MacBook and MacBook Pro Performance (October 2008)

Earlier this week Apple released new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. While the biggest changes are the new enclosures and the new graphics cards, the new laptops also have a new chipset (an NVIDIA chipset instead of an Intel chipset) and faster DDR3 memory. These last two features might improve processor performance even though the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros don't really have upgraded processors.

So, do the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros have better processor performance than the old MacBooks and MacBook Pros? Does the new memory and chipset make a difference? Let's find out!

Setup

I used Geekbench 2, our cross-platform benchmark, to measure the processor and memory performance of the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Here is the configuration of the eight test machines.

• MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

  • Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz or
  • Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
  • 4.00 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F2088)

• MacBook Pro (Early 2008)

  • Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz or
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
  • 4.00 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F33)

• MacBook (Late 2008)

  • Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz or
  • Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.00GHz
  • 2.00 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F2114)

• MacBook (Early 2008)

  • Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz or
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.10GHz
  • 2.00 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F33)

Geekbench 2 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000 (which is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive). Higher scores are better.

Results

Overall Performance

Integer Performance

Floating Point Performance

Memory Performance

Stream Performance

Conclusions

Somewhat suprisingly, processor performance is virtually unchanged in the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros; the new NVIDIA chipset and the faster DDR3 memory haven't managed to help increase processor performance.

Why is this surprising? Well, with other hardware revisions Apple's managed to make some modest gains in processor performance with chipset or memory upgrades without upgrading the processor itself. Here, though, performance is practically the same (and acutally down in some cases) with the new chipset and memory. I think NVIDIA has a ways to go (at least compared to Intel) when it comes to implementing chipsets.

Does this mean the new laptops are a bad upgrade? Hardly! While the NVIDIA chipsets might not be as good as the Intel chipsets when it comes to processor performance, they far surpass Intel when it comes to graphics performance. This increased graphics performance is a huge gain for the MacBook, and makes the MacBook a compelling machine for people looking for a smaller MacBook Pro.

Throw in the new, sturdier chassis and you've got a compelling upgrade for almost any Mac laptop user.