Apple says that its late MacBook Pro laptops , equipped with Intel Core 2 brace processors in billet of the Core Duo chips that powered the first generation of the family , “ extradite performance that is up to 39 percent quicker . ” Based on preceding experience with the troupe ’s benchmark boasts , I expect to find myself writing , in effect , “ Sure , but you ’ll never see anything close to that in material life . ”
So guess my surprise when I begin to study the results of Macworld Labs ’ performance tests on the new notebooks : the Modern $ 2,499 interpretation of the 15 - in MacBook Pro , with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo C.P.U. , outpace its similarly priced precursor , which had a 2.16GHz Core Duo chip , by 30 to even 40 percent in trial run with very actual program such as Adobe Photoshop CS2 ( running on Apple ’s Rosetta code - translation applied science ) , Compressor , and iTunes . Those results are all the more spectacular when you consider that our Core Duo comparability system had a 7,200 - r.p.m . hard private road , while the new MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo processor had a livestock 5,400 - r.p.m . drive .
yield , the overall speed - up onMacworld ’s Speedmark suite was n’t quite so dramatic , but a gain of 18 percent or so is nothing to sneeze at .
Moreover , for the first time , an Intel - based Mac laptop surmount the fastest PowerBook on apps run via Rosetta . In our rooms of Photoshop tests , both Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros outpace the 15 - in 1.67GHz PowerBook .
And superfluous performance is n’t the only welfare of the fresh model : they also come with double the memory of their predecessors , larger hard crusade , and — especially in the 15 - inch models — several other welcome enhancements . It all adds up to a amazingly substantial improvement in a family unit that was already superb .
Bigger caches and faster graphics
The newfangled MacBook Pros seem virtually indistinguishable to their precursor , and the overall structure of the family has n’t changed : there ’s still a single standard 17 - inch model price at $ 2,799 ( which we ’ll retrospect as soon as we receive one ) and two 15 - in configurations at $ 2,499 and $ 1,999 .
In each case , the Core 2 Duo run at a more or less high clock speed than the Core Duo chip in the previous multiplication : in the 17 - inch example and the more expensive 15 - inch configuration , the processors now operate at 2.33Ghz , up from 2.16GHz , while the less expensive 15 - column inch rendering ’s Core 2 twosome runs at 2.16GHz , up from 2GHz .
Those clock - speed step-up explicate only part of the advance in performance that we found in the 15 - inch models . Another factor is more Level 2 memory cache memory : the Core 2 Duo chip ( antecedently code - namedMerom ) includes 4 Bachelor of Medicine of L2 cache , dynamically deal as needed , between the two processing locomotive engrave on the same sliver of silicon ; the original Core Duo ( code - namedYonah ) had only 2 MB of deal L2 stash . In addition , the Core 2 Duo include several other technical enhancements : for example , the new bit ’s SSE3 Vector Engine , used in some audio , video , and scientific applications , now processes 128 routine of data at a time , compare to 64 bits in the Core Duo chip . eventually , although Apple wo n’t unwrap the detail , its engineers have also squeeze out a little extra performance by tweaking the workings of the ATI Radeon X1600 bit that handle graphics processing in the MacBook Pros .
Battery life unchanged
Some former speculation about the Core 2 Duo predicted that , in addition to boosting performance , it would cut power consumption . Those reports turned out to be untrue — battery life story in the fresh MacBook Pros is about the same as in the previous generation . Apple says you may ask up to 2.5 60 minutes of videodisk playback on both the 15- and 17 - column inch machines , or up to 3.5 hr of wireless productiveness ( edit in Microsoft Word while receiving atomic number 99 - mail wirelessly , for example ) on the 15 - inch and a one-half hour more than that on the 17 - in . In my mental testing with the 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo edition of the 15 - in MacBook Pro , I really did a little better ( 2 hours and 35 minute ) at DVD playback . I managed only 3 hour and 9 minutes of wireless productivity .
More memory, bigger drives
Beyond the C.P.U. , Apple has double the read/write memory in each received MacBook Pro configuration : the 17 - column inch manakin and the 2.33GHz 15 - inch one manakin come with 2 GB of RAM — a pair of 1 GB SO - DIMMs — while the base 15 - inch role model has a single 1 GB SO - DIMM . As our benchmark results paint a picture , locomote from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM has only a pocket-sized essence on speed , but it enables you to keep more prominent applications — or more operating systems , if you use Parallels Desktop ( ) virtualization software — open simultaneously without running into delays when you swap among them .
