MacCentral posted a first look at the new Core 2 Duo iMac along with some early benchmarks.
The new iMacs which were released on Wednesday incorporate the latest Core 2 Duo processor from Intel. The Core 2 Duo represents the continuation of the Core Duo line which first made its appearance in Apple computers in January. Intel has maintained that the new chips would provide roughly 20% improvement in performance.
MacCentral tested the new 17" 2GHz iMac and 20" 2.16GHz iMac and compared them to the previous 20" 2GHz Core Duo and the 2.66GHz Mac Pro.
The most direct comparison between the two processors comes between the 17" 2GHz Core 2 Duo iMac and the 20" 2GHz Core Duo iMac. The overall score was 10% better in the new model while the individual tests showed gains up to 20%.
As expected, the 2.66GHz Mac Pro (Woodcrest processor) outperformed the new iMacs, but the reviewers were still impressed how well the iMac fared:
With twice the number of processor cores, all running faster than the iMac, the Mac Pro had a definite advantage in this match up. But because not all applications and tasks take full advantage of the Mac multiprocessing capabilities, most results showed the Mac Pro between 20 and 30 percent faster than the 2.16GHz iMac.
Apple is preparing to refresh every Mac it sells over the next two years, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
The plans come amid a Mac resurgence, with sales projected to climb for a third consecutive year, partly thanks to a growing following among users who lean on the machines for demanding, agent-based AI workloads.
The wave of new Macs will begin this fall with a refreshed...
Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:10 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has finished development of a new iMac that it plans to release later this year, according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The updated iMac is one of 11 new Mac models that Apple plans to release over the next two years or so.
The next iMac will unsurprisingly have a newer chip, but the report did not indicate if Apple plans to use the existing M5 chip or the upcoming...
Monday August 10, 2026 4:34 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
LG Display is developing a five-layer OLED panel structure that could end up in a future iMac, with an extra layer added to prevent screen burn-in and increase brightness, reports The Elec.
LG Display already builds four-stack OLED panels for high-resolution monitors, and arranges the light-emitting layers in a blue-green-blue-red pattern. The five-stack version reportedly under development...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
