Quick Mac conundrum : What expect like an iMac G5 , sounds like an iMac G5 when it starts up , and feel quicker than a Power Mac G5 ?
Answer : The new Intel - based iMac that arrived late from Apple so I could get some hands - on prison term with the company ’s first Mactel car — at least until those new ( and newly rename ) MacBook Pro laptops arrive afterwards this calendar month .
For now , those interested in an Intel experience with an Apple flair will have to make do with the fresh iMac , unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs to much tucket last calendar month . Two model are usable : the 17 - inch version , which sell for $ 1,299 and has the Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz chip inside , and the larger , 20 - column inch version , which goes for $ 1,699 and has a more or less faster 2GHz Core Duo processor . Both get with 512 MB of PC2 - 5300 ( 667 Mc ) DDR2 RAM and either a 160 GB or 250 GB hard cause . And both ship with Apple ’s two - button mouse , in and of itself a nice addition .
So how does the new iMac fare in even use ? This latest generation of Apple ’s all - in - one run circles around its herald — most of the time .
Just how tight is the new iMac ? We ’re babble about a start - up time from Mac chime to desktop of just 23 seconds . That ’s faster than my own Power Mac G5 with dual 2.7 - gigacycle processors . Apple apps like Safari and iPhoto get up before their icons have bounced twice in the dock . In fact , this iMac is quicker on those true informal benchmark than any Mac I ’ve ever played with — I mean , used .
iMac Core Duo
Now , I realise start - up times do not a user experience make . But they are an index number of the potential for Apple as it moves its hardware line over to Intel processors during the year out front . And as is often the case with such passage , there are a few speed excrescence . In this case , that would be all of the syllabus that have yet to be rewritten as “ universal ” apps that can run on the Intel ironware as well as on Apple ’s older G3 , G4 and G5 mainframe .
To administer with the modulation , Apple created Rosetta , the nifty translation package now built into Mac OS X. Plain and bare , Rosetta allows programs coded for PowerPC C.P.U. to run on the new iMacs seamlessly , albeit a bite more sluggishly . It is , after all , emulation software program , and it does exact a speeding penalty .
There ’ll be more about that in Part 2 of my iMac review — after I ’ve had a opportunity to work with programme not yet recoded as universal apps .
For now , Apple official are truly choose to accentuate the positive when it comes to the new iMac . In a recent interview , Tom Boger , elderly director for desktop mathematical product marketing at Apple talked up the iMac ’s Core Duo 2GHz CPU . In essence , the dual - Congress of Racial Equality chip pay the iMac two processors on the same bit of Si , which makes for rapid computing when used with programs design to take reward of all that processing power — like Mac OS X and many of Apple ’s own programme .
The biggest change in the new iMac “ first and foremost is the processor , ” Boger state . “ I think the cay there with the Intel Core Duo , what makes it unparalleled in the marketplace from a processor standpoint [ is that ] it&38217;s dedicate us this three-fold - core performance . But unlike other dual - core processors , it does so with low major power consumption . ”
Low office wasting disease equals humiliated heat , which means the iMac ’s cool off fans do n’t need to run as often , resulting in a quiet simple machine , he said .
“ The other benefit is the functioning , ” Boger enounce .
He pointed to Apple tests that showed the iMac to be two to three times faster than earlier models in integer and floating processor benchmarks : “ We tested it two path . We ran industry - received benchmarks . SPEC has two type of tests — the integer [ test ] was three time faster , and floating point was doubly as fast . That shows the potential of what the computer architecture can do . ”
Other iMac owners have report online that while the new hardware is noticeably quicker when using Apple ’s universal apps , it ’s not two or three time faster than its predecessor . Asked about that disparity , Boger say : “ This was a unconscious process , not a point in time . We got our hands on about six different cosmopolitan apps in some cases the public has n’t . These apps present all sort of things . Virtually every day now masses are announcing their plan for universal apps . I ’m very confident [ user are ] going to set off see carrying out that ’s impressive . ”
He mention that a still - unreleased version of Doom 3 was 2.3 time faster in terms of frames per second than it was on early iMacs , and tell that photo - editing features in iPhoto , such as convert a pic from color to black and white , is double has fast . Safari , Boger said , loads pages 1.6 times quicker than on early computer hardware , while Apple ’s Pages program is 1.9 sentence as tight .
The speed increase are the upshot of more than just the addition of the Core Duo processor . Apple has also grouse up the video RAM with the ATI X1600 video card and libertine tup . And as has been the case for years , Mac OS X itself is designed to take advantage of multiple central processor , Boger said .
“ We ’ve been ship two-fold - central processing unit Macs for quite some fourth dimension now , ” he say . “ So Mac OS X has been design from the land up to take advantage of dual processors . That was an reward right from the beginning . A key difference is that this edition of Mac OS X is native on Intel . I ’m talking about the entire operating system , every [ Apple ] program , every public utility company , they are all native now .
“ Developers are almost on a day-by-day basis making announcements on their universal apps . We ’re obviously just trying to work with them [ to release cosmopolitan program ] as quickly as potential , ” he state . “ It just take time for the [ developer ] community and engineers to become familiar with the new architecture . ”
Until that take place , Boger said , “ Rosetta , apparently , is utterly key technology . It ’s the software translation technology [ that ] ship with every iMac and allow our customers to transition [ to Intel- found Macs ] . It just runs like you ’d expect ; there ’s no drug user interface alteration . ”
One variety from the previous iMac is that Apple now recommends user who want to interchange their hard cause — or make other under - the - bonnet upgrades — get a qualified help supplier to do the piece of work . proprietor can still well get to the iMac ’s Aries the Ram slots , which are located behind a small door at the base of the machine .
mark to would - be iMac possessor : Spring for more Aries the Ram . Although the iMac comes with 512 Bachelor of Medicine install , adding another 512 mebibyte or even a 1 GB mental faculty , will make using Apple ’s Mactel machine even more gratifying .
So at first glance , is the young iMac all it should be ? I ’d say yes , although if you ’re heavily dependent on non - universal apps , you might require to expect until your favorite must - have program has been recoded . Of course , if you ’re like me , waiting will be the hardest part . And should you decide to plunk down your money now at the near Apple memory , well , you wo n’t be disappointed when you get your new iMac home .
