New iMacs

[Exirion]

The primary hard drive bay is proprietary, but the secondary bay is not.

It was a rumor spread by OWC but it turned out to be false. Last week I successfully replaced my primary disk with an SSD and it works perfectly well.

Actually I'm the Dutch Dude they refer to over here:

http://www.9to5mac.com/66736/owc-choose-your-new-imac-hard-drive-wisely-you-only-get-one-shot/

:biggrin:

 

[umrigar]

32-bit (free) version...

Geekbench Summary

System Information
Platform: Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Compiler: GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5494)
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6.7 (Build 10J4138)
Model: iMac12,1
Motherboard: Apple Inc. Mac-942B5BF58194151B
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600S CPU @ 2.80GHz
Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
Logical Processors: 8
Physical Processors: 1
Processor Frequency: 2.80 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache: 32.0 KB
L2 Cache: 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8.00 MB
Bus Frequency: 100.0 MHz
Memory: 12.0 GB
Memory Type: 1333 MHz DDR3
SIMD: 1
BIOS: Apple Inc. IM121.88Z.0047.B0A.1104221555
Processor Model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600S CPU @ 2.80GHz
Processor Cores: 4

Geekbench 2 Score: 10366

Integer Performance (Score: 8401)
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar -- 2342, 102.9 MB/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 12961, 531.1 MB/sec
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar -- 3070, 9.82 MB/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 13122, 43.0 MB/sec
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar -- 3355, 13.8 MB/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 14663, 58.4 MB/sec
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar -- 2646, 21.9 Mpixels/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 11343, 95.4 Mpixels/sec
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar -- 2671, 44.8 Mpixels/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 10278, 167.7 Mpixels/sec
Lua
single-threaded scalar -- 5081, 1.96 Mnodes/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 19288, 7.42 Mnodes/sec

Floating Point Performance (Score: 15938)
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar -- 3084, 2.05 Gflops
multi-threaded scalar -- 17805, 11.7 Gflops
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar -- 4937, 2.39 Gflops
multi-threaded scalar -- 22366, 10.2 Gflops
single-threaded vector -- 6129, 7.34 Gflops
multi-threaded vector -- 27504, 28.6 Gflops
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar -- 1441, 1.28 Gflops
multi-threaded scalar -- 5515, 4.84 Gflops
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar -- 7623, 1.14 Gflops
multi-threaded scalar -- 24005, 4.45 Gflops
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar -- 6977, 16.3 Mpixels/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 36832, 84.9 Mpixels/sec
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar -- 8861, 7.01 Mpixels/sec
multi-threaded scalar -- 50057, 39.4 Mpixels/sec

Memory Performance (Score: 6473)
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar -- 7516, 9.20 GB/sec
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar -- 10974, 7.51 GB/sec
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar -- 4475, 16.7 Mallocs/sec
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar -- 4018, 8.32 GB/sec
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar -- 5385, 5.55 GB/sec

Stream Performance (Score: 5532)
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar -- 6244, 8.54 GB/sec
single-threaded vector -- 7114, 9.23 GB/sec
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar -- 6425, 8.34 GB/sec
single-threaded vector -- 6899, 9.31 GB/sec
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar -- 2683, 4.05 GB/sec
single-threaded vector -- 6772, 9.42 GB/sec
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar -- 3103, 4.29 GB/sec
single-threaded vector -- 5021, 9.40 GB/sec

 

[Ns1]

oh my god I forgot how epic the magic trackpad is

oh yeah, the computer's pretty nice too.

 

[Ape]

Picking up my wife a fully loaded 21 once Lion is released.

 

[Exirion]

oh my god I forgot how epic the magic trackpad is

oh yeah, the computer's pretty nice too.

The Trackpad is great indeed. I use it with Smartscroll and for browsing it feels exactly the same as browing on my iPad.

The Mac itself really flies with the Vertex 3 MI SSD. It's a great upgrade from my older iMac 24" with Vertex 2 SSD.

