NovaBench is a benchmarking utility to help you evaluate your Mac's capabilities by running various types of tests. The program might come handy if you purchase a new computer and want to see how well it performs under heavy processing demands.
You can run all of the tests at the same time or execute the tasks individually. The waiting time for completing a full test is around 2 minutes, so you won't wait too long to find out how well your Mac behaves. Once the benchmarking is complete, you will have access to a complete report with scores. You can share your results on the homepage of the developer and get extra info about how well your Mac works. The utility also lets you export the offered report to your local directories.
Sadly, in my testing, NovaBench didn't work that well. To be more exact, it occasionally displayed errors on my screen while running the tests and it failed to complete CPU tests. The program displayed a 0 score for the CPU test. On the homepage of the developer, it says that there's an issue for some Macs that it's going to be fixed sometime in the future. So, it's not just my Mac.
Another thing that bothers me is that the utility is missing instructions or a built-in manual to teach you more about the tests and results. Beginner Mac users might not understand any of them.
Still, as I can see on various software-related websites, NovaBench is seen as a reliable solution for benchmarking Macs. So, I think you should give it a try on your computer to see how it works. There's a chance it will provide you with great results.
v1.1 [Nov 11, 2011]
- Fixed GPU test scoring to bring inline with Windows
- Score submission over SSL
- App is now using OS X sandboxing
- Hard drive size no longer contirbutes to score
- Fixed Lion SSD write speed bug
- Message displayed before opening internet speed test site
- Changed branding from Novatech Network to Novawave Inc.
- New NBR file icon
- Graceful graphics test failure
Analyze performance characteristics for storage devices and network shares.
