Apple iMac 27-inch (Intel Core i5-4670)

Pros Fusion Drive is SSD+HDD, but smart. Stunningly thin design. Impressive low-glare display. Top-of-the-line processor and graphics card offer best-in-class performance. User serviceable memory slots. Ports include Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. Can work as a monitor for Thunderbolt Macs.

Cons No Touch Screen. SD card slot in back. No internal upgradability beyond RAM. No height adjustment. Requires adapter for HDMI. Bottom Line Though it's mainly a speed bump, the inclusion of the latest 4th-generation Intel Core i5 quad-core processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 775M Kepler graphics bump the Apple iMac 27-inch (Intel Core i5-4670) back to the top spot on our high-end all-in-one desktop list.

By Joel Santo Domingo

Though it's mainly a speed bump, the inclusion of the latest 4th-generation Intel Core i5 quad-core processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 775M Kepler graphics made a world of difference for the Apple iMac 27-inch (Intel Core i5-4670) ($2,199 as tested). The newest iteration costs much less than previous iMacs costing significantly more (such as the Apple iMac 27-inch (Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M), which listed for $3,099), but it's just as fast, if not faster. The newest iMac (Intel Core i5-4670) even surpasses the previous all-around EC for high-end all-in-one desktops. Thanks to its improved performance and features, the latest Apple iMac 27-inch is also our latest Editors' Choice for high-end, all-in-one desktops.

Design and Features
The new Apple iMac looks identical to last year's Apple iMac 27-inch (Late 2012) ($2,668), and no wonder. Apple introduced the new iMac chassis last year, which is still all aluminum and glass, and still tapers down to about 5mm on all four edges around the screen. Apple was able to do this by eliminating the built-in DVD SuperDrive, saving quite a bit of heft. Apple likewise moved the SD (SDXC) card reader from the side to the back panel. While not a deal-breaker, moving the SD card slot to the back makes it inconvenient for users who simply want to transfer their pictures to from their camera to their iMac. In contrast, the previous high-end, all-in-one Editors' Choice Dell XPS 27 Touch All-in-One (2720) ($2,099) has a tray-loading DVD burner, the SD card reader, and a selection of ports on the side; hence the Dell is much thicker along the edge.

The base model of 27-inch iMac (Intel Core i5-4670) comes with a 3.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 1TB (non-Fusion hard drive (non-Fusion), 2,560 by 1,440 resolution 27-inch screen, and GeForce GTX 775M, and retails for $1,999. Apple sent us an upgraded model with a 1TB Fusion Drive with a total price of $2,199 (a $200 premium over the base model). The 1TB Fusion Drive is a paired set of a 1TB 7,200rpm SATA hard drive along with a 128GB PCIe Flash Storage unit (similar to a SSD). To get our exact review configuration is to go to Apple's online store, select the 3.4GHz version of the 27-inch iMac ($1,999), then click on the 1TB Fusion Drive button under "Storage." This should add $200 and make the subtotal $2,199. The Flash Storage stores OS X and any other system files all the time, while the OS monitors which apps and documents you use often. The system then shifts these oft-used files automatically to the Flash storage, so they are available without too much waiting time. Less used files and programs are physically stored on the spinning hard drive. In practice, this means that startups and application launches only take seconds, compared with up to a few minutes on older hard-drive-only system. Unlike a HDD+SSD setup on some Windows PCs, users won't have to do any file management themselves; the OS does that for you. The Macintosh HD icon shows all the files on both physical drives, so you don't have to remember if you saved your file to the Flash or to the hard drive. For more on Fusion drive, please read our article, 5 Things to Know About the Apple Fusion Drive. Depending on your budget, you can upgrade to a 3TB Fusion Drive, or even forgo the spinning hard drive and configure an iMac with up to a 1TB flash storage drive. You'll pay $1,000 over the $1,999 base price for the privilege.

As expected, the iMac (Intel Core i5-4670) doesn't have too much internal access for the end user. You can buy tools from sites like ifixit.com to get into the system, but like the original Macintosh of mid-1980s vintage, the end user isn't meant to open the iMac and perform upgrades. The only upgrade available is under a door on the back panel, which exposes a set of four SO-DIMM slots. The system has 8GB installed, with a potential for 32GB total. If you need internal expansion, then systems like the HP Z1 Workstation ($5,673) would be a pricey option. Granted, the Z1 is an ISV-certified professional workstation that has a premium price for premium features like the internal accessibility, Xeon processor, and Quadro graphics. People that want such features like Xeon and Quadro in a Mac would be advised to wait for the upcoming redesigned Mac Pro when that is released, hopefully soon.

