Notebookcheck Logo

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 (Mid 2015) Review

Expensive pleasure. More performance, a new Force Touch TrackPad as well as longer battery runtimes are supposed to make the reworked MacBook Pro 15 even more appealing – and therefore justify a retail price far in excess of the 2000 Euros (~$2252) mark. Is this enough to compete with the improved rivals?

For the original German review, see here.

With all the attention on the impressive 12-inch MacBook, it was easy to miss the fact that Apple has also launched another new MacBook a couple of weeks ago. Although the MacBook Pro Retina 15 is not really new, it has got its first major update since the last significant refresh almost two years ago.

One of the new features is the Force Touch TrackPad, and the 15-inch device now uses the same model as its smaller sibling. The manufacturer has also promised much faster SSDs and more CPU performance, but the MacBook Pro 15 still uses quad-core processors from the old Haswell generation – it is curious that Apple has not integrated the recently announced quad-cores from the Broadwell generation or waited for the replacement, Skylake, which is expected in the late summer/autumn. Another surprise: The last remaining Nvidia GPU in a Mac, the GeForce GT 750M, can be replaced with the optional Radeon R9 M370X.

The MacBook Pro 15 is the spearhead in Apple’s notebook portfolio – so the pricing is quite confident: Even the base model with a Core i7-4770HQ, 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD is quite expensive at 2249 Euros (~$2532); our review configuration with a Core i7-4870HQ, twice the amount of SSD storage and the previously mentioned Radeon GPU costs 2799 Euros (~$3151). The online configurator also includes several upgrades (Core i7-4980HQ, 1 TB SSD) that can easily increase the price to more than 3000 Euros (~$3378).

Available configurations (excerpt):

Core i7-4770HQ

Core i7-4870HQ Core i7-4980HQ

16 GB RAM

16 GB RAM 16 GB RAM

256 GB (SSD)

512 GB (SSD) 1 TB (SSD)

Iris Pro Graphics 5200

Radeon R9 M370X Radeon R9 M370X

IPS panel, 2880 x 1800 pixels

IPS panel, 2880 x 1800 pixels IPS panel, 2880 x 1800 pixels

from €2249

from €2799 from €3599

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05 (MacBook Pro 15 inch Series)
Processor
Intel Core i7-4870HQ 4 x 2.5 - 3.7 GHz (Intel Core i7)
Graphics adapter
AMD Radeon R9 M370X - 2048 MB VRAM, Core: 800 MHz, Memory: 4500 MHz, GDDR5, 14.502.1020.0, Enduro (nur OS X)
Memory
16 GB 
, Dual-Channel DDR3L-1600, soldered
Display
15.40 inch 16:10, 2880 x 1800 pixel 221 PPI, APPA02E, IPS panel, LED backlight, glossy: yes
Mainboard
Intel HM87 (Lynx Point)
Storage
Apple SSD SM0512G, 512 GB 
, PCIe interface, 482 GB free
Soundcard
Intel Lynx Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller
Connections
2 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 2 Thunderbolt, 1 HDMI, 2 DisplayPort, Audio Connections: Headset port (3.5 mm stereo jack), Card Reader: SD, Brightness Sensor
Networking
Broadcom BCM94360CS (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/), Bluetooth 4.0
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 18 x 358.9 x 247.1 ( = 0.71 x 14.13 x 9.73 in)
Battery
100 Wh Lithium-Polymer
Operating System
Apple OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Camera
Webcam: 720p FaceTime HD camera
Primary Camera: 1 MPix
Additional features
Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: yes, 85-Watt PSU, 12 Months Warranty
Weight
2.04 kg ( = 71.96 oz / 4.5 pounds), Power Supply: 320 g ( = 11.29 oz / 0.71 pounds)
Price
2799 Euro
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Similarities and Differences compared to the Predecessor

Memory, processor and graphics card are soldered (source: MBP 15 Late 2013, ifixit.com)
Memory, processor and graphics card are soldered (source: MBP 15 Late 2013, ifixit.com)

At this point, because of the numerous similarities with the predecessor, we do not want to go into details about the Case, Connectivity and Keyboard; all the relevant information is available in our previous review. Nevertheless, we will summarize the most important aspects below.

For the last three years, the 2.04 kg (~4.5 lb) chassis of the MacBook Pro 15 has been the benchmark for quality. There are no significant changes this time – but this is not an issue: Stability, build quality and design are still very appropriate in 2015, just as the port selection with USB 3.0 (unfortunately just 2x), Thunderbolt as well as triple-stream WLAN (3x3: 3). Another typical aspect of the Apple design without frills: It is very hard or even impossible to maintain or upgrade the device. The bottom cover is secured with Apple’s own Pentalobe screws, and inside the chassis is a highly integrated motherboard with other proprietary or even soldered components (including CPU, GPU, and RAM). This usually means that if there is a problem after the 12-month warranty period, you have to visit an authorized service partner or the manufacturer, which is usually a pretty expensive solution (iFixit score of the predecessor: 1/10 points).

new Force Touch TrackPad
new Force Touch TrackPad

The input devices of the MacBook Pro 15 are similar to those of the 13-inch model that we have already reviewed. Because of the wider chassis, there are wider stripes on both sides of the keyboard that accommodate the speakers. It is unfortunate that Apple did not use the available space for larger input keys – in our opinion Enter, Backspace, and the arrow keys could be slightly larger. That aside, there is not much criticism and the keyboard is impressive with its well-defined stroke, generous travel as well as a background illumination that can be adjusted.

The TrackPad is still 10.5 x 7.6 centimeters (4.1 x 3 in), but the manufacturer has implemented the new Force Touch technology, which ensures an even pressure point across the whole surface. The pad now also includes the eponymous Force Click, a kind of two-stage triggering that provides practical features such as a quick search in the browser under OS X. Nothing has changed in terms of the excellent gliding capabilities and the very sensitive response during multi-touch gestures – Windows users can be envious of this touchpad. More information about the technology and additional features are available in our review of the MacBook Pro 13.

