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Performance: SR Macbook pro vs. 2 yr old DELL

M

macbookprofan07

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 15, 2007
18
0
Hi, i have a old ibook (2002) and this workstation i'm using:

heres the specs my current workstation (2 yr old DELL XPS M170 laptop)

2.13 ghz Pentium M single core
533 Mhz System Bus
1 GB DDR2 533 Mhz RAM
60 Gb 7200rpm HD
17" WUXGA 1920x1200
GeForce Go 6800 Ultra Specs:
12 pixel pipeline
450 Mhz Core Clock
1050 Mhz DDR3 RAM

3D Mark05 Score: 5410
3D Mark06 Score: 2485

I want to replace my workstation w/ a macbook pro so.....

How much faster is the 17" SR Macbook Pro w/ maxed out specs :apple: compare to this?
 
If you get a 7200 rpm hard drive, you'll probably see a pretty nice power boost, especially since you're moving from a single core to a dual core cpu. Add to that, the faster front bus, newer GPU, more ram (and probably faster too), and the fact that OS X won't get bogged down like windows.
 
The C2D chips perform up to 50% better than the Pentium-M chips clock for clock. The 2.4GHz MacBook (as an example) would therefore perform equivalent to something like a 3.6Ghz Pentium-M chip although there are two cores so you're looking at double that in optimised apps.

I'd guesstimate that in real world applications, the MBP would perform at 2-5x the speed of your current laptop. The graphics chip compares in roughly the same way. Put it this way, it'll be a **** load faster in everything you do. :)

BTW the 5400 drive probably equally, if not faster than the 7200 drive in your laptop at the moment due to the much higher data density.
 
Its like 3000-4000 (depending on screen res) in 3dmark06, and probably more like 8000 in 3dmark05.

Therefore you should see a decent boost in graphics performance. The 8600M GT, as you know, is the best available mobile graphics card today, if not in terms of sheer power (the Go 7950GX2 would obviously thrash it) but in terms of performance per watt.

But you should see a huge boost in CPU intensive applications (ie. anything but games). The 2.4GHz C2D will run rings around the Pentium. Most modern programs are capable of using at least some of the advantages of 2 cores.

I wouldn't bother with the faster HDD. The wait to get them is too long.
 
This makes me wonder, how do drivers work in both Tiger and Windows Vista (by running Bootcamp).

Do I have to download the latest drivers from the site and install them manually or does Bootcamp itself include drivers and how about when running it in the MAC OS?
 
Fayler said:
If you get a 7200 rpm hard drive, you'll probably see a pretty nice power boost, especially since you're moving from a single core to a dual core cpu. Add to that, the faster front bus, newer GPU, more ram (and probably faster too), and the fact that OS X won't get bogged down like windows.
Click to expand...

Windows only get bogged down if you let it. Same thing with a Mac. The only thing that primarily causes it to slow down is Start-up items. The same problem happens with a Mac. The only difference is people write viruses for Windows as opposed to Mac. Although my Windows computer hasn't had a virus in 2 years.

outlandos said:
This makes me wonder, how do drivers work in both Tiger and Windows Vista (by running Bootcamp).

Do I have to download the latest drivers from the site and install them manually or does Bootcamp itself include drivers and how about when running it in the MAC OS?
Click to expand...

When you use the boot camp assistant the program allows you to burn a Windows Driver CD. These drives are coded to work with Windows. They are not an exact copy of the ones used for the Mac side.
 
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