Apple's new Intel-powered iMac debuts earlier than expected, and Apple claims the new Core Duo CPUs offer a performance boost of two to three times that of the old iMac G5.

Apple announced last June that it would start making Macs with Intel CPUs by June 2006. Just six months later, Apple lived up to its promise -- well ahead of schedule -- by unveiling at Macworld this week new iMacs and the new MacBook Pro laptop, each of which uses Intel's new Core Duo CPUs. Apple claims the new iMacs show speed boosts two to three times that of the old iMac G5. We can't verify that until we test one. What we can say is that this could mark the beginning of a new era of computing competition.

Upside
Most of what we know about the new iMac Core Duo is good news. Apple introduced two models with this announcement: the AU$1,999 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac and the AU$2,649 20-inch 2.0GHz system. The baseline prices for each should look familiar; they remain unchanged from the two previous-generation iMac G5 models. And aside from the CPU, the new iMacs have the same features as the preceding models, including the integrated iSight camera, Apple's Front Row media player software, and integrated wireless networking and Bluetooth capability. Getting the same features and an allegedly faster CPU for the same price as the preceding iMac G5 sounds great to us, especially considering that we just gave the iMac G5 an Editors' Choice award.

Apple also introduced a minor upgrade to the 3D graphics chip on the new iMacs. Instead of the old ATI Radeon X600, you now get the Radeon X1600, a video-friendly 3D chip with advanced decoding capabilities (although by no means a gaming powerhouse). The new iMacs ship with OS X 10.4.4, which features some incremental tweaks to Apple's operating system. In addition, you get Apple's new iLife '06 software, also announced at Macworld. The suite includes minor updates to the current iLife programs, as well as the new iWeb Web design software.

Downside
Because of the switch to a different processor architecture, Apple needs to use a program called Rosetta to translate Mac applications that haven't been programmed to run on an Intel-based chip. The Tiger operating system and all of its bundled apps have already been ported over to run natively on the Core Duo, and Apple says that many other programs are ready to go. But the transition is not complete. During his Macworld address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed a new iMac Core Duo running Photoshop with a little difficulty. "Performance is not going to be strong enough for professionals that spend hours a day in Photoshop," he said. Adobe won't comment on when its Universal version of Photoshop will hit, other than to acknowledge that the software is in the works. A Microsoft product manager made an appearance at Mr. Jobs's keynote, affirming Microsoft's commitment to a timely transition, as well. We expect other developers are similarly onboard.

Outlook
The new Intel chips likely won't be cause enough for more Windows users to switch to a new iMac. What we do expect is that the new Core Duo chips will let Apple maintain its competitiveness with Windows-based desktops down the road. Without dual-core chips (and apparently the dual-core PowerPC G5 chips in the Power Mac G5 Quad won't cut it), pretty case design alone won't make up for the gap in capabilities between Apple and Windows-based systems. Now that Apple's processing future is secure, it can focus on continuing its tradition of innovative design and superior usability.