Boot Camp and Windows 8.1

Boot Camp on the MacBook Pro Retina 15
Boot Camp on the MacBook Pro Retina 15

As usual, we used Apple’s Boot Camp assistant to install a trial version of Windows 8.1 in parallel with OS X. Usually this procedure is pretty fast and simple, thanks to the automatic hard drive partitioning and driver installation – unfortunately not in this case. After an unusually long time, the installation of the Boot Camp support software stopped with an error resulting in a partially functional operating system. While we were able to install the drivers for WLAN, sound and the webcam later, we could not use the right-click functionality of the touchpad or the function keys of the keyboard (brightness, keyboard illumination, sound). We can only hope that Apple will solve these software problems quickly – but potential buyers should note that every MacBook was primarily designed for OS X and that a smooth operation is only guaranteed with this operating system.

Display

Compared to rivals like the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501, the Dell XPS 15 or the Asus G501JW, all of which are equipped with UHD displays and 3840x2160 pixels, the 2880x1800 pixels of the MacBook seem almost mediocre – instead of 282 ppi, the pixel density is "just" 221 ppi. However, it is arguable whether differences of this magnitude are important: Apple’s Retina display produces razor-sharp fonts and symbols, and the available space on the desktop depends on the scaling factor of the OS in both cases (a native operation at 100% font size is hardly possible with more than 200 ppi). One interesting aspect is that the 15.4-inch MacBook has an even larger display area compared to the 15.6-inch competition (688 vs. 671 cm²) since the aspect ratio is different (16:10 instead of 16:9).

The brightness of the screen can be adjusted either automatically or manually in 17 steps, which covers a generous range between 0 and 315 cd/m². The picture appears to be very even with high brightness settings and we could not notice any problems such as screen bleeding or clouding. Another advantage: The MacBook Pro is one of the few available notebooks without any PWM flickering (is created by periodical activation and deactivation of the LED illumination to influence the brightness via duty cycle).

327
cd/m²
332
cd/m²
336
cd/m²
307
cd/m²
341
cd/m²
318
cd/m²
279
cd/m²
301
cd/m²
295
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
APPA02E tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 341 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 315.1 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 82 %
Center on Battery: 341 cd/m²
Contrast: 1003:1 (Black: 0.34 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.07 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 1.9 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
91% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
58% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
62.9% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
90.8% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
61.4% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.62
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
2880 x 1800 (IPS)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
2880 x 1800 (IPS)
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
3840 x 2160 (IPS)
Asus G501JW
3840 x 2160 (IPS)
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
3840 x 2160 (IPS)
Display
-18%
-18%
6%
Display P3 Coverage
61.4
50.2
-18%
50
-19%
64.9
6%
sRGB Coverage
90.8
75
-17%
75
-17%
96.1
6%
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage
62.9
51.8
-18%
51.6
-18%
66.9
6%
Screen
-1%
-67%
-58%
-6%
Brightness middle
341
332
-3%
278.1
-18%
336.8
-1%
349
2%
Brightness
315
302
-4%
281
-11%
317
1%
365
16%
Brightness Distribution
82
83
1%
89
9%
77
-6%
87
6%
Black Level *
0.34
0.3326
2%
0.293
14%
0.53
-56%
0.282
17%
Contrast
1003
998
0%
949
-5%
635
-37%
1238
23%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
2.07
1.95
6%
8.78
-324%
7.02
-239%
2.65
-28%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *
3.27
Greyscale dE 2000 *
1.9
2.11
-11%
6.29
-231%
4.01
-111%
3.77
-98%
Gamma
2.62 84%
2.34 94%
2.25 98%
2.1 105%
2.41 91%
CCT
6514 100%
6489 100%
6197 105%
6642 98%
6786 96%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)
58
60.6
4%
48.31
-17%
47.67
-18%
61.02
5%
Color Space (Percent of sRGB)
91
72.54
-20%
96.1
6%
Total Average (Program / Settings)
-1% / -1%
-43% / -55%
-38% / -47%
0% / -3%

* ... smaller is better

AdobeRGB coverage (57.9%)
AdobeRGB coverage (57.9%)
sRGB coverage (90.6%)
sRGB coverage (90.6%)

Despite the identical specifications, the IPS display of the 2015 MacBook has a new model number (APPA02E) – an indicator of possible improvements? At least the black value (0.34 cd/m²) and the contrast ratio (1003:1) have remained unchanged compared to our last review, but this does not mean the screen has to hide behind the rivals. They manage similar results, only the Asus G501JW falls behind in a direct comparison. However, significantly higher contrasts would only be possible with other display technologies such as VA (5000:1 and higher) or OLED (almost infinite, thanks to perfect blacks), but they have other issues or the manufacturing would not be very economical.

Traditionally, Apple puts a lot of emphasis on an accurate color reproduction and the new MacBook Pro 15 is no exception. The deviations of the colors (DeltaE 2.07) and the grayscale (DeltaE 1.93) are already impressively low with the factory settings, and a calibration can remove the deviations almost completely (DeltaE smaller 0.5). The color space coverage is slightly smaller compared to the last generation (only 90.6% sRGB) – overall a very decent result and the screen is suitable for professional picture editing.

ColorChecker (pre-calibration)
ColorChecker (pre-calibration)
Saturation Sweeps (pre-calibration)
Saturation Sweeps (pre-calibration)
Grayscale (pre-calibration)
Grayscale (pre-calibration)
ColorChecker (calibrated)
ColorChecker (calibrated)
Saturation Sweeps (calibrated)
Saturation Sweeps (calibrated)
Grayscale (calibrated)
Grayscale (calibrated)

Considering the size, weight and the glossy display surface, there are certainly better notebooks for outdoor use than Apple's 15-inch notebook. However, thanks to the high luminance that is not reduced on battery power, the MacBook also masters this scenario and there will be no problems when you use it in the shade.

Outdoor use (afternoon, shade)

Not all IPS displays are the same: The technology is often used as a synonym for wide viewing angles, but there can actually be pretty big differences between different manufacturers and models. While the picture of the ZenBook Pro noticeably loses contrast and saturation when you look from an angle above or below, the picture of the MacBook does not change – these details are some of the reasons why Apple charges much higher prices than some other manufacturers.

