C2D imac appearing faster than i5..?

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Hi,

I have sitting on my desk two imacs, one of which I am sending back. I have both versions of the 27 inch, but something is puzzling me:

Why does my Core 2 Duo version seem to be faster than the i5 version? All I can think of is that the two extra cores in the i5 aren't being used, so it is basically running at 2.66Ghz, while the core 2 duo is running at 3.06Ghz. But then the i5 is supposed to have this TurboBoost technology, so that theory doesn't hold up.

Using the OS X UI seems to be smoother on the c2d than the i5, as does regular web browsing, word processing, other low level tasks etc.. As of yet I have no super resource intensive programs installed on either machine so I can't compare them there. Strangely, the graphics on the i5 seems to struggle when playing some online games, jumping a little.

The mouse seems to track across the screen faster on the c2d, even though both machines have identical settings for the mouse.

Could I be missing any drivers anywhere? Both imacs are pretty much straight out of the box..

Of course I could just be going mad..
 
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Are they both up to date? Not like it matters much. I swear that the genie animation on my old 450MHz G4 is smoother than on my Mac Pro.
 
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Are they both up to date? Not like it matters much. I swear that the genie animation on my old 450MHz G4 is smoother than on my Mac Pro.

The main problem is that I can see absolutely no reason why to keep the i5, when the c2d seems to be outperforming it. I could send either back.

EDIT: I ran software update on both machines, the C2D didn't need any updating but the i5 did. I'll let you know if it makes any difference.
 
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The truth is that the Core i5 will be faster for tasks that use all those bits. For things that don't? Well... it won't be any faster. What exactly do you intend to do with this computer anyway?
 
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The truth is that the Core i5 will be faster for tasks that use all those bits. For things that don't? Well... it won't be any faster. What exactly do you intend to do with this computer anyway?

I have been designing 2D games in Java for a while, and decided to get a new computer with a large screen and able to help me create 3D games.

Currently that's all I have in mind. Occasionally I also create websites using photoshop/dreamweaver/flash. I am a Computer Science student at the end of my second of a four year course, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do when I graduate.

I justified my purchase as I received a scholarship for my grades last year which easily covered the cost. First I bought the c2d version as I'm sure it will be completely suitable for my needs, but decided to order the i5 afterwards thinking about "future-proofing" my investment. There might come a time in the future when I would need the power offered by the quad core, but the c2d is definitely fast enough for me now. I thought that the extra £200 over 4+ years would be worth it, as you can't upgrade the hardware in imacs.

I have organised a return for the c2d imac with apple, but no time has been set for them to collect it yet.
 

bobtomay

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15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
My best guess is that the C2D at 3.06 probably is faster than the i5 at 2.66 for most things currently. That will change over the next two years. It won't be faster for video/audio encoding or any app that can take advantage of the 4 cores.

You want the faster machine today, send back the i5. You want the one that will be faster with the apps coming out over the next two years, I'd recommend keeping the i5.

edit:
I was typing as you were posting. I'd say, you kept the better machine.
 
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I think the i5 version will be the best one for you. Development software likely already supports 4-core computing, and for sure 3D software does! I think you're making the right choice in sticking with the i5 version, myself :)
 
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I think the i5 version will be the best one for you. Development software likely already supports 4-core computing, and for sure 3D software does! I think you're making the right choice in sticking with the i5 version, myself :)

Wow, I just swapped the mice around and it turns out that one of them requires more effort to slide across my desk. After swapping them the i5 seems faster!

That was easy, I'm now definitely going to keep the i5 (and save up for some 3D modelling software)

Thanks for posting
 
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Nice!! If it's a wireless mouse, the batteries in one may be low!
 
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Nice!! If it's a wireless mouse, the batteries in one may be low!

I'm using the magic mouse. The slower one is at 40%, and the faster is at 97%.

I swapped the batteries over and the faster one is still faster. The black rails on the bottom of the faster mouse are slightly steeper/stick out more than the slower one. The sound that they make when I click is quite different too, the faster one has a much louder click and I have to push the button down further to register the click.. Dam inconsistent manufacturing..
 
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I wonder if they're from different manufacturers. That could explain the difference in mechanisms and parts!
 

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