Although Apple is touting the performance of its new iMac and Mac mini desktops, a new test shows that newer processors from Intel have had little impact on the computers' true speed.
Benchmarks run by Primate Labs through its own Geekbench test suite have confirmed that any benefit from the updated Core 2 Duo processors comes purely through clock speed.
When clock speeds are identical between systems, such as with the new low-end 2.66GHz iMac and a mid-range predecessor from last year, the difference in test scores becomes almost unnoticeable, coming down to 11 points in the case of the two all-in-ones. Even the 2.93GHz iMac, which replaces a 2.8GHz model, has only a 189-point advantage -- or about a 5 percent speed difference that directly maps to the higher clock rate.
The largest relative gain in tests is for the Mac mini, which still only gains about 7 percent despite leaping two generations ahead in processor technology at 2GHz.