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posts about #benchmark more →
Benchmarked: The Quad-Core i7 iMac is Super Fast
iPhone 3GS Graphics Performance Benchmarked (Verdict: Significantly Faster)
Updated Macbooks Outperform Their Unibody Counterparts
Windows 7 Performance Meter Goes Up To 7.9, Still Not Fantastic For Gaming Measurements
MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
New Macbook Pro Review (Verdict: Penryn + LEDs = Efficiency)
Ars Benches the New iMac, Predictably Decent Performance

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balls187
11/19/09

In reply to Benchmarked: The Quad-Core i7 iMac is Super Fast
So basically, Apple hardware is as fast as PC's from early 2009. Gotcha.
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Identity (Metric)
11/19/09

In reply to Benchmarked: The Quad-Core i7 iMac is Super Fast
So far I've seen the specs, the pictures, the reviews, and the insides. Now all I need is to try one out for myself. If I have a good experience from that, Apple will be getting my money.

:)

The i7 tech looks pretty impressive. I will most likely building a Windows 7 box with i7 as well.
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OMG! Ponies!
11/18/09

In reply to Benchmarked: The Quad-Core i7 iMac is Super Fast

So the new feature is Turbo?

Meh. My old PC had Turbo. It's nice to see that the new iMacs can keep up with a 386/20 with 8MB of RAM.
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Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
11/18/09

@OMG! Ponies!: It's not just macs man. Vista will now run as fast as XP with it!
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Razta
11/18/09

@OMG! Ponies!: LOL I remember that turbo button.
Did it actually do a damn thing other than light up a idiot light?
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lpranal
11/18/09

@Razta: you have to push it fast. the faster you push it, the faster it goes. It's like doing the bonus stage in street fighter 2 with E-honda or Chun-li (or Blanka. but nobody picks Blanka.)
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Nathan Obbards
11/18/09

@OMG! Ponies!: 8MB of RAM? What are, made of money or something? Don't tell me, you also had the 200MB HDD too, didn't you.
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Chimaera
11/18/09

@Razta: In a lot of cases, yes. My 286 had a Turbo switch instead of a button, but it would double the speed of the CPU from 8MHz to 16MHz.
Ultimate POWAH!
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TheCrudMan
06/03/09

In reply to Updated Macbooks Outperform Their Unibody Counterparts
Not to mention with the white one you get firewire bitches!
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Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
06/03/09

@TheCrudMan: Too bad it's a bitch to get a firewire external drive without paying a huge premium these days. =|

Then again, all of my drives are FW400 if not 800 already...
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sprice82
06/03/09

In reply to Updated Macbooks Outperform Their Unibody Counterparts
Apple has realized that the shinier model attracts less intelligent people that don't require as much power.
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Kaiser-Machead
06/03/09

@sprice82: Technically, as the white's also glossy on the outside, it's considerably shinier than the matte aluminum.
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Coolou424
06/03/09

In reply to Updated Macbooks Outperform Their Unibody Counterparts
So basically you pay $300 for the new trackpad, unibody construction, and LED screen, 90GB of memory, a bit faster RAM, and... a slower processor! Or you could pay $600 more for an additional illuminated keyboard and .4 GHz.

Something seems off here...
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Kaiser-Machead
06/03/09

@Coolou424: I maintain that the lack of firewire makes the decision between a unibody and the current plastic model particularly tough. On the one hand, you get the better build, LED display and superior trackpad, but as long as firewire peripherals exist, I refuse to go any lower than that for my bulk transfers.
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Andrew Moulton
06/03/09

@Kaiser-Machead: just wait for USB 3.0...when that becomes a little closer to mainstream production apple will jump on that faster than your mom on the milkman. :-P jk
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madog
06/03/09

@Coolou424: It's not just that, but yes, a majority of the higher price does come from the unibody aluminum case design. While it does provide a sturdier notebook and a clean design, it, in my mind, was a way for Apple to redesign their lineup without upgrading a whole lot internally.

I do like the current designs, but at the same time I think it isn't necessary and try to steer customers away from them if possible.
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Kaiser-Machead
06/03/09

@Andrew Moulton: Haha, well I did consider that, but I'm also considering the fact that I require a new computer as I'm a bit out of date having nothing but a PPC (which means some apps I want to use will not be compatible), so I purchased an MBP, which gives me FW800 and the option to expand to eSATA via Express slot, so overall I'll be set.
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Rabid Penguin
01/23/09

In reply to Windows 7 Performance Meter Goes Up To 7.9, Still Not Fantastic For Gaming Measurements
Well.. If you want to know how you rank for playing games and your not satisfied with the windows rankings you could always download 3dmark.
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OMG! Ponies!
01/22/09

