This latest custom configuration builds on the most powerful of the standard iMac configurations (the 3.1GHz quad-core i5 with a 27 ”display and 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive for EUR 1,899) replacing the processor and the HDD. Upgrading to the 3.4GHz i7 processor raises the price by 200 EUR. And the 256GB SSD solid hard drive option costs an additional € 500.
Sweeping an entire Mac Pro
The previous performance record was held by another custom configuration of a Mac Pro with a six-core Xeon processor, 8GB of RAM, and a price tag of around 3,766 EUR. Adding the 27-inch Apple monitor the price rises to approximately 4,807 EUR.
The previously analyzed custom configuration has been taken, a 27 ”iMac with a 3.4GHz Core i7 processor, with 1TB of hard disk and 4GB of RAM (about 2,050 EUR) and we have put the SSD of our iMac 21.5 ”2.7GHz Core i5. Something that seems easy, but opening the aluminum iMac and installing components is not something you should approach lightly. Once the SSD was installed, the iMac 27 ”3.4GHz Core i7 simply“ flew ”improving the previous results of the Speedmark 6.5 tests in 14 of the 17 individual tasks that make up that test.
The only tests where this powerful iMac failed against the Mac Pro was in processor-intensive tests, where applications that can take advantage of the extra cores find their benefit. Using Hyper-Threading capabilities, the Mac Pro was able to present itself as a 12-core system to applications such as Handbrake, Cinebench, and MathematicaMark (while the iMac peaked with 8 virtual cores). The Mac Pro is 13% faster in programs like Handbrake, 21% with the CineBench CPU tool, and 28% with the MathematicaMark measurement program.
The SSD disk also makes a difference
Comparing the results of the Core i7 3.4GHz with and without the SSD, we can see that the equipment with SSD is 18% faster in general. With the SSD, duplicating a 1GB file in the Finder is 35% faster; expand a ZIP file by 44%; open a Word document in Pages by 17.5%; and importing into iPhoto is up to twice as fast. The processor and graphics scores are understandably negligible.
When we compare the 27 ”iMac with 3.4GHz Core i7 with SSD to the 21.5” 2.7GHz Core i5 with SSD, the i7 is 16% faster overall. File copying and file decompression are identical. The file compression tests, Pages, and iMovie exports were in all cases a couple of seconds faster on the 3.4GHz iMac Core i7. The biggest differences between these two settings are in processor-intensive tasks like Handbrake, Cinebech CPU, and MathematicaMark, where the Core i7 with Hyper-Threading on the 27 ”iMac was between 30 and 40 percent. faster than the Core i5 without Hyper-Threading in the 21.5 ”model.
In this link you can see the complete results of the Speedmark 6.5 test, which includes the results of all current Mac models, as well as some of the previous models.
By James Galbraith.
