While the standard - configuration models of Apple ’s iMac offer telling carrying out , if you choose a couple of physical body - to - ordination ( BTO ) options , you could have a 27 - inch iMac with a 3.4GHz Core i7 quadrangle - core processor and a 256 GB SSD — an iMac that ’s even faster than a Mac Pro .
This $ 2699 BTO iMac take the top - of - the - product line standard configuration iMac — a $ 1999 27 - inch 3.1GHz Core i5 quad - core model with a 1 TB 7200 - rpm hard drive — and substitute the mainframe and toilsome drive . The upgrade to a 3.4GHz Core i7 tot up $ 200 to the terms . And the 256 GB SSD is an excess $ 500 .
27-inch 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with SSD (Mid 2011): Speedmark 6.5 scores
foresightful cake are better . low bars in italics present reference systems . Macworld science laboratory testing by James Galbraith , William Wang , and Mauricio Grijalva .
The 27 - column inch 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with SSD is the fastest Mac we ’ve tested . The former Speedmark 6.5 phonograph recording holder was a build up - to - ordination Mac Pro with a 3.33GHz Xeon Westmere six - core processor , 8 GB of RAM , and a price of $ 4074 . supply a 27 - in Apple LED Cinema Display and the terms jumps to $ 5073 .
We took our antecedently testedBTO 27 - in 3.4GHz Core i7 iMacwith a 1 TB tough movement and 4 GB of RAM ( $ 2199 ) and start in the SSD from our BTO 21.5 - in 2.7GHz Core i5 iMac . ( I say that like its easy , but as I ’ve pointed out in a previous article , open up an aluminum iMac and establish component is not something you want to enter into lightly . ) Once the SSD was installed , the 27 - inch 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with SSD was simply on flaming — figuratively — outdo the previous Speedmark 6.5 carrying out phonograph recording holder in 14 of the 17 individual chore that make up our trial run suite .
Longer bars are better. Blue bars in italics represent reference systems. Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith, William Wang, and Mauricio Grijalva.
The only test where the ultimate iMac failed to outdo the Mac Pro were with processor - intensive undertaking , where coating that can take reward of the supernumerary cores find oneself in the Mac Pro welfare . UsingHyper - Threading , the Mac Pro was able to introduce itself as a 12 - core system to applications like Handbrake , Cinebench , and MathematicaMark — the iMac maxed out with eight practical cores . The Mac Pro is 13 percent quicker in Handbrake , 21 per centum faster in CineBench CPU , and 28 percentage quicker in MathematicaMark .
look at the results of the 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with and without an SSD , we see that the SSD - equipped organization is 18 pct quicker overall . With the SSD , duplicating a 1 GB file in the Finder is 35 percentage quicker ; uncompressing a zipped brochure is 44 percent quicker ; opening a Word papers in Pages is 17.5 percent faster ; and an iPhoto Indian file import is more than double as tight . Differences in CPU and art scores were clearly insignificant .
When comparing the 27 - inch 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with SSD to the BTO 21.5 - inch 2.7GHz Core i5 iMac with SSD , the 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac is 16 percent faster overall . file away duplication and uncompressing zipped archive results are identical . Our data file compression , Pages , and iMovie export tests are all a span of seconds faster on the 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac . The great conflict between these two systems are in mainframe - intensive tests such as Handbrake , Cinebench CPU , and MathematicaMark , where the Core i7 with Hyper - Threading in the 27 - in iMac is 30 , 37.5 , and 41.5 percent faster , severally , than the Core i5 without Hyper Threading in the 21.5 - inch fashion model .
Speedmark 6.5 individual application test results:
27-inch iMac 3.4GHz Core i7 SSD (BTO, Mid 2011)
Results in the above chart are in secondment ; lower is unspoiled . source theoretical account initalics . Best resultant role inbold .
Speedmark 6.5 individual application test results: 27-inch iMac 3.4GHz Core i7 SSD (BTO, Mid 2011)
Call of Duty 4 resultant are based on framerate ; higher result are better . All other test results in the above chart are in seconds ; lower resultant role are better . References sit initalics . good result inbold .
Cinebench R11.5 braphics results are a grade ; in high spirits results are better . All other test results in the above chart are in seconds ; low resultant role are better . Reference models initalics . good result inbold .
MathematicaMark 7 results are scores ; higher results are beneficial . All other test results in the above chart are in second ; miserable issue are better . source poser initalics . Best result inbold .
How we tested . Speedmark 6.5 scores are relative to those of a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini ( Mid 2010 ) with 2 GB of RAM , which is attribute a grievance of 100 . We duplicated a 1 GB data file , created a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 1 GB data file and then unzipped it . We converted 135 moment of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality setting . In iMovie ’ 09 , we spell a television camera archive and export it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting . We ran a Timedemo at 1024 - by-768 with 4X anti - aliasing on in Call of Duty 4 . We imported 200 JPEGs into iPhoto ’ 09 . The Photoshop Suite tryout is a set of 23 scripted tasks using a 50 M file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum . For our multitasking test , we timed the Photoshop test again , but with the iTunes MP3 encryption and file cabinet contraction tests carry in the background . We used Handbrake to encode four chapter from a DVD antecedently ripped to the grueling driving to H.264 . We recorded how long it took to hand over a prospect with multiprocessors in Cinebench and scat that software program ’s OpenGL , frames per second test . We ran the Evaluate Notebook test in MathematicaMark 7 . We launch the WorldBench 6 multitasking trial on a Parallels 6 VM running Windows 7 Professional . We timed the meaning and processing time for 200 pic in Aperture.—Macworld Lab examination by James Galbraith , William Wang , and Mauricio Grijalva
you may see acomplete tilt of Speedmark 6.5 result , which include all of the current Mac model , as well as several older models .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld ’s lab theatre director . ]
