The MacBook Pro Review (13 & 15-inch): 2011 Brings Sandy Bridge
by Anand Lal Shimpi, Brian Klug & Vivek Gowri on March 10, 2011 4:17 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Mac
- Apple
- Intel
- MacBook Pro
- Sandy Bridge
Battery Life
With the potential for higher power draw, battery life on these new systems has the chance to be really, really bad. In reality it breaks down like this: light usage cases are equal if not better than last year's model. Apple makes up for the higher core count of the 15-inch MBP by capping turbo speeds and being very good about allowing the CPU to go into deep sleep states under OS X. On top of that, Sandy Bridge is a very efficient microarchitecture that manages to get work done quicker than Arrandale and get to sleep faster.
Heavy usage cases however can easily be worse than last year's model, specifically with the 15 and 17-inch systems. The new 13 is a mixed bag. Core 2 was a pretty low power architecture, beating its battery life will be difficult. The only scenario our battery life tests don't duplicate is one where workload scales with performance. Right now all of our tests are fixed workloads: web pages may render quicker, but you'll still be idle for the same amount of time regardless of system. Video frames may decode quicker, but they'll still play back at the same 24 fps. If you use the additional performance of these systems to do more then you'll likely see even worse battery life (see the power numbers on the previous page).
Light Web Browsing
Here we're simply listing to MP3s in iTunes on repeat while browsing through a series of webpages with no flash on them. Each page forwards on to the next in the series after 20 seconds.
The display is kept at 50% brightness, all screen savers are disabled, but the hard drive is allowed to go to sleep if there's no disk activity. The wireless connection is enabled and connected to a local access point less than 20 feet away. This test represents the longest battery life you can achieve on the platform while doing minimal work. The results here are comparable to what you'd see typing a document in TextEdit or reading documents.
For the 15-inch model battery life has doubled since 2008. Even compared to last year's model Apple has actually improved idle/light usage battery life by 8%. With 9 hours of battery life I can confirm that if you're just using the 15-inch MBP as a glorified typewriter this is what you'll see. It's a great combination of a system that has performance on tap but the battery life to last you if you just need to do some writing.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro actually takes a step back compared to last year's model but it's still the Mac with the 3rd longest battery life.
Boot Camp Battery Life
Under Windows 7 there's no option to use the iGPU, the 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros default to their dGPU. As we already showed, simply enabling the dGPU hurts battery life. What about the move to Windows 7 on top of that? To find out I ran our light web browsing battery life test under Windows 7. I subbed in IE8 and Windows Media Player for Safari and iTunes and otherwise ran with similar settings as our Mac test:
Compared to OS X with the dGPU enabled, Windows 7 delivers 20% lower battery life. The bigger penalty however is the forced dGPU usage under Windows. If you're planning on using the new 15-inch MBP as a Windows notebook, don't expect to get anywhere near the battery life that is promised under OS X.
Flash Web Browsing
The test here has three Safari windows open, each browsing a set of web pages with between 1—4 animated flash ads per page, at the same time. Each page forwards onto the next after about 20 seconds.
As always, the display is set to 50% brightness, audio at two bars, screensaver disabled and the hard drive is allowed to go to sleep if idle. The wireless connection is enabled and connected to a local access point less than 20 feet away.
Turn Flash on and up the intensity of the workload and the numbers get a lot more reasonable. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro leads the pack with 7 hours of battery life. You'll note that this is exactly what Apple promises on its website. At 7 hours this is also a 20% improvement over last year's model. Other than OS/optimization differences the only explanation I have here is that Sandy Bridge provides a sufficient enough increase in CPU performance to render a page and flash ads get to sleep quicker compared to Arrandale. Another contributing factor is the new 32nm iGPU which is active full-time under Safari. The GPU alone is probably a bit more efficient at rendering flash than last year's GeForce GT 330M.
The 13-inch model actually equals its predecessor. I suspect the Core 2 Duo is still a lower power CPU under a moderate load.
XviD Video Playback
I ripped The Dark Knight to XviD and played it back continuously in QuickTime X with Perian installed. For this test the display was set to full brightess and audio was set at two bars below maximum. Once more the hard drive was allowed to go to sleep if it was idle. The AirPort (wireless LAN) was enabled and connected to a local access point less than 20 feet away.
Multitasking Battery Life
Our final battery life test is the worst case scenario. In this test we have three open Safari windows, each browsing a set of web pages with between 1—4 flash ads per page, at the same time. We're also playing an XviD video in a window all while downloading files from a server at approximately 500KB/s.
I mentioned earlier that the new 15-inch MBP has the potential to have much worse battery life given that it has twice the cores of its predecessor. Our multitasking battery life test gives you a little indication of that. At 144 minutes the new 15 lasts just under 2.5 hours here. It's only a slight reduction compared to last year's model but that's only because the workload isn't scaled up at all. OS X is likely scheduling work here across all four cores rather than just two in last year's model, driving up power consumption and decreasing battery life ever so slightly.
The new 13-inch on the other hand is pretty sweet. At 3.66 hours it's the new king of our multitasking battery life test, and it's even a slight improvement compared to the 2010 version.
Just playing back movies on the new SNB notebooks is an improvement on both models. The new 15 manages 5 hours while the new 13 is good for almost 6 hours of battery life.
