Given that it’s mid-May and there has yet to be a new Mac introduced in 2012 thus far, it should come as little surprise to see rumors ramping up about new MacBook Pro and iMac computers. But could they be closer to release than we think?
MacRumors is reporting on a pair of curious benchmark results that have turned up in the last several days on Geekbench, which could be the best evidence yet that Apple is inching closer to releasing new MacBook Pro and iMac models this summer. While it’s important to note that Geekbench results can be faked with relative ease, the benchmarks fall in line with what pundits are expecting from the 2012 models.
“This new MacBook Pro is listed as carrying an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM quad-core processor running at 2.7 GHz,” MacRumors reveals. “That processor has long been viewed as the natural successor to Apple's current offerings in high-end 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models. With the i7-3820QM being a 45-watt chip, it is extremely unlikely that Apple would be using it in a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model.”
Labeled as “MacBookPro9,1,” the new model scored 12,252 on Geekbench, an impressive bump over the currently available MacBook Pro with a score of 10,500. The unreleased model also has a Motherboard listing that matches results found in developer builds of OS X Mountain Lion, which the Geekbench results list as build 12A211 -- newer than the most recently released build on May 2.
“On the iMac side is a new iMac13,2 entry, which would appear to correspond to a new 27-inch iMac model,” the report notes. “The machine is listed as running an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 quad-core processor running at 3.4 GHz, which would correspond to a relatively high-end option in a new model. The system carries a benchmark of 12,183, only slightly higher than typical scores in the range of 11,500 for current iMac models using the top-of-the-line Core i7-2600 processor.”
This is certainly not the first time that Geekbench results have outed forthcoming Mac models, so the only question that remains is: When will Apple actually release them? With the release of OS X Mountain Lion not far off, it might make sense for Cupertino to begin selling the new models concurrently with its release -- originally promised for “late summer,” although a number of rumors have pegged it as possibly arriving as early as next month.
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