Penryn MacBook Pros: Performance Comparable, Battery Life Greater
Anandtech posts a lengthy review of the new Penryn-based MacBook Pros. Their review provides some objective data on the new laptops, as compared to the previous generation.
As described before, the biggest change in the new MacBook Pros is the use of a 45-nm Penryn CPU as opposed to the older 65-nm Merom CPU. Despite some differences in L2 cache, Anandtech found benchmark performance to be neck and neck:
Overall, the performance differential ends up being a wash - there are some cases where Penryn is faster at lower clock speeds, while others where Merom manages a win - much as we expected.
One measurable advantage of the new processors, however, is an extension of battery life, with improvements ranging from 7-15% longer than its predecessor, with an absolute increase in battery life of 37-67 minutes in their web browsing test.
It looks like Penryn is good for a 7 - 15% increase in battery life over similarly configured Merom systems. The improvement alone isn't enough to warrant an upgrade but it's a nice improvement over the previous systems given that you get it at no additional cost. Ah, the beauty of innovation.
Popular Stories
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9.
While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models.
...
Apple's unusually timed announcement of new Mac mini and Mac Studio models this week was driven by unexpectedly strong enterprise appetite for AI hardware, according to The Information.
Apple normally releases new Mac models in the autumn, closer to October or November, making this week's announcement unusually early, falling just before the anticipated arrival of new iPhone models. The...
Apple has announced that it will be holding an event on Wednesday, September 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with the company widely expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, its first-ever foldable iPhone, and more.
Other products expected to be announced at the event include an Apple Watch Series 12 with a ceramic case option, an Apple Watch Ultra 4, AirPods 5 with and without...
