Exciting
news: We’re currently in the final stages of preparing for the WebXPRT 5 GA
release and expect to take it live very soon!
The WebXPRT 5 Preview period has been very successful, and we appreciate the interest and
engagement that we’ve seen from around the world. When we released the Preview
and encouraged testers to submit and publish results, we said we’d try to limit
any changes in the GA release to areas that would not affect test scores, such
as the UI and non-workload features. We’re pleased to report that we’ve
achieved that goal. WebXPRT 5 Preview testing results will be comparable with
GA build results, so there will be no need to retest with the GA if you’ve
already recorded Preview build scores.
If you haven’t yet used the WebXPRT 5 Preview, we encourage you to
check out this blog post about the workload lineup. As we implied above, the seven core
workloads in the Preview build will remain unchanged in the GA release. Additionally,
while we are including a placeholder section for future experimental workloads,
we’re not yet ready to include one in the GA release. We are actively working
on candidate workloads for that section, but some of the underlying web
technologies are not yet ready for widespread use. Taking the time to get these
experimental workloads right means that there are really cool and all-new
WebXPRT 5 capabilities that are still on the way!
Keep an eye on this space and WebXPRT.com for the GA announcement. This new chapter in the WebXPRT story
will be the best one yet!
More people
around the world are using WebXPRT 4 now than ever before. It’s exciting to see that growth, which also means that many people are visiting our site and
learning about the XPRTs for the first time. Because new visitors may not know
how the XPRT family of benchmarks differs from other benchmarking efforts, we occasionally
like to revisit the core values of our open development community here in the
blog—and show how those values translate into more free resources for you.
One of our
primary values is transparency in all our benchmark development and testing processes. We share
information about our progress with XPRT users throughout the development
process, and we invite people to contribute ideas and feedback along the way.
We also publish both the source code of our benchmarks and detailed information about how they work,
unlike benchmarks that use a “black box” model.
For WebXPRT 4
users who are interested in knowing more about the nuts and bolts of the
benchmark, we offer several information-packed resources, including our focus
for today, the WebXPRT 4 results calculation and confidence interval white
paper. The white paper explains the WebXPRT 4 confidence interval, how it
differs from typical benchmark variability, and the formulas the benchmark uses
to calculate the individual workload scenario scores and overall score on the
end-of-test results screen. The paper also provides an overview of the
statistical methodology that WebXPRT uses to translate raw timings into scores.
In addition
to the white paper’s discussion of the results calculation process, we’ve also provided
a results calculation spreadsheet that shows the
raw data from a sample test run and reproduces the calculations WebXPRT uses to
generate both the workload scores and an overall score.
In potential
future versions of WebXPRT, it’s likely that we’ll continue to use the same—or
very similar—statistical methodologies and results calculation formulas that
we’ve documented in the results calculation white paper and spreadsheet. That
said, if you have suggestions for how we could improve those methods or
formulas—either in part or in whole—please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re interested in hearing your ideas!
The white paper is available on WebXPRT.com and on our XPRT white papers page. If you have any questions about the paper or spreadsheet, WebXPRT, or the XPRTs in general, please let us know.
We’re excited
about the ongoing upward trend in the number of completed WebXPRT 4 runs that we’re
seeing each month. OEM and tech press labs are responsible for a significant
amount of that growth, and many of them use WebXPRT’s automation features to
complete large blocks of hands-off testing at one time. We realize that many
new WebXPRT users may be unfamiliar with the benchmark’s automation tools, so
we decided to provide a quick guide to WebXPRT automation in today’s blog.
Whether you’re testing one or 1,000 devices, the instructions below can help
save you some time.
WebXPRT 4
allows users to run scripts in an automated fashion and control test execution
by appending parameters and values to the WebXPRT URL. Three parameters are
available:
test type
test scenarios
results
Below, you’ll
find a description of those parameters and instructions for how you can use
them to automate your test runs.
Test type
The WebXPRT automation framework accounts for two test types: (1) the six core workloads, and (2) any experimental workloads we might add in future builds. There are currently no experimental tests in WebXPRT 4, so always set the test type variable to 1.
Core tests: 1
Test scenario
The test
scenario parameter lets you specify which subtest workloads to run by using the
following codes:
Photo enhancement: 1
Organize album using AI: 2
Stock option pricing: 4
Encrypt notes and OCR scan using WASM: 8
Sales graphs: 16
Online homework: 32
To run a
single subtest workload, use its code. To run multiple workloads, use the sum
of their codes. For example, to run Stock options pricing (4) and Encrypt notes
and OCR scan (8), use the sum of 12. To run all core tests, use 63, the sum of
all the individual test codes (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 = 63).
Results format
The results
format parameter lets you select the format of the results:
We hope
WebXPRT 4’s automation features will make testing easier for you. If you have
any questions about WebXPRT or the automation process, please feel free to ask!
For many students, the
first day of school is just around the corner, and it’s now time to shop for
new tech devices that can help set them up for success in the coming year. The
tech marketplace can be confusing, however, with so many brands, options, and
competing claims to sort through.
Fortunately, the XPRTs
are here to help!
Whether you’re
shopping for a new phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop, the XPRTs can
provide industry-trusted performance scores that can give you confidence that
you’re making a smart purchasing decision.
The WebXPRT 4 results viewer is a good place to start looking for device
scores. The viewer displays WebXPRT 4 scores from over 700 devices—including
many of the latest releases—and we’re adding new scores all the time. To learn
more about the viewer’s capabilities and how you can use it to compare devices,
check out this blog post.
