The photos above come from a website where the writer explains that the left low beam lamp in each of the pictures is burning a new, standard 9006 bulb, while the right low beam has been fitted with a 9012.  He notes that the beam pattern definition is kept (cutoff).  He concludes that there's a LOT more light below the cutoff, making the 9012 well worth it in improved seeing and safety.  Put another way, the beam pattern does not  change but there is considerably more light within the pattern. 

Myself, I've tested the HIRs on the bench.  With no more equipment than an ancient GE light meter, a yardstick and a fresh battery, I hooked up stock Osram 9005 and 9006 bulbs and took a reading at 24" away.  Then, I repeated with the HIR bulbs.  With the battery at 12.8 volts, the relative light intensity measured on the meter went from 20 to 35 for the 9006/9012 comparison and from 30 to 65 for the 9005/9011 comparison.  Even allowing for the fact that I didn't know the freshness of the Osrams (so they might have been a little dimmer than the new ones -- though they seemed pretty bright), this is an astonishing increase in brightness for bulbs with the same wattage.

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