Stats and info are always interesting, so naturally I read the benchmark tests before I bought my new MacBook Pro. But once I had the computer in my own hands I wanted to do some benchmark testing of my own.
I wanted to do my own personal, “real-life” benchmarks to see how the three current Macs in my office compare to one another. Also, I was secretly hoping to discover an excuse to sell the Mac Pro, keep the laptop, and move to a one-computer work-flow. (Let’s face it, syncing sucks.)
And please note, these are by no means official benchmarks — I timed everything with my iPhone for goodness’ sake…
Technical Specs
Each computer is currently running OS X 10.5.2.
| Computer | Processor | Memory | Hard-Drive | Screen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, “Penryn” | 4 GB | 200 GB, 7200 RPM | 15.4-inch LED backlit display with 1440×900 resolution |
| MacPro | 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, “Woodcrest” | 4 GB | 250 GB, 7200 RMP primary hard-drive; 500 GB, 7200 RPM backup hard-drive | 23-inch Apple Cinima HD Display with 1920×1200 resolution |
| PowerBook | 1.33 GHz Power PC | 1.25 GB | 100 GB / 7200 RPM | 12-inch Display with 1024×768 resolution |
1. Video Encoding
Using Handbrake 0.9.2, I encoded the “The Three Amigos” (a classic). I turned the 1:42:16 long DVD into an iPhone friendly 635×346, 1.16GB MPEG-4 Video on each of the machines.
| Computer | Time to Encode “The Three Amigos” |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 1 Hour, 14 Minutes, 21.5 Seconds |
| MacPro | 45 Minutes, 17.8 Seconds |
| PowerBook | 2 Hours, 58 Minutes, 16.1 Seconds |
As you can see the Mac Pro was nearly 30 minutes faster at encoding the movie from disc, but I am quite sure the speed there is primarily due to the 16x SuperDrive, versus the MBP’s 8x.
2. Booting Up
The time it took from when I pressed the power button to when OS X had fully loaded and Quicksilver’s icon finally appeared in the menu bar.
| Computer | Startup Time |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 1 minute 19.8 seconds |
| MacPro | 1 minute 5.6 seconds |
| PowerBook | 1 minute 11.1 seconds |
3. Zip Compression
I had each machine take a 272.2 MB folder and compress it into a 108.9 MB ZIP archive.
| Computer | File Compression Time |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 24.2 seconds |
| MacPro | 22.1 seconds |
| PowerBook | 43.6 seconds |
4. The Infamous “Open All Apps” Test
I selected every application in the Applications folder (except for Spaces and Front Row), and hit CMD+O. I then waited until all the icons in the dock stopped bouncing.
| Computer | # of Apps | Time To Open All Apps |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 85 | 2 minutes and 34 seconds |
| MacPro | 80 | 4 minutes and 29 seconds |
| PowerBook | 57 | Beachballed and had to be force-restarted after 12 minutes |
5. FTP File Upload
Using Transmit, I uploaded an 8 MB folder, which contained four images, onto my server.
| Computer | FTP File Upload Time | Internet Connection |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 2 Minutes, 27.8 seconds | Wireless |
| Mac Pro | 2 Minutes, 24.4 seconds | Ethernet Cable |
| PowerBook | 2 Minutes, 22.9 seconds | Wireless |
6. The Nitty Gritty
Day in and day out, the apps I have running while working are Mail, Safari, Photoshop and Illustrator. This is my “real life” test.
With Mail and Safari both open, and iTunes playing some hits, I opened a 1.1 GB Photoshop file to manipulate it (turning it into a 1.42 GB file). I then re-saved it, and then exported it as a TIFF.
| Computer | Open a 1.1 GB File in Photoshop | Save the new 1.42 GB File | Export as TIFF |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 38.5 seconds | 51.9 seconds | 13.6 seconds |
| Mac Pro | 25.2 seconds | 42.7 seconds | 14.3 seconds |
| PowerBook | Adobe only allows you to have two computers authorized at a time, and I already de-authorized the G4 | N/A | N/A |
Conclusion
As I mentioned in my review earlier this week, I have decided to sell the Mac Pro and move to a one-machine setup. It’s true that the Mac Pro won nearly every benchmark, it wasn’t by a lot (in most cases). The time I may lose in performance with the MacBook Pro, I will gain back by not having to sync files and worry about which machine has the latest version of a project I’m working on. Additionally, the idea of owning two, expensive, “pro” machines is a bit against my nature.
And for those wondering why I would keep the laptop and sell the tower: It is because I travel quite a bit and do a lot of work outside of my office. Having a portable is a necessity for me.