Another resource we
offer is the XPRT results browser. The browser is the most efficient way to access the XPRT
results database, which currently holds more than 3,700 test results from over
150 sources, including major tech review publications around the world, manufacturers,
and independent testers. It offers a wealth of current and historical
performance data across all the XPRT benchmarks and hundreds of devices. You
can read more about how to use the results browser here.
Also, if you’re
considering a popular device, there’s a good chance that a recent tech review
includes an XPRT score for that device. There are two quick ways to find these
reviews: You can either (1) search for “XPRT” on your preferred tech
review site or (2) use a search engine and input the device name and XPRT name,
such as “Dell XPS” and “WebXPRT.”
Here are a few recent
tech reviews that use one of the XPRTs to evaluate a popular device:
Lastly, here at
Principled Technologies, we frequently publish reports that evaluate the
performance of hot new consumer devices, and many of those reports include
WebXPRT scores. For example, check out our extensive
testing of HP ZBook G10 mobile workstations or our detailed comparison of Lenovo ThinkPad,
ThinkBook, and ThinkCentre devices to their Apple Mac counterparts.
The XPRTs can help anyone stuck in the back-to-school shopping blues make better-informed and more confident tech purchases. As this new school year begins, we hope you’ll find the data you need on our site or in an XPRT-related tech review. If you have any questions about the XPRTs, XPRT scores, or the results database please feel free to ask!
In a recent post, we
discussed some key features that the WebXPRT 4 results viewer
tool has to offer. In today’s post, we’ll cover the straightforward process of
submitting your WebXPRT 4 test results for possible publication in the viewer.
Unlike sites that publish all
submissions, we publish only results that meet our evaluation criteria. Those
results can come from OEM labs, third-party labs, reliable tech media sources,
or independent user submissions. What’s important to us is that the scores must
be consistent with general expectations, and for sources outside of our labs
and data centers, they must include enough detailed system information that we
can determine whether the score makes sense. That being said, if your scores
are a little bit different from what you see in our database, please don’t
hesitate to send them to us for consideration. It costs you nothing.
The actual result submission process
is quick and easy. At the end of the WebXPRT test run, click the Submit your
results button below the overall score, complete the short submission form, and
click Submit again. Please be as specific as possible when filling in the
system information fields. Detailed device information helps us assess whether
individual scores represent valid test runs.
Figure 1 below shows how the form would look if I submitted a score at the end of a recent WebXPRT 4 run on one of the test systems here in our lab.
Figure 1: A screenshot of the WebXPRT 4 end-of-test results submission screen.
After you
submit your score, we’ll contact you to confirm
how we should display the source of the result in our database. You can choose one
of the following:
Your first and last name
“Independent tester” (for users who wish to remain
anonymous)
Your company’s name, if you have permission to submit
the result in their name. If you want to use a company name, please
provide a valid company email address that corresponds with the company
name.
As always, we will not publish
any additional information about you or your company without your permission.
We look forward to seeing your scores! If you have questions about WebXPRT 4 testing or results submission, please let us know!
In
our recent blog post
about the XPRT results database, we promised to discuss the WebXPRT 4 results viewer in more detail. We developed the results
viewer to serve as a feature-rich interactive tool that visitors to WebXPRT.com
can use to browse the test results that we’ve published on our site, dig into
the details of each result, and compare scores from multiple devices. The viewer
currently has almost 700 test results, and we add new PT-curated entries each week.
Figure 1 shows the tool’s default
display. Each vertical bar in the graph represents the overall score of a
single test result, with bars arranged left-to-right, from lowest to highest.
To view a single result in detail, hover over a bar to highlight it, and a
small popup window will display the basic details of the result. You can then
click to select the highlighted bar. The bar will turn dark blue, and the dark
blue banner at the bottom of the viewer will display additional details about
that result.
Figure 1: The WebXPRT 4 results viewer tool’s default display
In
the example in Figure 1, the banner shows the overall score (237), the score’s
percentile rank (66th) among the scores in the current display, the
name of the test device, and basic hardware configuration information. If the
source of the result is PT, you can click the Run info button in the bottom
right-hand corner of the display to see the run’s individual workload scores. If
the source is an external publisher, users can click the Source link to
navigate to the original site.
The viewer includes a drop-down menu that lets users quickly filter results by major device type categories, plus a tab with additional filtering options, such as browser type, processor vendor, and result source. Figure 2 shows the viewer after I used the device type drop-down filter to select only laptops.
Figure 2: Screenshot from the WebXPRT 4 results viewer showing results filtered by the device type drop-down menu.
Figure 3 shows the viewer as I use the filter tab to explore additional filter options, such as processor vendor.
Figure 3: Screenshot from the WebXPRT 4 results viewer showing the filter options available with the filter tab.
The viewer will also let you pin multiple specific runs, which is helpful for making side-by-side comparisons. Figure 4 shows the viewer after I pinned four runs and viewed them on the Pinned runs screen.
Figure 4: Screenshot from the WebXPRT 4 results viewer showing four pinned runs on the Pinned runs screen.
Figure 5 shows the viewer after I clicked the Compare runs button. The overall and individual workload scores of the pinned runs appear in a table.
Figure 5: Screenshot from the WebXPRT 4 results viewer showing four pinned runs on the Compare runs screen.
We
hope that you’ll enjoy using the results viewer to browse our WebXPRT 4 results
database and that it will become one of your go-to resources for device
comparison data.
Are there additional features you’d
like to see in the viewer, or other ways we can improve it? Please let us know, and send us
your latest test results!
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