17 Inch Macbook Pro Speed Test

Since 2007 I've used Apple's flagship 17 inch Macbook Pro models as my primary computers both on location and back in the office. The move from a desktop plus laptop combination was made possible by Apple's switch to Intel processors and in particular the Core 2 Duo which made working with the D3s 14 bit NEF files a realistic proposition for a laptop.  Shortly after, I moved to a cloud-based image storage and file delivery system with the result that wherever I could connect to the internet I was effectively in my office with everything at my fingertips and back at base I could connect my superb Eizo display for critical colour work and retouching. The Eizo is capable of displaying the full range of colour in the Adobe 1988 colour space commonly used in professional imaging and the publishing world.

Five years is the right time to replace a laptop and gain best value in terms of speed improvement versus cost though and I've now added the latest 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 version alongside my existing Core 2 Duo model.

Next to colour accuracy, nothing matters more in a photographer's workflow than speed and so I was interested to discover just how much faster the new computer would be. I devised a series of tests based around typical real-world procedures to compare the two Macs.

The contenders are a 2007 model Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro 2.33 GHz, 3GB RAM (the maximum) OSX 10.6.8 and the new 2.4GHz i7 with 8GB RAM (again the maximum) and OSX 10.7.3.

PhotoMechanic 4.6.8:

Time to ingest 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs (288GB of data) using an ExpressCard 34 compactflash adapter, write an IPTC caption and rename the files:

Core 2 Duo - 18 sec
i7 - 12 sec

Copy the files to a new folder:

Core 2 Duo - 8 Sec
i7 - 2 Sec

Nikon Capture NX2 2.3.1:

Process 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs - convert to jpeg and save:


Core 2 Duo - 1 min 40 sec
i7 - 50 sec

Process 20 NEFs - apply noise reduction (better quality), USM and save as losslessly compressed NEF:

Core 2 Duo - 8 min 49 sec
i7  - 2 min 21 sec

It's clear that PhotoMechanic is gaining a useful increase in speed but NX2 is the real beneficiary of being free to run in 64 bit mode, with a tremendous boost in productivity. It's also interesting that the new Macbook is noisier than its predecessor, with the fan running gently at all times, causing a detectable exhaust flow from the left side of the case and the last batch test really causing it to pour on extra coal and immediately run the fan at full speed whereas the old model would have to be running at full capacity for an extended period before audibly fanning.

On the subject of colour accuracy, the display on the i7 as shipped was excessively blue, too contrasty and delivered over saturated colours. It looked wonderful, but it wasn't accurate. After profiling with my i1 Display Pro it was near identical to the earlier laptop which was always within a whisker of the profile it shipped with following calibration. The resolution of the i7 is 1920 x 1200 which is a nice resolution for a 24 inch display but leaves text too small to be read comfortably on the built in 17 inch display without risking eye strain. Fortunately, many applications, including browsers, now support zooming and CMD + scales the text up to a comfortable size.

The Edge of the World

© Tom Parkes

© Tom Parkes

Two pictures inspired by the Michael Powell film The Edge of the World. Both were created using the D3s monochrome mode with red filtration. Colour filters used in black and white allow light of their own colour to pass while darkening opposite colours. In this case the edge of the "world" is the southern edge, the dunes at Littlehampton's West Beach, a nature reserve and site of Special Scientific Interest.