by James Galbraith, Macworld.com Oct 31, 2011 3:00 pm
Complete Coverage
Last week’s announcement of updates to the MacBook Pro was so low-key you might have missed it. And truth be told, it wasn't the flashiest update Apple has ever made to its portable lineup, with new processors and graphics highlighting the changes. While the improvements in the new MacBook Pros are modest when compared to the models they replace, there's plenty to like about the upgrades—especially if you’re the owner of an older laptop and you’re mulling an upgrade.
What’s new
While MacBook Pro prices stayed the same as the models introduced earlier this year, the components inside received subtle—yet welcome—updates. The $1199 entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro upgrades its 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 processor to a faster 2.4GHz dual-core Core i5 chip; its 320GB hard drive has been swapped out for a 500GB model. The $1499 13-inch MacBook Pro now has a 2.8GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 750GB hard drive; it previously had a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 500GB hard drive. The 13-inch models continue to use the same Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics as the previous MacBook Pros.
The 15-inch models were updated with 2.2GHz ($1799) and 2.4GHz ($2199) quad-core Core i7 processors, up from 2.0GHz and 2.2GHz, respectively. Graphics in the 15-inch systems also saw an upgrade: The $1799 model now has a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M, while the $2199 model has a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6770M. The storage capacity hasn’t changed on the 15-inch models, with a 500GB hard drive in the $1799 model, and a 750GB hard drive in the $2199 model.
As with the previous generation of MacBook Pros, the 17-inch $2499 model matches the $2199 15-inch model in all specifications, aside from screen size and the addition of a ExpressCard/34 slot.
What hasn’t changed
Externally, the new MacBook Pros are identical to the early 2011 models. The glossy LED backlit screens each measure 13.3-, 15.4-, and 17-inches diagonally, with 1280-by-800, 1440-by-900, and 1920-by-1200 pixel resolutions, respectively. All systems have a full-sized, backlit keyboard, as well as glass multi-touch trackpads with gesture support.
The FaceTime HD webcam, stereo speakers and built-in microphone remain the same, as do the number of ports on every model: one FireWire 800, one Gigabit Ethernet, a MagSafe power connector, and one audio in and one audio out port. The 13- and 15-inch models have two USB 2.0 ports and a SDXC card slot. The 17-inch model has three USB 2.0 ports and an ExpressCard/34 slot. All of the new MacBook Pros have a Thunderbolt port, which was introduced in the early 2011 models
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros
In terms of performance, the differences between the latest MacBook Pros and their immediate predecessors are, for the most part, as subtle as the upgrade announcement. The new $1199 13-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro is just a little over 4 percent faster than the 2.3GHz system it replaces. The $1499 13-inch 2.8GHz Core i7 model is about 9 percent faster than the system it replaces.
The most interesting results were in our Photoshop and Aperture tests, which are both faster on the older systems. According to Apple's website, the MacBook Pro may adjust processor speed to avoid running into thermal issues. That could be happening in these tests. It's also possible that the hard drives may be affecting the results.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Speedmark 7 Duplicate 2GB Folder Zip 4GB Folder Unzip 4GB File Pages '09 Open Word Doc 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 146 68.6 249.1 146.4 83.7 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 164 54.1 208.0 114.8 84.3 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 140 69.7 271.1 180.3 89.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 151 66.4 224.9 149.8 103.0 Speedmark 7 results are scores; higher scores are better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Import iMovie '11 Archive iMovie '11 Share to iTunes: Mobile iTunes 10 AAC to MP3 Encode HandBrake 0.9.5 Encode 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 109.3 88.2 88.8 203.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 95.8 79.0 79.0 174.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 116.0 87.5 99.7 210.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 107.0 90.8 78.7 186.0 Results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Cinebench OpenGL Cinebench CPU Parallels WorldBench 6 Multitasking Test on Windows 7 Photoshop CS5 Action Script 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 12.9 155.2 318.0 145.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 13.4 132.3 269.7 138.1 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 12.5 161.0 328.0 128.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 12.7 140.7 274.0 122.4 Cinebench OpenGL results are scores; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Aperture 3 Import and Process 207 Photos iPhoto '11 Import 500 Photos Mathematica 8 Portal 2 (1280x800) 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 118.6 178.4 1.09 61.5 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 113.7 151.5 1.11 67.1 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 121.3 171.7 0.95 61.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 105.4 162.2 1.02 59.5 Mathematica 8 results are scores; higher is better. Portal 2 results are framerates; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15-inch MacBook Pros
The $1799 15-inch 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro is a little more than 12 percent faster than the 2GHz model it replaces, with graphics performance being the biggest change. With its Radeon HD 6750M graphics, the $1799 model displays 85 percent more frames per second in Cinebench’s Open GL test than last year’s comparable model and its 256MB AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics processor. Our Portal 2 tests also shows great improvement, with the new $1799 model displaying 160 frames per second, as compared to the 68.6 frames that last year’s $1799 model was able to display. The graphics in the new $1799 model are identical to that found in last year’s $2199 model, and the Portal and Cinebench OpenGL test results of those two models are also practically identical.
