Mac Performance (January 2009)

Welcome to the most recent installment of Primate Labs' Mac Performance chart, a carefully crafted compilation of Mac performance that's generated from the user-submitted results in the Geekbench Browser.

Like other updates, this update includes the latest Apple hardware (in this case the MacBook, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro Apple released in November). Unlike other updates, this update doesn't just present all of the Macs together in one large chart; it also splits the Macs into four different categories making the results easier to view and understand:

• Pro Laptops (MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and PowerBooks)
• Pro Desktops (Mac Pros and PowerMacs)
• Consumer Laptops (iBooks and MacBooks)
• Consumer Desktops (eMacs, iMacs, and Mac minis)

Setup

Results were collected from the Geekbench Browser for Macs with standard processors (i.e., no processor upgrades, overclocked processors, or Hackintoshes) with at least 512MB of RAM.

I've reported the average overall score for each model and processor combination. If you're unfamiliar with Geekbench and how it measures performance, a score of 1000 is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive. Higher scores are better.

Also, keep in mind that Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance which is why, for example, MacBook and MacBook Pro scores are so similar, despite both having radically different graphics adapters.

Pro Laptop Performance

What strikes me every time I look at this chart is how stable (or stagnant, depending on how charitable you're feeling) PowerBook performance was after the introduction of the aluminum PowerBooks; it's a reminder of how out-of-date the PowerPC G4 was then. When Apple switched to Intel processors, Pro laptop performance almost tripled overnight. Even the slowest MacBook Air, which many people regard as "too slow" to do "real work" on, is over twice as fast as the fastest PowerBook.

Pro Desktop Performance

Pro desktops weren't held back by the PowerPC G4 because they were able to take advantage of IBM's PowerPC G5. While the PowerPC G5 never reached the 3GHz promised by Steve Jobs in 2003, they did provide better performance than the PowerPC G4 and served the PowerMac well until Apple switched to Intel.

Now, with the switch to Intel, the latest Mac Pro is the fastest Mac available (and one of the fastest computers available) thanks to its two quad-core processors.

Consumer Laptop Performance

Much like Apple's pro laptops, Apple's consumer laptops were held back by the out-of-date PowerPC G4; switching to Intel almost tripled MacBook performance overnight.

Consumer Desktop Performance

While the switch to Intel brought performance benefits to consumer desktops thanks to faster processors, they also brought performance benefits thanks to multi-core processors. Think about it; none of Apple's PowerPC-based consumer desktops are multi-core, while almost all of Apple's Intel-based consumer desktops are multi-core. With so much multi-core aware software available today for Mac OS X, running a single-core Mac seems almost quaint.

Mac Performance

Final Thoughts

I'm always amazed at the performance drought the PowerPC G4 inflicted on Apple in general and on Apple laptops in particular before the switch to Intel; laptop performance is generally unchanged between 2003 and 2006 (desktops were at least able to use the PowerPC G5).

Once Apple switched to Intel, performance has increased (and increased significantly) with almost every update. Apple shouldn't have to worry about getting stuck in another performance drought again.