Testing the 27 "iMac" Thunderbolt - part V

Even in the video where the Mac Pro is traditionally at home, Westmere processors marking time: we find the fine balance between the raw frequency and the number of cores, which directly determines the performance for different applications. Handrake, for example, recognizes only core logic: this iMac is fighting against is with four cores to eight cores Westmere Mac Pro to € 3 400. But Handbrake does not take advantage of all the subtleties of Xeon processors, while the raw frequency is a key element of its operation: the iMac, with half of a good heart but more than the gigahertz Mac Pro, dominates with insolence. He can deal with anything against the twelve core Mac Pro to € 8 300: the frequency difference is less important than offset by the use of three times as many hearts.

The very marked differences in the Photoshop tests confirm the very different profiles of these machines. The DHT test uses a lot of old filters, so that the differences are erased in excess of five hearts (real and virtual) so the iMac is the hand with its higher frequency. The RAT test, it is much more realistic and simulates the touch of a photo with the latest filters: Although Photoshop performance peaked with massively multi-core configurations, the Mac Pro are Westmere at this time.

A beautiful iMac € 2 700 can be put in the closet of Mac Pro much more expensive? In most areas, yes, and widely: it shows, once again, the effectiveness of the Sandy Bridge Intel platform. The self in need of power will therefore turn to the iMac, which is not only the most powerful iMac ever made by Apple, but Mac is also one of the most powerful of the current range. The difference between these two lines is therefore not about raw power, but the concept: the iMac is an all-in-one, unlike the Mac Pro, which is still relevant for its scalability, ensuring a sustainability specific to dampen investment, therefore that represent the largest configurations. It also remains the machine of choice for certain niches, here for its computational capabilities, there to him the possibility of adding expansion cards. Still, the iMac is more than ever like the computer to do everything from Apple.