“Apple [has] released updated MacBooks… among the improvements is an upgrade from the Core Duo processor to the Core 2 Duo processor. I thought I’d take a look at the performance of the new Core 2 Duo MacBooks with Geekbench,” by John Poole writes for Geek Patrol. “Overall, when it comes to processor performance, the latest MacBook is an impressive laptop.”
Here’s the setup of the two test machines:
MacBook (Late 2006)
• Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz
• 1024 MB RAM
• Mac OS X 10.4.8 (Build 8N1106)
• Geekbench 2006 (Build 230)
MacBook
• Intel Core Duo @ 2.0GHz
• 1024 MB RAM
• Mac OS X 10.4.8 (Build 8L2127)
• Geekbench 2006 (Build 230)
Full article with benchmarks here.
anyone know of any good tests done with the new MacBook Pro CD2? I know Macworld did one some 2 weeks ago – but it was everything but complete. No comment on the generated heat, no mention of the ATI X1600 card or its drivers (are the new drivers performing better than the ones in the previous REV.?) and no comments about battery life.
What’s with the Macbook matching the Macbook Pro on performance, well almost. Overall score 215.6 vs 217.3
The graphics card better kick but or I might as well go with the Macbook.
Damn, that’s a sweet machine!
Feel kind of sorry for the people who bought it half a year ago but still we knew memron was in the pipeline.
To Emil, and all the rest of you the “should have waited” attitude:
Some of us had no choice but to buy six months ago. In my case, my iBook had been stolen. When the insurance check came was I gonna sit for who knows how long without a computer waiting for the Merom’s to show up? Of course not! You buy when you need it, and you buy the best that’s availabe at the time. Case closed!
Recently picked up a loaded 15″ c2d mbp 2.33 (upgrading from a g4 1.5ghz, so that’s my comparison). My preliminary review is that the mbp is a sweet, stable, and swift machine. To make things plusher still, it also drives the 30″ monitor very nicely.
kind of wish i waited, but could always say that. Still, my Macbook 32bit still rocks. Cuts through all I throw at it lick butter. So how can I complain? Gosh, a dual proc. notebook, and both at 2.0 ghtz! 18 months ago that was a pipe dream.
I don’t feel bad about having to buy a mac book at the end of August. Specially, since I needed it then and have used every single day since. Plus I got a 30 gig ipod for $100. That being said, sure I’d rather have the new one . . . Siempre!
The 2Ghz Core2Duo has twice the cache as the 2Ghz CoreDuo – 4Mb to 2Mb. All of the tests that Poole conducted in his article demonstrate nothing more than a cache advantage. When the cache was overwhelmed in both procs (check the streaming tests at the bottom), performance results for both CPUs was almost identical. Some even favored the CoreDuo.
This is more an indication of Intel making shlock and selling it as silver, than anything else.
don’t be suckers.
I bought mine in June, and don’t regret it. I mean these are nice as a holiday push, but mine is still a powerful machine, probably one of the better computers out there on the market. It’s a golden gem, and truly worth every cent.
Now all they need to do is give it decent graphics instead of the integrated crud … My MacBook sucks at graphics intensive operations.
Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo performance comparison
http://www.geekpatrol.ca/blog/160/
Compares a 17 MBP CD to a 15 MBP C2D
I’ve got a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.16Ghz. It runs MUCH cooler than the first generation MacBook Pro. The ATI x1600 graphics is much faster – default clock is now 423Mhz core, 475Mhz memory, rather than 300Mhz both with the first generation MacBook Pro. I get over 4 hours battery life with light usage. There is no iritating high-pitched squeeling noise like my first MacBook Pro had. I ran 3DMark05 in Windows XP and scored nearly 4000. My old 1.83Ghz MacBook Pro scored about 2600. I overclocked my new MacBook Pro up to 500Mhz core, 575Mhz memory and scored over 4500 in 3DMark05, which is highest score I’ve found for any 15″ laptop. In Cinebench r9.5 I get 3450 in hardware OpenGL performance, rather than 2700 with the old 1.83Ghz MacBook Pro.
In short, the 15.4″ Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro absolutely rocks; it’s got much better graphics than before, runs cool and has strong battery life. The stock 120GB hard drive is faster than the old stock 80GB drive. The screen is a bit brighter, and I dig the FireWire 800 and dual-layer DVD burner.
re:BD, thx for the link.
re:Nick, thx for the rundown. You actually gave me more information than the mentioned Macworld test.
I’m waiting for Leopard before I replace my PowerBook.
MW: mean – NO I’M NOT!
Felt bad about C2 Duo for a sec (I have a 1.83 GHz MBP), but then I remembered Santa Rosa! Ahh yes, 800 MHz FSB! New wireless card that runs on cellphone networks! And flash-memory too? Now we’re talking REAL revolution. C2D is just a refinement of what’s already here. I’m glad I won’t holding a C2D when Santa Rosa comes out. Much easier to justify upgrading from the original MBP.
Basil:
cool! glad I could help.
Sour/Sweet Grapes:
the thing is, you can always just sell your Mac on ebay… But yeah, the Santa Rosa switch will be great, in like 6 months or whatever. There’s always something exciting on the horizon. When they switch to Santa Rosa, it will bring a bunch of new hardware, so you won’t be using something as mature as these 2nd generation MacBook Pros. Expect them to gave some glitches at first. The flash RAM will speed up boot times (it currently takes about 30 seconds), but who ever reboots their Mac laptop? Just shut the lid when you’re not using it. Memory is not a bottleneck yet; my MacBook Pro is only running 3.2x faster than the memory, that’s nothing – not to mention the 4MB L2 cache. The MacBooks and MacBook Pros already have 802.11n draft cards in them, so they’re fine in terms of wireless ability.
Plus, I think some folks are missing the significance of this update – all Mac laptops are now 64bit, and that’s going to be a bigger deal with Leopard. As those Geekbench tests reveal, 64bit performance gains are real, and it’s only a matter of time before 64bit applications become the norm and 32bit applications become legacy.