Viewing angles Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15
Viewing angles Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15

Performance

maximum Turbo clock of 3.7 GHz
maximum Turbo clock of 3.7 GHz

The Core i7-4870HQ (2.5 to 3.7 GHz) in our review unit is right between the Core i7-4770HQ (2.2 to 3.4 GHz) of the entry-level configuration and the optional Core i7-4980HQ (2.8 to 4.0 GHz). This means the clocks were raised by 200 MHz compared to the model from 2013 – a very modest increase, but the main reason is the long lifecycle of Intel’s Haswell architecture. The new quad-core CPUs from the Broadwell generation are only available from the beginning of June, and are supposed to be much faster with comparable power consumption (TDP of 47 watts) thanks to the 14-nm manufacturing process (Haswell: 22-nm). However, it seems that Apple has skipped this generation completely and there will only be a complete refresh with Skylake at the earliest opportunity.

All Intel processors are once again equipped with the integrated top GPU Iris Pro Graphics 5200 that comes with 128 MB eDRAM. This memory, which acts as a L4 cache and can also be used by the CPU cores, reduces the dependency from the memory bandwidth and therefore improves the performance. You have to get a model with a dedicated graphics solution if you need more 3D performance: According to Apple, the optional Radeon R9 M370X is supposed to be up to 80% faster than the GeForce GT 750M of the predecessor, which would result in roughly twice of the performance compared to the Iris Pro. The notebook switches to the more frugal graphics processor while idling, but unfortunately, this only works with OS X.

Besides the soldered 16 GB DDR3L-1600 (dual-channel), the memory equipment of the MacBook includes a proprietary PCIe SSD with a capacity of 256, 512 GB or 1 TB. The manufacturer is very proud of the fact that the transfer rates of the new drives are supposedly twice as fast as before – a promise that we will check later.

Processor

Start: 3.3 GHz, 63 Watts
Start: 3.3 GHz, 63 Watts
End: 2.9 GHz, 47 Watts
End: 2.9 GHz, 47 Watts

According to the specifications, the Core i7-4870HQ reaches impressive maximum clocks of 3.7 GHz during single-core applications and 3.5 GHz when you stress all four cores, respectively – but it will require certain conditions (power consumption, core temperature). And this is actually a problem: The CPU does at least start at 3.3 GHz in the Cinebench Multithread tests (battery and mains identical), but consumes far more than 60 watts and reaches almost 100 °C (~212 °F). As a result, the clock drops to around 2.8 to 3.0 GHz after a few seconds and can maintain this level. This means that unfortunately, the i7-4780HQ is not any faster than the old i7-4850HQ; the i7-4770HQ and the i7-4980HQ should be on par under sustained load as well, which means the performance differences between the different models will be limited to short peak load or poorly parallelized software. Single thread benchmarks are executed with around 3.5 to 3.6 GHz, so the Turbo utilization is quite good.

Overall, we can say that the MacBook Pro can convince with a lot of performance reserves, but it cannot really take advantage of the CPUs that are very costly compared to the rivals. The eDRAM is only an advantage in some exceptions like WinRAR, but it increases the consumption and reduces the Turbo potential.

Cinebench R11.5
CPU Single 64Bit (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
1.64 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
1.58 Points -4%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ
1.48 Points -10%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
1.54 Points -6%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
1.42 Points -13%
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
Intel Core i7-4712HQ
1.44 Points -12%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
1.49 Points -9%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
1.37 Points -16%
CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
6.3 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
6.18 Points -2%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ
6.17 Points -2%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
6.44 Points +2%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
6.5 Points +3%
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
Intel Core i7-4712HQ
6.4 Points +2%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
3.53 Points -44%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
3.34 Points -47%
Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
144 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
143 Points -1%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ
133 Points -8%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
137 Points -5%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
134 Points -7%
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
Intel Core i7-4712HQ
125 Points -13%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
126 Points -12%
CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
594 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
589 Points -1%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ
578 Points -3%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
579 Points -3%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
491 Points -17%
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
Intel Core i7-4712HQ
565 Points -5%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
321 Points -46%
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0
Pass 1 (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
169.3 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
150.3 fps -11%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
143.5 fps -15%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
107.3 fps -37%
Pass 2 (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
37.03 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
37.6 fps +2%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
35.67 fps -4%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
20.19 fps -45%
TrueCrypt
AES Mean 100MB (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
4.2 GB/s
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
3.9 GB/s -7%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
4 GB/s -5%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
1.9 GB/s -55%
Twofish Mean 100MB (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
0.662 GB/s
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
0.619 GB/s -6%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
0.642 GB/s -3%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
0.304 GB/s -54%
Serpent Mean 100MB (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
0.376 GB/s
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
0.364 GB/s -3%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
0.356 GB/s -5%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
0.176 GB/s -53%
WinRAR - Result (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
7031 KB/s
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
4281 KB/s -39%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Intel Core i5-5257U
2608 KB/s -63%
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single 32Bit
5358
Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit
11288
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit
17747
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single CPUs 64Bit
7044 Points
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 64Bit
23488 Points
Cinebench R10 Shading 64Bit
11625 Points
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit
56.9 fps
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64Bit
1.58 Points
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit
6.18 Points
Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit
99.5 %
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit
61.3 fps
Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit
589 Points
Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit
143 Points
Help

Storage Solution

Simple SATA-SSDs were yesterday – modern high-end devices use the PCIe interface for the flash storage to reach even higher sequential transfer rates. The 512 GB SSD in our MacBook is attached via four PCIe-3.0 lanes and can also use them: Depending on the benchmark, the drive manages record-breaking transfer rates (read & write) of more than 1.5 GB/s. The advertised doubling of the SSD performance is therefore true, although in practice, this will only be a benefit when you copy large files. The SSD even falls behind many SATA models in the tests with small 4K files.

Unlike the recently reviewed 12-inch MacBook, the drive in our current review unit, SM0512G, is not from Apple, but provided by Samsung. Unfortunately, the SSD does not support the modern NVMe standard, which includes a more efficient administration of parallel accesses, but only uses the conventional AHCI protocol to communicate with the system.

