Incremental Analyze (Making a single change and hitting “Analyze” again) MacBook Pro 2012 low-end model: 13.3 sec MacBook Pro 2016 high-end model: 12.7 sec Speed increase: 4.7 %, saving 0.6 sec.Clean And Analyze (“Clean Build Folder”, waiting for indexing to finish, “Analyze”) MacBook Pro 2012 low-end model: 143.7 sec MacBook Pro 2016 high-end model: 121.9 sec Speed increase: 17.9 %, saving 21.8 sec.Incremental Build (Making a single change and hitting “Build” again) MacBook Pro 2012 low-end model: 12.8 sec MacBook Pro 2016 high-end model: 11.2 sec Speed increase: 14%, saving 1.6 sec.Clean And Build (“Clean Build Folder”, waiting for indexing to finish, “Build”) MacBook Pro 2012 low-end model: 49.3 sec (avg) MacBook Pro 2016 high-end model: 40.5 sec (avg) Speed increase: 21.7%, saving 8.8 sec.Therefore, I ran four tests using one of my larger projects (all times are build times): Xcode PerformanceĮxisting benchmark data for the CPUs used in the new MacBook Pros suggested that the 2016 high-end model would be 30% to 59% faster than my 2012 low-end configuration:īut for me, the performance metric that matters most is how fast Xcode performs typical operations. Here’s what I learnt and observed - and why I eventually decided to return it. I’ve since spent several weeks with the new MacBook Pro as my main work machine. The next generation MacBook Pro 2016 finally appeared to offer enough new and future-proof technology, so I pulled the trigger and purchased a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with the fastest available CPU (2.9 GHz Core i7), the fastest available GPU (Radeon 460) and a 1 TB PCIe SSD - for a whopping 4.039€. Since then, I stayed on the sidelines, waiting for a worthy upgrade.

From 2006 to 2012, I have - on average - been buying a new MacBook Pro every year.īut in 2012, Apple sold me a MacBook Pro so good that it has stayed my main work horse to this day: the 15-inch base configuration (2.3 GHz Quad-Core i7, 256 GB SSD) of the first Retina model, with 16 GB of RAM being the only extra option.

Used 2016 macbook pro