2015 Apple MacBook: Photoshop Benchmarks

12-inch MacBook (2015, gold)

Get Apple MacBook> and Save on AppleCare at B&H Photo.

B&H Photo loaned MPG the latest top-end MacBook with 1.3 GHz processor, 8GB memory, 512GB PCIe flash drive along with a USB-C to USB adapter (even better: Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter and most users will want both).

These benchmarks gauge Photoshop performance for mainstream Photoshop operations.

√ Get the OWC USB-C Dock for MacBook.

diglloydSpeed1 Photoshop Benchmark

The diglloydSpeed1 Benchmark does not stress the memory limits and thus represents a fair CPU and GPU performance comparison.

Given its turtle-slow 1.3 GHz clock speed, the dual-core 2015 Macbook Pro does a remarkable job that is roughly proportional to its clock speed difference. In this sense it shows how poor Photoshop is at using CPU cores, since the 2015 MacBook Pro Retina has 4 CPU cores and more than double the clock speed.

diglloydSpeed1 Photoshop benchmark on 2015 MacBook 1.3 GHz / 512GB

diglloydMedium Photoshop Benchmark

The diglloydMedium Benchmark utilizes more memory (more than an 8GB machine can offer), and thus incorporates (in this particular case) a blend of CPU and GPU and SSD speed.

The lack of more memory clearl hurts performance with the 2015 MacBook, as it now takes more than 3X as long to complete the test (versus 2.1X as long for the diglloydSpeed1 test). Still it has done a fine job given its clock speed and that the results are not worse are a testament to compressed virtual memory in OS X (and the SSD/flash drive speed).

diglloydMedium Photoshop benchmark on 2015 MacBook 1.3 GHz / 512GB