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View Full Version : The Register: Apple MacBook Pro 'fastest Windows XP notebook'

mummey
03-23-2006, 07:33 PM
>>Link<< (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/22/mac_fastest_core_duo_laptop/)

Disclaimer: Normally I'm not the one to believe the hype, no matter the source. In this case though, I chuckled when I first heard this. :)

Want the fastest Windows XP Core Duo notebook? Then buy a Mac. According to benchmarks carried out by website GearLog, Apple's MacBook Pro running Windows XP is a better Adobe Photoshop rig than any other Core Duo laptop on the market.

GearLog's test results can be found here (http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2006/03/21/8212.aspx). The site used a recently detailed technique (http://www.onmac.net/) that shoehorns the Microsoft operating system onto Intel-based Macs - a trick that last week won its formulators $13,000 (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/16/mac_boots_xp_contest_won/) in prize money.



The site measured the 2.16GHz Core Duo-based MacBook Pro running through a series of Windows XP-native Photoshop CS2 scripts in 1m 10s - better than a 1.66GHz Core Duo-based Mac Mini (1m 56s) and a 2GHz Core Duo-based iMac (1m 25s). You'd expect that kind of difference given the different CPU speed grades.

However, the site links to a set of tests (http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,s=1565&iid=127601,00.asp) carried out by PC Magazine on an array of Wintel Core Duo notebooks from Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Gateway. Only one came close: the Acer, with a score of 1m 11s; the others generated scores of 1m 52s to 1m 55s, all slower than the iMac.

The iMac comparison is apposite because all the laptops tested had 2GHz Core Duo CPUs, just like the iMac. So did the Acer, which came in a nose of beating the 2.16GHz MacBook Pro. However, while the Acer has the same ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 GPU as the MacBook Pro, the GPU isn't fully enabled on the Apple machine under Windows XP.

We are confident that the MacBook Pro will lose its Windows XP Photoshop CS2 benchmark crown as more Core Duo machines are tested, particularly those based on the 2.16GHz T2600 CPU. But it will make for an interesting race, especially ifsomeone gets the Windows XP ATI drivers to operate correctly with the MacBook Pro. ®
richcz3
03-23-2006, 07:42 PM
LOL :D If this is even remotely true, Steve Jobs will be standing on three legs (maybe not in public).
On the other hand Intel might feel a little awkward.
Being that a MacTel machine is largely a PC with a different OS, it may be better to wait for the dust to settle on this one.
pixelmonk
03-23-2006, 08:05 PM
LOL :D If this is even remotely true, Steve Jobs will be standing on three legs (maybe not in public).
On the other hand Intel might feel a little awkward.
Being that a MacTel machine is largely a PC with a different OS, it may be better to wait for the dust to settle on this one.

SteveO already thinks the world of himself as it is. You're right about waiting for the dust to settle. It may have nothing to do with XP itself, yet the hardware, the drivers, the configuration, what was turned on/off on the system. It would be interesting to hear how much the Mac Duo was tweaked in order for it to run in XP, if any mods at all had to be done. Of course, they probably won't tell you that, and have you assume ALL the laptops tested had equal baseline installs (which isn't always the case in these "show downs).
CupOWonton
03-23-2006, 08:35 PM
SteveO already thinks the world of himself as it is. You're right about waiting for the dust to settle. It may have nothing to do with XP itself, yet the hardware, the drivers, the configuration, what was turned on/off on the system. It would be interesting to hear how much the Mac Duo was tweaked in order for it to run in XP, if any mods at all had to be done. Of course, they probably won't tell you that, and have you assume ALL the laptops tested had equal baseline installs (which isn't always the case in these "show downs).

Yeah, computer companies on all ends would love for all of us to assume everything was equal when tested. We have to keep in mind they didnt do all the tests themselves, they relied on looking at others tests, without confirming any other software or settings on the laptops at the time, and because of course its their own benchmark, rather than an unbias 3rd party, ya have to take these things with a bowl of salt.

Still, they did a good job even if its remotely true.
tredeger
03-23-2006, 10:37 PM
Nevertheless, we can still come to the general conclusion that the MacBookPro really DOESN'T suck. And that is nice to know.

Now, let the dust settle so we can official do what everyone does unofficially anyway. Call it a POWERBOOK. MBP as a name does suck. And even Jobs knows it. He keeps slipping up and calling it a PB cause PB is the best name ever. EVER.
Saurus
03-23-2006, 10:43 PM
Here we go again!
Puffin
03-24-2006, 04:42 PM
Did anyone actually look at the benchmarks for the PC laptops? The MBP only beats the lower clock speed Travelmate by like 1 sec on the photoshop scripts and is slower on the Windows Media encoding. Also it would have been nice if they would have tested the 2.0 gHZ MBP as the 2.16 version is a special order machine and not for sale from a lot of apple resellers.

PC Mag is such a hack publication I wouldnt really put much stock in what they say. Still, I would love to buy one of the new MBP.. they are just so damn sexy.
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03-24-2006, 04:42 PM
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