Below you will find performance results for the currently shipping and past generation of iMacs machines. This will, hopefully, give you an feel for the relative performances. We will be adding new machines on an on-going basis ... so check back once in a while.
Don't see performance information on the Mac you are interested in? Send a request for a performance comparison between any two Macs.
For timed scores, lower numbers are better. For the CineBench & Game scores higher numbers are better. Of course the higher the percentage, the better the performance.
Processor - Single
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
117
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
283
242%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
308
263%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
260
222%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
307
262%
CineBench consists of a series of tests. This one, tests basic single CPU processing performance. . You can download the CineBench program to run on your own machine and compare scores. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
Processor - Dual
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
211
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
518
245%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
565
268%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
260
123%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
307
145%
This is the same test as above, however it will take advantage of multiple processors if they are present. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
Processor MultiTasking
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
237.05
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
187.99
126%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
176.60
134%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
482.42
49%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
424.71
56%
Graphics Card
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
203
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
1548
763%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
1687
831%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
1494
736%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
1502
740%
This part of the CineBench program relies on the graphics card for graphics rendering. Download the program and run your own test.
Graphics Card Gaming
Machine - Power Mac
Score
fps
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
18
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
30
67%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
32
78%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
32
78%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
32
78%
4x4 EVO2 is a demanding racing game. It appears that this game is much more graphics card dependent than processor dependent. The scores above are actual scores (frames per second) ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
Hard Drive Performance - Multi-File
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
158.03
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
66.39
238%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
67.58
234%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
73.18
216%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
70.21
225%
The copy folder test not only stresses drive performance but also takes advantage of faster processing capability & caching schemes.
Hard Drive Performance Single File
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
115.45
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
41.81
276%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
42.09
274%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
55.44
208%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
52.75
219%
In the single file test the the processor & caching capability of the machine is less of a factor.
iTunes Encode
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
84.84
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
93.66
91%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
96.20
88%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
NA
NA
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
87.69
97%
iMovie Effect Encode
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
93.67
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
140.44
67%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
108.31
86%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
61.36
153%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
54.81
171%
Photoshop Workflow
Machine - Power Mac
Score
Seconds
Percentage
of Base
Base Machine - Power Mac G4/1 GHz Dual Processor - M8667LL//A
407.23
100%
January 2006 iMac Intel Core Duo
iMac Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 17" - MA199LL
591.66
69%
iMac Intel Core Duo 2GHz 20" - MA200LL
532.24
77%
October 2005 G5 iMacs
iMac G5/1.9GHz 17" - MA063L/A
335.86
121%
iMac G5/2.1GHz 20" - MA064LL/A
300.09
1%
This version of Photoshop does not run native on the Intel processor
Don't see performance information on the Mac you are interested in? Send a request for a performance comparison between any two Macs.
Have a question about the results above? Shoot us a line
Disclaimer performance benchmarks are only a guide to relative performance, and to a certain extent limited. The only performance benchmark that will have full meaning for you, will be the one you run, on your new machine, using your applications and employing your work flow. Given this, while we believe that the information we will provide you will give a general guide to relative performance, and we will endeavor to make sure that it is as accurate as possible, we offer no implied or actual guarantee that this is so. People who need mission critical data, should be doing performance testing in-house. Resutls for previous machines
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Updated: Monday, May 29, 2006
