Other Sites
Primate Labs Blog iMac Performance (May 2008)
From The Lab: Penryn Imacs Show Promise
Vista Just One Reason for Growing Mac Market Share
The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit
Psystar's Open Computer review: Is it worth it?
How Much are You Spending on Mac Pretension?
Apple lays off 174 workers in Elk Grove
The Mac Night Owl: The MacBook Pro: Two Years On
Primate Labs Blog iMac Performance (May 2008)
Primate labs has posted benchmarks for the new (Early 2008) Penryn iMacs using their cross-platform Geekbench 2 benchmark to measure the processor and memory performance of the new iMacs. Here is the configuration of the four test machines.
Geekbench 2, scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000 (which is the score a Power Mac G5 @ 1.6GHz would receive). Higher scores are better.
The Overall Performance category results are:
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.06GHz 3995
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.80GHz 3728
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66GHz 3513
iMac (Early 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.40GHz 3220
Wow; that means a 3.06 GHz iMac is nearly four times as fast as a 1.6 GHz G5.
This time Primate Labs has also come up with a "Cost Per Point" metric comparing performance for dollar spent up front, and they note that "If you're looking for the best value in terms of raw processing power, the best iMac to get is the base model. Even after upgrading the RAM in the base model it's still more cost-effective than the mid-range 20-inch iMac."
Interesting,
For much more, visit:
http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2008/05/imac-performance-may-2008/
From The Lab: Penryn Imacs Show Promise
Macworld Labs' James Galbraith has also posted some new iMac benchmarks, but using a different, Speedmark 5 benchmark protocol where baseline scores are relative to those of a 1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini, which is assigned a score of 100, with which they determine that every Penryn model enjoys a modest performance boost over corresponding preceding models, (eg: 13 percent for the base, 2.4 GHz model), while the 3.06GHz iMac approaches Mac Pro perfromance levels.
You can check it out at:
http://www.macworld.com/article/133253/2008/05/imac_benchmarks.html?lsrc=top_1
Vista Just One Reason for Growing Mac Market Share
Low End Mac's Frank Fox says:
I wrote last time about Apple's small but fast growing market share. It is important to remember that Macs are selling 30% more each year* while PCs are at best doing 15%. All this leads to another important question: installed base. The installed base affects both future sales and third-party development. Both of these are key to the computer business.
I searched around the Internet to find the size of the Mac installed base: 22 million as of March 2007. That isn't too bad, but I couldn't find the same info for PCs. Here we can be creative and assume that, like market share, Macs have a similar installed base ratio of about 3%. If so, there are roughly 733 million PCs in use.
That's a lot of computers to support. No wonder Microsoft makes billions each year....
It's no fluke that Mac sales are growing at 30% while the PC world is below 15%. Apple has been stealing customers for years. Thank goodness Vista is such a piece of crap. If it weren't, then all the iPods in the world wouldn't make a big enough halo to help Apple. No, this time Microsoft screwed up, and Apple is on the winning side....
Every new switcher is a plus for Apple and a minus for the PC/Windows world.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/fox/08ff/mac-market-share.html
The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit
BusinessWeek's Peter Burrows says:
In the March quarter, Mac sales blew away all forecasts, soaring 51% over the previous year, or more than three times the rate for the personal-computer industry. Throw in the iPod and iPhone, and Apple's total sales have surged from $5.2 billion in fiscal 2002 to $24 billion last year.....
...Once an object of devotion for students and artists, the Mac is becoming the first choice of many. Surging demand for the machines led Apple to predict revenues will rise 33% in the second quarter, to $7.2 billion, even in the face of an economic slowdown.
What's less obvious is that the enthusiasm is starting to spill over into the corporate market. It's a people's revolution, of sorts, with workers increasingly pressing their employers to let them use Macs in the office. In a survey of 250 diverse companies that has yet to be released, the market research firm Yankee Group found that 87% now have at least some Apple computers in their offices, up from 48% two years ago.....
Mac fanboys have been singing Apple's praises for years, of course. But now the call is coming from mainstream users, people who may have started off with an iPod, then bought a Mac at home and no longer want a "Windows-by-day, Mac-by-night" existence.....
Other fascinating snippets include:
"According to a survey of 1,200 undergrads by researcher Student Monitor this year, 43% of college students who intend to buy a laptop plan to buy a Mac, up from 8% in 2003."
"While Apple's net margin in the last four quarters was 15.1%, those at Hewlett-Packard and Dell were 7.3% and 4.8%, respectively"
For the full (and extensive) commentary, visit:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_19/b4083036428429.htm
Psystar's Open Computer review: Is it worth it?
ZNet's Larry Dignan reports:
There are a few things you need to know before hopping on the Psystar Mac clone bandwagon: You can't download a software update, which means patching is impossible. You'll never be a card-carrying member of the Apple ecosystem. And the hardware doesn't come close to the designs Apple offers. Those caveats aside the Psystar Open Computer isn't so bad....
But....
Its hardware isn't made by Apple's design team, it will likely never work as a full member of the greater Apple ecosystem, and one ill-intended software update could turn it into a $750 brick [although you could switch to Linux or Windows].
For the full review visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8681
How Much are You Spending on Mac Pretension?
AppleMatters' Chris Seibold says:
....Most Mac users make a conscious decision to use the Mac but there are a few that use the Mac out of necessity. The interesting thing is the different takes the types of users have on the Mac. Those that willfully use the Mac are generally big fans and when something goes wring they'll blame themselves. Those that are forced to use Macs have a different take, for the people in the "have to use a Mac camp" the Mac is far from perfect. Generally they see it as another device with its own set of annoyances and irksome glitches. Not necessarily better or worse than alternatives, simply another machine with another set of issues....
This brings us to the more important question of how can you separate the amount you want to love your Mac to how much love your Mac is worthy of? Turns out you can't. Like wine drinking the bottle has as much to do with the taste as the liquid inside the bottle. That is to say why you like the Mac isn't as important as how much you like the Mac. In a perfectly logical world you'd coolly choose the best machine for your needs but since the world isn't made up of a bunch of Vulcans go with what makes you happy.
On the other hand, maybe you're wasting money buying more Mac than you need. If you're really all about the Mac experience, how much Mac do you need to get your daily recommended intake of vitamin Steve? We need a way to quantify the feel good part of the Mac experience and separate from the upsell part of the Mac experience.
There are some very interesting metrics in this article about buying low-end vs. high-end.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.applematters.com/article/how-much-are-you-spending-on-mac-pretension1/
Apple lays off 174 workers in Elk Grove
The Sacramento Bee's Dale Kasler reports:
Apple Inc. eliminated 174 sales and support jobs at its Elk Grove facility Thursday, transferring the work to a site in Austin, Texas.
In a letter to state officials, Apple said the 174 workers will be given opportunities to relocate or apply for another Apple job in Elk Grove. The company said it employs more than 1,100 workers in Elk Grove.
The layoffs include sales representatives, online chat representatives and others.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/905664.html
The Mac Night Owl: The MacBook Pro: Two Years On
Two years ago, I bought my first Intel-based Mac, a 17-inch MacBook Pro, to replace a similarly-outfitted PowerBook G4. Yes, I have an affinity for larger screens. In fact, I'd spring for a 20-inch model if I could afford it and it wasn't too heavy - and that may be why Apple isn't producing any.
Here's the link to the story:
http://macnightowl.com/2008/05/the-macbook-pro-two-years-on/
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