Apple ’s iMac for Education ca n’t quite match the performance of the more full - featured Core Duo - establish iMacs . But the 1.83GHz machine easily tops the PowerPC - based eMac in Macworld Lab testing . The desktop designed for classrooms also earns a pass mark by out - execute the MacBook that sports the same processor and unified graphics exercise set - up .
Apple closed the Word of God on PowerPC - base offerings for educators earlier this month when it supervene upon the 1.42GHz eMac G4 with a 17 - inch 1.83GHz iMac Core Duo . While similar to the quietus of the iMac personal line of credit in many way , this particular model had a number of fundamental conflict — notably , a smaller hard drive , integrated computer graphic , and no built - in Bluetooth wireless networking capabilities . Of of course , the iMac for Education also sported a importantly lower price tag—$899 , compare to $ 1,299 for the full - feature 17 - inch iMac .
Apple is n’t pee this system usable to individual buyers , only educational institutions . ( Indeed , it took some doing on our part just to brawl a whole for examination and critical review . ) But we thought it would be illustrative to see how the iMac for Education compares to other Intel - establish iMacs as well as the desktop auto it ’s replace in Apple ’s intersection line for schools .
On that first front , the iMac for Education lags behind its Core Duo - based counterpart , but that ’s to be expected due to some of the under - the - lens hood dispute between the otherwise identical machine . The education iMac has a smaller hard movement ( 80 GB versus 160 GB ) and a compact disc - sunburn combo drive ( alternatively of a videodisc - burn SuperDrive ) . It also use the same integrated , main - memory - sharing Intel graphics you ’ll find in MacBooks and Intel - establish Mac minis ; the veritable iMac has an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card with 128 megabyte of consecrated memory .
Our testing in system that use integrated graphics has shown how that can dissemble system execution , particularly in artwork - intensive program program such as 3 - five hundred game . Results for the iMac for Education were no exception , though we also found its smaller hard drive to be a bit pokier , with result in our booklet duplicate and archiving test slow than the retail iMac ’s results .
iMac for Education Benchmarks
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Speedmark 4.5 scores are relative to those of a 1.25GHz Mac mini , which is specify a scotch of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Finder scores are in minutes : seconds . All system were running Mac OS X 10.4.7 ( except for the retail 1.83GHz iMac which was tested with Mac OS X 10.4.4 ) with 1 GB of RAM , with central processor performance congeal to Highest in the Energy Saver taste pane when applicable . The Photoshop Suite trial is a set of 14 written tasks using a 50 MB file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 percent and History was put to Minimum . We recorded how long it took to interpret a scene in Cinema 4D XL . In iMovie , we applied the Aged video core to a 1 - instant flick . We converted 45 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality setting . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch median - frame - per - second gear musical score ; we try at a resoluteness of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum setting with both audio and graphics enable . We make a Zip archive in the Finder from a 1 GB pamphlet . To compare Speedmark 4.5 scores for various Mac systems , visit our Apple Hardware Guide.—Macworld Lab examination by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
Integrated graphics and a smaller intemperate drive may have bestow to the orotund performance gap we bump in the iPhoto tryout in which we spell 100 photo . We ’ve image before that this tryout is very finicky about hard drives . ( As a side note , while we believe the effect above are dependable to cite , though our full - featured 17 - column inch iMac Core Duo stay on on the Disabled List , making it unavailable for retesting with Mac OS X 10.4.7 . Once we have a luck to re - run these tests with the latest rendering of OS X , results could shift one way or another by a few second or point . )
To compare the educational iMac to the eMac , we load up the latter system with 1 GB of RAM and OS X 10.4.7 ; we also update the installed applications . Aside from non- Universal Binary apps that must run under the Rosetta emulation technology , students will have much to look forwards to in terms of the iMac ’s performance relative to the eMac ’s . In processor - intensive apps , like Cinema4D XL , the educational iMac finished generate a scene in less than one - third the time it took the eMac . In our iMovie and iTunes tryout , the iMac end up in a petty more than half the time it film the eMac while Unreal Tournament scores were nigh monovular between the two system . ( Then again , it ’s not as if play is a big precedency at schools these twenty-four hours . )
We were also rum as to how this Modern iMac would liken to the MacBook , which has a 1.83GHz processor ( same as the iMac ) and integrated graphics ( ditto mark ) . In this scenario , the iMac ’s hard drive was debauched than the MacBook ’s , allowing it to post upright results in drive - specific tests . The iMac also out - perform the MacBook on CPU - intensive apps like Cinema 4D , Photoshop , and iTunes encoding .
Check back forMacworld ’s complete review coming presently .