AS SSD
AS SSD
CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark
Disk Speed Test
Disk Speed Test
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Apple SSD SM0512G
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Apple SSD SM0512F
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
Asus G501JW
Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
Apple SSD SM0128G
AS SSD
-34%
31%
30%
-26%
Seq Read
1550
731
-53%
1402
-10%
1410
-9%
1233
-20%
Seq Write
1441
592
-59%
1112
-23%
1118
-22%
616
-57%
4K Read
19.3
15.56
-19%
39.75
106%
39.75
106%
20.6
7%
4K Write
29
27.86
-4%
93
221%
92.6
219%
30.2
4%
4K-64 Read
619
406.4
-34%
977
58%
937
51%
891
44%
4K-64 Write
344.2
233.7
-32%
351.6
2%
362.8
5%
221.2
-36%
Copy ISO MB/s
1395
820
-41%
1097
-21%
522
-63%
Copy Program MB/s
608
476.5
-22%
502
-17%
285.5
-53%
Copy Game MB/s
1014
904
-11%
628
-38%
408.1
-60%
Apple SSD SM0512G
Transfer Rate Minimum: 387.2 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 570 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 424.4 MB/s
Access Time: 0.1 ms
Burst Rate: 118 MB/s
CPU Usage: 4.4 %

System Performance

It does not matter if you use OS X or Windows: Thanks to the fast quad-core CPU and the fast PCIe SSD, the MacBook Pro is a very powerful working device, which also manages the most demanding tasks like HD video editing, RAW editing or simulation calculations. Thanks to the 16 GB of RAM, even excessive multitasking is not a problem. However, we have to be fair and say that the predecessors from 2014, 2013 and even 2012 were not much slower – all generations are basically on par in PCMark 7. A switch to the current generation can still pay off thanks to longer battery runtimes and faster GPUs.

PCMark 7 - Score (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Radeon R9 M370X, 4870HQ, Apple SSD SM0512G
5480 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
GeForce GT 750M, 4850HQ, Apple SSD SM0512F
5842 Points +7%
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2012-06
GeForce GT 650M, 3615QM, Apple SSD SM256E (Samsung)
5545 Points +1%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
6087 Points +11%
Asus G501JW
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
6121 Points +12%
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
GeForce GT 750M, 4712HQ, Lite-On LMT-512L9M
5549 Points +1%
PCMark 8
Home Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Radeon R9 M370X, 4870HQ, Apple SSD SM0512G
3821 Points
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
3064 Points -20%
Asus G501JW
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
2988 Points -22%
Creative Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Radeon R9 M370X, 4870HQ, Apple SSD SM0512G
4662 Points
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
4195 Points -10%
Asus G501JW
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
4197 Points -10%
Work Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Radeon R9 M370X, 4870HQ, Apple SSD SM0512G
4638 Points
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
3944 Points -15%
Asus G501JW
GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ, Samsung SSD SM951 512 GB MZHPV512HDGL
3825 Points -18%
PCMark 7 Score
5480 points
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2
3821 points
PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2
4662 points
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2
4638 points
Help

GPU Performance

no hardware acceleration of HEVC/H.265
no hardware acceleration of HEVC/H.265

This brings us to the next important aspect, the new Radeon R9 M370X. The term "new" should however, be used very carefully, because the underlying Cape-Verde chip is actually more than three years old (announcement: February 2012 on the desktop Radeon HD 7770). But the technical specifications are actually not too bad for today’s standards, at least for a notebook chip: 640 GCN shaders and 40 TMUs as well as 2 GB of GDDR5 memory (128-bit interface) in combination with a clock of 800/4500 MHz (core/memory) should result in a decent performance advantage compared to the previous GeForce GT 750M.

The M370X actually manages an advantage of 34% over the GT 750M in 3DMark Fire Strike, which is the best simulation of the demands of current games. A GeForce GTX 950M or GTX 960M, which are in a similar TDP range of 50 up to 60 watts, however, are even 30 or 60% faster, respectively – there is currently no alternative to the Maxwell architecture in terms of power efficiency. Maybe the AMD GPU is not only a result of technical and financial reasons, but also the problematic relationship between Apple and Nvidia …?

Since neither the Iris Pro nor the Radeon R9 have an integrated HEVC/H.265 decoder, the corresponding videos have to be rendered by the CPU. The powerful quad-core manages even 4K videos smoothly depending on the bitrate, but this solution is certainly not very efficient and can also result in a very audible fan noise. Ordinary H.264 videos are not affected by this.

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
3593 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
2445 Points -32%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
5095 Points +42%
Asus G501JW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
4860 Points +35%
SCHENKER M505
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
4513 Points +26%
MSI GS30 Shadow
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
1923 Points -46%
3DMark
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Graphics (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
137091 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
87396 Points -36%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
45840 Points -67%
Asus G501JW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
28134 Points -79%
SCHENKER M505
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
78552 Points -43%
MSI GS30 Shadow
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
112713 Points -18%
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
15500 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
13163 Points -15%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
22468 Points +45%
Asus G501JW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
21403 Points +38%
SCHENKER M505
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
22350 Points +44%
MSI GS30 Shadow
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
11930 Points -23%
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
2501 Points
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
1872 Points -25%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
4063 Points +62%
Asus G501JW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
3906 Points +56%
SCHENKER M505
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
3284 Points +31%
MSI GS30 Shadow
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
1361 Points -46%
Fire Strike Extreme Graphics (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
1150 Points
Asus G501JW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
1865 Points +62%
3DMark 06 Standard Score
18481 points
3DMark Vantage P Result
13155 points
3DMark 11 Performance
3942 points
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score
92723 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
11048 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score
2350 points
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score
1145 points
Help

Gaming Performance

GPU throttling in Evolve
GPU throttling in Evolve

Even though the differences fluctuate significantly from game to game, our gaming benchmarks confirm the previous statement: The GeForce GT 750M (GDDR5 model) is roughly 30% slower than the Radeon R9 M370X, which is another 30% behind the GeForce GTX 950M. Unfortunately, the M370X is not powerful enough for the native display resolution, so it is recommended that you reduce the resolution to 1680x1050 in combination with medium graphics settings. Rivals like the ZenBook Pro or the Aspire V 15, both equipped with a GeForce GTX 960M, are certainly better options for gamers.