And if you ’re not slaked with 2 GB of RAM , all three MacBook Pros now suit up to 3 GB . Since the political machine have only two SO - DIMM slots apiece , you ’ll need to combine a 2 GB SO - DIMM with a 1 GB faculty , but Apple says the asymmetry will have only a minimal negative consequence on performance . The primary price you ’ll give is in dollar sign : Apple charge $ 575 to upgrade from 2 GB to 3 gigabyte , and so far , if you may find a 2 GB SO - DIMM at all from a third - company supplier , it will probably be even more .
Apple also bump up hard driving electrical capacity : the 15 - inch MacBook Pros now come with 120 GB drives , while the 17 - column inch version holds 160 GB . While the SuperDrive on the 17 - in model is unaltered ( 8x , with double - level support ) , the 15 - inch Pros have double - layer burn off for the first time , and speed has increased from 4x to 6x . Finally , Apple also addressed one other complaint about the original 15 - inch MacBook Pros : FireWire 800 is back , alongside a FireWire 400 port wine .
These enhancement add up on top of all the other features that distinguish the original MacBook Pros : gorgeous cover , built - in iSight cameras , DVI port capable of driving even Apple ’s 30 - column inch Cinema HD Display , and so on . Remember , though , that there ’s no built - in modem , nor any PC Card elaboration slot ; if you need telephone dial - up support , you ’ll have to buy Apple ’s external USB modem ( $ 49 ) , and there are still only a handful of cards uncommitted for the Pros ’ sophisticated ExpressCard/34 expansion slot .
As between the two previous 15 - inch configurations , the only difference besides CPU swiftness are in store : the $ 1,999 system has 1 GB of arrangement read/write memory and 128 Bachelor of Medicine of dedicated art memory , while the $ 2,499 configuration has twice as much of both . you could promote to 2 GB of organization memory for less than the Leontyne Price differential coefficient , but since graphics memory is not easily upgradable , gamers and video pros may find the $ 2,499 example worth the Mary Leontyne Price .
15-Inch Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros Tested
salutary upshot inbold . computer address systems in I. Asterisk ( * ) denotes organisation quiz with optional 7,200 - revolutions per minute hard drive .
Speedmark is a cortege of 15 undertaking using the Finder and eight other practical app . Only a part of those tests are map in this chart . The single stacks are relative to those of a 1.25GHz Mac mini , which is attribute a grievance of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in minutes : seconds . All system were running Mac OS X 10.4.7 with 1 GB of RAM , with central processing unit carrying out fix to Highest in the Energy Saver preference pane when applicable . The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 14 scripted tasks using a 50 megabyte filing cabinet . Photoshop ’s storage was set to 70 pct and History was set to Minimum . We recorded how long it took to render a aspect in Cinema 4D XL . We used Compressor to encode a 6 - minute and 26 - 2nd DV file using the DVD : Fastest Encode 120 minutes – 4:3 stage setting . In iMovie , we applied the Aged video gist to a 1 - minute motion picture . We convert 45 minute of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality stage setting . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch average - frames - per - second score ; we essay at a closure of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum scene with both audio and graphic enabled . We created a Zip archive in the Finder from a 1 GB brochure . The Photoshop CS2 and Compressor trial run are not part of Speedmark and do not factor into the Speedmark overall score . To compare Speedmark 4.5 wads for various Mac organization , travel to ourApple Hardware Guide.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
Macworld’s buying advice
Apple ’s later update has made with child laptops even better . Even if you make heavy use of Adobe ’s Creative Suite or other applications that still are n’t yet available as Universal binaries ( i.e. , that can take full vantage of Intel processor ) , you will still benefit from corrupt the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro . The only real care is economical : it ’s been a while since Apple reduced its prices on pro laptops , and though they keep get better , I wish they ’d get a little bum , too . If that ’s not a concern for you , though , you wo n’t see much else to criticize in the MacBook Pro .
[ Henry Norr is a veteran Mac technology writer based in Berkeley , Calif. ]
