Four Chapters from Ripped File on Hard Drive to H.264 HandBrake is one of the few applications that takes full use of however many CPU core are available .
Cinebench R11.5 tests
Maxon ’s Cinebench ’s OpenGL mental test measures the execution of the graphics calling card in the system and give a resultant role in frames per secondly , so the higher the score , the sound .
Maxon ’s Cinebench CPU isolates the CPU . Like HandBrake and MathematicaMark , the Cinebench CPU test can take full vantage of all of the processor threads found in today ’s Mac . The Mac Pros with twelve core ( seen as have 24 virtual cores by the program thanks to Intel ’s Hyper Threading engineering science ) finished the test in just over half a minute . The 2009 13 - in MacBook Air with 2.13GHz processor took 10.5 minutes to complete the test .
VMWare Fusion 4.1.3 and PCMark 7 Productivity suite
Running PCMark ’s Productivity test on Windows 7 Home Premium come to the processor , RAM and drive . The 15 - column inch 2.6GHz Retina Display MacBook Pro was the highest scoring model we try out .
Adobe Photoshop CS6 test
The Photoshop Action Script test uses a 100 megabyte file , and involves running various filters and tasks , as well as importing RAW files . Processors , RAM and aim speed all number into play on this test . Again , the 2012 Retina Display MacBook Pros end up ahead of the pack , with a 2008 MacBook Air finishing last .
Aperture 3.3.2 test
Import and Process 207 Photos . This test hits both the hard drive and the processor . Ther 2.6GHz Retina MacBook Pro finished the test in 51 seconds . The 2010 Mac miniskirt 2.4GHz took 3 minutes and 46 seconds to import an outgrowth the photos .
iPhoto ‘11 test
MathematicaMark 8 test
As with HandBrake and Cinebench ’s CPU Test , MathematicaMark ’s Evaluate Notebook Test take advantage of all useable C.P.U. cores . Thusly , the 12 - gist Mac Pros score the mellow in this test , followed by the 8 - core Mac Pros .
Portal 2 test
The Timedemo ( 1280 - by-800 ) trial render how well a graphics cards can manage modern 3D secret plan . CPU can diddle a small role in public presentation , but our Portal 2 test is really about GPU speed . In this test , score are framerates , and higher scores are better .
No system was better than our 2011 BTO 27 - inch 3.1GHz Core i5 quad - substance i5 iMac that displayed 139.9 frames per secondly . The dull Mac was a 2009 13 - inch 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air that was only capable to expose 12 frames per secondly .
