Performance Tests
Having been a Windows user for the best part of two decades, I’ve spent the last couple of years on a Hackintosh built around a 3GHz Core 2 Duo. Yet, what began as an experiment out of curiosity, soon ended up as a preference to booting in Windows. Unsurprisingly, this Core i7 MacBook Pro at once felt like a considerable leap forward in all-round performance. The machine is certainly snappy and responsive, an impression that is backed by quite respectable PCMark Vantage scores for this configuration.
Benchmark Tests
PCMark Vantage Results
Longer bars are better
PCMark Vantage Battery Life Results
Battery life in minutes
Longer bars are better
Yet the most impressive feature of the 17in MacBook Pro is its battery life. For the past two weeks, the machine was been subjected to six to eight hours of non-mains use nearly every day and it has delivered without fail. Given the various power saving tricks that can be applied - including switching to the on-CPU Intel graphics core - I’d say Apple’s claim of an 8-9 hour battery life is about right. That said, the deliberately heavy-draining battery tests using PCMark Vantage on a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition suggest that having the screen at full brightness is the real killer here.
Next page: Win some, lose some
COMMENTS
how about
1. the fact that the same spec alienware laptop is the SAME price (see post above which I have verified)
2. the fact that the comparable alienware laptop weighs 5.5KG
3. the fact that Dell rate the battery life of the aforementioned alienware laptop at 2.5 hours.
4. AW laptop = ugly as hell
So you can add the cost of 3 spare batteries (and their weight) to the specs if you want something you can really compare with.
Go away troll
Comparison specs / prices
I Google the machine models you compared against, and both came back as £800-900 machines.
Did you use upgraded versions of these, or did you really just compare a £2000 laptop to machines that cost less than half that price?
Surely a comparison against similarilly priced IBMs / Dells would be better?
@Wyrdness
"8 times faster for the same price? You're talking out of your arse."
My sentiments exactly. But almost without exception, the "Look at me! I'm too cool to like Apple" brigade are long on wishful thinking sophistry and short on reason.
If Jobs & Ives found a cure for Aids, Ebola virus, brought peace to the Middle East and ended African famine, you can bet your last penny these people would still be spewing out spittle-laden invective...
Do it then
If you can then do it. Why tell us that? Some of us like to run OSX and software only available for it. Just like some people are totally fixated with Excel and all the VBA rubbish.
But then 8 times as fast? I doubt it. The Core I7 is the fastest Intel mobile CPU at present.
Go on then, let's see you do it.
I've just specced out the nearest equivalent Alienware laptop (2.66Ghz i7, 1920x1200 screen, Win7 Pro, 500Gb disk, bluetooth, no anti-virus). It comes out at £2,139. So that's £39 more than this Mac.
8 times faster for the same price? You're talking out of your arse.
