Intel Mac Performance Behind Hype

Barry Norton writes "Steve Jobs, at the MacWorld tradeshow, boasted: 'the new iMac [with] Intel processor is two to three times faster than the iMac G5.' MacWorld (the publication) has been putting the iMacs through their paces. The results are a good deal less impressive than Steve's boast, showing an average performance increase of 10 to 25 per cent while performing a series of everyday tasks with software specially designed for the new systems." Ars Technica had another perspective on the new systems earlier this week.

Comments

Re:Yet More Anti-Apple FUD

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

and the FUD goes on.

in context: "Twin Power
The Intel Core Duo and a whole new architecture give iMac up to twice the horsepower it had previously, accelerating your digital life 1."

http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/

of course they don't want pros buying iMacs!

[SuperBanana]

It's not often that on a new product rollout something is said that directly translates into "Hey, don't go out and buy this right now."

Sure it is. Apple doesn't want "pros" to go out and buy 20" iMacs, hook up a second 20" display for dual-head (YES, it does this) and be happy campers, since the iMac runs photoshop et. al. at the same approximate speed as dual G5 powermacs...not to mention, enjoy the self-service program for iMacs so they can get back to work faster. Then they wouldn't run out and place orders on "Mac Pros" or whatever Apple calls the G5 replacement, and sales of the current G5 dualies would be hurt more than they already are. Who wants a 2Ghz Dual G5 for $2k, when you can have the same speed AND a 20" display, for $1700? $300 comes within $50-100 of buying you an on-sale Dell 20" second display, or extra ram, or a big fat fast firewire drive, or or...

Hence the "not really useable yet for pros" comments from Steve. When universal binaries come out(prediction: Apple has told Adobe + others not to do so until the "pro" intel macs come out), intel-iMac pro users will be laughing, while other "pros" are waiting 2-3 months for their ordered machines to show up. The G5 replacement will be faster than a current iMac, but it'll also be noisier, 2x-3x the price, and with no huge display built-in...