 

[Sid59]

just picked up base 21.5 - i agonized over the 21.5 and 27.

Next on my list, 16 gb memory and a trackpad.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Took advantage of corporate discount and went for the 27" 3.4Ghz iMac. First time OSX user. I have an iPhone 4, but the IOS is completely different from the OSX obviously, so I am new with the OS but find the desktop and the way things work quite refreshing from Windows.

I knew if I tried to save money and go with the 21.5" instead I would have buyer's remorse afterwards. My current monitor used with PS3 is already 25.5" so the 21.5" would be a downgrade in terms of user experience and would leave me wanting more.

I love the real estate the 27" offers in terms of physical size and resolution. Massive and very productive.

 

[Reliant]

I have a Macbook Pro and I love OSX, but I still play games often enough that Windows needs to be in the equation for me. I have bootcamp installed, but the performance just still isn't there on my hardware. I have a 3 year old PC and the only Mac in the lineup that would really match my performance (even in bootcamp) would be a Mac pro due to the GPU. I was hoping the iMac refresh would do it, but it's still not there. Maybe the next refresh will finally put it over what I have now and I can get one. I don't know, maybe I'm nitpicking too much, I just don't want to downgrade game performance when I'm dropping the cash.

 

[Ns1]

I have a Macbook Pro and I love OSX, but I still play games often enough that Windows needs to be in the equation for me. I have bootcamp installed, but the performance just still isn't there on my hardware. I have a 3 year old PC and the only Mac in the lineup that would really match my performance (even in bootcamp) would be a Mac pro due to the GPU. I was hoping the iMac refresh would do it, but it's still not there. Maybe the next refresh will finally put it over what I have now and I can get one. I don't know, maybe I'm nitpicking too much, I just don't want to downgrade game performance when I'm dropping the cash.

high quality pixels don't make you a better gamer.

<---lowest quality possible since 1999

 

[Reliant]

high quality pixels don't make you a better gamer.

<---lowest quality possible since 1999

 

[sxr7171]

I have a Macbook Pro and I love OSX, but I still play games often enough that Windows needs to be in the equation for me. I have bootcamp installed, but the performance just still isn't there on my hardware. I have a 3 year old PC and the only Mac in the lineup that would really match my performance (even in bootcamp) would be a Mac pro due to the GPU. I was hoping the iMac refresh would do it, but it's still not there. Maybe the next refresh will finally put it over what I have now and I can get one. I don't know, maybe I'm nitpicking too much, I just don't want to downgrade game performance when I'm dropping the cash.

Well the iMac is basically a powerful laptop so gaming on it just wouldn't be optimal. You kind of have to stick with a PC home build to get some good gaming for a reasonable price. Even if you bought a Dell gaming level PC it would be very expensive.

 

[Exirion]

For people who want to use an SSD that doesn't report a sensible SMART temperature (which makes the HDD fan go crazy) I made a software fix:

http://exirion.net/ssdfanctrl

Let me know if it works for you

 

[deanx0r]

I have a Macbook Pro and I love OSX, but I still play games often enough that Windows needs to be in the equation for me. I have bootcamp installed, but the performance just still isn't there on my hardware. I have a 3 year old PC and the only Mac in the lineup that would really match my performance (even in bootcamp) would be a Mac pro due to the GPU. I was hoping the iMac refresh would do it, but it's still not there. Maybe the next refresh will finally put it over what I have now and I can get one. I don't know, maybe I'm nitpicking too much, I just don't want to downgrade game performance when I'm dropping the cash.

I am exactly in the same boat. I have been contemplating an OSX desktop for a while now. I dread windows, but I love my games too much to completely let it got. The 6970m iMac would (barely) match the performance of my 5 year old rig, but this isn't a trade off I am willing to make yet, especially since the iMac rolls at a much higher resolution.

