Apple ’s recent round of iMac updates specify the all - in - one desktop job to three configuration — two 20 - inch manakin offering 2GHz and 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo chips , respectively , and a 24 - inch desktop with a 2.4GHz Core 2 twosome C.P.U. . Those are the three models Apple list on itsiMac tech specs Thomas Nelson Page , and those are the three manakin we reviewed .
But those are n’t the only three configurations available . Apple declare oneself a host of work up - to - order pick at its online store , where you could pull off the amount of RAM , the hard - drive capacitance , and ( if you opt for the 24 - inch model ) even the central processor clock speed to your liking . Apple also offers a usage configuration — a 24 - inch iMac powered by a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme processor . This model feature a 500 GB arduous drive and 2 GB of Aries to go with the 8x SuperDrive and ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics that also come with the standard 24 - in oblation . The price for this extra clock f number , retention , and computer storage : $ 2,299 , or $ 500 more than the 24 - inch 2.4GHz iMac Core 2 Duo .
While it ’s not our policy to shiner - pace build - to - fiat configuration , we ’re still as concerned as you are to find out what that extra $ 500 buys you in terms of performance . So we put the 2.8GHz iMac through our battery of tests and found it tallied a 10 - percent improvement over the Speedmark score of the 2.4GHz model .
Though Intel ’s Core 2 Extreme lineup includes the company ’s first four - substance chips for desktops , the build - to - order iMac uses the mobile translation of the Core 2 Extreme . And that nomadic interpretation is pretty much identical to the Core 2 Duo chips found in the stock iMacs — the master remainder is the faster clock stop number .
That faster chip proved especially helpful in central processor - intensive tests , like the ones involving Cinema 4D and Compressor 3 . In those two tryout , the 2.8GHz iMac was 15 - pct and 14 - percentage quicker than the high - end 2.4GHz good example , respectively . The 2.8GHz iMac score debauched resultant role in our trial as well , though not by as swelled a margin .
2.8GHZ Aluminum iMac Benchmarks
Best results inbold . point of reference organization initalics .
Speedmark 4.5 musical score are relative to those of a 1.25GHz Mac mini , which is assign a score of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in bit : seconds . All systems were running Mac OS X 10.4.10 with 2 GB of RAM , with processor performance localize to Highest in the Energy Saver druthers pane when applicable . The Photoshop Suite trial run is a set of 14 scripted tasks using a 50 M single file . Photoshop ’s memory was define to 70 percent and story was lay out to Minimum . We immortalize how long it conduct to render a scene in Cinema 4D XL . We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV file using the videodisc : Fastest Encode 120 second – 4:3 scope . In iMovie , we exported a 6minute:41second pic as a 480 - by-272 resolution , H.264 file for fluid devices . We converted 45 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality place setting . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch modal - frames - per - second account ; we screen at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum circumstance with both audio and art enabled . We make a Zip archive in the Finder from a 1 GB leaflet . To compare Speedmark 4.5 scores for various Mac organization , visit our Apple Hardware Guide .—MACWORLD LAB TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH , JERRY , JUNG , AND BRIAN CHEN
Not amazingly , the only test to not show any improvement involved our Unreal Tournament frames - per - second test . 3 - D games such as Unreal Tournament trust much more on their graphics processor than on their central processing unit — as mentioned above , both the 2.4GHz and 2.8GHz organization use the same ATI computer graphic processor with 256 MB of GDDR3 remembering . As a result , both turn relatively similar mark , with the 2.4GHz good example squeezing out just a tad more frames per second than its 2.8GHz counterpart .
The old contemporaries of iMacs introduced in September 2006 also admit a build - to - order CPU upgrade — from a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo chip to a 2.33GHz processor . To see the performance conflict between these two custom model , we retested the 2.33GHz with 2GBs of RAM and OS X 10.4.10 . The unexampled 2.8GHz model was 14 - percent faster than the older 2.33GHz mannikin in Speedmark , with the biggest gains coming in the Cinema 4D and Compressor 3 test . Again , there was not much divergence in our unsubstantial Tournament test .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld Lab music director . ]
