One of the challenges people face when looking at different computers is comparing their performance. If you’re buying a new Mac, you want to make sure it’s suitable for your requirements or an improvement on what you have currently. Benchmark scores provide a way to quickly compare performance across different computers and different platforms without getting bogged down in the details.
What is a benchmark
A benchmark is simply a test used to compare similar products. Computer benchmarking works by running a series of well-defined tests on a device to measure its performance and the end result is typically a number. Comparing benchmark scores is far easier than comparing complex technical specifications.
What is a Geekbench?
Geekbench 5 and Geekbench 6
Geebench tests are made by a company called Primate Labs. When a device runs a Geekbench test the score can be uploaded to Geekbench’s website which allows for the crowdsourcing of scores from different devices. As benchmark scores can differ slightly depending on the particular device and background processes, averaging these results improves their value.
Geekbench 5 was introduced in 2019 and has been a standard for comparison for a number of years. You can find Geekbench 5 scores across our site, on our product collection pages, on each product page and tabulated below.
Primate Labs has recently introduced Geekbench 6, you can see these Mac benchmark scores on their site, here. There are currently fewer scores for these tests making comparisons between devices more difficult, this is why we currently use Geekbench 5 scores to compare performance.
How do I compare scores?
Higher scores are better, with double the score indicating double the performance. One thing to note is that you have to compare scores from the same tests, for example, Geekbench 5 scores are only comparable with Geekbench 5 scores.
What is the difference between Single-Core and Multi-Core Geekbench scores?
Benchmarks are often split into Single-Core and Multi-Core scores.
- Single-Core scores measure the processing power of one CPU core. Single-Core scores are more relevant for applications that are lightly threaded, meaning they rely mostly on a single core to process instructions.
- Multi-core scores are more relevant for applications that are heavily threaded, meaning they distribute their instructions between multiple cores.
Many factors influence how macOS distributes the workload to the cores on your Mac. As all modern Macs feature two or more cores, the multi-core score provides the clearest indicator of the processor performance, hence this is the figure we use to compare.
Do refurbished Macs have lower Geekbench scores?
No, the benchmark scores for Hoxton Macs refurbished devices will be similar to when new.