MacBook Pro vs PowerBook 2.0 GHz benchmarks

No, that headline is not a typo. I found an extensive set of MacBook Pro benchmarks over at Bare Feats that pits the machine against a Dual Core G5 2.0 GHz, an iMac Core Duo 2.0 GHz, a MacBook Pro Solo 2.0 GHz (for good measure I guess) and a PowerBook G4 that has been upgraded to 2.0 GHz, thanks to Daystar Technology. Yes, from checking out their site it looks like it's possible to upgrade some PowerBooks to 2.0 GHz G4 chips, but it'll cost ya - the upgrade is $499.

Getting back to the benchmarks topic: Bare Feats ran the typical Cinebench and Photoshop tests between these machines, and as usual the iMac Core Duo typically won out, with the MacBook Pro pleasantly nipping at its heels. They also produced some pleasant frame rates when testing Doom 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004.

Bare Feats also tested whether matching memory pairs - such as two 1 GB sticks - made any difference in performance over a 1 GB 256 MB configuration. Fortunately, there was virtually no difference in their tests, save for small, single digit improvements in iMovie and Photoshop CS that aren't really anything to write home about.

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Source: http://www.barefeats.com/pbcd.html

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Hardware Macbook Pro

No, that headline is not a typo. I found an extensive set of MacBook Pro benchmarks over at Bare Feats that pits the machine against a Dual...

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Phil Voissem

In regards to: "As soon as it looks like they have some of these hardware issues worked out with the MacBook Pro I would like to sell my Dual G5 2.0 and my Powerbook G4" Are there any specific hardware issues hindering the Macbook? I am looking into replacing my iBook G4 with a Macbook within the next couple months and I'd like to make sure I won't have any problems with it off the bat.

April 05 2006 at 12:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dave

Those single digit improvements are probably no improvement at all, because the difference they see might not be significant - that means they're attributable to chance alone.

I've run some benchmarks myself on various machines, and running them on the same machine several times showed a lot of variance. I wonder how much all these benchmarks that people publish are really worth in practice...

March 21 2006 at 4:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

David Chartier

There actually is a MacBook Pro Solo, of sorts. If you install developer tools you get a System Pref pane that can shut off one of the cores.

March 21 2006 at 4:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Goobimama

#1: That's what i thought. But on reading the article I found that they turned off one of the cores in the Macbook Pro Core Duo to make it a core solo...

March 21 2006 at 4:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tetra

"I don't think there is a MacBook Pro solo. They only come with the duo."

You're right. They disabled a core on the MacBook Pro for testing purposes.

March 21 2006 at 4:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

arkowi

I actually looked at these the other day. Very impressive. As soon as it looks like they have some of these hardware issues worked out with the MacBook Pro I would like to sell my Dual G5 2.0 and my Powerbook G4 1.4...One computer to rule them all.

March 21 2006 at 3:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Wade Emmert

I don't think there is a MacBook Pro solo. They only come with the duo.

March 21 2006 at 3:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply