Lab Report: More iPad 2 benchmark results

22.03.2011
In our on the iPad 2 that tested battery life and GarageBand performance, we asked for suggestions on tests you'd like us to run with new tablets. And you responded--as a result we have iPad 2 results in tests involving photo imports, iMovie, and GLBenchmark. We also have an update on our battery testing.

To give a better sense of how the iPad 2's processor stacks up, we compared the iPad 2 to the original iPad whenever possible. In some tests, we also included the iPhone 4.

Some readers asked about importing raw photos into the iPad 2's Photo application. The iPad 2, which took 45 seconds to import 20 raw images from an SD card, was much faster than the original iPad, which took 63 seconds (40 percent longer). I found similar performance differences when importing 20 JPEG files, with the iPad 2 taking 20 seconds, and the original iPad taking 29 seconds (45 percent longer).

Some readers were also confused as to what exactly happens when you import a raw photo to an iPad 2. As explained in our , the raw file is copied to the iPad, but not opened. The iPad uses a JPEG thumbnail when you view the photo, so testing how long it takes to open an image file wouldn't illustrate any performance gains. (I've yet to figure out whether or not the iPad creates this JPEG preview image).