We pretty much expected it, but now we have some evidence that the new 2011 Sandy Bridge iMacs have quite a large performance boost over their predecessors. Most notable of the bunch is the 27-inch, Intel Core i7-2600 3.4 GHZ model. According to Geekbench, the score has gone from 9124 in the 2010 model, to 11602 in the new 2011 model.
Other models have out performed their predecessors as well, but only by slight margins. The Geekbench findings have revealed that there’s an average of a 25% performance boost between the Sandy Bridge model iMacs and the Lynnfield editions across the board.
Now more than ever, there are questions about whether or not a prosumer level user can get away with the new iMac over the Mac Pro. I’ve been having some conversations with a lot of video professionals, and while they don’t come right out and say it, they all make a great case for why the iMac with Thunderbolt ports might win out in the long run. Look for those thoughts in another post.
Benchmark Results
Article and Image Via PrimateLabs
