Hey boys and girls. After many months of frustration in trying to get a solid feel for which Macs are how fast, I've come to the conclusion that neither BareFeats, xlr8yourmac, or pure XBench results are sufficient for measuring the performance of modern Apple computers in real-world applications.
I've been a PC guy for many years, and It's always been very useful to me in my buying decisions to have a full suite of benchmarks for new hardware that comes out, directly compared against other hardware. I firmly believe that the Apple computer is missing out; we're not able to make informed decisions.
Thus, I post here looking for other folks who feel the same, and who would be willing to help me to create and maintain a Website featuring nothing but Mac hardware reviews and benchmarks. If the Folks from MacRumors/MacBytes/MacPolls are willing, I'd also like to make the site part of their "ring" of affiliated sites.
I run a network of Macs, so I very often have access to a lot of new and old apple hardware to benchmark. If anyone else has access to Macs to benchmark, or would like to contribute to this effort, please post!
Here's what I have in mind for a "full" benchmark suite:
-DVD Ripping Time (Good test of Optical drive/CPU)
-DVD Encoding time (with DVD2OneX or DVDRemaster)
-DivX Encoding time (With Forty-Two or Quicktime Pro)
-XBench Scores
-Warcraft 3 Benchmarks (Real-world OpenGL Test)
-Quake III Arena Benchmarks (More CPU-Limited Test)
-UT2004 Benchmarks (More GPU-Limited Test)
-Photoshop Benchmarks (Standard Fare for Macs)
-Startup time
-File copy on own internal drive (tests read, write)
-iTunes MP3 Encoding time (Pure CPU Test)
-Network performance (Unsure of a good test -- everyone has different routers and cables)
-Battery Life Max (no activity, dim screen)
-Battery Life Normal (office, mail, safari, iTunes)
-Battery Life Min (Looping Q3 Benchmarks)
I'd also like to see benchmarks run each time a new game comes out, for all machines we can get our hands on, for that game, at every available setting - Halo at 1024 Low, Med, High, etc etc.
I have Webservers and lots of bandwidth, but could also use folks with web design skills (and no, i don't mean just general skills -- I'm talking making a "blog" type posting mechanism that will work with RSS feeds, etc etc.)
Who wants to create the first great Mac hardware review site?
I've been a PC guy for many years, and It's always been very useful to me in my buying decisions to have a full suite of benchmarks for new hardware that comes out, directly compared against other hardware. I firmly believe that the Apple computer is missing out; we're not able to make informed decisions.
Thus, I post here looking for other folks who feel the same, and who would be willing to help me to create and maintain a Website featuring nothing but Mac hardware reviews and benchmarks. If the Folks from MacRumors/MacBytes/MacPolls are willing, I'd also like to make the site part of their "ring" of affiliated sites.
I run a network of Macs, so I very often have access to a lot of new and old apple hardware to benchmark. If anyone else has access to Macs to benchmark, or would like to contribute to this effort, please post!
Here's what I have in mind for a "full" benchmark suite:
-DVD Ripping Time (Good test of Optical drive/CPU)
-DVD Encoding time (with DVD2OneX or DVDRemaster)
-DivX Encoding time (With Forty-Two or Quicktime Pro)
-XBench Scores
-Warcraft 3 Benchmarks (Real-world OpenGL Test)
-Quake III Arena Benchmarks (More CPU-Limited Test)
-UT2004 Benchmarks (More GPU-Limited Test)
-Photoshop Benchmarks (Standard Fare for Macs)
-Startup time
-File copy on own internal drive (tests read, write)
-iTunes MP3 Encoding time (Pure CPU Test)
-Network performance (Unsure of a good test -- everyone has different routers and cables)
-Battery Life Max (no activity, dim screen)
-Battery Life Normal (office, mail, safari, iTunes)
-Battery Life Min (Looping Q3 Benchmarks)
I'd also like to see benchmarks run each time a new game comes out, for all machines we can get our hands on, for that game, at every available setting - Halo at 1024 Low, Med, High, etc etc.
I have Webservers and lots of bandwidth, but could also use folks with web design skills (and no, i don't mean just general skills -- I'm talking making a "blog" type posting mechanism that will work with RSS feeds, etc etc.)
Who wants to create the first great Mac hardware review site?
. Machines I have at my disposal include: