The large screen, the updated GPUs, and the expanded online configuration options are the major added features of the 24-inch iMac. Of the new models, it's also the only one to include a FireWire 800 port, which Apple hopes will make it appealing to professional designers who need fast access to external hard drive data. Apple has also expanded the audio output to support both analogue and digital connections.
As with past iMacs and Mac Minis, the 24-inch model comes with the latest version of OS X, Front Row and the accompanying remote for navigating your digital media, and the iLife '06 software suite for organising and manipulating your digital photos. Before making a purchase, you might consider that Leopard, Apple's next version of its operating system, will come out in the spring of 2007, but we don't find that pending release a deal breaker.
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Adobe Photoshop CS2 image-processing test |
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Apple iTunes encoding test |
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Quake 4 1,024x768, 4xAA 8xAF |
System configurations:
Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (17-inch)
OS X 10.4.7; 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5600; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; integrated 64MB Intel GMA 950 graphics chip; 160GB Western Digital 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (24-inch)
OS X 10.4.7.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7400; 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB (dedicated) Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT graphics chip; 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive;
Dell XPS 410
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS; (2) Western Digital 300GB 10,000rpm Serial ATA hard drive; Nvidia Nforce RAID class controller (RAID 1)
Sony Vaio VGC-LS1
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400; 2GB DDR2-SDRAM 533MHz; integrated 128MB (shared) Intel 945GM graphics chip; 250GB Western Digital 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Velocity Micro ProMagix E2010
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6400; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS; 320GB Western Digital 7,200prm Serial ATA hard drive
Additional editing by Elizabeth Griffin
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User reviews3
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boffisme 17 July 2008
Good: Making colleuges jealous!
Bad: The iSight (never works)
Louise Ash 2 November 2006
Good: Bright screen, speed, looks and ease of use
Bad: Er? Do they do a 30
Comment: Go buy one. I'm running Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro back to back and this machine just does not even appear to run slow. OSX is just perfect. For me, this is neater than buying a Pro Mac and large screen, the combination of the Duo Core 2 and a built in 24
Jack Crosby 27 October 2006
Good: I like how fast it is but most of all I like the big screen!
Bad: The fact my dad's partner won't let me on hers
Comment: It's the best thing that's ever happened to computers. The standard of computers will have to run fast to keep up with Apple but I love the software and the lack of Microsoft, but mostly I like the camera and the screen.
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