With CPUs there isn’t that much disparity in actual performance. Intel tests them so that similarly rated processors perform the same way. In other words, my 2.0 GHz Ice Lake i5 should perform the same as yours. It is true there is variability, but that’s taken into account when “binning” the chips. There is a chance that my i5 was capable of being finished as an i7 at 2.3 GHz, or could be overclocked so as to run as if it were an i7, but Intel certified it as an i5 at 2.0 GHz and the chip is programmed to run at those speeds.
Binning tells us the minimum, sure—but Apple/Intel aren't setting a max boost frequency, instead going by tdp and thermals, right? So it depends on the efficiency of particular chips and what boost speed they can sustain: on the whole, the i5s might overperform, for example. Plus there are issues like power/thermal throttling that limit the high end chips (see: i7 Mac Mini, i7 quadcore MBAs, etc.). Take 2019 13" MBP i5 vs i7: i7 has 16.6% higher min clock and 14.6% higher single core boost, but Geekbench multicore scores are only 7.5% higher. Cinebench R20 is only 5.9% percent higher (1702 vs. 1802 score, according to cpu-monkey.com). Is that worth a 10% price premium? (Or whatever the upcharge was last year.)
That's actually rather disappointing. If it's only 18%, the 2018 high-end MBP 13 (2.8GHZ Kaby Lake) will actually be faster than the new high end one (2.3GHZ Ice lake) in thermally-limited situations (2.8GHZ vs. 2.3GHZ * 1.18 = 2.714GHZ) and only very slightly slower in full turbo situations (4.7GHZ vs. 4.838GHZ * 1.18).
After 2 years, I'd have expected at least 10-15% improvement on both.
True, higher IPC is offset by lower frequencies on the new chips. But newer architecture, much faster ram, etc., will help, and the iGPU is considerably better. I think normally this would also give less power draw and better battery life too, but Apple says battery life is the same. Comparing 2019/2020 i7s, right now Geekbench multicore averages are 5–10% better, peak scores are
15% 10% better, on the new ones, and gains could be different in other areas.
Walk-in store (Adelaide - Australia) and got mine today: i7, 32gb ram, 2tb.
They had just received some 10th gen and the website still now does not even show them as available.
Not the first time I come to the conclusion it's faster to not order online and just go to the store...
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I'm impressed with the ssd
Thanks, do you have time to run Cinebench R20 a few times, and report score and turbo frequency during the second half of the test (via Intel Power Gadget)?
I'm curious if the i7 can maintain 3.3–3.4 ghz boost when cpu is fully loaded.
