2012 MBP 15 - Windows Experience index

[brusgaard]

Hi there,

I'm thinking about getting a 2012 15" Macbook Pro, instead of my 13" machine. I realised that the extra screen size would be nice.

But I was wondering, does any of you know what scores the machine gets in the windows experience index? I know that this index doesn't say much, but it is somthing that I can relate to and use to compare computers.

The machine is the entry 15" macbook pro from 2012. The specs:

2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory

I would be very happy if any of you got the answer..

- Sorry for my grammar, I'm from Denmark..

 

[derbothaus]

It'll be bound by it's HDD. Probably 5.5-5.9. The rest will score in the high 7's.

 

[brusgaard]

My concern is the gpu.. Will I be able to play for example BF3, in a acceptable resolution, via bootcamp?
I'm not going to use it much for gaming, but i would be nice to be able to run some games.

 

[Tea-Aholic]

My rMBP with Windows 7 x64 with 650M gets a score of 7.3

 

[dmccloud]

My rMBP with Windows 7 x64 with 650M gets a score of 7.3

That's the same score I got. The GPU is actually what gets the score (since Microsoft simply uses the lowest score as your system score instead of a weighted average), but the SSD maxes out the current scoring system at an 8.9 on my rMBP.

 

[jvpython]

My concern is the gpu.. Will I be able to play for example BF3, in a acceptable resolution, via bootcamp?
I'm not going to use it much for gaming, but i would be nice to be able to run some games.

I have the base 15" MBP with an SSD in it. I get a Windows experience index of 7.2 in Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit which is what my graphic card gets as both my CPU and SSD get the max 7.9
I do a fair amount of gaming in it and it is definitely capable of handling modern games. I play Crysis 2 on native res / max AA and Very High textures at around 50fps. I also tried bf3 at about the same settings as Crysis 2 and got around 30 - 35 fps average which is very acceptable.

 

[Tea-Aholic]

That's the same score I got. The GPU is actually what gets the score (since Microsoft simply uses the lowest score as your system score instead of a weighted average), but the SSD maxes out the current scoring system at an 8.9 on my rMBP.

I agree with Microsoft's way of scoring. Basing the overall score on the lowest highlights to the user the slowest component of the computer which is bottlenecking the rest of the hardware.

 

[jvpython]

I agree with Microsoft's way of scoring. Basing the overall score on the lowest highlights to the user the slowest component of the computer which is bottlenecking the rest of the hardware.

Yes and no because the bottle neck depends on what you are doing. If you unzipping a 2GB file your graphics card will most definitely not be a bottle neck.

 

[locoboi187]

My concern is the gpu.. Will I be able to play for example BF3, in a acceptable resolution, via bootcamp?
I'm not going to use it much for gaming, but i would be nice to be able to run some games.

I play BF3 @ 1080p all Ultra Settings with some high but NO AA. Sometimes I play on 2880x1880 at medium/low haha

 

[dmccloud]

I agree with Microsoft's way of scoring. Basing the overall score on the lowest highlights to the user the slowest component of the computer which is bottlenecking the rest of the hardware.

That method would only be accurate if all applications stressed every component equally. But there are a lot of games (and some 3D modeling apps) that are GPU intensive, while other apps are more CPU intensive, so the scoring methodology begins to break down there. There are also applications that will rely almost entirely on the RAM and disk I/O and ignore the RAM or CPU, so they will run significantly faster than a low GPU score would imply.

Now, if Microsoft's true intention is to get people to upgrade their desktop rigs, your point would make sense. But with more and more people turning to either notebook machines or compact desktops with little or no upgrade options, even that mindset is growing a bit long in the tooth.

 

[Tea-Aholic]

Yes and no because the bottle neck depends on what you are doing. If you unzipping a 2GB file your graphics card will most definitely not be a bottle neck.

That method would only be accurate if all applications stressed every component equally. But there are a lot of games (and some 3D modeling apps) that are GPU intensive, while other apps are more CPU intensive, so the scoring methodology begins to break down there. There are also applications that will rely almost entirely on the RAM and disk I/O and ignore the RAM or CPU, so they will run significantly faster than a low GPU score would imply.

Now, if Microsoft's true intention is to get people to upgrade their desktop rigs, your point would make sense. But with more and more people turning to either notebook machines or compact desktops with little or no upgrade options, even that mindset is growing a bit long in the tooth.

I agree with both of you, but what I really was thinking is that almost every time I see the score, it is dragged down due to the HDD and I do know that going from the HDD in my '08 MacBook to the SSD in my rMBP was a HUGE boost in speed.

 

[rockyroad55]

My concern is the gpu.. Will I be able to play for example BF3, in a acceptable resolution, via bootcamp?
I'm not going to use it much for gaming, but i would be nice to be able to run some games.

Acceptable would be 1440. Best bet is to have at least 1GB of memory.