iMac 2011 Benchmarks Cause Speed Envy
Benchmarks for the 2011 iMac update are starting to appear and they’re very impressive. The chart below shows Geekbench scores for the entire 2011 iMac lineup, and for reference points they are compared against 2010 iMacs and 2009 iMacs. The improvements from last years to this years model are not quite as dramatic as the huge jump from Core 2 Duo to Core i7 architecture, but they still represent a 20%+ improvement in speed.
(FYI the contrast on the benchmark chart was altered from the source to reduce file size)
These results were compiled by PrimateLabs, the developers of Geekbench. You can run the test suite yourself on any Mac (or even a PC or iPhone), but be forewarned, unless you have a Core i-series equipped Mac, speed envy may inspire spontaneous upgrade decisions and a visit to the Apple Store.
On a related note, these benchmarks are exactly why I hope the rumor of Apple moving to ARM processors for the Mac is false.
I am hugely amused by the posters who seek/demand comparisons w/ PCs. Very defensive folks…they clearly do not appreciate the dramatic differences across the entire range of using a computer…otherwise they would be on a MAC for all the obvious reasons. And perhaps they are right…why would one compare Van Gogh w/ a mechanical engineer?
In case you didn’t notice, they are comparing mac models…if we cared to look at pc benchmarks, we would go to a pc site.
I replace my original Mac Pro 2.66 quad with the top of line i7 27″ imac and so far I’m thrilled! It’s definitely faster than my Mac Pro…although to be fair that Mac Pro was over 4 years old. Judging by the benchmarks the i7 iMac is faster than ALL quad-core Mac Pro’s, which is peace of mind for me. So far I LOVE my new iMac and it appears to be plenty powerful to keep me happy. Now if I could buy a RAID array with a thunderbolt port I’d be one happy camper!
[…] you’re thinking it’s silly to replace a Mac Pro with an iMac as a powerhouse desktop, check out the new iMac benchmarks and you might change your […]
Maybe it should be nice (fair) to compare the benchmarks of the Mac with the ones of some windows machines…
The new Macbook Pro are also right up there in the 10000 and 11000 range