[Macworld]

Post your comments for Lab Tested: New 27-inch iMac speed results here

[prstn]

My 27-inch 3.4GHz Core i7 with 3TB Fusion Drive also uses a Seagate Barracuda hard drive (ST3000DM001) -- 7200 rpm with 64MB cache.

[vestalmac]

My 27-inch/2.9 i7 iMac came with a WD hard drive (32 MB cache). Do you have any performance results with that configuration? It seems odd that the $1799 priced iMac you tested would have a hard drive with less cache and is slower than the $1999 model.

[monospaced]

My 27-inch 3.2GHz i5 ($1,999) lists Storage in the System Information Report as: Media Name: APPLE HDD ST1000DM003. I couldn't find anything about the brand (Seagate or WD) or the cache, though, unless that's the Queue Depth (mine says 32). Not sure if this is the same as MacWorld's model or not.

[monospaced]

Quote

It seems odd that the $1799 priced iMac you tested would have a hard drive with less cache and is slower than the $1999 model.

You must have misread. Macworld's $1,799 iMac has the faster (more cache) drive. What's odd is that the more expensive machine has lower quality parts.

[monospaced]

Quote

My 27-inch/2.9 i7 iMac …

Apple doesn't make a 2.9GHz i7 configuration you claim to have. They only offer a 2.7/2.9/3.2GHz i5 or a 3.1/3.4GHz i7.

[Kingdaddy2000]

My 27-inch 3.4GHz Core i7 with 3TB Fusion Drive simply says the following - how do you know which brand you have?

Physical Volumes:
disk0s2:
Media Name: APPLE SSD SM128E Media
Size: 120.99 GB (120,988,852,224 bytes)
Medium Type: SSD
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Status: Online
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
PV UUID:
disk1s2:
Media Name: APPLE HDD ST3000DM001 Media
Size: 3 TB (2,999,733,223,424 bytes)
Medium Type: Rotational
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Status: Online
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

[brilor]

@Kingdaddy2000 wrote: how do you know which brand you have?

Most of Apple's tools report the manufacturer's model ID. On the line with "Media Name" is "ST3009DM001". ST means Seagate, 3000 means 3000 GB capacity ( aka 3 TB ) "DM" means their middle of the road machine ( not entry level (DL) or premium ( DX ). The last characters "001" are attributes. You can also try manufacturer websites such as: http://knowledge.sea...US/FAQ/204763en

[vestalmac]

Quote

It seems odd that the $1799 priced iMac you tested would have a hard drive with less cache and is slower than the $1999 model. You must have misread. Macworld's $1,799 iMac has the faster (more cache) drive. What's odd is that the more expensive machine has lower quality parts.

Agree with your comment... and I did not word my original comment well. I meant to convey that the WD hard drive had less cache and was slower than the Seagate HD. And... it's odd that the $1999 iMac would be slower than $1799 iMac.

[vestalmac]

Quote

My 27-inch/2.9 i7 iMac … Apple doesn't make a 2.9GHz i7 configuration you claim to have. They only offer a 2.7/2.9/3.2GHz i5 or a 3.1/3.4GHz i7.

You're correct... type-o... 27-inch/2.9 i5 iMac

[monospaced]

Interestingly, the $1,999 iMac that Macworld received seems to have a WD drive while the models we received have the Seagates. Very interesting. I'd like to know how my computer benchmarks knowing this info.

I hope Macworld can get their hands on the $1,999 model with the Seagate drive so that they can update these benchmarks.

[vestalmac]

Quote

Interestingly, the $1,999 iMac that Macworld received seems to have a WD drive while the models we received have the Seagates. Very interesting. I'd like to know how my computer benchmarks knowing this info. I hope Macworld can get their hands on the $1,999 model with the Seagate drive so that they can update these benchmarks.

And I'd like to see benchmarks on the $1799 iMac with WD hard drive.

[Kingdaddy2000]

Quote

@Kingdaddy2000 wrote: how do you know which brand you have? Most of Apple's tools report the manufacturer's model ID. On the line with "Media Name" is "ST3009DM001". ST means Seagate, 3000 means 3000 GB capacity ( aka 3 TB ) "DM" means their middle of the road machine ( not entry level (DL) or premium ( DX ). The last characters "001" are attributes. You can also try manufacturer websites such as: http://knowledge.sea...US/FAQ/204763en

Thank you for the detailed response!

[robco]

Wow, the disparity between desktop and laptop seems to be getting narrower. I'm surprised how well the 15" rMBP compares to the iMac with respect to performance.