Mid-2017 Base 13" MBP 2.3GHz faster than 3.1 GHz Model?

[mrtemp]

Just looked at Geekbench Multi-Core scores...

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2017) - 9642
Intel Core i7-7567U @ 3.5 GHz (2 cores)

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2017) - 9237 - BASE MODEL W/O TOUCH BAR & SLOWER PROCESSOR
Intel Core i5-7360U @ 2.3 GHz (2 cores)

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2017) - 8931
Intel Core i5-7267U @ 3.1 GHz (2 cores)

How is the base, non-touch bar MBP faster? It doesn't make sense.

For reference, for the 2016 MBP models, the non-touch bar model was the slowest model - which makes sense because it had the slowest processor.

 

[HiRez]

At first (a couple weeks ago) I thought this was just a case of a small sample size of tests. But it's persisting, there's definitely something going on there and by now there should be plenty of samples.

 

[winterny]

This actually makes a lot of sense. The 7360U chip draws less power, and therefore generates less heat. The 7360U may only have a base frequency of 2.3Ghz vs 3.1Ghz of the 7267U chip, however the turbo speed is 3.6Ghz on the 7360U compared to 3.5Ghz for the 7267U.

For short running tasks, the 7360U will undoubtably be faster. For long running tasks, like H264 encoding, it could go either way, depending on the cooling abilities of the two machines, and the ambient temperatures.

 

[mrtemp]

This actually makes a lot of sense. The 7360U chip draws less power, and therefore generates less heat. The 7360U may only have a base frequency of 2.3Ghz vs 3.1Ghz of the 7267U chip, however the turbo speed is 3.6Ghz on the 7360U compared to 3.5Ghz for the 7267U.

For short running tasks, the 7360U will undoubtably be faster. For long running tasks, like H264 encoding, it could go either way, depending on the cooling abilities of the two machines, and the ambient temperatures.

That makes sense. I am looking to purchase the high-end 13" MBP but was curious about this. Do you think the max processor of 3.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz, with 64MB of eDRAM (it's an extra $300) is a worthwhile upgrade for me? I do CAD, graphic design stuff.

 

[HiRez]

That makes sense. I am looking to purchase the high-end 13" MBP but was curious about this. Do you think the max processor of 3.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz, with 64MB of eDRAM (it's an extra $300) is a worthwhile upgrade for me? I do CAD, graphic design stuff.

For those things I would say yes, but even the base 15" model will be a lot better due to 4 cores and discrete GPU (and they are all i7 CPUs).

 

[aeronatis]

If

That makes sense. I am looking to purchase the high-end 13" MBP but was curious about this. Do you think the max processor of 3.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz, with 64MB of eDRAM (it's an extra $300) is a worthwhile upgrade for me? I do CAD, graphic design stuff.

If you configure the 13" MacBook with TouchBar with max i7 CPU & 16 gigs of RAM, the prices goes almost as high as the 15" model which has quad core CPU, discrete graphics with much more dedicated VRAM, a bigger screen which could be helpful for your use cases. Also the consensus is that the 15" model has longer battery life for light to medium usage.

 

[asoksevil]

Any benchmarks of the Core i7 7660U?

 

[winterny]

That makes sense. I am looking to purchase the high-end 13" MBP but was curious about this. Do you think the max processor of 3.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz, with 64MB of eDRAM (it's an extra $300) is a worthwhile upgrade for me? I do CAD, graphic design stuff.

I agree that if you are considering a 'high end' 13", you really should probably be looking at the 15".

My history over the years for my 'primary' laptop was something along the lines of:

All laptops up to and prior to 2010 were 15", and all Apple since 2002 ... Prior to 2002 was Dell.

2012 was 11" macbook air -- most of my work became very light on technical requirements and just having a un ultraportable laptop with me everywhere was more important,.

2013 13" Retina Macbook Pro 16GB/1TB

2017 15" TB Macbook Pro 3.1/16gb/1TB

I personally felt 'pushed' to the 15" since the CPU on the current generation 13" was only slightly faster than the 2013 model I already had, with roughly the same storage limits (2TB pricing insane), and same ram ... I would have wanted 32GB but oh well ... The larger screen, and quad core processor made it a significant upgrade for me even if the specs were still probably close to 2013 equivalent 15" model. I lead a computer engineering team, and so I spend some time programming, but also lots of time looking at huge spreadsheets, and huge numbers of graphs ...

The color accuracy on the new screens is a huge improvement I wasn't expecting, and Touch ID is great. The Touch Bar is an annoying gimmick.

For any kind of design work, the larger/more accurate screen will probably be the biggest thing you notice.

 

[windows4ever]

On release day, i checked out the benchmarks of the i5-7360U (the CPU in the 2017 base model 13") and they were 15% faster than the CPU in the base 2016 model. The base model is quite an improvement except for the fact Apple cut the SSD size down to 128GB.