Category: Windows 8

The Microsoft Surface 2

on October 24, 2013

As soon as the Microsoft Surface 2 became available, we got one and have been putting it through its paces. Of course, we ran WebXPRT and TouchXPRT. The results are on the TouchXPRT and WebXPRT sites, but I’ll repeat them here along with the results for its predecessor, the Microsoft Surface RT.

	TouchXPRT	WebXPRT
Surface RT	98	167
Surface 2	284	324

TouchXPRT shows the Surface 2 to be almost three times faster than the Microsoft Surface RT, while WebXPRT shows it to be almost twice as fast.

Why the difference? The most obvious explanation is that WebXPRT depends on the browser and its implementations of JavaScript and HTML5. TouchXPRT relies less on additional software and seems to take better advantage of the underlying hardware.

While we have yet to test the Intel Core i5-based Microsoft Surface Pro 2 ourselves, others have been doing so. Interestingly, Anandtech’s review of the Surface Pro 2 included WebXPRT results from both Chrome and IE. The Chrome result was over 30 percent higher than the IE result: 1,260 vs. 960. Unfortunately, Google has not made Chrome available for the ARM-based Surface 2, so we were not able to make that comparison.

As always, please let us know any results you get on any new hardware so we can get as many results as possible in our result databases. There are lots of new products coming out in the next few weeks and we’d love your help in getting results for as many of them as possible. Thanks!

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Performance testing on tablets, Touch-based computing, Touch-based devices, TouchXPRT, TouchXPRT results, WebXPRT, Windows 8.1 |

Designated Drivers

By Eric Hale

on August 29, 2013

As we mentioned in last week’s blog On to the next thing, we have seen some problems running HDXPRT 2012 on the Windows 8.1 preview, build 9460. To date, the failures we’ve seen have been in Media Espresso’s Power Director on systems using third and fourth generation Intel Core processors.

We are happy to say that HDXPRT 2012 runs fine on the preview of Windows 8.1 when using the Windows 8.1 Preview Beta Graphics Driver. We are continuing to test, but things are looking good. You can get the graphic driver at communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-21232. We tested with version 15.33.10.3214, which is the latest version available as I am writing this.

If you see problems when running HDXPRT 2012, please let us know.

As I said last week, we are pushing forward on the development of HDXPRT 2013. We are looking forward to releasing a preview to the community in the next few weeks.

Eric

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Posted in HDXPRT, HDXPRT 2012, Windows 8.1 |

On to the next thing

By Eric Hale

on August 22, 2013

Last week, we released MobileXPRT 2013 to the public and published it as a free app on Google Play. On Monday, we will release the source code to the community. It hasn’t been long since we released the source code for MobileXPRT CP 1.1, but it’s an important part of the community model that the source for the current version is available to the community.

While we were putting the finishing touches on MobileXPRT, we’ve been hard at work on HDXPRT 2013. The feedback on HDXPRT made it clear that the benchmark should be smaller, faster, and easier to install. We have been working to keep all the value of the benchmark, and update the workloads to reflect current usage, even as we slim it down.

Speaking of HDXPRT, as we mentioned in The show is in previews, HDXPRT 2012 has issues running on Windows 8.1. However, we have had some success getting HDXPRT to run on Windows 8.1 by using beta drivers from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. We are still investigating this, and hope to have a general workaround for this soon.

There’s lots more stuff in the pipeline. Exciting times ahead!

Eric

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012, HDXPRT 2013, MobileXPRT 2013 source, Windows 8.1 |

The show is in previews

By Eric Hale

on July 11, 2013

I love theater, both as an actor and as an audience member. Seeing a show in preview means you have the chance to see what might be the next big thing before the critics do. It also means you may be watching all the things they need to fix before opening night.

Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 preview at the end of June. Of course we had to give it a look. After installing it, we ran the compatible XPRT benchmarks: HDXPRT, TouchXPRT, and WebXPRT. (Because MobileXPRT is Android based, it does not run on Windows.)

WebXPRT ran without any problems. To date, WebXPRT has run on everything we’ve thrown at it.

We took a Windows 8 system with TouchXPRT already installed and upgraded it to Windows 8.1. The previously installed version of TouchXPRT had some problems. However, when we did a clean install of Windows 8.1 and then installed TouchXPRT, it ran just fine.

HDXPRT failed while configuring the applications. We are looking into this and hope to have a solution soon.

I’m not going to talk about the results, because this is a preview of Windows. By the time of the official release, the results from the benchmarks certainly may change.

The Windows 8.1 RTM is currently set for August. I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs!

Eric

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT, Windows 8.1 |

The truth hurts

By Eric Hale

on June 20, 2013

The truth hurts sometimes. Bill loves to mention how long he, Mark, and I have been involved in benchmark software. I am, of course, grateful to him for reminding me of just how old we all are.

Another truth that hurts is that sometimes things don’t happen when you want them to. Case in point: The preview of Windows 8.1 is supposed to be available on June 26. We released TouchXPRT, which is based on Windows 8, to the public in February.

The problem of timing is not limited to benchmarks. All software has timing issues. While the advance descriptions of the changes in Windows 8.1 don’t mention anything that should break the benchmark, we need to see what, if any, effect, the new version of the OS may have on the benchmark and its results.

As soon as the preview is available, we’ll start testing with it. As soon as we know whether TouchXPRT runs on Windows 8.1 and gives results comparable to Windows 8, we will let you know. We would appreciate help from any of you in trying out TouchXPRT with Windows 8.1. Let us know what you find out!

Eric

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Posted in Benchmarking, TouchXPRT, Windows 8.1 |

Rapid Evolution

By Eric Hale

on April 4, 2013

As Bill mentioned last week, we are considering changing the name of PhoneXPRT, not only because of the interest in using the benchmark scenarios on Android based tablets, but also because the line between phones and tablets has become blurred.

Devices that are too big to be a phone and too small to be a proper tablet are everywhere. PC Magazine says the first true “phablet” – possibly the ugliest portmanteau in the history of technology – was the AT&T EO 440 in 1993. However, it was more 8 years before Samsung had the first really successful phablet, the Galaxy Note. Now, less than 2 years later, there are rumors that Samsung may kill the Note in favor of the Samsung Galaxy Mega.

Obviously, this is one of the fastest evolving areas in tech. This rapid evolution has given us an almost bewildering array for devices, from small phones such as the Sony Xperia Mini, which a child can hold in one hand, to the ASUS Transformer AiO P1801, which has a whopping 18.4” screen! All this speed and diversity obviously pose challenges for the new benchmark, but it makes the work very exciting as well!

We have received comments about the name and we really appreciate those. If you have any thoughts, let us know. We hope to make a decision about whether to change the name soon.

Eric

P.S. I should note: The Transformer AiOP1801 also runs Windows 8, which means it’s a great candidate for TouchXPRT as well.

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Posted in Android, PhoneXPRT, Touch-based devices, TouchXPRT, Windows 8 |

Category: Windows 8

The Microsoft Surface 2

Designated Drivers

On to the next thing

The show is in previews

The truth hurts

Rapid Evolution

Check out the other XPRTs: