SHOOTOUT: 2017 iPad Pro versus
2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch
Posted June 14th, 2017 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
We started out to compare previous versions of the iPad Pro with the new releases. In parallel, we were updating benchmarks for the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Because there are benchmarks that run under iOS and macOS, we decided to include the laptop in the comparison. After all, we were curious how the performance stacked up against the MacBook Pros with a similar sized display to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
GPU GRAPH LEGEND
rMBP 13in 2017 = 2017 MacBook Retina 13-inch, 3.5GHz Dual-Core i7 processor, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU, 16G of 2133 MHz LPDDR3 memory, 1TB PCIe based flash storage
rMBP 13in 2016 = 2016 MacBook Retina 13-inch, 3.1GHz Dual-Core i7 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 550 GPU, 16G of 2133 MHz LPDDR3 memory, 1TB PCIe based flash storage
iPad Pro 12.9 2017 = 2017 iPad Pro 12.9 inch (iPad7,2), 2.39GHz A10X processor, 512GB flash storage, 4G of memory
iPad Pro 10.5 2017 = 2017 iPad Pro 9.7 inch (iPad7,4), 2.39GHz A10X processor, 512GB flash storage, 4G of memory
iPad Pro 12.9 2015 = 2015 iPad Pro 12.9 inch (iPad6,8), 2.26GHz A9X processor, 128GB flash storage, 4G of memory
iPad Pro 9.7 2016 = 2016 iPad Pro 9.7 inch (iPad6,4), 2.24GHz A9X, 256GB flash storage, 2G of memory
Geekbench 4 CPU
The OVERALL score is a combination of integer, floating-point, and memory performance. (HIGHEST Score = FASTEST)
Geekbench 4 Compute (Metal)
There is now a GPU Compute test for Metal. (HIGHEST Score = FASTEST)
GFXBench Metal
It is a cross-platform intensive graphics performance analysis with game-like content, low-level tests measure specific graphics performance aspects (Driver Overhead 2, ALU 2, Tessellation, Texturing). Both Manhattan and T-Rex animations were run in 1080p Offscreen mode. (HIGHEST number in Frames per Second = FASTEST)
ANALYSIS
I stumbled upon the idea of comparing the 2017 iPad Pro to the top performing MacBook Pro 13-inch while re-running benchmarks on the previous models of both. I was struck by how close the results were when I performed CPU and GPU centric benchmarks that run under both iOS and macOS.
As you can see from the graphs, the 2017 iPad Pro actually ran some of the benchmarks faster -- especially the GPU intensive ones. And in the CPU intensive tests, the 2017 iPad Pros were 'gnawing on the heels' of the MacBook Pro.
Think about it: The top configured 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch costs roughly 3 times more than the top configured 2017 iPad Pro. Yet the laptop is only slightly faster running CPU intensive apps and slower running the GPU intensive apps.
I am not implying that the iPad Pro can replace the MacBook Pro. They are two different animals, though there is clearly some overlap in capability. It's just encouraging to know that the iPad Pro development has brought it up to laptop level performance.
NOTE: Big mahalo to J.H. in Germany who ran our benchmarks on his 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 and 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch.
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