Apple iMac 3.06GHz unboxing, hands-on, and benchmarking

Look what arrived on our doorstep today! That's right -- the shiny, expensive new iMac that's now equipped with that funky custom and / or overclocked 3.06GHz CPU. Take a look at us wildly unboxing and handling the behemoth in the gallery below, and get a load of its fairly impressive Xbench scores after the break.

Apple iMac 3.06GHz unboxing, hands-on, and benchmarking

• All machines tested with Xbench 1.3.
  
• All machines tested were using Leopard.
  
• You can check the bold Xbench scores to compare the cumulative results for each test.

	MBP (2.5GHz Penryn)	Air (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	MacBook (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo)	iMac (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, previous gen.)	iMac (3.06GHz Core 2 Duo)
CPU	169.23	79.98	126.66	138.58	188.54
GCD Loop	15.33 Mops/s	9.67 Mops/s	13.43 Mops/s	14.91 Mops/s	18.90 Mops/s
Floating Point Basic	3.37 Gflop/s	2.03 Gflop/s	2.95 Gflop/s	3.23 Gflop/s	4.12 Gflop/s
vecLib FFT	3.93 Gflop/s	1.71 Gflop/s	3.36 Gflop/s	3.66 Gflop/s	4.65 Gflop/s
Floating Point Library	36.64 Mops/s	12.82 Mops/s	17.80 Mops/s	19.43 Mops/s	44.76 Mops/s
Thread Test	275.13	148.81	186.4	208.77	314.45
Computation	6.93 Mops/s	2.77 Mops/s	3.58 Mops/s	3.56 Mops/s	8.50 Mops/s
Lock Contention	9.90 Mlocks/s	7.04 Mlocks/s	8.48 Mlocks/s	11.06 Mlocks/s	10.81 Mlocks/s
	MBP (2.5GHz Penryn)	Air (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	MacBook (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo)	iMac (2.4GHz)	iMac (3.06GHz Core 2 Duo)
Memory Test	168.11	140.42	150.23	150.82	211.78
System	183.01	143.51	158.95	151.56	247.04
Allocate	922.99 Kalloc/s	718.86 Kalloc/s	856.78 Kalloc/s	657.80 Kalloc/s	374.06 Malloc/s
Fill	7424.09 MB/se	5770.30 MB/s	6480.99 MB/s	6606.88 MB/s	9667.21 MB/s
Copy	3522.10 MB/s	2802.78 MB/s	2914.92 MB/s	3014.12 MB/s	4651.03 MB/s
Stream	155.45	137.46	142.41	150.08	185.33
Copy	3059.86 MB/s	2621.64 MB/s	2799.64 MB/s	2926.68 MB/s	3653.38 MB/s
Scale	3008.89 MB/s	2602.03 MB/s	2797.66 MB/s	3022.24 MB/s	3652.08 MB/s
Add	3525.00 MB/s	3230.58 MB/s	3196.17 MB/s	3364.41 MB/s	4165.23 MB/s
Triad	3523.21 MB/s	3199.37 MB/s	3211.97 MB/s	3328.48 MB/s	4147.22 MB/s
	MBP (2.5GHz Penryn)	Air (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	MacBook (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo)	iMac (2.4GHz)	iMac (3.06GHz Core 2 Duo)
Quartz Graphics Test	198.29	96.89	154.32	193.4	228.36
Line	12.43 Klines/s	6.94 Klines/s	9.69 Klines/s	11.64 Klines/s	15.27 Klines/s
Rectangle	70.01 Krects/s	32.23 Krects/s	51.66 Krects/s	70.02 Krects/s	252.7 Krects/s
Circle	15.29 Kcircles/s	7.22 Kcircles/s	11.54 Kcircles/s	15.29 Kcircles/s	16.46 Kcircles/s
Bezier	4.92 Kbeziers/s	2.49 Kbeziers/s	3.79 Kbeziers/s	4.51 Kbeziers/s	5.64 Kbeziers/s
Text	12.17 Kchars/s	5.53 Kchars/s	10.39 Kchars/s	12.66 Kchars/s	15.06 Kchars/s
OpenGL Graphics Test	165.99	17.26	23.36	152.66	201.68
Spinning Squares	210.57 frames/s	21.89 frames/s	29.64 frames/s	193.65 frames/s	255.84 frames/s
User Interface Test	326.63	105.81	244.28	335.18	443.26
Elements	1.50 Krefresh/s	485.60 refresh/s	1.12 Krefresh/s	1.54 Krefresh/s	2.03 Krefresh/s
	MBP (2.5GHz Penryn)	Air (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	MacBook (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo)	iMac (2.4GHz)	iMac (3.06GHz Core 2 Duo)
Disk Test	33.08	24.05	39.64	80.72	78.47
Sequential	60.60	42.21	66.07	115.15	106.39
Uncached Write	52.17 MB/s [4K blocks]	30.96 MB/s [4K blocks]	53.34 MB/s [4K blocks]	72.17 MB/s [4K blocks]	84.32 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write	47.88 MB/s [256K blocks]	31.19 MB/s [256K blocks]	47.63 MB/s [256K blocks]	66.51 MB/s [256K blocks]	77.36 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read	9.89 MB/s [4K blocks]	7.27 MB/s [4K blocks]	10.83 MB/s [4K blocks]	27.81 MB/s [4K blocks]	17.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read	39.17 MB/s [256K blocks]	30.42 MB/s [256K blocks]	49.62 MB/s [256K blocks]	69.83 MB/s [256K blocks]	80.85 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random	22.75	16.81	28.31	62.13	62.16
Uncached Write	0.81 MB/s [4K blocks]	0.57 MB/s [4K blocks]	1.03 MB/s [4K blocks]	2.67 MB/s [4K blocks]	2.51 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write	18.56 MB/s [256K blocks]	18.35 MB/s [256K blocks]	22.73 MB/s [256K blocks]	48.45 MB/s [256K blocks]	62.96 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read	0.41 MB/s [4K blocks]	0.35 MB/s [4K blocks]	0.48 MB/s [4K blocks]	0.63 MB/s [4K blocks]	0.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read	18.44 MB/s [256K blocks]	13.28 MB/s [256K blocks]	19.31 MB/s [256K blocks]	27.08 MB/s [256K blocks]	28.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[(Unverified) Posted May 2nd 2008 7:18PM]

