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Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:54 pm
by vince
Hi all,

I won't go into details as to why, but I might have to replace my current iMac 24" with a new generation one. The newest has much better specs obviously, but I was wondering about one thing, which I'm afraid might not be better (but maybe not worse either). My old iMac, if I'm not mistaken, has a discreet video card in it. It's an ATI 2600 Pro, with its own 256Mb of ram. I was looking at the specs of the new generation of 24" iMacs, and since I'll have to take the least expensive one, it's going to have an integrated Nvidia 9400M chip, with shared memory. I don't do gaming on it, but I was wondering if I'll see a performance hit with that integrated chip, compared to the previous iMac. Anyone knows?

Thanks.

Re: Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:09 pm
by henfactor
If you take Apple's word for it, it's much faster, though I haven't experienced it myself.

http://www.apple.com/imac/features.html

EDIT: Read the testing notes, they appear to be use a 2400XT 128Mb as a base line, so your 2600 might be equivalent, but not less performance wise I'm guessing (Someone feel free to correct me ;))

Re: Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:27 pm
by Skrying
You won't experience any loss. Honestly though... what are you doing now that feels slow or in need of an upgrade?

Re: Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:38 pm
by derFunkenstein
The 2600-equipped iMacs had 2.4 or 2.66GHz (depending on whether it was a 2007 or 2008 model) Core 2 Duo. The new 24" starts at 2.8GHz, so I wouldn't think you're getting THAT much more performance out of a new one.

Having used a 2009 Mac Mini, the built-in graphics are great for UI acceleration. Not a problem at all, and made my wife's GMA950 look like it was crawling, and felt every bit as fast as the Radeon 3850 in my hackintosh desktop. No sweat.

Re: Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:20 pm
by vince
Thanks for your answers.

BTW, the reason for the change is not because we were not satisfied with the performance. Like I said, it's a bit long (and boring) to explain. In other words, we might not have a choice.

However, I saw that there actually are refurbished 24" models with the GT 120 card available. I might go for that one... mmmm...

Re: Previous gen iMac 24" vs new

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:37 pm
by Skrying
The GT 120 is nothing be a rebranded 9500 GT. It is faster than the 9400M but we're talking really slow and slow here. Judging by your statements I think the video card is the last area of your concern. Unless you've got some acceleration application that needs the performance, but if that is the case then you shouldn't consider anything less than the GT 130 and really the HD 4850.