"The whole line is faster and more affordable," said Laura Metz, product manager for desktops at Apple. "The Core 2 Duo processor is up to 2.33 GHz [and offers] up to 50 percent faster performance than what was previously available with the Core Duo processor in the earlier iMacs. We want to put more and more performance in a desktop computer."
According to Metz, the new processor -- which is not only faster in raw processing power but uses a different architecture and 4MB of Level 2 cache for another speed boost -- turns in real-world performance that is between 30 percent and 50 percent faster than the previous generation of iMacs. "Whether it's from the moment you turn on the computer to searching the Web or doing more intensive tasks on things like Final Cut Pro, it's our nature to want things to be faster," she said.
Indeed, the new iMac feels subjectively faster in terms of surfing the Web with Safari, editing photos in iPhoto or working with other universal applications that have been updated to run natively on Intel-based Macs. Startup times from the familiar Mac chime until the desktop appeared averaged about 20 seconds; the iMac also runs a different version of Mac OS X 10.4.7 -- in this case, build No. 8K1123. Running Xbench, the iMac 24 clocked in with a speed rating of 135.17.
By contrast, the current 17-in. MacBook Pro -- with 2GB RAM, a 2.16GHz Core Duo processor and a stock 120GB 5,400-rpm hard drive -- clocked in with a startup time of 35 seconds and an overall Xbench score of 90.36. The major differences, not surprisingly, were in the CPU test, graphics tests and hard drive speed. The Core 2 Duo processor in the iMac, for instance, zipped to an Xbench score of 118.26, while the laptop clocked in with a rating of 74.92. And I thought my MacBook Pro was fast!
In addition to the new Intel processor, this particular iMac comes with the more expensive graphics card offered by Apple, the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT, with 256MB of video RAM. While the upgrade costs an extra $125, that extra bit of money not only doubles the amount of video RAM, but it also give buyers "the fastest we've offered in an iMac," according to Metz. "It's a very significant bump." Given the size of the screen and the fact that upgrading video RAM down the road is well-nigh impossible, it's an expense I'd definitely make if I were buying.