For minimum requirements, which GHz do you factor?

[DougFNJ]

On software that has minimum requirements, do we look at standard GHz or Turboboost GHz?

I.e. If a game requires 2.2GHz would a MacBook with 1.2GHz with 2.9GHz Turbo boost, which GHz would apply?

 

[Biggie Robs]

That's a good question. I'm not huge into games, but I do like playing Football Manager. What does "Intel Core 1.8GHz+" mean with regard to the core m5 processor, for example?

 

[SteveJUAE]

The rMB being a fanless design means the Turbo boost GHz is not sustainable ie after 60-90 seconds it will throttle back depending on your settings etc in the game, by adjusting the in game settings graphics, resolution etc some games can achieve playable frame rates for casual use.

You really need to see if someone has tried your game to get a real feel of the compromises you may have to accept, differences between the M3,5,7 may only see 3-8 fps on an already reduced performance compared to actively cooled laptops

 

[Hellhammer]

The GHz requirements are very misleading because they don't take IPC (i.e. performance per clock) into account. Basically, a 2GHz Skylake i5 is faster than a 2GHz Sandy Bridge i5 because the Skylake i5 can perform more instructions per cycle due to more sophisticated architecture. In other words, the stated GHz is totally useless as the generation isn't usually mentioned. Your best bet is to search for people who have tried that game on the MacBook and read their experience.

 

[Picapau21]

The GHz requirements are very misleading because they don't take IPC (i.e. performance per clock) into account. Basically, a 2GHz Skylake i5 is faster than a 2GHz Sandy Bridge i5 because the Skylake i5 can perform more instructions per cycle due to more sophisticated architecture. In other words, the stated GHz is totally useless as the generation isn't usually mentioned. Your best bet is to search for people who have tried that game on the MacBook and read their experience.

Good point. Ghz went out the window a few years ago. I don't think maximum clock speeds have changed much over the past 10 years but as you say CPU architecture has evolved.

As a simple example a 1.1 Ghz m3 (Skylake) MacBook with a max turbo speed of 2.2 Ghz gets a geek bench score of roughly 4500 which matches my MBP 2010 Core i5's score of 4500 running at 2.53 Ghz (Core i5" I5-540M (Arrandale)).

Very impressive when you consider that the MB processor is completely fanless!!

 

[DougFNJ]

I appreciate the feedback. It wasn't a specific game or software, but more of a general question regarding what we look for in requirements.

 

[Boston007]

On software that has minimum requirements, do we look at standard GHz or Turboboost GHz?

I.e. If a game requires 2.2GHz would a MacBook with 1.2GHz with 2.9GHz Turbo boost, which GHz would apply?

That's easy. In this scenario clearly the 1.2ghz is what you would look at.