Like the previous model, the 27-inch iMac's screen is a bright IPS display with a 2,560-by-1,440 resolution. This matches the XPS 27 Touch's resolution, and both have far more pixels on the screen than any 27-inch system with a 1080p screen, like the Acer Aspire 7600U (A7600U-UR308) ($1,899) or the semi-portable Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon ($1,849.99). The higher resolution screen means that you can show more of a high pixel RAW image or show a full 1080p HD video while still displaying toolbars for editing that video. The iMac's glass is essentially bonded to the IPS panel, so internal reflections are minimized. Though technically the chassis is made of several pieces, the welding technique Apple uses means that the system effectively appears as a single piece. This helps rigidity and contributes to the thinness of the system.

Like other Macs, the iMac comes preloaded with iPhoto, iTunes, Mail, etc. The iMac has a one-year warranty. One future-proofing plus is that the iMac can work as a monitor for a future Thunderbolt-equipped Mac. Using one of the two Thunderbolt ports, the iMac's monitor can display video for a MacBook, Mac mini, or other future Mac. You can of course use the Thunderbolt ports and the four USB 3.0 ports for hard drive and peripheral expansion. This ability to use the iMac as a monitor almost makes up for the fact that you will need adapters for DVI, VGA, and HDMI displays in multi-monitor setups. Mini-DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt monitors will work natively, of course.

View the original article here

Intel CEO gives peek into laptop future with Broadwell chip

Intel provided a glimpse into the PC future by showing off a laptop based on the Broadwell architecture that is faster and more battery-friendly than current ones based on Haswell processors.

During a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich showed the thin-and-light laptop running a gaming application, and it looked much like the ultrabooks currently available from top PC makers.

[ Windows 8 left you blue? Then check out Windows Red, InfoWorld's plan to fix Microsoft's contested OS. | InfoWorld has your top picks: the best Windows 8 tablet laptops, convertibles, and Ultrabooks. | For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ]

Krzanich hinted that the Broadwell PCs could arrive in the second half of next year, but didn't provide an exact date.

Core chips based on Broadwell will be 30 percent more power efficient and faster than their Haswell counterparts, Krzanich said. Analysts have estimated CPU performance improvements in Haswell at 10 percent to 20 percent compared to previous Ivy Bridge chips.

Lenovo recently announced ThinkPads with Haswell chips that could offer 17 hours of run time through internal and swappable batteries. Broadwell laptops could provide even longer battery life.

Krzanich admitted that the PC market is changing with the popularity of tablets, and one of Intel's goals with its upcoming PC chips is to extend battery life as much as possible.

The chips will be made using the 14-nanometer process, which will also bring some performance and power improvements. Current Haswell chips are made using the 22-nanometer process.

"Fourteen nanometers is here, it is working, and we will be shipping by the end of this year," Krzanich said. The first 14-nm Broadwell chips will likely go into low-power Xeon server chips and then to PCs.

Intel is trying to grow its participation in the tablet market and will announce new Atom tablet chips code-named Bay Trail on Wednesday. The Bay Trail chips will go into tablets priced under $99 by the end of this year, Krzanich said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

View the original article here

Intel targets enterprise, SMBs with new Professional SSDs

IDG News Service - Intel will launch a new family of SSDs at this week's Intel Developer Forum, offering security and remote management features for enterprise and small-business client devices.

The Professional family will slot in between SSDs (solid-state disks) for data centers and for consumer devices. The first shipping product in the line, the Pro 1500 Series, will come in form factors including M.2 and 2.5-inch and in capacities as high as 480GB. It's intended for thin and light Ultrabooks, 2-in-1 laptop-tablet systems and traditional PCs.

The Pro line is designed for easy deployment and manageability, to reduce employee downtime and an enterprise's total cost of ownership. Its security features are intended to help protect companies from the danger of data theft from lost or stolen devices.

When it introduces the Pro line, Intel will also unveil the first SSD in that line, the Intel SSD Pro 1500 Series. Manufactured using a 20-nanometer process, the 1500 Series will use an LSI SandForce controller.

The 1500 Series will include AES 256-bit encryption and support for the Trusted Computing Group's Opal key management protocol. SSDs in the series can take advantage of Intel Core processors with vPro technology and an Opal management suite for improved security and management, according to Intel.

The 1500 Series will also feature three sleep modes, including the new DEVSLP mode, a deeper form of sleep that turns off some parts of the SSD completely. For example, the M.2 version of the 1500 Series SSD will consume 55 milliwatts of power at idle but just 200 microwatts in DEVSLP, according to Intel.

