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Retina Display MacBook Pro Q&A
Published April 11, 2015
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How fast are the 13-Inch "Early 2015" MacBook Pro models compared to one another? How fast are they compared to the models replaced?
In the corporate press release for the "Early 2015" MacBook Pro, Apple puts emphasis on "more performance" and specifically mentions not only "more powerful graphics" but also mentions "two times faster flash" storage. The company even mentions the faster storage more than once.
With an emphasis on performance, specifically graphics and storage, one would expect the "Early 2015" Retina Display MacBook Pro models -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.7 13", "Core i5" 2.9 13" and "Core i7" 3.1 13" -- to be at least noticeably faster than their "Mid-2014" predecessors -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.6 13", "Core i5" 2.8 13", and "Core i7" 3.0 13".
Just how much faster requires benchmarks and real-world testing, though.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro)
General Performance Overview
For a solid overview of the performance difference between the "Early 2015" MacBook Pro models and earlier notebooks, EveryMac.com's own Ultimate Mac Comparison makes it quick to compare side-by-side 32-bit and 64-bit Geekbench benchmark averages with all other G3 and later Macs for thousands of possible performance comparisons.
For example, the Geekbench 3.0 benchmark shows that the standard high-end "Early 2015" model -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.9 13" -- is around 5% faster in single core and multicore tasks than the entry-level MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.7 13" model.
It also shows that the high-end BTO/CTO option -- the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 3.1 13" -- is in the neighborhood of 2%-3% faster than the standard high-end model. As it costs 11% more, this custom configuration is not a particularly good value.
Compared to the "Mid-2014" MacBook Pro models replaced, Geekbench 3.0 demonstrates that the "Early 2015" MacBook Pro systems are around 1% to 5% faster than the models each replaced, so quite modest overall:
| Mid-2014 MBPr | Early 2015 MBPr | Percent Faster |
| "Core i5" 2.6 13-Inch | "Core i5" 2.7 13-Inch | 4%-5% |
| "Core i5" 2.8 13-Inch | "Core i5" 2.9 13-Inch | 4%-5% |
| "Core i7" 3.0 13-Inch | "Core i7" 3.1 13-Inch | 1%-4% |
Just for comparison, the standard high-end "Early 2015" 13-Inch model -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.9 13" (which has two processor cores) -- is about 1% faster than the entry-level "Mid-2014" 15-Inch model -- the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 15" (IG) (which has four processor cores) -- in single core tasks, but about 45% slower in multicore tasks.
Other Benchmarks & Real-World Test Results
Geekbench provides a good overview of overall performance, but other benchmarks and application tests also can be worthwhile for a complete perspective, particularly given Apple's emphasis on graphics and SSD performance for these particular models.
In real-world tests and benchmarks, PCMag found overall performance to be a bit lower than Geekbench demonstrated, but graphics performance to be a bit better:
The new [Early 2015] MacBook Pro was only a few seconds behind last year's model on the Handbrake test (2:38 vs. 2:32, respectively), and Photoshop CS6 test (4:17 vs. 4:11), but performed measurably better on CineBench R15 (311 vs. 279 points).
TechRadar also found a significant boost in graphics performance, but noted that graphics performance still is mediocre compared to notebooks with dedicated graphics, like the 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro:
In NovaBench, it scored 95 in the Graphics test versus last year's 79, signalling an 18% improvement.
Even with improved integrated graphics onboard, the [13-Inch Early 2015] MacBook Pro remains a poor choice for serious gamers. It will certainly be capable of running older titles at 60 Hz in a Boot Camp installation on Windows (think games using Valve's Source engine -- such as Counter Strike and TF2), but don't expect anything like Battlefield: Hardline to play smooth as butter.
AppleInsider hit the 13-Inch "Early 2015" MacBook Pro with the Blackmagic disk speed test and reported:
Blackmagic's disk speed benchmark returned read speeds of over 1,333 megabytes per second, with write speeds exceeding 574 megabytes per second.
In comparison, the same benchmark running on our Mid-2014 15-inch MacBook Pro, a maxed-out model, shows write and read speeds of just 719 and 672 megabytes per second, respectively.
With SSD read speed 98% faster, it is clear that Apple's "twice as fast" SSD claim is referring to this metric.
Performance Summary
Ultimately, the 13-Inch "Early 2015" Retina Display MacBook Pro models offer improved performance, particularly graphics and SSD performance compared to their predecessors. They pack a higher-capacity battery and eke out an extra hour or so of battery life, as well.
However, if value is important to you, the 13-Inch "Mid-2014" Retina Display MacBook Pro models replaced are not that much slower and remain a good value on the used market.
Additionally, if performance -- particularly graphics performance -- is your top priority, a 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro with dedicated graphics would be a much better choice.
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