The new graphics in the $2199 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro perform a little faster than the graphics in the previous $2199 model, a 15-inch 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro. Overall, the new $2199 model’s graphics run about 7 percent faster overall than its predecessor. The new $2199 model displayed nearly 12 percent more frames per second in the Cinebench OpenGL test, and 8 percent more frames per second in our Portal 2 tests.
The new 17-inch model is a little more than 4 percent faster overall than the early 2011 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Speedmark 7 Duplicate 2GB Folder Zip 4GB Folder Unzip 4GB File Pages '09 Open Word Doc 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 190 74.4 245.5 168.9 88.6 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 219 52.7 217.4 131.6 76.0 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 216 55.8 223.4 123.5 79.0 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 169 73.7 261.1 153.3 89.4 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 205 59.6 234.3 125.5 83.3 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 207 54.2 219.3 119.9 76.1 Speedmark 7 results are scores; higher scores are faster. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Import iMovie '11 Archive iMovie '11 Share to iTunes: Mobile iTunes 10 AAC to MP3 Encode HandBrake 0.9.5 Encode 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 82.2 60.8 80.6 108.2 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 70.2 52.6 71.5 100.5 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 68.3 54.9 72.0 99.1 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 81.0 85.3 84.9 115.6 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 73.7 65.0 75.2 106.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 74.2 66.8 81.9 103.2 Results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Cinebench OpenGL Cinebench CPU Parallels WorldBench 6 Multitasking Test on Windows 7 Photoshop CS5 Action Script 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 38.7 81.9 288.3 147.9 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 43.3 76.0 234.0 149.8 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 42.6 76.2 261.3 149.5 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 20.9 86.9 280.7 144.5 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 38.8 81.9 267.7 148.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 38.8 82.0 265.3 147.5 Cinebench OpenGL results are scores; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Aperture 3 Import and Process 207 Photos iPhoto '11 Import 500 Photos Mathematica 8 Portal 2 (1280x800) 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 117.2 186.2 1.55 160.0 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 103.9 141.2 1.64 174.3 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 103.0 142.5 1.64 169.6 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 115.5 170.4 1.46 68.6 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 101.5 141.2 1.52 160.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 106.5 139.7 1.57 156.0 Mathematica 8 results are scores; higher is better. Portal 2 results are framerates; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
How we tested. We duplicated a 2GB file, created a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 2GB files and then unzipped it. In iMovie ’11, we imported a camera archive and exported it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting. We converted 135 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes’ High Quality setting. We used HandBrake 0.9.5 to encode a single chapter from a DVD previously ripped to the hard drive to H.264 using the application's Normal settings. We recorded how long it took to render a scene with multiprocessors in Cinebench and ran that application's OpenGL, frames per second test. We ran a timedemo in Call of Duty 4 at a resolution of 1024-by-768 with 4X anti-aliasing turned on. We installed Parallels 6 and ran WorldBench 6's Multitask test.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith, Mauricio Grijalva and William Wang
Battery life also seems to be similar to the last set of MacBook Pros, getting between 5.5 and 6 hours of battery life in our fullscreen video playback test at full brightness.
Macworld’s buying advice
The new MacBook Pro lineup won’t cause any buyer’s remorse for those who purchased a member of the early 2011 family, or perhaps even for buyers of a 2010 MacBook Pro. If you have a laptop that's older, however, the late 2011 MacBook Pros feature faster processors, larger capacity hard drives in the 13-inch models, and improved graphics in the 15- and 17-inch models that combine to make already attractive systems an even greater value.
[James Galbraith is Macworld’s lab director.]
