Product Listing

Apple Macbook - Pretty Pretty Please?

By Aloysius Low - 1 Jan 2009

Performance Matters

Performance Matters

Benchmarking Macs have always been a different affair from our Windows notebooks, so we've used some of the tests that we did in our previous review to keep things consistent. We don't really have a direct comparison for the MacBook, so we're back to using the results from the older MacBook Air review that we did earlier on last year.

Notebook Comparison Table
Specifications/Notebook Apple MacBook Air Apple MacBook Air
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, 3MB L2 cache Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz, 4MB L2 cache
Chipset NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Intel GM965
FSB 800MHz 800MHz
Memory 2GB DDR3-1066 2GB DDR2-667
HDD 160GB SATA 5400RPM 80GB IDE - 4200RPM
Video NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Intel GMA X3100 144MB (shared)

As the results show, the newer hardware does its job pretty well and the NVIDIA platform used for the MacBook does wonders compared against the onboard Intel GMA X3100 of the MacBook Air. The scores were definitely a huge improvement over the MacBook Air, but do bear in mind that the Air wasn't designed to be a performance workhorse. We're also definitely liking the NVIDIA GPU here, as we feel it really helps with those with an itch for 3D gaming on the MacBook.

For our next test, we basically used the same 197MB H.264 encoded 1080p QuickTime Trailer of Iron Man and encoded it via iTunes using the 'Convert Selection for iPod' option. The results showed a nifty and speedy 2 minutes and 53 seconds for the test that's a leap above the Air's time of 4 mins and 06 seconds. With the MacBook being the lower end of the hardware spectrum of the new series, it only stands to reason that the other models will definitely do better (but also cost more).

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