“I’ve been testing a 20-inch Intel-based iMac for a couple of weeks now. Mine came with 1 gigabyte of RAM, upgradable to 2 GB; a SuperDrive DVD/CD player/burner; an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics subsystem with 128 megabytes of VRAM; a built-in iSight video camera; and built-in AirPort and Bluetooth wireless networking,” Bob Levitus writes for The Houston Chronicle. “Though only a handful of third-party applications are Universal today, almost every program you receive with your iMac is Universal, which means performance is mostly better than ever. Apple’s benchmarks indicate that the Intel-based iMac runs up to twice as fast as an iMac G5, but I respectfully disagree. In my testing, most Universal applications ran faster, but not twice as fast.”
“I felt that the performance of most non-Universal applications (running under Rosetta), such as Microsoft Word 2004, Quicken 2006 for Mac, Adobe Reader, and many others, was more than acceptable,” Levitus writes. “Intel-based Macs cannot run Classic applications (e.g. programs developed for Mac OS 9). So if you depend on a Classic program, you’ll probably want to delay your purchase of an Intel-based Mac. For those who depend on programs that don’t currently work on Intel-based Macs (such as Apple’s Pro applications or Virtual PC), or programs that run poorly on Intel-based Macs (such as Adobe Photoshop), you’ll probably want to stick with your PowerPC-based Macs for at least a little longer. Other than that, I give the Intel-based iMac my highest recommendation.”
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Review: Apple 20-inch iMac Core Duo 2.0GHz – February 06, 2006
BusinessWeek: Apple’s new iMac Core Duo is an iMac on Steroids – February 02, 2006
AnandTech: Apple iMac G5 vs. iMac Intel Core Duo – February 01, 2006
Thurrott: ‘I highly recommend Apple’s new Intel-based iMac’ – January 31, 2006
Thurrott: ‘Nothing on Windows approaches the quality of Apple’s iLife ’06’ – January 31, 2006
Computerworld: Apple’s MacBook Pro ‘fast, really fast – looks like a real winner’ – January 28, 2006
MacSpeedZone: Apple’s iMac Core Duo nearly as fast as Power Mac G5 Quad – January 26, 2006
InfoWorld: Apple perfects the desktop personal computer with new iMac Core Duo – January 25, 2006
Flawed CNET review pans Apple’s iMac Core Duo with 7 out of 10 rating – January 23, 2006
Washington Post: Wait a month or so before buying Apple’s appealing new Intel-based iMac – January 22, 2006
Apple’s Intel-powered iMac provides a smooth transistion from PowerPC – January 21, 2006
PC Magazine review gives Apple iMac Intel Core Duo 4.5 out of 5 stars – January 20, 2006
Time names Apple iMac Core Duo ‘Gadget of the Week’ – January 20, 2006
Mossberg: New Intel-based iMac the best consumer desktop with the best OS and best software bundle – January 18, 2006