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Monday, October 31, 2011
New MacBook Pros (Late 2011) feature updates that boost performance and value Review | Macworld
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
New MacBook Pro could arrive in April 2011 with SSD, Light Peak, no DVD
Update Put your checkbooks away, folks. Electronista has all but debunked this rumor. By crunching the numbers, they confirmed that (at today's prices at least), such a MacBook Pro could easily be priced out of the market. Read on and dream, but don't expect this machine to appear on your desk any time soon.-----
Three Guys and a Podcast are reporting that the next-generation MacBook Pro will likely arrive in April 2011 with a new design inspired by the latest slim-line MacBook Air. That means that the high-end laptops will probably dispense with spinning drives altogether and come equipped only with solid-state drives of up to 512GB capacity. If you haven't yet finished ripping all of your CDs and DVDs, you'll want to complete that task before migrating to a new MBP because the internal optical drive will probably follow the floppy into the annals of history.With the internal speed bottlenecks reduced by the flash memory drives and new Sandy Bridge CPUs, Apple will also work on speeding up the external communication interfaces. Light Peak may finally debut on the MBP, two years after it was originally announced by Intel. Whether or not Light Peak makes it to the party, we expect that USB 3.0 probably will arrive in an Apple product on these new machines. The fate of Firewire is unknown at this time, but it seems unlikely to make the cut, especially if Light Peak is included. The one exception may be if Apple keeps one of the current generation 15-inch machines in the lineup as an entry model. If the 13-inch MBP also remains in the lineup, the new interfaces, CPUs and perhaps a higher resolution display will be what set it apart from the similarly sized Air.
Users are expected to be able to put this speedy new hardware to work with a new version of Final Cut Pro that should debut around the same time. Not much is known about FCP at this time except that it should be faster.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Video: The Official Dell Inspiron Duo Teaser Video
Dell showed off the wacky Inspiron Duo tablet netbook flippy thing at IFA last month. Wanna see it in action? ‘Course you do. Click through for the official Dell teaser video. Hopefully Dell comes through and this thing actually hits the retail market. It’s no iPad killer and that’s totally fine. It doesn’t have to be. It will certainly make some buyers happy and that’s what matters. [via Blogeee.net]
Monday, November 1, 2010
MacBook Air Benchmarks: Fast Enough For Everyday Use, But The Slow Processor Does Hurt Performance
You know, it’s one thing to use subjective and entirely unscientific terms like “feels” or “seems” when it comes to reviewing computers, but there’s something to be said about actually running benchmarks and comparing the numbers to other comparable computers. Numbers don’t lie. So kudos to MacWorld for actually taking the time to see just how impressive, or not, the new MacBook Air is.
Compared to the previous edition of the MacBook Air, the new version performs better in every way, most of which can be attributed to the elimination of tractional hard disk drives (HDD) and the transition to solid state drives (SSD). SSDs don’t need to spin up to a useable state, and their access and write times run circles around HDDs.
Not surprising, however, is that the MacBook Air doesn’t really compare to MacBook Pros featuring Intel Core i5 processors. You may think your MacBook Air is “faster” than your MacBook Pro if all you’re doing is reading Facebook messages, typing in Microsoft Word, or even doing some basic Photoshop editing. The SSDs will make your browser launch faster, for example, so you could simply say, “Oh, it’s faster.”
Well yeah: you’re comparing two different types of storage, one of which is demonstrably faster than the other.
But, try to render a high-resolution video using the MacBook Air, with its Core 2 Duo, then you’ll see how “fast” it is.
We actually had this argument with John. The MacBook Air is great, and probably will be “faster” for your day-to-day use thanks to the SSD, but to have purchased the computer with the express intention of editing video on it may have been a misstep on his part.
Bottom line: the MacBook Air is a state-of-the-art computer in a lot of ways, particularly when it comes to design. And for your average use, the SSDs will be a huge benefit. But don’t think that you’ll be churning out video in Premiere or Final Cut Pro as effectively as you would using a computer with a modern processor.
Then again, how often are you rendering video in the first place?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
How to Maximize the Battery Life on Your Linux Laptop :: Productive Geek
Power saving is a hot topic for laptop users who need to get things done when they are on the move and running on limited battery energy. Here is a list of smart Linux tricks to save battery power.
According to Less Watts.org, the leading source for power saving tips on Linux, the following components of our computer consumes most of our battery life and we can lengthen our battery life by tweaking them:
1. Ethernet Network Controller
2. WiFi/Wireless
3. Graphic and Display
4. Processor
5. Disks and File System
6. SoftwareWe will show you some basic battery energy saving tips and some advanced hardware tweaks in Ubuntu.
Basic Battery Energy Saving Tips
Ubuntu comes with a power management module that gives us basic control to save our battery life, to open it just go to ‘System’ > ‘Preferences’ > ‘Power Management’.