And yes, I'm aware you can upgrade to a cordless keyboard and mouse. But the cordless keyboard they offer is not extended (which it should be) like the corded version. I also wish they would just make cordless standard.

I mention this because Apple spends so much time, money, and energy on aesthetics (it's all about clean lines with Apple), all of which I value as much as they do - that it would be a good move for them to be more mindful of even these small details.

And for those who complain about changing batteries - quit yer whinin'. How often do you replace batteries in a keyboard and mouse? Once every six months to a year?

[Groggle Posted May 3rd 2008 12:18PM]

A well outfitted iMac has only one wire coming out of it: the power cable. When the batteries are low in the keyboard or mouse, an onscreen prompt says "change them now" when you change them, they re pair with the iMac unaided. The batteries last about 4 months on our den computer that has my wife and two older kids on it constantly. I personally like the clean look and no wire jamming in the keyboard drawer. And the used batteries are all part of my campaign to leave the biggest carbon footprint on the planet EVER. :-)

[(Unverified) Posted May 4th 2008 1:44PM]

Looks good! I'd like to replace my G5 iMac too. Wonder how it compares to the Mac Pro? It seems unfair to only compare it to the laptops. BTW, I work with an older aluminum iMac occasionally at work, and have never had a problem with the reflection. I can see it my be bad in the wrong light thought.

Orcish

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2008 7:38AM]

I wish engadget would make a hands-on on the new 20" iMac so they would have to say a few words about the (poor) display.

[Henry Earl Posted May 6th 2008 10:58PM]

that glossy screen is absolutely awful. its a shame that people seem to actually want to see everything in the room behind them nowdays. you couldnt use these things in a sunny room at all. :(

[(Unverified) Posted May 30th 2008 10:26PM]

I agree. I like the glossy screen but I would personally buy a mat screen. I wish they would offer both like on the MacBook Pros.

[(Unverified) Posted May 7th 2008 5:00PM]



[(Unverified) Posted May 7th 2008 9:44PM]

free macbook air, i did this before, just do one offer, i am a real person, and i love apple. i dont have alot of money, so i do this sh!t. it works tho:

http://www.freemacbookair.com/?referral=1rgxc96

[JW Posted May 16th 2008 11:09PM]

Cool... but its missing an essential...
Windows Vista!

