Photoshop CS6 Performance — 36MP RAW to JPEG
2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz quad-core, 16GB OWC memory, 240GB OWC Extreme Pro 6G SSD.
The 3.33 GHz 12-core Mac Pro is my upgraded unit.
This test batch converts one hundred (100) Nikon D800 14-bit lossless-compressed NEF files to highest quality JPEG (quality 12/12).
This conversion is a computation intensive process, but because the JPEG files are up to 40MB each, disk I/O speed is a somewhat significant factor. Also, CPU usage as compared with TIF conversion uses fewer CPU cores on average (probably the JPEG compression step is less efficient).
The CPU in the MacBook Pro Retina is more efficient than the older CPU in the Mac Pro, and since the average core usage is well below 4 cores for this test, the MacBook Pro actually beats the Mac Pro in this test.
The 2.3 GHz MacMini was tested; the 2.6 GHz model speed is estimated as the ratio of (2.3 / 2.6) the elapsed time. Past testing has shown this to be a reliable approach.
