Below you will find performance results for most of the currently shipping Apple PowerBook computers. The exception is the 12" 1.33 GHz model that has the SuperDrive. However for the most part, it should turn in the same scores as the 12" with the Combo Drive, which is listed below.
If you are considering buying a 1.5 GHz PowerBook because you think it will run rings around the 1.33 GHz model, our testing does not bare that out. In the best of circumstances you will see a 10 to 12 percent processing performance over a 1.33 GHz machine. In some cases the 1.5 GHz PowerBooks came in behind their 1.33 GHz counterparts. Of course the 1.5 GHz PowerBooks have other attractions, such as a SuperDrive and more memory (both RAM and Fixed). However at a $500 premium, you might want to bypass the 1.5 GHz 15 inch Book, and settle on its 1.33 GHz sibling as a good compromise choice ... you can buy a lot of extras for $500.
Don't see performance information on the Mac you are interested in? Send a request for a custom performance comparison between any two Macs (example).
The tests below are from our suite of real world application tests. These tests feature a diverse selection of applications commonly used by the Mac community. The test suite was designed to render an accurate and well rounded picture of a machine's performance. All of the tests below, except for the game tests and the CineBench tests, were timed with a stopwatch, and the numbers reflect the time in seconds. For timed scores, lower numbers are better. For the CineBench & Game scores higher numbers are better.
Processor Intensive Tests
CineBench 2003 consists of a series of tests. This one, tests basic single CPU processing performance. . You can download the CineBench program to run on your own machine and compare scores. We used the version of CineBench that is not optimized for the G5 for this test, and the one below. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better. Raw processing speed wins the day. The performance of the 1.5 GHz machines is about 12% better than the 1.33 GHz PowerBooks .... Pretty much in keeping with the difference in clock speed.
This is the same test as above, however it will take advantage of dual processors if they are present. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better. In this situation a dual processor machine comes into its own.
The Fractal program has been highly tuned to take advantage of the G4 and is precisely the type of work that the G4 was made for. It will also gobble up whatever processing capability is present. This is a good test for assessing the fundamental processing potential of each machine. Really highlights the processing advantage of a dual processor machines and the G4 processor, when applications are tuned to take advantage of these features. You can download the Fractal program and run it on your own machine to compare scores. You will need to set the fractal to maximum count of 65536, to be consistent with our testing. (Lower scores are better)
A 5MB movie is converted to a QuickTime movie using default setting. At the moment this function of QuickTime does not take good advantage of dual processors. We do not have a good idea why the 15" 1.5GHz PowerBook did not do better in this test. We ran the test three times and got roughly the same results each time. We do note below that, in the single file drive test, the 15" 1.5 GHz model was slower than its 17 inch sibling. Perhaps this was a factor in its results above. (Lower scores are better)
Graphics Performance
This part of the CineBench program relies on the graphics card for graphics rendering. Download the program and run your own test.The 15" and 17" PowerBooks all have the same graphics card, with the same amount of video memory. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better.
Let 1K Windows Bloom is a simple carbon application that opens and closes 1,000 windows. This gauges how fast screen redraws are taking place. You can download the small program to run on your machine and compare your scores, to the ones here. The dual processor machine is helped by it's ample L3 cache, though this program makes poor use of dual processors. We can only assume that the graphics card in the 12" PowerBook is much better at running this test than the other PowerBooks. Whether that translates into real world gains, is not quite clear. It is interesting to note that during this test the processor of the 12" was completely saturated with data, while the other PowerBooks ranged from 65 to 75 percent saturation ... meaning a significant portion on the those PowerBook's processors were under utilized. (Lower scores are better)
Game Performance
Giants is tuned to take advantage of the processor(s). Indeed, when run on a dual processor machine, you will see Giants fly ahead of the same game running on a single processor machine. It also helps to have a better graphics card.. The scores above are actual scores (frames per second) ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better. All the PowerBooks are pretty well matched here.
4x4 EVO2 is a demanding racing game. It appears that this game is much more graphics card dependent than processor dependent. The scores above are actual scores (frames per second) ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better. Again the 12" is the odd man out, because of its less robust graphics card.
Drive Performance
The copy folder test not only stresses drive performance but also takes advantage of faster processing capability & caching schemes. (Lower scores are better)
In the single file test the the processor & caching capability of the machine is less of a factor. (Lower scores are better)
Application Performance
BareFeats Photoshop Test Suite - mimics a production type workflow in Photoshop. If you would like to run this test on your machine download the action file and drop it on the Photoshop icon. (Lower scores are better)
A Macro (series of complex actions) was run in Microsoft's Word on a 500 page document. Word is part of Office X (Lower scores are better)
CD-R drive speed and CPU processing power are the factors influencing the scores above. Four songs totaling 16.5 minutes in length were converted. Both the 1.5 GHz machines have the SuperDrive, The 1.33 GHz machines have the Combo Drive, though it looks like the 12" has a much slower version. We ran the test three times on the 12" and came up with the same score each time. (Lower scores are better)
This test takes place in a large AppleWorks document. Again here we think that the drive in the 15" 1.5 GHz PowerBook may be a factor in its tardy score. The Dual Processor PowerMac is hurt because in only has half the L2 cache of the PowerBooks. (Lower scores are better)
In this test, an Aged Effect is run on the 175 MB DV file with the Effect left at its default setting This is a processor intensive task. This function of iMovie does not take good advantage of dual processors. All four PowerBooks are pretty much within the margin of error. (Lower scores are better)
Multitasking Performance
The MP3 Encode, Photoshop Normal and Word Macro tests are all run at the same time. (Lower scores are better)
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