While Geekbench 2 results for most of last week’s new Macs were quickly uploaded to the Geekbench Browser, it took a while for 13-inch MacBook Pro results to appear. Now that almost a week has passed, hundreds of results for the 13-inch MacBook Pro have been uploaded.
The chart below shows the average Geekbench 2 score for the 13-inch MacBook Pros and the 13-inch MacBook Airs from the last three years. The new models released last week are denoted by the blue bars, while the old models are denoted by the grey bars. If you’re not familiar with Geekbench 2, higher Geekbench 2 scores are better.
If you’re curious how your computer stacks up against the MacBook Pros or the MacBook Airs (especially if you’re thinking of upgrading your current system), you can download Geekbench to find out!
13-inch MacBook Pro & Air Benchmarks, 2010 to 2012
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012) Intel Core i7-3520M 2.9 GHz (2 cores) |
7,841 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011) Intel Core i7-2640M 2.8 GHz (2 cores) |
6,973 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012) Intel Core i7-3667U 2.0 GHz (2 cores) |
6,785 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011) Intel Core i7-2620M 2.7 GHz (2 cores) |
6,776 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012) Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5 GHz (2 cores) |
6,690 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012) Intel Core i5-3427U 1.8 GHz (2 cores) |
6,108 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011) Intel Core i5-2435M 2.4 GHz (2 cores) |
6,049 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011) Intel Core i5-2415M 2.3 GHz (2 cores) |
5,883 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2011) Intel Core i7-2677M 1.8 GHz (2 cores) |
5,626 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2011) Intel Core i5-2557M 1.7 GHz (2 cores) |
5,266 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2010) Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores) |
3,653 | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2010) Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores) |
3,329 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Late 2010) Intel Core 2 Duo L9600 2.13 GHz (2 cores) |
3,007 | |
| MacBook Air (13-inch Late 2010) Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 1.86 GHz (2 cores) |
2,693 |
The latest MacBook Pros offer a nice increase in performance over the previous MacBook Pros. Both the Core i5 and the Core i7 Mid 2012 13-inch MacBook Pros are over 10% faster than the equivalent Late 2011 13-inch MacBook Pros. Some of the increase is from higher processor speeds, while some of the increase is from the improved Ivy Bridge processor architecture.
The latest MacBook Pros also offer a nice increase in performance over the latest MacBook Airs. The Core i5 13-inch MacBook Pro is 10% faster than the Core i5 13-inch MacBook Air, while the Core i7 13-inch MacBook Pro is 15% faster (and $100 cheaper) than the Core i7 13-inch MacBook Air.
When the new MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs came out, I wondered if the new MacBook Air would be more popular than the new MacBook Pro; the lack of results for the new MacBook Pro suggested that would be the case. Now that both models have been out for a week it’s possible to test that hypothesis. Based on the results uploaded to the Geekbench Browser, the Core i5 MacBook Air outsells the Core i5 MacBook Pro by a factor of two to one. However, the opposite is true for the faster models; the Core i7 MacBook Pro outsells the Core i7 MacBook Air by the same factor of two to one.
These results suggest users who want the fastest 13-inch Mac laptop are opting for the MacBook Pro, while everyone else is opting for the 13-inch MacBook Air. I’m curious whether it’s the cheaper price or the faster performance (or a combination of both) that’s contributing to the MacBook Pro’s popularity. If you recently bought a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air I’d love to know why you picked your model; you can reach me via email or via twitter.