Macworld Lab's results for these new systems are in. To see the differences in performance, the Macworld Lab turned once again to its all-around system performance benchmarking suite, .

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro now ships either a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge) processor, 4GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, and a 500GB hard drive for $1199, or with a 2.9GHz dual-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, and a 750GB hard drive for $1499. Their predecessors shipped with dual core Sandy Bridge processors, Intel HD Graphics 3000, and 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM; a 2.4GHz Core i5 with 4GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive were in the low-end model, and a 2.8GHz Core i7, 4GB RAM and a 750GB hard drive were in the high-end model.

Comparing the new low-end 13-inch MacBook Pro to its predecessor, we found the new system to be 9 percent faster overall, while the new high-end 13-inch MacBook Pro is 15 percent faster overall than its predecessor. The greatest improvement is in graphics performance, with the new high- and low-end 13-inch MacBook Pros (with the Intel HD Graphics 4000) displaying 42 percent and 52 percent more frames per second, respectively, in Cinebench's OpenGL test, over the older laptops with the Intel HD Graphics 3000. Both new laptops have a 33 percent higher frame rate in Portal 2.

Both new 13-inch models are 10.5 percent faster than the earlier models in our Handbrake tests.