iPad Pro 2018 Benchmarks

We all know now that the benchmarks are more than impressive in respects to Apple’s A12X but we also know that the new 2018 iPad Pro in the 1TB configuration has an extra 2GB of RAM. For multitasking purposes, this is going to be the jam but the price sets it around the realm of MacBook Pro pricing. So, if you’re comfortable with iOS as the sole computer, this maybe just be the thing.

If you’re asking me, I’ve been contemplating it for over two years but still find myself on the MacBook Air from time to time. I’m also waiting to see what the pricing structure will be for the new MacBook Pro’s with the Radeon Vega GPU Chipset set to debut sometime this week. 60% faster than the Radeon 560 which is currently in the latest highest spec’d MacBook Pro is a tremendous update.

Geekbench scores for iPad Pro (top), MacBook Pro (bottom)

The biggest takeaways are:

That means the highest-spec iPad Pro's single-core performance is 92.8 percent that of the top end MacBook Pro.

Geekbench's scores for multi-core operations are not quite as close, though. For multi-core performance, the benchmark rates the iPad Pro as 17995 and the MacBook Pro as 21251. That puts the iOS device at 85.68 percent of the laptop.

Of course, John Gruber also summarizes it quickly in reference to the 13” MacBook Pro:

It’s not clear at all who the MacBook Pro without Touch Bar is for today, though. In principle, it’s for people who want higher performance than the MacBook Air provides. In practice, it’s not much faster — about the same in single-core, and about 15 percent faster in multi-core. It weighs more, costs more, and yet doesn’t have Touch ID.

Ideally, maybe a the new 2018 MacBook Air with the BlackMagic eGPU Vega 56 would be the key especially if the performance of that box for $1,199 is much better than the built in Vega in the upcoming MacBook Pro. I just want to start editing the videos of my kids faster and while on the road and carry the least possible.

Vega 16 or Vega 20 built in 

Obliterating the Competition

Let's start with Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance. On the multicore portion of this test, the iPhone 8 hit 10,170. That's 54 percent faster than the score from Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 — currently the fastest Android phone.

The Android competition wasn't close. The Note 8 scored 6,564, and that's with an impressive 6GB of RAM paired with Qualcomm's fast Snapdragon 835 chip. How about the OnePlus 5 and its 8GB of RAM and Snapdragon 835? That handset got 6,542. With 4GB of RAM, the Galaxy S8 scored 6,295 with the same processor.

It’s not just the fastest phone available on the market, it obliterates everything else. Seriously, why Android?

And if you couldn’t even click the link to read further and investigate, here’s another excerpt.

If you're wondering how all this translates to real-world performance, we have more good news for iPhone 8 shoppers — and bad news for everyone else. To really put the A11 Bionic chip through its paces, we put the same 2-minute video, shot in 4K by a drone, on the iPhone 8, Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8+, and then added the same transitions and effects before exporting and saving the video.

The iPhone 8 finished this strenuous task in just 42 seconds, while the Note 8 took more than 3 minutes. The Galaxy S8+ took more than 4 minutes.

Friends don’t let friends buy slow technology and yes, both Apple’s iPhone 8/8 Plus and X all have the same processor. mic drop

Apple iPhone 7 Benchmarks vs Android

This iPhone 7 Single Core Geekbench testings shows an amazing lead compared to rest. Even dating back to the previous model at one year old, the Apple's Single Core optimization beats the rest. But when it comes to Multi-Core, Samsung does indeed come very close.

Device                    Single Core           Multi-Core
iPhone 7 / 7 Plus         3285 / 3211           5285 / 5191
iPhone SE                    2409                 4051
iPhone 6s / 6s Plus       2375 / 2400           3991 / 4027
Samsung Galaxy S7            1806                 5228
Samsung Galaxy Note 7        1786                 5213
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge       1744                 5203
Huawei P9                    1729                 4735
OnePlus 3                    1698                 4015
LG G5                        1658                 3745
iPhone 6 / 6 Plus            1463 / 1471        2457 / 2470

One VERY interesting feat is the fact that today's iPhone 7 / 7 Plus beats out the MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2011) and even the Mac Pro (Late 2013) in single core benchmarks. Intel better be watching. As The Verge clearly put it,

Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.

This is one POWERFUL A10 Fusion chip and Apple I'm sure is proud. Congrats on the optimizations!

Bottom Line: It's Still Slower

For example, XDA shows that the Note 7 launches Chrome in 0.493 seconds versus the HTC 10’s nippy 0.298 seconds. I’ve sat here and dutifully done that test myself a dozen times, throwing in the OnePlus 3 as well. How noticeable is the difference? It isn’t. On some occasions I see the Note 7 launching faster, anyway. Same goes for the Google Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts, and every other shared app that I have across my Android devices. Everything launches and operates at roughly equivalent speed across the HTC 10, Note 7, and OnePlus 3.

I don't know why The Verge really cares that their initial praise piece is getting hit on that much since, it [Samsung Note 7] is slower. Any could argue, don't pay attention to the benchmarks and you'll be fine, but I bet if it had been faster, they would have been singing a different tune.

Apple's iPad Pro Beats Last Year's MacBook Pro →

The benchmarks speak for themselves. Apple is out pacing Intel's x86 architecture with their own in-house ARM A series build out and it’s really impressive. See for yourself.

After a very short conversation with my wife, looks like the iPad Pro might be her next machine while I’m still reserving myself for the SkyLake Retina MacBook Pro for gaming and heavy photography processing. Maybe some video intertwined here and there.

The "New" Microsoft and it's Surface Book →

So Panay’s team set a different goal: to reinvent the laptop. They spent two years designing, prototyping, and fine-tuning—all to get to the Surface Book that goes on sale today. It’s the product of everything Microsoft has learned from making the first Surface machines, and from watching Apple eat its lunch. It’s a story right out of Cupertino, really: A small group of creatives sits in a room together, passionately slaving over every tiny detail of a product until it’s perfect. To go after Apple, Microsoft learned from Apple—and then found a few places to take right turns toward the future it imagines. It cost Panay much more than one night’s sleep.

This is what sets the course for success. Still at $1,499, makes it a little hard to digest but yes, it's definitely production and hardware plus excitement heading in the right direction.

Just in case you missed the latest shenanigans, PCWorld posted their benchmarks showing it beat the Apple's MacBook Pro 13" laptop not by twice but almost three times in terms of speed. Pretty impressive nonetheless, but 9to5Mac brings to light some of discrepancies. The biggest takeaway points to dedicated graphics cards do help in processing power and frame rate. The Surface Book has one, but the MacBook Pro does not.