Core Duo Mac performance only 10 - 25% faster

Backing up our story this morning about whether Core Duo-based Mac users will perceive the "2 - 3x" performance improvement in their software, Macworld is reporting this afternoon that in its own tests with native (compiled for Intel) Mac applications, performance improvements were only in the 10 - 25% range.

Apple's much-publicized test scores for the new iMac were made with programs designed specifically to generate test results. So they may give some indication of the overall performance potential of these systems. However, such test results often don't match up to what regular users see in their everyday work - i.e., the speed of real-world applications.

(Macworld)