iMac performance claims a fudge

Techworld ^ | 23 January 2006 | By John E. Dunn, Techworld

[Swordmaker]

Hmmmmm.

[Swordmaker]

Intel Based iMac not as fast as Jobs claims... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[HAL9000]

Software that is designed to be multi-threaded will see the 2x-3x improvement in performance. Software that runs on only one processor will get only a small improvement.

[coconutt2000]

The article is a load of bunk.

First off the author is mistaken about the name of the new iMac. It is not an "iMac G5". Secondly there is nothing in the article that is new. Everyone already knows that using Rosetta is going to cause a performance hit until native applications come out.

I remember the negative press when Apple switched to OS X. That was perhaps a far more challenging transition than the one faced by Apple's switch to Intel. Given Rosetta and Apple's developer tools, the transition to Intel should be quicker.

People who buy an Intel iMac and expect PowerPC applications to run twice as fast are probably the same people who vote Democrat and expect tax cuts.

[zarf]

My new G5 handles my new Solitaire 2006 card game and my Chessmaster 2000 just fine.

Hell, even my Asteroids is running fine in emulation mode.

Quit bitching!

[Terpfen]

To be fair, Jobs' claims came from a special, optimized benchmark. He was being truthful, but truthful about a meaningless benchmark. Performance for native Intel apps is about 20% better, which is still a great improvement.

Now I just need to actually buy a MacBook Pro... it's difficult being in college, with no job. Damn.

[coconutt2000]

Talking to me or the author of the article?

[Swordmaker]

...moving its loyal user base to a new hardware platform and needs them to keep paying premium prices for its hardware.

Do I detect a bias in the author of this article? Yup.

[Darksheare]

"Oops" ping.

[CheneyChick]

But this is an unusually sensitive time for Apple.

When hasn't it been?

[jalisco555]

Walt Mossberg said that the performance under emulation was the same as that on the previous Imac. Where did they get this 50% performance drop?

[Tribune7]

I think someone who doesn't wait a year before buying an Intel machine, is nuts.

[Tribune7]

My new G5 handles my new Solitaire 2006 card game and my Chessmaster 2000 just fine.

Yes, but how about Quark Xpress & Photoshop?

[mhx]

Right. The system as a whole has a 2x-3x aggregate performance improvement (how many things you can run at the same time how fast). That's not to say for any one particular program running by itself that it will go that fast -- it may, but of course, performance varies. And he did make the claim about the specific benchmarks -- just like all his competitors do. He was very clear they were benchmarks and in fact that all benchmark numbers are a little exaggerated (if you watch the video).

On the other hand, I was in the store and played around with one for a few minutes over the weekend and it certainly SEEMED very fast for interactive usage, even for things running under Rosetta. So I don't think that its speed will particularly disappoint anyone.

On the other hand, it's certainly fun to try taking down Steve Jobs a notch :-)

[HAL9000]

On the other hand, it's certainly fun to try taking down Steve Jobs a notch :-)

That will be difficult. This week, he'll net about $4 billion by selling Pixar and exercising his Apple options.

[HAL9000]

On the other hand, it's certainly fun to try taking down Steve Jobs a notch :-)

That will be difficult. This week, he'll net about $4 billion by selling Pixar and exercising his Apple options.

[SunkenCiv]

I guess that's why there hasn't been a big blowout price on the PPC models.

[Bush2000]

Steve Jobs' much publicised claim of a two-to-three-times speed increase in the new Intel-based iMac is bunkem, according to the latest benchmark tests.

I'm shocked, shocked, shocked that Jobs would either deliberately lie or make incompetent claims...

[DesScorp]

Steve Jobs lies again? Nooooo! Say it ain't so!

Now watch the Apple Slaves come out of hiding and throw their bodies onto the grenade to protect their Dear Leader; that Reality Distortion Field is somethin' else, eh?

[Petronski]

Leo Laporte reported on his KVI radio show that his iMac was just not as fast as the one Jobs demonstrated at MacWorld.

Very peculiar.


I can't wait to hear what the TWITs have to say about this.