Old iMac faster than "classic" MBP?

[yoak]

I've had my 24" 2,16 iMac for over 2 years now when I just bought a 2,5 MBP (early 2008).
I thought the mbp would feel much faster, but I have to say the iMac feels faster.
Both run 2 gb of ram, Tiger on iMac, mbp with leopard.
Is this because the mbp has a 5400 rpm hard drive or is something not right?
Ps I run fcp6 and other everyday apps

 

[vincebio]

i also have a 17" penryn 2.5 MBP with 4gb of ram, and an iMac 24" 2.4 with 2gb of ram.

on many of my tests, the iMac is faster...

i have no idea why.

i bought both on the same day, even though the updated imacs were about to launch...and even on the first day after a clean install, it was faster...
😕

 

[HLdan]

Even if the MBP had a 7200 RPM drive the iMac would still be faster because the HDD in the iMac is a desktop class drive while the MBP's is a notebook style.

 

[daneoni]

The iMac has a desktop class hard drive which is faster than notebook drives AND its components aren't as downclocked/power managed/throttled for thermal issues as they're on notebooks

 

[yoak]

Thanks for the clarifications guys