benchmarking

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. The only updates this week are to hardware-managing tools that help with monitoring and configuring displays, hard drives, batteries, and keyboards.

Display Maestro There are times when people may wish to use nonstandard displays or special setups that require customized timings, … Read more

Our utilities update report is a list of updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week we have had updates to a couple of maintenance tools, a few process management tools, a number of filesystem and file management tools, and a benchmarking suite.

Maintenance In maintenance utility updates this past week, Cocktail has been updated … Read more

Both Intel and AMD, the two main companies that make the vast majority of computer processors, have new platforms for 2011. AMD's Fusion and Intel's second-generation Core i-series (formerly code-named Sandy Bridge) share a common goal: to package improved integrated graphics on the chipset that work much better than the previous generation, making it possible to play better games and stream more HD content without the need for a dedicated video card.

For most people, computers with integrated graphics are the default, because they cost less. Unless you're a serious tech enthusiast, you don't want to … Read more

One of our goals here in CNET Labs is to keep PC benchmark testing current. This does not come without its challenges. One good example of the process is our recent work on a new Photoshop CS5 benchmark.

First, a little background. We are sometimes asked why we don't use off-the-shelf benchmark apps such as 3DMark or Sysmark. These software packages are popular benchmarking tools, but they're synthetic benchmarks, in that they represent performance in a series of proprietary tasks, not commonly used consumer software. Those kinds of tests certainly have value--for example, we currently use Cinebench 11.… Read more

Facebook has released a benchmark designed to help developers test just how powerful desktop and mobile browsers are at running a new generation of games built with a new generation of Web standards.

One of the most important of those standards is the JavaScript programming language, which is ubiquitous on the Web and ever faster in browsers. Enter Facebook's JSGameBench, designed specifically for measuring game issues such as displaying "sprites," the graphics out of which animated characters are made.

"Although there are many other benchmark suites that measure JavaScript performance, we wanted to build one focused … Read more

Google's newest test versions of Chrome are equipped with a faster JavaScript engine, an increasingly important browser component for running Web-based programs.

The result is faster-loading pages, more powerful Web applications, and another round in the browser performance competition with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Opera.

Chrome's browser engine, called V8, is being upgraded to version 3, called Crankshaft. It uses a technique called adaptive compilation that translates JavaScript into native instructions for a processor and then concentrates more energy on improving the parts of the code used most often, Google said. … Read more

Our utilities update report is a list of updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is to bring you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there are updates for maintenance and benchmarking utilities, as well as a couple of filesystem utilities.

Maintenance

While MacPilot is more than just a maintenance utility, it contains a number of cache cleaning and optimization routines that are included … Read more

Microsoft has released a seventh test version of Internet Explorer 9 the company says is better at "real-world" Web-based JavaScript programs. But with it has come a rival's accusation that Microsoft essentially engaged in the storied computer industry practice of benchmark engineering--designing technology to be fast on an artificial speed test.

The seventh IE9 platform preview comes with new improvements to its Chakra JavaScript engine. And Microsoft asserted Chakra is engineered to do better on actual Web site tasks rather than narrow benchmarks.

"Over the last few weeks, we've been tuning the JavaScript engine for … Read more

Pentax has leaped to a commanding lead over many rivals when it comes to image sensor performance with its latest high-end SLR, the K-5.

The Pentax K-5 scored 82 on a new update of the DxOMark tests, which rate various performance attributes of a camera's image sensor.

That is a notable sixth-place ranking of all the cameras on DxO Labs' list, especially because the top 5 cameras are pro models costing thousands of dollars more than the K-5. The result came, in large measure, from the K-5 sensor's excellent dynamic range, a measure of its ability to capture details in both bright and dark areas of an image.

The K-5's Sony-built sensor spans a notable range of 14.1 exposure values at ISO 80, trouncing direct rivals such as the 11.7 of Canon's 7D and 12.2 of Nikon's older D300s. That score is all the more notable given that the K-5 even outscores some cameras with larger full-frame sensors.

However, it's clear that there is plenty of new competition coming. Nikon's new D7000, for example, has a dynamic range of 13.9 and largely matches the K-5 through much of its ISO range. Notably, the sensor in Nikon's cheaper D7000 scores 80 on DxO's tests. Those tests, it should be noted, only measure the sensor, not countless other important camera details such as price, autofocus, lens and accessory selection, durability, performance, and user interface.

Pentax's 16.3-megapixel, $1,600 flagship camera also will face a new range of full-frame rivals for those willing to pay a significantly higher price. Canon's 5D Mark II, Nikon's D700, and Sony's A850 are relatively elderly, and it will be a surprise if their successors don't feature sensors with compelling, new image quality at their heart.

For those who want to go farther up the product pecking order, Pentax has a different answer than full-frame SLRs, whose sensors are the size of a frame of 35mm film from the the bygone days of analog cameras. Instead, Pentax is selling its medium-format 645D camera, initially in Japan but also in Europe and the United States by the end of the year. Its sensor measures 44x33mm, compared with 36x24mm for full-frame sensors and 23.7x15.7mm for Pentax's K-5. Larger sensors have greater light-gathering abilities, helping in particular in low-light situations, but cost much more to manufacture and require bulkier lenses and camera bodies.… Read more