In reply to Windows 7 Performance Meter Goes Up To 7.9, Still Not Fantastic For Gaming Measurements
Mine still tells me my drive performance sucks.
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Project_J187
01/22/09

@OMG! Ponies!: I find that it only gets a good score if you have a 10,000 RPM drive, SSD or raid 0 setup.
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artistpavel
01/22/09

In reply to Windows 7 Performance Meter Goes Up To 7.9, Still Not Fantastic For Gaming Measurements
Vista rated my processor and memory at 5.9, Windows 7 gave both 7.2. Exact same OCed hardware.
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vista64guy
01/22/09

@artistpavel: Because 7 runs more efficiently, it takes less to get the same performance results or better.
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mferrari
01/22/09

@vista64guy: That doesn't mean the hardware itself has improved.
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ZLevee
01/22/09

@mferrari: It's not rating the hardware. It's rating the "windows experience" on your hardware.
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madog
11/23/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
How many "normal" people actually run a laptop without a battery? Maybe us cool people who read Gizmodo, but that's a very small group compared to the rest of the laptop-using world.

Also, I don't see what the big deal is. I prefer a smaller, more portable power brick as opposed to the "literally the size of a brick" power adapter that an XPS or alienware laptop can have. It might not run as hot as the Apple one but then again it also can't be used to bludgeon an elephant to death with either.

No, I'm not comparing a MBP to your precious AW laptop that weighs 15lbs and sits on your desk all the time constantly plugged in. Nope.
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madog
11/23/08

@madog: there's a grammatical error somewhere in there. The two people who read my comment should do just fine, though.
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something_unique_and_descriptive
11/22/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
Apple is slipping... they can't even be bothered to come up with decent lies anymore, first the firewire, now this... I expect Apple to lie to me, but I expect a quality lie, one that, at least on the surface, seems the slightest bit plausible... lately it's just been BS.

If the AC adapter is too weak to run the machine at full power, how the hell is it going to charge the battery while the machine is in use?
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brutek
11/22/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
This is a way to lower the cost of the power supply. It also decreases the battery lifespan. It is an understandable compromise from the manufacturer, but it takes value away from the consumer.

I'm glad people are documenting this so we can understand total cost of a product over its lifespan.

Makes me like the new MacBook's a little less than before. Going to see if I should make the switch back to PC with Windows 7.
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Purple Dave
11/22/08

@brutek:
Contrary to popular misbelief, regular usage doesn't do much to affect the lifespan of a lithium-ion battery. That type of battery has a built-in lifespan based on the rate of internal corrossion, and there's nothing you can do to prevent that from happening. If you buy a 10-year old laptop battery, new off the shelf, it won't last nearly as long as one that just rolled off the line.

Now, that said, there are definitely things that you can do that will speed up the rate of corrossion, and overheating the battery is one of those things. If your laptop runs hot enough to give you burnt legs, it's probably killing your battery, regardless of which platform you're buying.

You can also instant-kill a Li-Ion battery by over-depleting it. It won't physically prevent the battery from working, per se, but a Li-Ion battery that has been deep-discharged has an increased potential to explode when recharged, so something as complex as a laptop battery will have a built-in kill switch that will permanently shut the battery down if you run the charge down to nothing, which is why laptops are generally set up to start yelling and screaming at you when they hit 10%, and just shut down without your permission when they hit 5%.
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strider_mt2k
11/22/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
Ahh 3rD Rock...love John Lithgow.

What?
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diabolusunknownTheSecond
11/22/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
I assume this means that the A/C adapter still can provide all the power the laptop needs, but the battery attached indicates to the hardware that in case more power is needed, theres a battery to feed the internals should it be required.

Otherwise, if the A/C adapter couldnt provide enough power to the laptop, it would constantly drain from the battery to make up for the weak adapter in high power situations, further degrading the life of the battery earlier than expected.

Owners better hope its for former, and not the latter.
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MauriceCallidice
11/22/08

@diabolusunknownTheSecond: It's clearly the former (the battery supplies the occasional demand for transient increases in power), otherwise those who used processor-heavy apps while plugged-in would find their battery drained at the end of the day from constant demand. That doesn't happen, unless there's something wrong with the battery. I'm really amused that there are people acting like this is some dirty little secret, when it's just an example of smart engineering. The power adapter could be made more powerful (and heavy, and probably run even hotter), but why bother when the battery can be used to supplement the occasional spike in power demand.
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Ursus Maritimus
11/22/08

@MauriceCallidice: Why bother? Because batteries wear out, power bricks don't (or at least shouldn't). And they know this, so they design it to wear out the battery.... that you have to buy from them...
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sos10
11/22/08

In reply to MacBook and MacBook Pro Take a Performance Dive While On AC Power Alone
It was probably this solution over an oher possible solution; a bigger power brick.
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