Unfortunately, the MacBook Pro is affected by a very annoying problem when you use Windows, which results in frame rate drops during prolonged gaming sessions: The Radeon GPU cannot maintain its core clock of 800 MHz. The clock often fluctuates between 675 and 725 MHz, but occasionally drops to 400 MHz. The resulting stutters are very annoying, particularly when you play shooting games, and seem to be caused by thermal throttling when the core temperature reaches around 74 °C (~165 °F).

Tomb Raider
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:FX AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
28.5 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
23.5 fps -18%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
49 fps +72%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
47.9 fps +68%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
33.7 fps +18%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
18 fps -37%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
23.6 fps -17%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
17.8 fps -38%
1366x768 High Preset AA:FX AF:8x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
62.8 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
56.6 fps -10%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
109.5 fps +74%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
106.8 fps +70%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
71.9 fps +14%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
35.3 fps -44%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
58.2 fps -7%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
40.2 fps -36%
1366x768 Normal Preset AA:FX AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
94.2 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
79.8 fps -15%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
153.2 fps +63%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
131.4 fps +39%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
58.6 fps -38%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
76.3 fps -19%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
66.9 fps -29%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
195.3 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
141.7 fps -27%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
296.3 fps +52%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
226.7 fps +16%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
123.1 fps -37%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
132.9 fps -32%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
128.5 fps -34%
BioShock Infinite
1920x1080 Ultra Preset, DX11 (DDOF) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
25.7 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
21.9 fps -15%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
41.21 fps +60%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
41.6 fps +62%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
29.6 fps +15%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
9.8 fps -62%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
21.85 fps -15%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
13.6 fps -47%
1366x768 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
71.4 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
59.8 fps -16%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
104.8 fps +47%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
104.2 fps +46%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
86.1 fps +21%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
35.2 fps -51%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
61.1 fps -14%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
46.4 fps -35%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
85 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
68.4 fps -20%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
118.6 fps +40%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
99.9 fps +18%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
40.1 fps -53%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
76.1 fps -10%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
55.8 fps -34%
1280x720 Very Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
160.2 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
81.7 fps -49%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
170.8 fps +7%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
134.4 fps -16%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
78.5 fps -51%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
117.5 fps -27%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
100.1 fps -38%
Metro: Last Light
1920x1080 Very High (DX11) AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
16.1 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
14.13 fps -12%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
28 fps +74%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
25.7 fps +60%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
22.4 fps +39%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
9.6 fps -40%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
10.4 fps -35%
1366x768 High (DX11) AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
32.4 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
28.3 fps -13%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
53.7 fps +66%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
50.8 fps +57%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
42.1 fps +30%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
17.8 fps -45%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
20.3 fps -37%
1366x768 Medium (DX10) AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
53.8 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
53.3 fps -1%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
84.9 fps +58%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
59.2 fps +10%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
34.9 fps -35%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
33.9 fps -37%
1024x768 Low (DX10) AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
82.5 fps
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Intel Core i7-4850HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
67.9 fps -18%
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
94.1 fps +14%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
61 fps -26%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
47.1 fps -43%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
44.1 fps -47%
Diablo III
1920x1080 High AA:on (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
69.2 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
46 fps -34%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
62.8 fps -9%
1366x768 High AA:on (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
98.4 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
75 fps -24%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
102.1 fps +4%
1366x768 Medium / low (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
106.6 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
86.2 fps -19%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
120.6 fps +13%
1024x768 Low / off (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
190.3 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
133.8 fps -30%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
169.8 fps -11%
Counter-Strike: GO
1920x1080 (Very) High, FXAA AA:4x MS AF:8x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
103.4 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
51.9 fps -50%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
62.2 fps -40%
1366x768 High AA:2x MS AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
159.3 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
88.4 fps -45%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
125.8 fps -21%
1366x768 Medium (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
218 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
181.3 fps -17%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
186.2 fps -15%
1024x768 (Very) Low (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
265 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
240.4 fps -9%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
237.3 fps -10%
Crysis 3
1920x1080 Very High Preset AA:2xSM AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
12.3 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
13.3 fps +8%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
7.7 fps -37%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
11.6 fps -6%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
8.1 fps -34%
1366x768 High Preset AA:FX AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
32 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
35.2 fps +10%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
20.9 fps -35%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
29.42 fps -8%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
21.9 fps -32%
1366x768 Medium Preset AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
50.6 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
48.1 fps -5%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
31.4 fps -38%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
47.97 fps -5%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
30.6 fps -40%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
62.7 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
81.4 fps +30%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
50.7 fps -19%
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
63.8 fps +2%
One K56-3F
Intel Core i7-4700MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
52.3 fps -17%
Dota 2
1920x1080 High / On, Render Quality: 100 % (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
50.8 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
40.03 fps -21%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
30.6 fps -40%
1366x768 Medium / On, Render Quality: 70 % (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
106.5 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
82 fps -23%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
67.3 fps -37%
1024x768 Low / Off, Render Quality: 40 % (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
119.8 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
107.5 fps -10%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
89.8 fps -25%
Battlefield 4
3840x2160 High Preset (sort by value)
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
3.9 (2min - 7max) fps
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
16.6 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
14.95 fps -10%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
11.2 fps -33%
1366x768 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
41.5 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
34.8 fps -16%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
28.7 fps -31%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
59 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
45.74 fps -22%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
45.4 fps -23%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
97.1 fps
Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013)
Intel Core i7-4702HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
65.1 fps -33%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
66.8 fps -31%
Thief
1920x1080 Very High Preset AA:FXAA & High SS AF:8x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
17.2 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
24.6 fps +43%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
24 fps +40%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
19.3 fps +12%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
10.5 fps -39%
1366x768 High Preset AA:FXAA & Low SS AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
31.6 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
44.1 fps +40%
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
43.8 fps +39%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
40.4 fps +28%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
21.5 fps -32%
1366x768 Normal Preset AA:FX (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
35.5 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
51.6 fps +45%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
49.4 fps +39%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
25.7 fps -28%
1024x768 Very Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
53.7 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
62.7 fps +17%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
64.1 fps +19%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
40 fps -26%
GRID: Autosport
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
26.8 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
35.2 fps +31%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
14.3 (13min - 18max) fps -47%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
20.1 (16min) fps -25%
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
48.6 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
63.6 fps +31%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
