OS X 10.9.4 vs. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Compare my 7 years old iMac to a modern MacBook Air.


OS X 10.9.4: 

	Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 1.30GHz (2 Cores), Motherboard: Apple MacBook Air, Chipset: Apple SSD, Memory: 2 x 2048 MB DDR3-1600MHz, Disk: 121GB APPLE SSD SD0128F, Graphics: Intel HD 5000 1536MB, Monitor: Color LCD

	OS: OS X 10.9.4, Kernel: 13.3.0 (x86_64), Compiler: Apple LLVM 5.1 (clang-503.0.40) (based on LLVM 3.4svn) + GCC 4.2.1 + Xcode 5.1.1, File-System: Journaled HFS+, Screen Resolution: 1366x768

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev: 

	Processor: Intel Core i5-4250U @ 1.30GHz (4 Cores), Motherboard: Apple Mac-35C1E88140C3E6CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-ULT DRAM, Memory: 4096MB, Disk: 121GB APPLE SSD SD0128, Graphics: Intel Haswell-ULT IGP (1000MHz), Audio: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio, Network: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless

	OS: Ubuntu 14.04, Kernel: 3.13.0-30-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Xfce 4.10, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: intel 2.99.912, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.3.0-devel, Compiler: GCC 4.8.2, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1366x768

Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16: 

	Processor: Intel Core i5-4250U @ 2.60GHz (4 Cores), Motherboard: Apple Mac-35C1E88140C3E6CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-ULT DRAM, Memory: 4096MB, Disk: 121GB APPLE SSD SD0128, Graphics: Intel Haswell-ULT IGP (1000MHz), Audio: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio, Network: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless

	OS: Ubuntu 14.04, Kernel: 3.16.0-999-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Xfce 4.10, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: intel 2.99.912, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.3.0-devel, Compiler: GCC 4.8.2, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1366x768

iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4: 

	Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.80GHz (2 Cores), Motherboard: iMac, Chipset: Intel ICH8-M, Memory: 2 x 2048 MB DDR2-667MHz, Disk: 256GB SAMSUNG SSD 830, Graphics: ATI RadeonHD2600 256MB, Monitor: iMac

	OS: OS X 10.9.4, Kernel: 13.3.0 (x86_64), Display Server: X Server 1.14.6, OpenGL: 2.1, Compiler: Apple LLVM 5.1 (clang-503.0.40) (based on LLVM 3.4svn) + GCC 4.2.1 + Xcode 6.0, File-System: MS-DOS FAT32, Screen Resolution: 1920x1200


Compile Bench 0.6
Test: Compile
MB/s > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 183.03 |==================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 279.45 |===========================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 278.68 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 153.95 |===============


Compile Bench 0.6
Test: Initial Create
MB/s > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 71.05  |=========
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 126.81 |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 221.79 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 35.56  |====


Compile Bench 0.6
Test: Read Compiled Tree
MB/s > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 246.09 |==========
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 408.74 |================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 680.25 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 246.62 |==========


Nexuiz 2.5.2
Resolution: 1366 x 768 - HDR: Yes - Sound: Off
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 33.53 |================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 54.11 |=========================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 58.41 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 60.44 |============================


Xonotic 0.7
Resolution: 1366 x 768 - Effects Quality: Low
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 101.29 |====================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 100.89 |===================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 140.14 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 112.61 |======================


Xonotic 0.7
Resolution: 1366 x 768 - Effects Quality: High
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 45.00 |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 68.33 |======================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 85.44 |============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 16.57 |=====


Xonotic 0.7
Resolution: 1366 x 768 - Effects Quality: Ultra
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 37.60 |==============
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 61.37 |=======================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 74.58 |============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 10.80 |====


Xonotic 0.7
Resolution: 1366 x 768 - Effects Quality: Ultimate
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 34.09 |=================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 49.97 |=========================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 56.81 |============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 7.09  |===


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Composite
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 1040.00 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 512.28  |=============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 946.82  |========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 558.24  |==============


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Monte Carlo
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 389.61 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 205.55 |=============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 411.76 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 205.52 |=============


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Fast Fourier Transform
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 189.93 |===========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 123.72 |==================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 181.61 |==========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 90.25  |=============


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Sparse Matrix Multiply
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 1805.10 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 887.92  |=============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 1653.23 |========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 626.03  |=========


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Dense LU Matrix Factorization
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 1696.88 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 953.18  |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 1704.93 |==========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 736.15  |===========


SciMark 2.0
Computational Test: Jacobi Successive Over-Relaxation
Mflops > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 1118.48 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 391.02  |=========
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 782.42  |==================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 1133.27 |==========================


GraphicsMagick 1.3.19
Operation: Blur
Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 58 |=========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 38 |=================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 71 |===============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 56 |========================


GraphicsMagick 1.3.19
Operation: Sharpen
Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 38 |===============================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 18 |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 33 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 30 |========================


GraphicsMagick 1.3.19
Operation: Resizing
Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 81 |============================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 47 |================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 90 |===============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 58 |====================


GraphicsMagick 1.3.19
Operation: HWB Color Space
Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 106 |==========================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 64  |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 124 |==============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 72  |=================


GraphicsMagick 1.3.19
Operation: Local Adaptive Thresholding
Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 65 |==============================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 34 |================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 68 |===============================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 47 |=====================


Himeno Benchmark 3.0
Poisson Pressure Solver
MFLOPS > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 815.91  |==================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 616.03  |=============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 1197.82 |==========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 342.58  |=======


C-Ray 1.1
Total Time
Seconds < Lower Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 85.79  |==================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 130.62 |===========================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 73.53  |===============
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 119.80 |=========================


Primesieve 5.0
1e12 Prime Number Generation
Seconds < Lower Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 497.15 |======================
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 470.90 |=====================
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 265.94 |============
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 600.73 |===========================


OpenSSL 1.0.1g
RSA 4096-bit Performance
Signs Per Second > Higher Is Better
OS X 10.9.4 ............................... 39.73  |======
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS + Mesa 10.3-dev .......... 107.43 |===============
Ubuntu 14.04 + Mesa 10.3-dev + Linux 3.16 . 190.53 |===========================
iMac 24 mid 2007 2.8 GHz 4GB OS X 10.9.4 .. 34.80  |=====