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Apple's New Retina iMacs Offer Slight Performance Boost Over Non-Retina iMacs

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Apple's new Retina iMacs, released last Thursday, have been showing up in Geekbench benchmarks, giving us a look at how the new machine's performance compares to the non-Retina iMacs released in 2013 and still being sold.

A Geekbench 3 result for the base 3.5GHz Core i5 Retina iMac has been shared by John Poole of Primate Labs, displaying just slight performance increases over the 3.4GHz Core i5 model used in the late 2013 iMac. The 4.0GHz Core i7 Retina iMac has yet to be benchmarked, but should see performance that exceeds that of existing Core i7 iMacs due to its faster processor.

retina-imac-64bit-october-2014-singlecore.png
In both single-core and multi-core performance, the new Retina iMac offered moderately faster speeds, which is unsurprising as the machines continue to use Haswell processors that have been clocked slightly higher. More significant performance boosts in the iMac won't be seen until 2015, when Intel's Broadwell chips become available.

retina-imac-64bit-october-2014-multicore.png
Compared to the 2013 Mac Pro lineup, the Retina iMac offers faster single-core performance, but all 2013 Mac Pro models beat out the iMac when it comes to multi-core performance. Results for the Core i7 iMacs are expected to be similar, but according to Poole, the higher-end Retina iMac may be faster than the 4-core Mac Pro.

retina-imac-macpro-64bit-october-2014-multicore.png
Though the new iMac continues to use Haswell processors, its claim to fame is its Retina 5K display, which has an impressive resolution of 5120 x 2880, and its reasonable price, which starts at just $2,499. Apple's new Retina iMacs are available for purchase from the online Apple Store, with new orders shipping out in 5 to 7 days.

Article Link: Apple's New Retina iMacs Offer Slight Performance Boost Over Non-Retina iMacs
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/20/apple-core-i5-retina-imac-benchmarks/
Given the requirements to power the 5K display, I'd say that even a slight performance bump over the non-retina models is a bonus at this point.
 
What's the point of comparing 2014 i5 iMac to 2013 i7? 2014 i7 iMac is a lot faster then 2013 i7 iMac. Would at least make sense to include stats for the 2014 i7 iMac as well. People will tend to miss the part that it is the i5 only and start thinking the retina iMac is slower then the 2013 iMacs.
 
Still crossing my fingers for just a 5K Cinema Display. If I do get an iMac I'd wait for Broadwell instead :rolleyes:
 
ridiculous.

the new imac is so useless. now its not even possible to play games with the highest specced imac. simple impossible to play native.

despite the fact that all slimmed down imac displays are yellowish and have very serious ghosting.
 
Sigh

It seems like many just cannot resist the temptation to complain.

This refresh was not a performance upgrade. It was a display and/or graphics performance upgrade.

When there's new processors that do better, Apple will update the MacBooks as well.
 
I'm much more interested in how that 290x manages all those pixels.


lotzosushi said:
Still crossing my fingers for just a 5K Cinema Display. If I do get an iMac I'd wait for Broadwell instead :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Broadwell is about battery life, it's not much faster than Haswell.

If you are waiting, Skylake is where it's at. Though at the rate Intel is going....
 
the iphone 6 watch ipad air 2 and 5k imac are in that "best product pipeline" remark but the mac mini and ipad mini 3 are not.

and i hoped for a new apple tv
 
Wish they still made a 24" model, that was the sweet-spot. Not too small, not too big, just right (esp. for dual displays). 20", 24", 27" could be the new 20", 23", 30" . Oh well.
 
pscl said:
ridiculous.

the new imac is so useless. now its not even possible to play games with the highest specced imac. simple impossible to play native.

despite the fact that all slimmed down imac displays are yellowish and have very serious ghosting.
Click to expand...

games. lol

call me when work professionals give a crap
 
As much as I like the progress Apple makes on their line-ups, you get the feeling that this isn't a compelling purchase.

I feel most compelled to buy from Apple after a new tech is integrated a year and they add the raw horsepower. So, that was the late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina, not the first model. For iMac, this model version would be "early adopter" friendly, but for practical purposes, wait for the next iteration in 2015 or beyond.
 
pscl said:
ridiculous.

the new imac is so useless. now its not even possible to play games with the highest specced imac. simple impossible to play native.
Click to expand...

Well that's a sweepingly inaccurate statement without even getting into the fact that there are other uses than playing games.
 
bedifferent said:
Wish they still made a 24" model, that was the sweet-spot. Not too small, not too big, just right (esp. for dual displays). 20", 24", 27" could be the new 20", 23", 30" . Oh well.
Click to expand...

Maybe the 21.5" will be the next 4k 24" in the imac lineup

i really think next year we will have imac with 4k and 5k displays
 
pscl said:
ridiculous.

the new imac is so useless. now its not even possible to play games with the highest specced imac. simple impossible to play native.

despite the fact that all slimmed down imac displays are yellowish and have very serious ghosting.
Click to expand...

you can easily play games at 1440p like before. So what's wrong?
at 2880p you will not be able to play games at max, for the next 4-5 years
 
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