[(Unverified) Posted May 18th 2008 2:46AM]

Essential to what, Apple's downfall?
;)

[Grusic Posted May 26th 2008 5:57PM]

Nice looking PC! But, goddamn, I hate glossy LCD's! ;)

[talamaska Posted May 27th 2008 4:06AM]

Apple sux, apple's fans sux!!!
For that price I can get % more power in everything - memory, cpu, motherboard etc. with ordinary PC, so why I have to buy new mac everytime they upgrade one - two parts of it?

think practical! :P

[bsodmike Posted May 29th 2008 3:03PM]

I got a 24" 2.8GHz C2D...Can't complain really apart from the fact that my iSight has stopped working for a while...d'oh!

LOL!

[(Unverified) Posted May 30th 2008 12:11AM]

...... wow. this whole comment section proves why there needs to be a block all comments button XD. (its a figure of speech, calm down.. seriously, you guys get so mad that you say things like "your father must have molested you"... how outrageous and immature can you be?, seriously?)

I love how Zak feels that he has to correct every commenter on here that makes some sort of negative SOMTEIMES-unrelated comment. Stop feeding the trolls and they'll stop posting. Just ignore them. They have their opinions.. unfortunately it doesn't seem to me that people understand that there might be people that don't like the new mac! Let them post! There isn't a restriction for posting that says "only post if you like this". Differing opinions is the best way to have a discussion.

If we all agreed this would be boring.

I somewhat agree that there isn't THAT much of a story here, but it is still NEW and a lot of people DO want to see the unbox, even if it is the same as before.. thats fine. It is still nice to have the shots nevertheless.

Zak is right that the big focus of the article was the benchmarks, to give us an idea of what to expect in the new Macs. Isn't that why engadget is here? To talk about GADGETS and COMPUTERS. Well here is a new COMPUTER.. why wouldn't they at least mention it?

I don't even yet own a Mac, but I plan to soon, so I do appreciate this kind of article. What I don't appreciate is 400 comments that don't give some kind of constructive criticism of the system or comparisons. Thank you the few guys that posted your scores from your Mac Pros and other systems not included in the original benchmark.

Thank you to those whose comments actually contribute. I think the new iMac is nice and has decent benchmarks, even if I don't decide to buy it, and I go for something smaller and cheaper like a Mini or a Macbook, then so be it, but I am glad I can go somewhere to find this information =)

And.. sorry for being so long winded.. but amidst the tons of comments, I was wanting a little more than bickering between fanboys. I like PCs and Macs and I like good articles with relevant conversation.

[(Unverified) Posted May 30th 2008 12:13AM]

sometimes*

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 2nd 2008 8:12AM]

Why can't I get one I hate windows but it coast too much. I need iWeb and iMovie

[DBG Posted Jun 6th 2008 5:37PM]

You might like a linux OS like Ubuntu. I recommend them because they offer great free support and run on almost any hardware. Since OSX is based on Unix, their backbones are very much alike (but you still won't get the slick OSX treatment unless you pony up for a Mac). At least you can get a Mac Mini fairly cheaply now if you don't have intense processing needs (aka video editing, graphic design, etc).

[Adamd21 Posted Jun 2nd 2008 9:28PM]

Like normal what Apple calls its desktop is WAY over priced.

[DBG Posted Jun 6th 2008 5:34PM]

Apple is a boutique hardware company just like Alienware and VoodooPC. This isn't likely to change any time soon so excuse me if I ignore your post as I've seen it too many times (also, the only Apple product I own is an 2nd gen iPod Nano I got as a Christmas Gift, so the fanboy card won't play). I highly admire their OS though and wish they would find a way to release it to the PC public without losing a lot of Mac sales (I cannot think of such a way atm, so until then let the mighty Hackintosh rule).

[DBG Posted Jun 6th 2008 5:28PM]

Hmm, I would have held out for a Quad-Core iMac (unless this is just a loaner).

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 8th 2008 12:54PM]

So you failed to mention the biggest innovation, seen on the first pic. FLOATING iMACS!

So they got rid of the base and the thing simply stays on the air?