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Dear all, Here is a summary of all the responses (not a lot): Original post
The dual-core intel iMacs are now out. I think the 20" screen one is quite a good value for money and am considering to buy one for general crystallographic computing and light molecular graphics. Does anyone have any comments about the pros and cons of implementing crystallographic softwares on these new machines and what problems shall we anticipate in the near future? Has anyone actually get their hands on this and tried these out?
Ashley Buckle, Juergen Bosch & Warren DeLano commented in general Macs (e.g. G4) running OSX are good for general crystallographic computing (no stereo graphics). David Schuller has the most comprehensive comments: The "Core Duo" is Intel's new laptop chip, so integer performance is impressive but floating point performance is not the best. Still, it's really not that bad either. The processor is cool and probably quiet.I believe it is dual core, but 32 bit. It's good to see that, unlike previous iMacs, this one has a gigabit ethernet interface. Previously, Apple has limited features on the iMacs to avoid cutting into sale of PowerMacs, but they don't have any Intel processor PowerMacs available yet. The "8x SuperDrive" is a little slow compared to what's available. 16x DVD burners are down to $40 on the open market. Probably the biggest limitation will be lack of expandability. If it has the features you need, fine, but there is little hope of significant upgrade. That includes the monitor, which is built-in. The display says: 1680x1050 pixels. It's wide, but not that tall. Note there's a lot of blank plastic below the display area. The Radeon X1600 graphics are not top of the line, but if you're not using this as a full-time modeling station, that might be OK. [the rest is price/performance comparison with other hardware...] Thanks to you all. I have ordered a 20" iMac intel Core Duo. Wai -- Yu Wai Chen, PhD................................................ King's College London, Randall Division +44-207-848-8206 New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, U.K.