The M.2 SSD will be available in 80GB and 360GB versions, and the larger 2.5-inch version will also come in a 480GB version. The drives primarily will be distributed in end systems, Intel said.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

View the original article here

Intel Core i7-4960X

Pros The fastest consumer processor money can buy for multi-threaded workloads. Asus makes a great motherboard now that Intel has killed its own manufacturing division.

Cons Lacks support for latest Haswell features. Not the fastest chip for single-threaded tasks. Not compatible with Intel-manufactured motherboards. Bottom Line The Intel Core i7-4960X processor updates the CPU architecture to the 22nm-based Ivy Bridge, but makes precious few additional changes.

By Joel Hruska

It has been two years since Intel launched its six-core Sandy Bridge-E series and its accompanying LGA2011 socket. In 2011, Sandy Bridge-E was Intel's first consumer-oriented product with quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, and support for PCI-Express 3.0 (though not on Intel's own motherboards). The Intel Core i7-4960X processor launching today updates the CPU architecture to the 22nm-based Ivy Bridge, but makes precious few additional changes.

The new Ivy Bridge-E CPUs will be available in three variants. At the top-end part is the hexa-core Core i7-4960X, with a clock speed of 3.6GHz base and 4GHz Turbo. That's a modest bump over the Intel Core i7-3960X, with its base clock of 3.3GHz and a 3.9GHz Turbo. The L3 cache is 15MB on both models, but the new i7-4960X does support slightly faster memory—quad-channel DDR3-1866 is formally supported, up from the Sandy Bridge-E's DDR3-1600. The Core i7-4960X is set to debut at $990, which matches the launch price of the Intel i7-3960X.

There will be two additional IVB-E processors—the Intel Core i7 4930K, at 3.4GHz Base/3.9GHz Turbo and $555, and the quad-core Intel Core i7 4820K, at 3.7GHz Base/3.9GHz Turbo, with 10MB of L3 cache and a list price of $310. That puts the 4820K just slightly below the Intel Core i7-4770K, but in this case, that distinction is a tad misleading. The 4770K is based on Haswell, Intel's newer architecture, and is 5 to 8% faster than Ivy Bridge when measured clock for clock. The Intel Core i7-4820K, in other words, is almost certainly going to be outperformed by the Haswell processor.

Since Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge performance were very nearly identical, there's not a lot to get excited about here. Multi-threading performance is going to improve modestly, thanks to an increase in non-Turbo base clock speed. Single-threaded performance between the older Intel Core i7-3960X and newer Core i7-4960X is going to be nearly identical, which means we may see the Haswell-based 4770K outperforming both cores in some tests.

Backwards-Compatiblity
One of the benefits to a relatively small update like this is that backwards compatibility is much easier to ensure. Sure enough, if you own an X79 motherboard, you can look forward to an Ivy Bridge-E upgrade, however marginal that upgrade might happen to be—unless you own Intel's X79 motherboard. If you had the misfortune to purchase an Intel DX79SI, DX79SR or DX79TO (boards that retailed for between $219 and $319), you don't get to upgrade.

When Intel announced it would kill off its motherboard division earlier this year, it was understood that this meant the company wouldn't be building new motherboards for its own chipsets. The company neglected to mention that this also meant it would immediately dump all support for its enthusiast products, including refusing to provide a minor microcode BIOS update. Typically, adding support for a new processor is a relatively simple affair, particularly when the new chip doesn't introduce new features, core counts, instruction sets, or operating parameters.

It's worse, in this case, because Intel had a two-decade reputation for building solid motherboards with excellent customer support. Users who bought on the strength of that reputation two years ago, however, are out of luck here.

Test Results
We tested the 4960X using an AMD Radeon 7990 dual GPU, 16GB of Mushkin DDR3-1866, and an Asus X79-Deluxe motherboard. The Asus board is a particularly gorgeous implementation of the chipset, with six USB 3.0 ports in back, dual gigabit Ethernet, integrated Wi-Fi, and support for up to 64GB of RAM across 8 DIMMs. Intel's specifications state that the system should only use one DIMM per channel in a quad-channel configuration at this speed, however, so that's what we've gone with. All tests were run using a SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD for primary storage, with Windows 7 64-bit SP1 (all additional patches and updates were installed prior to testing.)

Is the 4960X faster than the Intel 3960X or the Haswell-based 4770K? Barely, compared with the first, and sometimes, when it comes to the second. It's important to pay attention to where the chip's benefits do and don't materialize. In 3D rendering test Cinebench 11.5, the 3960X scored a 1.57 in the single-threaded test, compared to the 4960X's 1.67. That's a gain of 4% for the Ivy Bridge-E chip, but the Core i7-4770K scores a 1.78, putting it a further 9% ahead. In the multithreaded test, where the hexa-threaded processors can stretch their legs, the Core i7-4960X scored an 11.13 compared with 10.52 for the Core i7-3960X and 8.18 for the Core i7-4770K. That's a gain of 6% compared to the Sandy Bridge-based processor and 36% over the quad-core Haswell.

