So, first we had the iPad 2 tear down, courtesy of ifixit and now we have the heavy hitter – Anandtech’s graphics benchmark test for Apple’s new Tab. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the results – The Cupertino Tab destroys the competition handedly. So where is this raw power coming from? Jobs and Company bragged about the iPad’s graphics prowess during its unveiling on March 2nd, stating that it had 9x the graphics horsepower of the first gen iPad but nothing was said in terms of where/how/why.
Enter AnandTech! It looks like the massive performance boost came from the PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics core used by Apple, as part of their custom SOC – i.e. A5 processor. Apple has been using custom PowerVR chips from Imagination Technologies for years and their massive graphics power, combined with the custom ARM Cortex A9 (Dual Core 900Mhz) processor make Apple’s SOC A5 the heavy weight champ in mobile computing – because seriously, these are becoming very powerful mobile computers.
Ok, so if the iPad 2 beats the crap out of the first gen ipad and its main competitor, the Motorola Xoom, why didn’t Apple exploit this little fact at their March 2nd unveiling? Seem only logical…..right? Well, maybe the wanted third party benchmarkers to do the bragging/dirty work for them? Jobs did plenty of finger pointing and dissing during the event – why over state your position, when someone else can unbiasedly praise your Tab! HP, bring the heat!
Source: Anandtech.com