MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Performance

Last week when I looked at the performance of Apple's latest MacBook Pros I didn't have results for the high-end CTO MacBook Pro (with the 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor).

Now that I've got results for the high-end MacBook Pro I thought I'd revisit MacBook Pro performance to see how the high-end MacBook Pro compares against the last two generations of MacBook Pros. Sure, it's the fastest laptop Apple's ever produced, but just how much faster is it?

Setup

Like last time, I used Geekbench 2, Primate Labs' cross-platform benchmark, to measure the processor and memory performance of the new MacBook Pros. Here's the configuration of the test machines:

  • MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

    • Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz or
    • 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 9F2114)
  • 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)

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

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz
3671
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
3375
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz
3290
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
3129
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
3139
 

Integer Performance

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz
3258
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
3015
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz
2864
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
2656
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
2726
 

Floating Point Performance

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz
5167
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
4739
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz
4565
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
4333
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
4401
 

Memory Performance

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz
2707
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
2416
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz
2593
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
2483
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
2359
 

Stream Performance

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz
1811
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
1752
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz
1702
 
MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz
1860
 
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz
1734
 

 
John Poole is the founder of Primate Labs and lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Deborah. You can find John on Twitter or .