33.4 (27min - 43max) fps -31%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
43 (31min) fps -12%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
90.6 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
97.6 fps +8%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
60 (49min - 80max) fps -34%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
88 (73min) fps -3%
1024x768 Ultra Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
207.7 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
158.6 fps -24%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
140 (112min - 177max) fps -33%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
186.2 (149min) fps -10%
Sims 4
1920x1080 Ultra Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
46.8 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
45.4 fps -3%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
24.3 (16min - 34max) fps -48%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
31 (22min) fps -34%
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
54.5 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
53.2 fps -2%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
34.7 (26min - 49max) fps -36%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
39.9 (30min) fps -27%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
99.9 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
88.2 fps -12%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
68 (49min - 117max) fps -32%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
61.8 (44min) fps -38%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
162.9 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
164.3 fps +1%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
178 (153min - 198max) fps +9%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
121.1 (97min) fps -26%
Fifa 15
3840x2160 High Preset (sort by value)
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
16.9 (14min - 19max) fps
1920x1080 High Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
57.9 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
92.8 fps +60%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
40.7 (35min - 46max) fps -30%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
55.6 (49min) fps -4%
1366x768 High Preset AA:2x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
98.5 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
131.5 fps +34%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
67 (55min - 77max) fps -32%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
84.6 (71min) fps -14%
1280x720 Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
140.9 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
153.8 fps +9%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
92 (73min - 107max) fps -35%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
112.7 (87min) fps -20%
Alien: Isolation
1920x1080 Ultra, On, Shadow Map 2048, HDAO AA:2x SM AF:16x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
28 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
34 fps +21%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
16.4 fps -41%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
19.3 fps -31%
1920x1080 High, On, Shadow Map 1536, Standard SSAO AA:FX AF:8x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
35.6 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
47.6 fps +34%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
24.6 fps -31%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
26.6 fps -25%
1366x768 Medium, On (AA & SSAO Off), Shadow Map 1024 AF:4x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
59.7 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
93.3 fps +56%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
47 fps -21%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
51.2 fps -14%
1024x768 (Very) Low, Off, Shadow Map 512 AF:1x (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
100.3 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
130.6 fps +30%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
69 fps -31%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
76.9 fps -23%
F1 2014
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
50 fps
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
63 fps +26%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
69 fps +38%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
23 (20min) fps -54%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
39 (32min) fps -22%
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
84 fps
Asus G501JW
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
91 fps +8%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
82 fps -2%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
43 (27min) fps -49%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
67 (56min) fps -20%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
113 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
89 fps -21%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
55 (35min) fps -51%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
104 (73min) fps -8%
1024x768 Ultra Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
119 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
116 fps -3%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
80 (54min) fps -33%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
130 (112min) fps +9%
Civilization: Beyond Earth
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
22.7 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
13.6 (7min - 28max) fps -40%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
14.7 (8min) fps -35%
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
26.8 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
16.3 (9min - 28max) fps -39%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
16.8 (9min) fps -37%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
39.2 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
24.2 (10min - 47max) fps -38%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
26.4 (12min) fps -33%
1024x768 Minimum Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
85.7 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
53.3 (12min - 92max) fps -38%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
66.7 (24min) fps -22%
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
1920x1080 Extra / On (Cache Shadow Maps Off), 2x Supersampling AA:2x SM (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
16.4 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
22 fps +34%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
8.1 (4min - 12max) fps -51%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
11.9 (8min) fps -27%
1920x1080 High / On (Cache Shadow Maps Off) AA:FX (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
30.3 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
41.4 fps +37%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
16.7 (12min - 24max) fps -45%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
21.6 (18min) fps -29%
1366x768 Normal / On (Cache Shadow Maps Off) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
48.4 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
67.8 fps +40%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
26.7 (21min - 45max) fps -45%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
34.4 (28min) fps -29%
1024x768 Low / Off (Shader Preload On) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
99.5 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
111.9 fps +12%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
49.1 (37min - 108max) fps -51%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
63.6 (52min) fps -36%
Evolve
1920x1080 Very High Graphics Quality AA:1TX SM (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
18.5 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
23.4 fps +26%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
12.2 (9min) fps -34%
1920x1080 High Graphics Quality AA:FX (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
21.6 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
27.2 fps +26%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
12 (10min - 14max) fps -44%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
14.3 (12min) fps -34%
1366x768 Medium Graphics Quality (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
40.4 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
50.9 fps +26%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
21 (11min - 25max) fps -48%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
27.2 (22min) fps -33%
1024x768 Low Graphics Quality (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
62.5 fps
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
68.7 fps +10%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
28 (20min - 33max) fps -55%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
35.9 (29min) fps -43%
Battlefield Hardline
1920x1080 Ultra Graphics Quality (DX11) AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
18.5 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
28.4 fps +54%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
21 fps +14%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
8.6 (6min - 11max) fps -54%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
11.9 (10min) fps -36%
1920x1080 High Graphics Quality (DX11) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
27.6 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
46.2 fps +67%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
34.9 fps +26%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
17 (13min - 21max) fps -38%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
19.6 (17min) fps -29%
1366x768 Medium Graphics Quality (DX11) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
67.3 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
96.2 fps +43%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
81 fps +20%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
38.7 (29min - 46max) fps -42%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
42.3 (38min) fps -37%
1024x768 Low Graphics Quality (DX11) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
103.2 fps
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
Intel Core i7-4720HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
117.9 fps +14%
SCHENKER M505
Intel Core i5-4210M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
109.6 fps +6%
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
54 (39min - 68max) fps -48%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
60.6 (55min) fps -41%
Dirt Rally
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
21.2 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
12.5 (12.5min - 12.5max) fps -41%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
13.2 (12min) fps -38%
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
40.1 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
19.1 (14min - 31max) fps -52%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
30.4 (25min) fps -24%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
79.6 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
41 (32min - 58max) fps -48%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
55.9 (45min) fps -30%
1024x768 Ultra Low Preset (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
316.7 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
168 (143min - 216max) fps -47%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
201.1 (150min) fps -37%
The Witcher 3
1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
7.8 fps
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
5.3 (3min) fps -32%
1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
14.9 fps
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
9.3 (7min) fps -38%
1366x768 Medium Graphics & Postprocessing (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
25.9 fps
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
16.4 (14min) fps -37%
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing (sort by value)
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
Intel Core i7-4870HQ, AMD Radeon R9 M370X
40.7 fps
SCHENKER S413
Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
20.5 (12min - 26max) fps -50%
Schenker M503
Intel Core i7-4702MQ, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
27 (23min) fps -34%
low med. high ultra
Diablo III (2012) 190.3 106.6 98.4 69.2
Counter-Strike: GO (2012) 265 218 159.3 103.4
Crysis 3 (2013) 62.7 50.6 32 12.3
Tomb Raider (2013) 195.3 94.2 62.8 28.5
BioShock Infinite (2013) 160.2 85 71.4 25.7
Metro: Last Light (2013) 82.5 53.8 32.4 16.1
Dota 2 (2013) 119.8 106.5 50.8
Battlefield 4 (2013) 97.1 59 41.5 16.6
Thief (2014) 53.7 35.5 31.6 17.2
GRID: Autosport (2014) 207.7 90.6 48.6 26.8
Sims 4 (2014) 162.9 99.9 54.5 46.8
Fifa 15 (2014) 140.9 98.5 57.9
Alien: Isolation (2014) 100.3 59.7 35.6 28
F1 2014 (2014) 119 113 84 50
Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014) 85.7 39.2 26.8 22.7
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014) 99.5 48.4 30.3 16.4
Evolve (2015) 62.5 40.4 21.6 18.5
Battlefield Hardline (2015) 103.2 67.3 27.6 18.5
Dirt Rally (2015) 316.7 79.6 40.1 21.2
The Witcher 3 (2015) 40.7 25.9 14.9 7.8