I am expecting a huge jump in GPU performances (>100%) for the next refresh with the move from 40nm to 28nm lithography. USB 3 and Ivy Bridge should also be onboard if Intel sticks to schedule.

 

[sxr7171]

I am exactly in the same boat. I have been contemplating an OSX desktop for a while now. I dread windows, but I love my games too much to completely let it got. The 6970m iMac would (barely) match the performance of my 5 year old rig, but this isn't a trade off I am willing to make yet, especially since the iMac rolls at a much higher resolution.

I am expecting a huge jump in GPU performances (>100%) for the next refresh with the move from 40nm to 28nm lithography. USB 3 and Ivy Bridge should also be onboard if Intel sticks to schedule.

I think what will end up solving your problem is Thunderbolt. There's nothing stopping someone from making a box with a PCI-E graphics card inside and a fan. With a Thunderbolt connection of course.

I hear a lot of "anti-thunderbolt" stuff, but that port will open up a whole host of possibilities for laptop users and users of laptop based desktops.

 

[deanx0r]

My only beef with Thunderbolt is that they didn't make it backward compatible with MiniDP (I cant connect any of my MBA or MBP). But wouldn't an external graphic card be bottlenecked by the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt interface (20Gb/s vs 16GB/s for pci-e)? And this would probably detract from the all-in-one elegant form of the iMac. It might work for mid-range solution cards like the 6970m/GTX460, but with a native resolution of 2560x1440, you gonna need something much beefier.

 

[TheStu]

My only beef with Thunderbolt is that they didn't make it backward compatible with MiniDP (I cant connect any of my MBA or MBP). But wouldn't an external graphic card be bottlenecked by the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt interface (20Gb/s vs 16GB/s for pci-e)? And this would probably detract from the all-in-one elegant form of the iMac. It might work for mid-range solution cards like the 6970m/GTX460, but with a native resolution of 2560x1440, you gonna need something much beefier.

It is backwards compatible, so I am confused.

 

[deanx0r]

It is backwards compatible, so I am confused.

Nope it isn't.
You can plug in any Thunderbolt equipped MBP into miniDP displays, but you cannot plug any miniDP MBP into Thunderbolt displays like the new iMac or Thunderbolt Display.

 

[TheStu]

Nope it isn't.
You can plug in any Thunderbolt equipped MBP into miniDP displays, but you cannot plug any miniDP MBP into Thunderbolt displays like the new iMac or Thunderbolt Display.

I was just at the Apple Store, the people I talked to there were pretty sure that there wouldn't be an issue, since Thunderbolt carries the MiniDP signal. Unfortunately the only 27s they had on display were the older Cinema Display version, not the new Thunderbolt version, so I couldn't test the theory.

 

[deanx0r]

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/03/target-display-mode-missing-in-action-on-new-imacs/

Unfortunately, there has been multiple reports on that already. I wish you were right.

If the next gen of graphic cards supports thunderbolt, then I wouldn't mind building a dedicated itx gaming rig.

 

[TheStu]

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/03/target-display-mode-missing-in-action-on-new-imacs/

Unfortunately, there has been multiple reports on that already. I wish you were right.

If the next gen of graphic cards supports thunderbolt, then I wouldn't mind building a dedicated itx gaming rig.

That article is only talking about the target display mode on the iMac, not the 27" Thunderbolt Display. So I guess the jury is still out on that one. Is there really anyone using their Core i7, quad core, ultra-powerful iMac as a display for their MacBook Air (or any of the other laptops/systems) anyway?

 

[sxr7171]

My only beef with Thunderbolt is that they didn't make it backward compatible with MiniDP (I cant connect any of my MBA or MBP). But wouldn't an external graphic card be bottlenecked by the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt interface (20Gb/s vs 16GB/s for pci-e)? And this would probably detract from the all-in-one elegant form of the iMac. It might work for mid-range solution cards like the 6970m/GTX460, but with a native resolution of 2560x1440, you gonna need something much beefier.

You're right I didn't consider just how fast PCI-E is.