How bad were the iMac Core Duos?

[SpookTheHamster]

My girlfriend's mum is looking for a new computer for general browsing, iTunes etc. A new iMac is way too expensive, and I've seen some of the white Core Duo ones going quite cheap on eBay. How slow are they? We still use one of the original C2D ones and it's fine, but I'd always thought the CD ones were meant to be quite slow.

 

[panzer06]

My girlfriend's mum is looking for a new computer for general browsing, iTunes etc. A new iMac is way too expensive, and I've seen some of the white Core Duo ones going quite cheap on eBay. How slow are they? We still use one of the original C2D ones and it's fine, but I'd always thought the CD ones were meant to be quite slow.

Not only are they slow but the CD models won't run the latest Mac OS versions. Sometimes you can track down earlier C2D models in the $500 - $750 range that would perform decently and run newer OSX versions.

Cheers,

 

[quasinormal]

I had a 1.83 Mhz 17" Core Duo for a while. I remember it being around twice as fast as 2.1 Ghz PPC G5 iMac in cpu intensive tasks. My mother still uses the same machine running 10.5. The G5 is running as well and is still very usable.

 

[Macman45]

If You Can Run To It

Look at a refurb. Some good deals around from Apple....I wouldn't buy a secondhand core duo....Even if it was real cheap.

The refurbished iMacs are great, like a new machine with the full Apple support.

 

[Angelo95210]

I am still using the very first MBP with a 2 GHz core duo and I have no speed issues for general use with MS Office, light PS3 work and intensive Indesign CS3 work.

Too slow for HD video editing though. And Snow Leopard is a great OS.