New iPad Pro Has Comparable Performance to 2018 15" MacBook Pro in Benchmarks

[Greymacuser]

Careful what you say about this new gadget. The mods will censor you if you say anything unto-wards about it.
Such as pointing out how it still has no USB ports for plugging a thumb drive into it so you can move work files to and from the device.
How it still can't pair with a magic mouse for a more ease-of-use workflow.
How it can't connect with a wacom tablet (via USB or wirelessly) to take full advantage of its screen capabilities.
Yep. Wouldn't want to mention any of that here, eh mods?

 

[DNichter]

That's true, as a developer, I always have higher than average needs. However, I'm not the only one who requires a mouse and professional tools. I do have an iPad, and I love the pencil, but it's just an accessory for doing math and charts. I couldn't use it as my main computer. Photoshop is a good step in the right direction, and I applaud that.

Yup, just depends on the person and their needs. I think it's important that everyone on this forum gets away from the "If it can't work for me, it can't work for anybody" mentality. Use the best tool for the job, and the iPad is clearly a worthy consideration for a lot of people.

 

[LordVic]

It still has no USB ports for plugging a thumb drive into it so you can move work files to and from the device.
It still can't pair with a magic mouse for a more ease-of-use workflow.
It can't connect with a wacom tablet (via USB or wirelessly) to take full advantage of its screen capabilities.

You know what's funny. What you're saying is actually wrong.

the physical hardware is all there. The USB-C port that can handle a mouse / drive. Bluetooth for devices lie a mouse.

it's the software. it's purely iOS causing the limitations

 

[gaximus]

No, they won't.

What's the use of a 400 HP HEMI engine in a go-cart. It's still a go-cart.

A 400 HP Hemi engine in a go-cart will beat a Dodge Challenger in a straight line race

 

[Ploki]

And where would you put the requisite FAN COOLING?!?

I was joking, since he said "Until we see if it can do this in a sustained way it's nearly meaningless."

Because, i9 with an active cooling has ****** sustained performance so the point is moot.

 

[Greymacuser]

You know what's funny. What you're saying is actually wrong.

the physical hardware is all there. The USB-C port that can handle a mouse / drive. Bluetooth for devices lie a mouse.

it's the software. it's purely iOS causing the limitations

If the port can handle a device, but the OS isn't built to handle it, it's still a failure.
When a customer takes the gee-gaw out of the box, it still can not do any of the above, rendering it a fraction of a usable computer.
Its a go-cart when you need a sedan.

 

[Ploki]

It still has no USB ports for plugging a thumb drive into it so you can move work files to and from the device.
It still can't pair with a magic mouse for a more ease-of-use workflow.
It can't connect with a wacom tablet (via USB or wirelessly) to take full advantage of its screen capabilities.

why on earth would you connect a wacom to an ipad pro?!
if anything, I'd want the opposite - connect ipad pro to a macbook AS a wacom.
[doublepost=1541098248][/doublepost]

Apple is notorious for doing things much later than their competitors. They've often stated they'd rather release something when it's ready rather than rush an inferior product to market.

True!

 

[ignatius345]

But we won't be able to whine about the keyboard design...

I hate to say this, but as someone who finds the butterfly keyboard effing horrible to use, it kind of makes sense to decouple the keyboard from the rest of the machine. You can keep using trash keyboards if you want, and I can connect the Magic Keyboard (or whatever) to mine over Bluetooth.

 

[legacyb4]

iPad -> cannot download torrents -> Not a real computer.

/s

That's what cheap PCs are for

 

[chucker23n1]

no but adding more cores does. Apple could just put out. a 64 core ARM chip.

They could, but for one, we're already seeing pretty poor scaling even at just eight cores (given that half of those are low-performance cores, the factor should probably be somewhere around 4x + 4x/2, i.e. 6x, but is in fact just 3.6).

And second, almost no applications scale that well to eight cores, let alone 64.

 

[radio893fm]

A 400 HP Hemi engine in a go-cart will beat a Dodge Challenger in a straight line race

Nope... the Go Cart will flip in the first acceleration, I already tried.