Emissions

System Noise

Even though the two chassis fans already run at 2000 rpm while idling, our review unit is almost silent. Even moderate workloads like browsing the web, picture editing or light multitasking do not really increase the noise levels – a very remarkable performance for such a slim quad-core notebook, which is mainly a result of the defensive fan curve. The fan speed is not immediately increased, even if the CPU briefly reaches 80 or 90 °C (~176 or 194 °F). This applies to both OS X and Windows; but the MacBook is generally most often silent when you use OS X.

Apple cannot beat the physics under sustained CPU and GPU load, either: The fan speed and noise level will continuously rise up to 6000 rpm and 46 dB(A), respectively, in 3DMark 06 or in our stress test. This might be quite loud on paper, but the low frequency and consistent murmur is subjectively much quieter than it really is.

The fan characteristics have not changed compared to the predecessor, so we took the following frequency response for different fan speeds from our previous review.

Noise characteristics MacBook Pro Retina 15: black: idle, dark green: 2500 rpm, blue: 3000 rpm, red: 3500 rpm, purple: 4000 rpm, gray: 4500 rpm, brown: 5000 rpm, green: 6000 rpm
Noise characteristics MacBook Pro Retina 15: black: idle, dark green: 2500 rpm, blue: 3000 rpm, red: 3500 rpm, purple: 4000 rpm, gray: 4500 rpm, brown: 5000 rpm, green: 6000 rpm

Noise Level

Idle
28.9 / 28.9 / 28.9 dB(A)
Load
46 / 46 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light   Voltcraft SL-451 (15 cm distance)

Temperature

Thanks to the slow but continuous spinning of the fans, the manufacturer does not have a problem with the temperature development in everyday use. The chassis never gets inconveniently warm or even hot, and it is no problem to use the device on your lap. The situation is better than expected under load: The heat development of up to 43 °C (~109 °F) is mainly limited to a small stripe above the keyboard, but users do not touch this spot very often anyway.

Once we had noticed some occasional GPU throttling, it is hardly surprising that the losses in the stress test are even more dramatic. After our one-hour stress test with Prime95 and FurMark (Windows), the CPU runs at only1.2 GHz, while the graphics card is also limited to just 400 MHz. Even though devices from AsusAcer & Co. also throttle, none of the direct rivals loses that much performance. The performance of the MacBook was much better under OS X, but the tools (Cinebench and Unigine Heaven) are not that demanding for the hardware.

Stress test (OS X)
Stress test (OS X)
Cinebench (OS X)
Cinebench (OS X)
Stress test (Windows)
Stress test (Windows)
Prime95 (Windows)
Prime95 (Windows)
 28.9 °C
84 F
29.7 °C
85 F
28.8 °C
84 F
 
 28.5 °C
83 F
30 °C
86 F
28.2 °C
83 F
 
 27.8 °C
82 F
27.6 °C
82 F
27.9 °C
82 F
 
Maximum: 30 °C = 86 F
Average: 28.6 °C = 83 F
28.1 °C
83 F
29.3 °C
85 F
28.7 °C
84 F
28 °C
82 F
28.5 °C
83 F
28.4 °C
83 F
27.8 °C
82 F
27.9 °C
82 F
27.8 °C
82 F
Maximum: 29.3 °C = 85 F
Average: 28.3 °C = 83 F
Power Supply (max.)  36.3 °C = 97 F | Room Temperature 22.5 °C = 73 F | Fluke 62 Max
(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 33.9 °C / 93 F, compared to the average of 31.2 °C / 88 F for the devices in the class Multimedia.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 43.2 °C / 110 F, compared to the average of 36.9 °C / 98 F, ranging from 21.1 to 71 °C for the class Multimedia.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 39 °C / 102 F, compared to the average of 39.1 °C / 102 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.6 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 30.2 °C / 86.4 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.8 °C / 83.8 F (-1.4 °C / -2.6 F).

