Consumer Reports on Mac reliability, clock speeds
updated 10:15 am EDT, Thu May 26, 2005
Consumer Reports on Macs
looks at the best personal computer offerings in its June 2005 issue. Apple's 17-inch iMac was ranked best for reliability and support. "Apple provides top-notch reliability and support. Its computers are currently less vulnerable to viruses and spyware than Windows-based models." On the downside, the review notes that the iMac has limited expandability. The June 2005 issue also touches on processor clock speed. According to the magazine, Intel now assigns "processor numbers" to its chips, de-emphasizing clock speed. The architecture of some families of chips, such as those from IBM, "allows them to be as fast as or faster than others with higher clock speeds, so speed comparison by the numbers can be misleading."
Celerons are sloooooow...
05/26, 12:51pm reply
All those dirt cheap Dells and eMachines, with shared video RAM, that people compare to Macs are really slow. The P4s are somewhat zippy but Celerons are like a fast G3 or slow G4. Our new 1.25 GHz Mac Mini feels much faster than our 2.2 GHz Celeron...
cebritt
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2000
RE: consumer reports
05/26, 05:27pm reply
They apparently didn't finish doing their homework on this machine - there is a huge problem with faulty power supplies and capacitors bursting, plus excessive fan noise. Search Google and see the number of hits for yourself:
http://www.google.com/search?q=imac+g5+capacitors+mid-plane&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
I own such a machine and even though its capacitors are starting to bulge, Apple doesn't view it as a candidate for the replacement parts yet. I suppose it will actually need to start a fire before Apple will consider repairing it.
Feeling_Macish
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2004
Duh
05/27, 01:19am reply
"The architecture of some families of chips, such as those from IBM, allows them to be as fast as or faster than others with higher clock speeds, so speed comparison by the numbers can be misleading."
jeez, we've been saying that for years and years.
mymacluvsme
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2004