MBP 2011 Beats Mac Pro in CPU Speed

Upgrading your computer every time a new revision comes out is not recommended economy - wise. I still do it though, macs generally have a good second hand value.

I said to myself, this time I wont upgrade to the new early 2011 MacBook Pro but guess what? I am writing this from the new one. I decided to get it when I saw the first benchmarks coming in. The CPU is actually faster than the current Desktop Mac Pro. The talks about Intels Sandy Bridge is true, their chips is fast.

The high end 15 Inch model also comes with a new graphics card, AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB of RAM. It works pretty good with games. I am no hardcore gamer anymore but I occasionally play some games. The games I have tried is Starcraft 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Mass Effect 1. All of those games are playing nice in the resolution 1680 x 1050 (I opted for the high-res screen).

If you are really into gaming and it is important for you, you may save some frames not going for the high-res screen.

By the way here is a good site for checking performance of the graphics card and comparing it to others: Notebookcheck

Overall I am very satisfied with this machine. The CPU is a powerhouse and with the Radeon 6750M card gaming is certainly possible. Even with the high-res option screen.

I am sure this laptop will cover my needs for at least a year from now ... :)