Bare Feats compares performance of iMac Core i7 with Macs Pro

Two days ago, we brought here the first benchmarks of the new iMacs with an Intel Core i7 chip, but as many people have commented on the professional capabilities of the machine, the curious thing would be to compare it with Macs Pro. And that’s what the Bare Feats did today.

performance iMacs aside

The iMac does not go beyond the Mac Pro quad-core in any of the tests (let alone the octo-core), but the numbers prove that, for a consumer-oriented desktop (and at the price that Apple is asking for on it), it's a really, really fast machine.

The tested computers were:

  • MP 8core: Mac Pro octo-core 2.93GHz, 12GB RAM, Radeon HD 4870
  • MP 4core: Mac Pro quad-core 2.93GHz, 12GB RAM, Radeon HD 4870
  • i7 iMac: iMac Core i7 quad-core 2.8GHz, 8GB RAM, Radeon HD 4850
  • c2d iMac: iMac Core 2 Duo dual-core 3.06GHz, 8GB RAM, Radeon HD 4850

The software used in the benchmark were: Cinebench 10, Geekbench 2.1.4, Compressor 3.0.5 and After Effects CS4. In all graphs, the red bars indicate the best performance (the fastest).

Bare Feats tests iMac Core i7

Bare Feats tests iMac Core i7

Bare Feats tests iMac Core i7

Bare Feats tests iMac Core i7

The most impressive compare the iMac Core i7 with the Core 2 Duo (dual-core) Yes, we clearly see the advances that this chip brought to the machine. With expansion possibilities for up to 16GB of RAM, hard disk up to 2TB and graphics ATI Radeon HD 4850, the new 27-inch iMac is even a full plate for any fan of all-in-ones.