MacBook Air, Pro Benchmarks

Geekbench 2 results are starting to appear on the Geekbench Browser for the new MacBook Airs and the new MacBook Pros announced yesterday.

In order to see how much of a performance boost the new models bring, I've collected 32-bit Geekbench 2 results for all of the models available on the Geekbench Browser. I've then compared these scores against the scores for their 2011 and 2010 counterparts.

If you're not familiar with Geekbench 2, higher Geekbench 2 scores are better. Also, keep in mind that Geekbench 2 only measures processor and memory performance; it won't measure the benefits of new video cards or storage devices.

Oh, if you're curious how your computer stacks up against the new MacBook Airs or the new MacBook Pros you can download Geekbench and find out (it's a free download).

MacBook Air Benchmarks, 2010 to 2012

13-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i7-3667U 2.0 GHz (2 cores)
7,007
 
11-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i7-3667U 2.0 GHz (2 cores)
7,004
 
13-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i5-3427U 1.8 GHz (2 cores)
6,197
 
11-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7 GHz (2 cores)
5,770
 
11-inch Mid 2011
Intel Core i7-2677M 1.8 GHz (2 cores)
5,710
 
13-inch Mid 2011
Intel Core i5-2557M 1.7 GHz (2 cores)
5,268
 
11-inch Mid 2011
Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6 GHz (2 cores)
4,587
 
13-inch Late 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo L9600 2.13 GHz (2 cores)
3,011
 
13-inch Late 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores)
2,689
 
11-inch Late 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo U9600 1.6 GHz (2 cores)
2,271
 
11-inch Late 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 1.4 GHz (2 cores)
2,025
 

Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor, with its faster processors and more efficient architecture, means that last year's fastest MacBook Air is slightly slower than this year's slowest MacBook Air.

MacBook Pro Benchmarks, 2010 to 2012

15-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i7-3820QM 2.7 GHz (4 cores)
12,303
 
15-inch Retina Display
Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6 GHz (4 cores)
11,844
 
15-inch Mid 2012
Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6 GHz (4 cores)
11,800
 
15-inch Retina Display
Intel Core i7-3615QM 2.3 GHz (4 cores)
10,810
 
17-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2860QM 2.5 GHz (4 cores)
10,760
 
15-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2860QM 2.5 GHz (4 cores)
10,642
 
17-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.4 GHz (4 cores)
10,420
 
15-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.4 GHz (4 cores)
10,360
 
15-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3 GHz (4 cores)
10,191
 
17-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3 GHz (4 cores)
10,124
 
17-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2720QM 2.2 GHz (4 cores)
9,868
 
15-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2720QM 2.2 GHz (4 cores)
9,834
 
15-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2675QM 2.2 GHz (4 cores)
9,315
 
15-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2635QM 2.0 GHz (4 cores)
8,712
 
13-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i7-2640M 2.8 GHz (2 cores)
6,964
 
13-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i7-2620M 2.7 GHz (2 cores)
6,782
 
13-inch Late 2011
Intel Core i5-2435M 2.4 GHz (2 cores)
6,047
 
13-inch Early 2011
Intel Core i5-2415M 2.3 GHz (2 cores)
5,881
 
15-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i7-640M 2.8 GHz (2 cores)
5,852
 
17-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i7-640M 2.8 GHz (2 cores)
5,785
 
17-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i7-620M 2.6 GHz (2 cores)
5,543
 
15-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i7-620M 2.6 GHz (2 cores)
5,540
 
15-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i5-540M 2.5 GHz (2 cores)
4,973
 
17-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i5-540M 2.5 GHz (2 cores)
4,955
 
15-inch Early 2010
Intel Core i5-520M 2.4 GHz (2 cores)
4,860
 
13-inch Early 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores)
3,652
 
13-inch Early 2010
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores)
3,328
 

As with the new MacBook Airs, Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors bring noticeable performance improvements to the new MacBook Pros.

Currently there are no 32-bit results for any of the new 13-inch MacBook Pros; is this an indication that most people prefer the lighter 13-inch MacBook Air or the more powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro over the 13-inch MacBook Pro?

Also worth noting is that both the regular MacBook Pro and the Retina MacBook Pro use the same processors. Users trying to decide whether to get the thinner Retina MacBook Pro won't have to worry that it will be slower than the regular MacBook Pro.


 
John Poole is the founder of Primate Labs and lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Deborah. You can find John on Twitter or .