On the surface , last calendar week ’s MacBook update only seemed to precede some minor changes to Apple ’s consumer laptop blood line — a modest bump to C.P.U. speeds representing the large modification from the former MacBook iteration released only in May . Nevertheless , that speed bump coupled with variety under the hood — notably updated computer graphic — helped the new 2.2GHz Mac Books beat out the last generation ’s 2.16GHz model by about 4 percent in our Speedmark 5 system performance bench mark . The young top - of - the - course MacBooks even edged past a 2.2GHz MacBook Pro in overall performance .
Last week ’s MacBook update marks the first Apple hardware exit since the October 26 debut of Leopard , the modish version of Mac OS X. As the operation scheme affects so much of system ’s performance , we needed to retool our benchmarking retinue . And so this bench mark chart marks the introduction of Speedmark 5 . you could read more about it on the Speedmark page , but the scant version of the story is that we ’ve added a few trial run , removed a few others , and change the baseline organisation to be a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo Mac miniskirt with 2GBs of RAM running O X 10.5 .
In Speedmark 5 , the two new 2.2GHz MacBooks scored almost identically , with the ignominious model getting a score of 186 versus the white model ’s 185 score . The unexampled 2GHz whitened MacBook receive a Speedmark 5 grievance of 172 , about 7.5 - percentage slower than the current black 2.2GHz mannikin and about 4 - percent slower than the 2.16GHz white MacBook from the previous generation .
New MacBook Benchmarks
Best results inbold . extension system initalics .
Speedmark 5 stacks are proportional to those of a 1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini , which is allot a grievance of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in minutes : arcsecond . All systems were running Mac OS X 10.5 with 2 GB of RAM . The Photoshop Suite test is a stage set of 14 scripted labor using a 50 MB file . Photoshop ’s computer memory was determine to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum . We recorded how long it take to submit a vista in Cinema 4D XL . We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV filing cabinet using the videodisc : Fastest Encode 120 instant – 4:3 setting . In iMovie , we employ the elderly Film burden from the Video FX . card to a one minute picture show . We convert 45 minutes of AAC audio Indian file to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality setting . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch average - frames - per - second account ; we tested at a solving of 1,024 - by-768 pixels at the Maximum setting with both audio and graphics enabled . We guide Quake 4 timedemo at a closure of 1,024 - by-768 pixels at High Quality setting . We create a Zip archive in the Finder from a 2 GB folder.—MACWORLD research lab TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH , JERRY JUNG , AND BRIAN CHEN
Generally , the results show the fresh 2.2GHz models finishing each test just a couple of second gear faster than the 2.16GHz MacBooks , with the new 2GHz bringing up the bum ( though with very respectable scads for the latter system ) .
One area where the new MacBooks made pronounced improvement was in game scores . Though still far from being a gamer ’s dream machine , the new MacBooks use Intel ’s GMA X3100 graphics with 144 MB of RAM allocated from the system ’s chief store . old simulation had the Intel GMA 950 with just 64 megabit of deal memory . Our game benchmark results show the benefit of the new X3100 , with the young black 2.2GHz MacBook able to display 37 - percent more frames than the 2.16GHz MacBook from the last genesis when playing Unreal Tournament 2004 . Unfortunately , that ’s still about one - third the amount of frames per second a 2.2GHz MacBook Pro can expose , but it ’s still a decent performance boost . In new games , like Quake 4 , the issue still show advance , but at our 1,024 - by-768 , high - quality options , none of the MacBooks could be considered playable .
The unexampled MacBooks also have a degenerate 800MHz system bus — the old frontside bus was 667MHz . They can now support up to 4 GB of RAM , up from 2 GB officially support in old system . One interesting thing to note is that the 2.2GHz black MacBook actually achieve a higher Speedmark score than the current 2.2GHz MacBook Pro . With identical - speed Intel processors , we were not surprised to discover exchangeable termination between the Macbook and MacBook Pro in our Cinema4D tryout , but with what looks like a soggy arduous drive in the MacBook Pro , the 2.2GHz MacBooks were in reality faster than the MacBook Pro in almost all other non - gaming tryout .
ascertain back before long forMacworld ’s full review of these new MacBooks . From a benchmark linear perspective , these new MacBooks are giving their Pro counterparts a political campaign for their money — unless , of course , you ’re a gamer .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld Lab director . ]