 

[Greymacuser]

why on earth would you connect a wacom to an ipad pro?!
if anything, I'd want the opposite - connect ipad pro to a macbook AS a wacom.
[doublepost=1541098248][/doublepost]

As an out-in-the-field mobile desktop for when clients ask for in-house concept design/photo retouching work. This comes up a lot in photographers work week.

 

[Ploki]

As an out-in-the-field mobile desktop for when clients ask for in-house concept design/photo retouching work. This comes up a lot in photographers work week.

So why wacom as opposed to applepencil directly on the pad?

 

[Greymacuser]

So why wacom as opposed to applepencil directly on the pad?

Better quality and construction. Plus, you can replace a wacom pen for $30-$50, as opposed to over $100 for a Apple pen that they just now figured out shouldn't charge via an easily snapped peg.

 

[826317]

Here's the problem:
The comparison is meaningless, the iPad Pro runs iOS and the Macbook Pro runs MacOS. They are completely different and run a completely different set of apps.

This ultimately means you can't even run a real benchmark comparison of the two, as the apps to run the benchmarks will also be different.

They run the same algorithms on both iOS and MacOS.
[doublepost=1541099470][/doublepost]

This is also one of those things that people on the Apple-loving bandwagon will ignore (including me, and I preordered TWO 12.9" iPad Pros for my household). As many others have commented, as long as the iPad Pro is limited to iOS, it doesn't matter if it's a thousand times faster than the latest MacBook Pro. It's purely academic.

Nobody is saying that it is a replacement for the MBP 15"... They are saying that it almost matches up to its performance. It's really that simple.

 

[cmaier]

iOS devices don't have a cooling fan and easily get hot enough to show a warning on the screen saying you can't use it and having to wait.

Easily?

I've been using iPads and iPhones since day 1. The only time I ever saw that warning was a 110 degree day on vacation in vegas where i was using my phone in direct sunlight at the pool. More than a decade of use, and it's happened to me once.

 

[826317]

No, they won't.

What's the use of a 400 HP HEMI engine in a go-cart. It's still a go-cart.

So let me get this straight. When the iPads or iPhones are fitted with CPUs or whatever other components that apparently do not match up with their competitors, it's Apple being greedy, but when they fit their devices with exceptionally fast CPUs, they are overdoing it? Are you kidding me?

Also, have you ever heard of future proofing? At some point apps will require more and more resources as time goes on. So when that point is reached, you'll have a device that will still be able to handle them.

 

[JoeCassara]

All great but you still need MacOS. Sorry Tim, ipad is awesome but as companion tool not really a replacement for a real Mac.

Yes. For you, me, and many other people. And for lots of other consumers, iPad is more than enough. We're rehashing the same pointless argument over and over and over and over...

 

[shansoft]

The score means nothing. It's just Geekbench.

It's a very specific task with basic arithmetic. It shows nothing in real world performance as what CPU is truly capable of.

As a whole, x86 CPU is a general purpose CPU, which is different than ARM's original design. The difference become less in the recent years, but its still there. Not to mention the heat and energy consumption for x86 base chips are still decades ahead.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

This is yet again one of those things that people on the Apple-hating bandwagon will ignore.

And they should. This is a burst benchmark and tailored to each platform. The comparision literlly means nothing.

Render some large 4K video on each with an app and tell us which one finishes first.

Any kind of "heavy" work will not be possible on the iPad because A. there will wont be the needed software for the iOS or B. there will be a iOS version that is handicapped, or C. it will require those kinds of speeds for more than a few seconds in which case the iPad will choke. Then again we are talking about Macbook Pro's that throttle pretty fast as well, especially the 6 core models.
[doublepost=1541100679][/doublepost]

Yes. For you, me, and many other people. And for lots of other consumers, iPad is more than enough. We're rehashing the same pointless argument over and over and over and over...

Until they release mouse/trackpad support for the iPad it will never replace a computer for me. The pencil is not a mouse replacement for me either. I would like floating Windows as well but that I could give up for mouse support.

 

[jonnyb098]

"And it has no business being priced like a laptop."

It does if Apple's long-term goal (emphasis on long-term) is for the iPad Pro to cannibalize / replace its entire laptop line.

