|  By David
Engstrom
Friday, June 13, 2003
Below we take an initial look at the relative performance of Apple's new eMacs, and compare them to eMacs from previous generations.
The performance tests below only stress the processor and memory systems, not the drives or graphics systems.
We are working on more extensive benchmarks which we should have posted some time this week.
We used the AltiVec Fractal program to test the processor's performance. This program will soak up whatever processing ability is available, and so is a good test for assessing the fundamental processing performance of each machine. It is tuned to take advantage of the G4 processor (which all the eMacs have), and will utilize dual processors if they are present (which our Stock reference machine has).
If you would like to run this test yourself, on your machine, just download the program, set the fractal to run at a maximum count of 65536, and record the time. Below we have posted both the time (in seconds) and the percentage scores (relative to our stock machine ... the Power Mac Dual G4/1GHz).
As you'll see in the results the two new GHz eMacs, not surprisingly in this raw processing test, turned in the same score. Their scores were 20% faster than the current 800 MHz eMac
Again, we will have more detailed performance numbers later on this week.
Difference and similarities in processor, memory & graphics systems of each machine
| Machine |
eMac G4/700 - Combo Drive (5/02) |
eMac G4/800 - SuperDrive (8/02) |
eMac G4/800 - CD Drive (6/03) |
eMac G4/1 GHz - Combo Drive (6/03) |
eMac G4/1 GHz - SuperDrive (6/03) |
| Processors |
G4/700 MHz |
G4/800 MHz |
G4/800 MHz |
G4/1 GHz |
G4/1 GHz |
| L2 Cache |
256k @ 700 MHz |
256k @ 800 MHz |
256k @ 800 MHz |
256k @ 1 GHz |
256k @ 1 GHz |
| L3 Cache |
None |
None |
None |
None |
None |
| Bus Speed |
100 MHz |
100 MHz |
133 MHz |
133 MHz |
133 MHz |
| Memory |
128 MB
1 GB max |
256MB
1GB Max |
128 MB
1 GB max |
128 MB
1 GB max |
256 MB
1GB Max |
| Graphics Card |
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32 MB of DDR RAM
2x AGP |
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32 MB of DDR RAM
2x AGP |
ATI Radeon 7500 with AGP 4x support; 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM |
ATI Radeon 7500 with AGP 4x support; 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM |
ATI Radeon 7500 with AGP 4x support; 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM |
| Drive |
40GB Ultra ATA |
60GB Ultra ATA |
40GB Ultra ATA |
60GB Ultra ATA |
80GB Ultra ATA |
| CD Drive |
Tray loading "Combination Drive"
Reads DVDs at 8x
W rites CD-R at 12x
W rites CD-RW at 8x
Reads CDs at 32x |
Tray loading "SuperDrive"
Writes DVD-R at 2x
Reads DVDs at 6x
Writes CD-R at 8x
Writes CD-RW at 4x
Reads CDs at 24x |
Tray loading CD-ROM drive; reads CDs at up to 32x speed
|
Tray loading "Combo drive "
Reads DVDs at 8x
Writes CD-R at 32x
Writes CD-RW at 10x
Reads CDs at 32x |
Tray loading "SuperDrive"
Writes DVD-R at 4x
Reads DVDs at 8x
Writes CD-R at 16x
Writes CD-RW at 8x
Reads CDs at 32x |
| Operating System |
10.1.4 |
10.2 |
10.2.4 |
10.2.4 |
10.2.4 |
| Price |
$1,249 (Student) |
$1,499 |
$799 |
$999 |
$1,299 |
See our Specs & Features page for more details ...
"Real World" Tests
The tests below were timed with a stopwatch.
The times were then converted to percentages, relative to
the Power Mac Dual G4/1GHz, which is set to 100%. For all scores, higher
numbers are better. Below the graphic you will find the actual scores.
The AltiVec Fractal is a good test for emphasizing the fundemental processing power of the G4 processor ... which most Macintosh computers now utilize.
Additional Information
eMac Reviews
eMac InfoZone
eMac Performance
eMac Performance vs Other Models
eMac Specs & Features Page
eMac Discussion Forum
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