Overall I'd say the battery life story of the new MacBook Pros is a mixed bag. Under light to moderate workloads the 15-inch will likely do better than the 2010 15-inch MBP, while the 13-inch is roughly the same as its predecessor. It's only under heavy use that the new 15-inch will actually do worse than last year's model. You will have to keep an eye on what you're doing with the machine because the new 15-inch MBP has the ability to use a lot more power than last year's model. The bigger issue actually has to do with the dGPU. If you use Chrome or any of the other applications that will trigger the dGPU to turn on, kiss your battery life goodbye. Even light usage suffers if your discrete GPU is active.
The new 13 is a bit less finicky. It's either going to offer you similar or better battery life than last year's model.
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Wolfpup - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
Just LOOK at that. Visually it just makes things look worse...looks like it's taking up space for maybe two more cores, or a fifth core and more cache, or something.The only good thing about it is it may help AMD get back in the game. Assuming Bulldozer ends up relatively competitive, AMD's going to be able to have more cores or cache in the same die space, or else have a smaller CPU with the same performance.
Personally I'm a big fan of Intel's rock solid stability, but it feels like AMD gets better and better with that, where they feel like a real competitor now, and I'd love to see them get parity with Intel or even surpass them!
To people who have called the higher end config's GPU "high end", it's not. It's a decent mid range part. For the price it ought to have better...maybe that on the low end config and an 800 core part on the high end config (or a Geforce GTX 460), but at least it's a big jump up from the last gen models.
Belard - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
UH... and what reliability issues are you talking about with AMD? What, intel never screws up? I buy, own and sell both brands.Wardrop - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
To be honest, I'm somewhat surprised that Apple don't offer a solution for reducing cable clutter, given their minilast design of the iMac, etc. A docking station sounds like an obvious solution. I'm sure Apple could come up with a really elegant way of docking your Macbook, or otherwise, just connecting all your cables via one main connection.I envisage a magnetic solution. You could either have a docking station, where the Macbook sits on something (a stand would be nice). Otherwise, a breakout box type of device, where you plug all your audio, USB and display cables into it, and then attach the breakout box to a single interface on your Macbook, whether it be a plug on the back, the side, or even a magnetised strip on the bottom of the notebook?
I use my Macbook Pro primary as a desktop. It goes through my desktop KVM, to which my Windows desktop is also connected. I try to avoid unplugging my Macbook from my desk however, simply because it's a hassle. I not only have to unplug the cables, but I have to eject my external time machine drive. One of the most annoying things I find however, is that because the screen resolution on my MBP is significantly lower than my desktop monitor, it often screws up all the windows. I find I need to spend time resizing all my windows for the 13" MBP display, and then have to do the same when I connect it back up to my 24" desktop monitor. When you've got 10+ windows all perfectly arranged to suit your working style, it's a major pain, hence I avoid taking my MBP off the desk.
tzhu07 - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
I was thoroughly unhappy with the current offerings for a docking station for my late 2006 macbook pro, and so I decided to go to home depot and build one myself. And I made it super elegant and wirefree. Also helps that my monitor is connected to an arm, keyboard wireless, and also mouse is wireless too.http://www.majorindulgence.com/file_exchange_data/...
ahhhhhhhhhhh.....super clean
bronze5420 - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
this is definitely the best computer review i have ever read. very informative. answered all the questions i had and then some. keep up to good work. and does anybody know if OSX Lion will feature TRIM support for third party SSD's?13579abc - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
First let me echo the sentiment of gratitude expressed throughout this forum. AnandTech really is a cut above other tech sites.Second, if I may add my two cents, heat and noise are such an important part of the mobile experience that they might deserve a little additional attention in this review, particularly given that apple tries to differentiate itself from competitors in these areas. This review touches on the surface temperatures of these new Macbook Pro models, but I wonder if there are any plans to more thoroughly examine surface temperatures in different areas of the notebook (i.e. palm rests, keyboard, bottom surface…). Also, does AnandTech have any comment on the effect of inappropriate quantities of thermal paste reportedly used in the notebooks? Some forum posts report amazing thermal improvements resulting from properly applying new thermal paste, but to be honest I have some doubts regarding the validity of these posts and think that they might be misleading.
Along similar lines are there any plans for a quantitative analysis of the noise output from these new models.
Again,thanks for a great review.
tipoo - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Seconded, some numbers on thermals and decibels would be nice.Balfa - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
I've just bought the new 17" that I use mainly for software development but even at 1920x1200 it is a little on the cramped side. So at home I connect it to a Cinema Display 27'' via mini DP cable to the new combo TB-MiniDP port. And the monitor cable use also a Magsafe connector and lastly a usb2 for camera, sound and 3 usb ports at the back of the monitor like most folks already know likely.Now what I really wish for the future Apple is extends that paradigm of a monitor-docking station with a new 27'' monitor with only the Magsafe and one Thunderbolt cable. At the back of the monitor implements every ports that could be needed: USB3, FW800 (1600 maybe why not), eSATA (unlikely I know). And lastly add a powerful discrete GPU in the monitor itself with a quick access door to upgrade it if needed. That way you could remove the one in the MBP for lower cost and better battery life and still have a powerful GPU solution at home for gaming, transcoding and the like.
I think the monitor is the best place for docking a laptop, not needs for a separate device. I already put all my external disks behind it anyways (I place my monitor in the middle of the desk so there's a lot of empty space behind) and it will be the shortest route to plug them, less clutter that way. Gee it's a great idea isn't it!
MrBrownSound - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Once again anandtech pulls off a amazing review. With this information I can cofortably say I will wait for Lion to come out.ProDigit - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
None of these machines is worth their price!The 13" has a price of a 16" laptop