Speakers

Frequency response speakers (Pink Noise)
Frequency response speakers (Pink Noise)

As you would expect from a very expensive multimedia notebook, the MacBook is equipped with two decent stereo speakers that are more than sufficient for occasional video or music playback. The maximum volume and the bass are slightly above average, the speakers are very clear and there are no distortions at the highest volume. Once again, there is no noticeable difference compared to the previous generation, so we show the frequency responses from the 2013 model.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

While the 15-inch device is quite frugal with 6.0 to 13.3 watts while idling in OS X, the consumption dramatically explodes when you use the Microsoft operating system: 10.7 to 25.6 watts show that neither the deactivation of the Radeon GPU nor the various energy-saving features of the processor work properly. This is also the reason for the previously mentioned differences in terms of system noise and temperature development.

The 85-watt power adaptor is hardly adequate and limits the consumption to around 90 watts – which means that the MacBook cannot maintain the maximum clock for the CPU and the GPU simultaneously, even when the temperatures are very low. However, the temperature development will result in throttling after a couple of minutes anyway, so it would not make much sense to replace the PSU with a more powerful model. Our measurement device only showed around 72 watts at the end of the stress test.

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0 / 0.1 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 6 / 12.8 / 13.3 Watt
Load midlight 82.4 / 91.8 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Extech Power Analyzer 380803
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.

Battery Runtime

glued battery (source: ifixit.com)
glued battery (source: ifixit.com)

The generously sized battery capacity of the predecessor has been further increased for the new model and is now specified with an enormous 99.5 Wh – neither the Asus ZenBook Pro (96 Wh) nor the Dell XPS 15 (91 Wh) can keep up with this. However, replacing the glued in batteries is a challenge even for professionals, which is unfortunately typical for Apple, so you will have to use the expensive repair service of the manufacturer if the battery is damaged.

We cannot confirm the advertised runtime of 9 hours, at least in our practical test. Our tests determine realistic runtimes of around 7 hours of wireless browsing or HD video playback if you adjust the display brightness to around 150 cd/m². Because of the higher power consumption, the battery will only last for less than 5 hours when you use Windows 8.1. Depending on the load you can realize much longer (idling OS X and minimum brightness: more than 17 hours) or much shorter runtimes (Unigine Heaven at the highest brightness: almost 2 hours). The 15-inch version cannot keep up with the stamina of the smaller MacBook Pro 13 Retina – but the results are more than impressive compared to the Windows competition.

A full recharge of the battery takes about 2.5 to 4 hours depending on the simultaneous use of the notebook.

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05
99.5 Wh
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2015-03
74.9 Wh
Asus UX501JW-DS71T
96 Wh
Dell XPS 15 (9530-0538)
91 Wh
Acer Aspire VN7-591G-727P
52 Wh
Battery Runtime
30%
-8%
-27%
-61%
Reader / Idle
1039
1690
63%
361
-65%
216
-79%
H.264
413
581
41%
176
-57%
WiFi v1.3
432
539
25%
263
-39%
314
-27%
166
-62%
Load
105
94
-10%
190
81%
58
-45%
Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
17h 19min
WiFi Websurfing
7h 12min
Big Buck Bunny H.264 1080p
6h 53min
Load (maximum brightness)
1h 45min

Pros

+ flawless aluminum chassis
+ triple-stream WLAN
+ 2x Thunderbolt
+ excellent input devices
+ great application performance
+ excellent display
+ silent with light workloads
+ long battery runtimes

Cons

- only 2x USB 3.0
- extremely high price
- poor maintainability and upgradeability
- limited Windows operation
- only 12 months warranty

Verdict

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 Mid 2015
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 Mid 2015

This time, we want to start our verdict with the negative aspects, and there are some despite the final rating of 88%. We cannot understand the decision to launch a device with Haswell processors at this time. The new quad-core CPUs from the Broadwell generation are already being shipped and have higher power efficiency, which result in some significant advantages, especially in a thermally limited laptop like the MacBook. You can also argue about the dedicated graphics card: The new Radeon GPU is certainly faster than the previous GeForce GT 750M and convinces with a great OpenCL performance, but Nvidia’s Maxwell would have been even faster. A lower clocked, probably even partially deactivated GM206 chip would have even included HDMI 2.0 as well as a HEVC decoder – innovations that you should be able to expect for a retail price between 2250 and 3600 Euros (~$2533 and ~$4053). We would also like to see better support for Windows including graphics switching.

On the other hand, you get advantages like the (especially in OS X) great TouchPad, the extremely fast PCIe-SSD or the surprisingly long battery runtimes for this notebook class. Apple puts all of this in a flawless aluminum unibody chassis, which is still the quality benchmark even three years after its launch. The familiar Retina display may have fallen behind the rivals in terms of the pixel density, but it can easily compensate this disadvantage with extremely wide viewing angles and a color reproduction that is suitable for professionals.

All things considered, the Apple MacBook Pro Retina is probably still the best multimedia notebook on the market – but the competition is closing the gap pretty quickly.

If you are still undecided between the MacBook and the Windows alternatives like the Asus ZenBook Pro, the Acer Aspire V 15 Nitro or the Asus G501JW, which have been available for quite a while now, you should probably wait a few weeks longer: Dell announced its new XPS 15 with a frameless Infinity display at Computex, which will probably be equipped with Broadwell processors (or maybe even Skylake?) besides Windows 10. The battle for the first spot in our Top 10 ranking remains exciting.

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2015-05 - 02/24/2016 v5(old)
Till Schönborn

Chassis
92 / 98 → 94%
Keyboard
87%
Pointing Device
98 / 20-67 → 100%
Connectivity
67%
Weight
63%
Battery
88 / 92 → 96%
Display
90%
Games Performance
68 / 95 → 72%
Application Performance
89%
Temperature
90%
Noise
90%
Audio
75%
Camera
63%
Average
80%
85%
Multimedia - Weighted Average

Pricecompare

Read all 5 comments / answer
static version load dynamic
Loading Comments
Comment on this article
Please share our article, every link counts!
Till Schönborn, 2015-06-11 (Update: 2015-06-11)