In the encryption and security benchmark test TrueCrypt 7.1a, both of the six-core processors beat out the Intel Core i7-4770K. The Core i7-4960X and Core i7-3960X both scored 297MBps, while the 4770K trailed the pack, at 240MBps in the Serpent-TwoFish-AES test. In Handbrake, in our iPod Touch file conversion test, the Core i7-4960X again won out overall, with a 25-second convert time compared to 28 seconds for the Intel Core i7-3960X and 29 seconds for the Intel Core i7-4770K.

Where the 4960X runs into trouble is in benchmark tests that don't give it room to stretch its cores. In POV-Ray 3.6, the 4960X took 247 seconds to render the benchmark scene, compared to 256 seconds for the Core i7-3960X took 256 seconds. The Haswell-based Core i7-4770K finished the job in 193 seconds. In Adobe Photoshop CS6, using our 11-filter test, the Core i7-4960X finished in 189 seconds, compared with 169 seconds for the Core i7-4770K.

In the general-purpose PCMark 7 test, the Haswell-based Core i7-4770K actually pulled ahead, with a score of 6,686, compared with 5,917 for the Core i7-4960X. Obviously, PCMark 7 isn't optimized for more than four cores, but that's indicative of the general problem—a great deal of modern software isn't really designed to run at up to 12 threads. Most games, for example, won't really benefit.

Split Verdict
The value of the Intel Core i7-4960X is much weaker than it had it to be, thanks to multiple compromises on core counts and small clock speed increases. Intel is poised to launch a number of eight-core Xeon processors— moving one of those chips over to LGA2011 while refreshing the chipset to add native USB 3.0 support and more SATA 6G ports could have been a reasonable update for the platform.

When Sandy Bridge-E launched, the LGA2011 platform and six-core processor were the fastest Intel solutions you could buy. Two years later, the Ivy Bridge-E is the fastest solution, but only some of the time. For a chip that costs three times as much as the Intel Core i7-4770K, but lacks certain features and capabilities, that's a poor value.

Here's the bottom line: If you have multi-threaded workloads that you know respond well to more than four cores, then yes, the Intel Core i7-4960X is still going to be an interesting chip but only if you buy the highest end. Unlike in 2011, where the lower-end Intel Core i7-3820X might have been a valid option to pair with the X79 chipset for PCI-Express 3.0 and more memory bandwidth, there's no reason to pay a premium for a last-generation X79-compatible processor like the i7-4960X now as compared to a Core i7-4770K. In a core-for-core comparison, Haswell is always going to beat Ivy Bridge.

View the original article here

Intel set to ship new Atom server chips

IDG News Service - Intel is expected to announce availability next week of a low-power Atom server chip code-named Avoton, which is likely to appear soon in systems such as Hewlett-Packard's Moonshot.Avoton chips will become part of Intel's Atom C2000 product family and be used in high-density servers from multiple vendors, said a source familiar with Intel's plans.

Intel is expected to announce the chip at an event in San Francisco about hyperscale data centers.

Other Atom chips expected to launch next week include the "Rangeley" processor for networking systems.

The Avoton chips will succeed Intel's first line of Atom S1200 server chips, code-named Centerton, which are used in HP's current Moonshot server. Avoton will be based on the Silvermont architecture, the first major architectural redesign for Atom in six years.

Intel's upcoming tablet chip, code-named Bay Trail, is also based on Silvermont. Intel has claimed Avoton will be up to seven times faster and four times more power efficient than Centerton, which shipped in December.

Avoton will have up to eight cores, up to 64GB of memory, and include integrated Ethernet networking. Avoton will be manufactured using a 22-nanometer process. Actual figures for power consumption and clock speed have not yet been released. Avoton is

Intel's answer to an emerging threat from ARM in the market for high-density servers. ARM chips are based on a different instruction set and are found in many smartphones and tablets.

HP has said it will also use ARM processors in Moonshot, and chip makers Calxeda, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia and AppliedMicro are expected to release ARM chips in the next year.

A collection of low-power chips packed into racks of high-density servers are considered optimal for workloads comprising a high volume of lightweight transactions, such as serving search results or social network posts.

Intel has something of an early mover advantage along with support for 64-bit computing, but that's coming soon to ARM chips. Some other features in Avoton may lend themselves to slightly more heavyweight tasks, such as transaction processing for databases.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

View the original article here