When reveal the Core 2 Duo C.P.U. in July , Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that the next - generation Core Duo chip would deliver a 20 percent increase in laptop carrying into action . Apple ’s newly unveiled iMacs — which use the fluid reading of the Core 2 Duo vaunt by Otellini — don’t quite approach that public presentation gain . But they do handily beat out the former iMac Core Duo model , posting a 10 percentage improvement in Macworld Lab ’s Speedmark test .
Apple updated its iMac line earlier this week , replacing the dual - core chips with unexampled Intel Core 2 twosome central processor . Four models now make upthe iMac line : a 1.83GHz 17 - inch iMac , a 2nd 17 - inch iMac with a 2GHz chip , a 2.16GHz 20 - in modelling , and a 2.16GHz configuration with a 24 - inch silver screen .
To date , Macworldhas get two of these all - in - one systems : the 17 - column inch 2GHz example and the 2.16GHz 20 - column inch offering . We ’re expecting the new 24 - in and 1.83GHz 17 - inch model next week . Until then , we have the test solvent for the two middle example , which are impressive .
With very like processor clock speeds as well as identical graphics , RAM , and bus speeds specifications as the Core Duo iMacs released back in January , you may not call much of a performance remainder — you’d be untimely . The improvements the Core 2 duet cow chip brings to the new iMacs include 4MBs of shared L2 cache — twice that of its predecessors . The fresh chip also delivers improvements in efficiency and execution when accomplish instructions . A straightaway scan of the test results point out just how authoritative these change are to overall system performance .
Core 2 Duo iMac Benchmarks
Best results inbold . Reference organisation initalics .
Speedmark 4.5 scores are relative to those of a 1.25GHz Mac miniskirt , which is assigned a grade of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in moment : seconds . All system were running Mac OS X 10.4.7 with 1 GB of RAM , with central processing unit performance set to Highest in the Energy Saver preference pane when applicable . The Photoshop Suite test is a exercise set of 14 scripted tasks using a 50 MB file . Photoshop ’s retentiveness was prepare to 70 percent and account was jell to Minimum . We recorded how long it took to show a setting in Cinema 4D XL . We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV file using the DVD : Fastest Encode 120 minutes – 4:3 setting . In iMovie , we applied the Aged video effect to a 1 - minute movie . We convert 45 minute of AAC audio single file to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality setting . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch middling - physique - per - second grievance ; we test at a declaration of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum background with both audio recording and graphics enable . We created a Zip archive in the Finder from a 1 GB folder.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
compare the results of the new 2GHz 17 - column inch iMac to the honest-to-goodness 20 - inch 2GHz model , the iMac with Core 2 Duo processor earned a Speedmark account of 232 . That ’s a 10 percent improvement on the 210 score turned in by the older system . Likewise , most of the individual program test tend on the newfangled iMac showed gains of 10 to 20 percent over the Core Duo iMac . The 2.16GHz iMac best its fellow Core 2 Duo background , the 17 - inch , 2GHz model , in all but the iTunes MP3 encode trial , where both Modern system grow in the same musical score .
More meaning , the 2.16GHz system of rules narrow down the execution gap between iMac and Mac Pro Cartesian product telephone circuit . With twice the number of mainframe cores , all hightail it faster than the iMac , the Mac Pro had a definite advantage in this match up . But because not all applications and labor take full vantage of the Mac multiprocessing capability , most event showed the Mac Pro between 20 and 30 per centum faster than the 2.16GHz iMac . I ask that psychometric test issue of the raw 24 - column inch model — with its faster graphics and the optional 2.33GHz central processor upgrade — could close this performance gap even further .
Stay tuned for more results as we meet our new iMacs as well asMacworld ’s full review of these fresh system .
[ James Galbraith is theater director of Macworld Lab . ]