Fair enough, then I expect the full adobe suite next year if thats the case (which I know wont happen). So you are condoning getting a head start on laptop pricing on what might not happen for years??? iPad pro has been out for 3 years and there have only been a handful of major apps like affinity photo that actually utilize anywhere near the A9X, A10X and A12X processors. The damn smart keyboard they have doesn't even have function keys! There is WAAAY more than enough room to include those on the new models. Even the software keyboard on the 12.9 has function keys. There are just too many holes for it to be a laptop replacement for creative professionals (emphasis on creative pros). For the average home user its amazing but better to just get last years pro or the $329 regular model.

 

[brofkand]

And they should. This is a burst benchmark and tailored to each platform. The comparision literlly means nothing.

Render some large 4K video on each with an app and tell us which one finishes first.

Any kind of "heavy" work will not be possible on the iPad because A. there will wont be the needed software for the iOS or B. there will be a iOS version that is handicapped, or C. it will require those kinds of speeds for more than a few seconds in which case the iPad will choke. Then again we are talking about Macbook Pro's that throttle pretty fast as well, especially the 6 core models.

Interesting idea for a benchmark. Someone should do that - build an equal hour long or so 4K 60FPS iMovie project in macOS and on a new iPad Pro, and see which finishes rendering first.

 

[thunng8]

Apple dumped the PPC due to slow/lack of roadmap, so it is very possible that they may switch to ARM in the future.
However I think people need to step back from a very synthetic benchmark to think performance is comparable with the Macs. I have not seen Spec benchmarks for the A12 chips.

x86 made big progress (especially on the server side) in the very late 2000s (2007-2010) due much improved memory management and memory performance. Would love to see real world comparisons between a Macbook Pro and iPad Pro doing a 30 minute video render on similar software that can use the capability of the system. Similar with multitasking benchmarks. I think that will give a much better indication of where the new iPad Pro/A series actually stack up.

In the meantime I'm still happily using a 15" rMBP (mid 2012) on Sierra and 13" rMBP (mid 2015) with High Sierra doing various compute intensive tasks. vs My iPad Air 1 is barely doing OK with iOS 12. Will need some proof that the A chips and iOS have a longer lifespan with intensive tasks as well.

Bottomline, I think it is very premature to think the the A chips and iOS is ready to take on what macOS and x86 is doing. Perhaps in a few years. As other mentioned and I suspect as well it may start at the lower end of the Mac line with A chips and then go from there. Will be fun to see the transition, given how shoddy the last 2 rounds of macOS and iOS have been.

anandtech did run spec on the a12 and the results are impressive.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/the-iphone-xs-xs-max-review-unveiling-the-silicon-secrets/2

Spec loves memory bandwidth, so the a12x will significantly beat the a12 results. A12x has double the memory bandwidth compared to a12. Hopefully they will also test the a12x in near future.

Video encoding is a tricky one as the apple soc has a dedicated video encoder in there. That’s why Lumafusion (a great iOS video editing app) on my a10x iPad Pro handily beats quad core MacBook pros in encoding 4K video.

 

[robertsMax]

do I smell Macs with an Apple designed CPU?

That's where it's all headed… guaranteed.

 

[thunng8]

And they should. This is a burst benchmark and tailored to each platform. The comparision literlly means nothing.

Render some large 4K video on each with an app and tell us which one finishes first.

Any kind of "heavy" work will not be possible on the iPad because A. there will wont be the needed software for the iOS or B. there will be a iOS version that is handicapped, or C. it will require those kinds of speeds for more than a few seconds in which case the iPad will choke. Then again we are talking about Macbook Pro's that throttle pretty fast as well, especially the 6 core models.
[doublepost=1541100679][/doublepost]

Until they release mouse/trackpad support for the iPad it will never replace a computer for me. The pencil is not a mouse replacement for me either. I would like floating Windows as well but that I could give up for mouse support.

I’d say the iPad Pro will render 4K video faster. Not a fair comparison though as the apple chip has a dedicated video encoder unit. Even the a10x renders 4K video faster than a 4 core 15’ 2017 MacBook Pro