We can extend our battery life by selecting these options from the power management screen:
1. Putting our computer to sleep when it is inactive.
2. Setting our computer to hibernate mode when battery power is low.
3. Slowing down the hard disk spin.
4. Putting display to sleep when it is inactive.
5. Reducing the back light brightness.
6. Dimming display when the computer is idle.Wifi/Wireless
Our Wifi/Wireless Radio consumes power when it receives and sends data over the network and we should turn it off when we’re not using it. We can turn off our wifi if our network card supports the enable and disable power control mechanism by using the ‘iwconfig’ command that we can execute in Ubuntu console:
sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower offUse the following command to turn our Wifi/Wireless on back again
sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower onNote: Replace ‘wlan0′ with your wireless card name displayed in ‘System’ > ‘Administration’ > ‘Network Tools’ under the ‘Network Device’ Drop Down List
Processor
Photo by chigmaroff
Linux provides a simple tuning mechanism to save energy consumption in our processor by distributing the processing load among the available processors. If you’re laptop comes with multi-processor, we can use take advantage of Linux’s processor balancing feature to save energy consumption by executing this command through the console:
echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_mc_power_savingsDisk System
Photo By fr3d.org
Linux maintain a set of files system date meta data including ‘atime’ that shows the last time a file was used. Although this feature is very useful to system administrator, keeping track of ‘atime’ forces our laptop to a write to the disk every time a file is accessed increasing energy consumption from the battery.Setting Relatime
We can disable the ‘atime’ to reduce disk write at the cost of breaking software that relies on ‘atime’. An alternative is to enable the ‘relatime’ option where Linux will update files access times only if they are earlier than the modification time. This change allows utilities to see if the current version of a file has been read, but still cuts down significantly on atime updates. Linux Kernel 2.6.20 and above should support the ‘relatime’ option
Execute the following command in your console to enable the ‘relatime’ option.
mount -o remount,relatime /Hard Disk Power Saving Options
Some hard disk manufacturer build power saving options into their hardware so that we can reduce the energy that our hard disk consume. We can only turn on this power saving option when we see AdvancedPM=yes after executing the following command in the console:
hdparm -i /dev/sdaThis is an example from hdparm:
Model=FUJITSU, FwRev=000000A0, SerialNo=NS9BT742705B
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234441648
IORDY=yes, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
AdvancedPM=yes: mode=0x80 (128) WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-2,3,4,5,6,7
* signifies the current active mode
We can enable power saving mode using the hdparm command, for example:
hdparm -B 1 -S 12 /dev/sdaEnable Laptop Mode
We can save our battery energy life by turning on Linux’s laptop mode so that Linux reduce I/O operation when our laptop is under low power. Not every hardware comes with a laptop mode so we need to check whether our hardware supports laptop mode by executing the following command:
sudo gedit /proc/sys/vm/laptop_modeIf you find that the value in the laptop_mode text file is 0 it means that the laptop mode is disabled. Just set it to 5 from gedit and save the file to enable the laptop mode.
Software
Intel introduce PowerTOP, a software that analyzes software’s power consumption. According to Intel PowerTOP work best with Linux kernel with the tickless idle (NO_HZ) feature enabled (version 2.6.21 or later). Currently, only 32-bit kernels have support for tickless idle; 64-bit kernels are expected to gain this feature in version 2.6.23.
You can install PowerTop through the Ubuntu Software Centre and run it by typing the following command from your console.
sudo powertop“Wakeups per second” is a good indicator for our laptop energy consumption effeciency. Our laptop saves the most energy when the “Wakeups per second” shows a low number. According to Intel the lowest number of wakeups in a Gnome Desktop environment is 3 and we should be able to achieve this by tweaking our laptop hardware configuration or by closing some of the active software in our system.
Below is a sample of PowerTOP analysis on my laptop energy consumption.
According to PowerTOP analysis the main cause of wake up in my laptop is ‘Rescheduling Interrupt’ that is often invoked when my laptop tries to spread the processor activity across my dual Intel Centrino core. Rescheduling Interrupt happens when the kernel IPI “message” is sent to a sleeping core to wake it up from a low power sleep to make it start running a process when the scheduler decides to offload work from one core to another sleeping core.
One solution to minimize the interrupts is to install irqbalance that distributes the interrupts over the processors and cores in your computer system.
References
Lesswatt.org. LessWatts is about creating a community around saving power on Linux.
Intel PowerTop. PowerTOP is a Linux tool that finds the software component(s) that make your laptop use more power than necessary while it is idle.
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