Apple's new iMac
By Paul Miller 
posted August 7th 2007 12:52PM
posted August 7th 2007 12:52PM
Update: Corrected the 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme spec, and added a fourth configuration to the rundown.
- $1,199
- 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1GB RAM
- 250GB SATA
- 8x SuperDrive
- 128MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT
- $1,499
- 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1GB RAM
- 320GB SATA
- 8x SuperDrive
- 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
- $1,799
- 24-inch, 1900 x 1200 LCD
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1GB RAM
- 320GB SATA
- 8x SuperDrive
- 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
- $2,299
- 24-inch, 1900 x 1200 LCD
- 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme
- 2GB RAM
- 500GB SATA
- 8x SuperDrive
- 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
that would be one sexy beast...
if it wasnt for that horrible black square thing around it.
Its faster, thinner, better materials, and cheaper. Even full glasses seem half empty to some of you.
I'm soooo pissed right now, I just bit my desk. I bought an iMac a month ago...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!
AppleCare and a slippery cup of coffee?
Ya sound more like a Pirate than pissed.
You have my sympathy, Timerider! I bought probably the last G-5 iMac a little over a week before the Intels came out!
Hmmm I kinda like it, but what's with the crappy mascara?
Its nice to see they're putting in a pretty decent spec these days (especially in such an astonishingly thin case), although 1GB of RAM simply doesn't cut it. It doesn't matter what OS you use, 2GB should be considered minimum in 2007, especially with a dual core CPU.
Plus that keyboard looks totally unusable. I'd replace it with a nice Logitech one.
Love it!!! FANTASTIC!! Bye bye old iMac.
I can't believe I'm saying this but, I think I preferred the photoshop'ed version better. Seriously. The design choices on this machine are actually a step backwards, personally speaking. I don't know where the black-on-back idea came from. To contrast with a white keyboard and mouse. And the Apple-Apple is even black. What happened to design simplicity with their monolithic, simplified lines? The white iMac was successful because of its neutrality. The 4th generation is full of contrasting tones and oddly proportioned details. The logo on the back is huge! And the fact that I can't get this machine in matte screen is inexcusable! And I'm a self-admitted Apple FANBOY!
Am I crazy?
Maybe the new look will grow on me (the apple designs usually do) but at this point I prefer the white ones.
The only reason people by Mac is the look. Since the Ipod the company had some more capital to put in R&D and we can see better quality. I think that they will have to fix some bags but since they move many electronic items in large quantity and the whollesalers love anything related to mac, if its cell phones, PCS, Ipods or any electronic items we should wait for ebay sellers to sell us those items cheaper once it comes to the liquidation industry and companies such as http://www.merchandizeliquidators.com/electronics.htm will start liquidating it.
Yeah I've written on most of the other Apple posts today, but is anyone with me when I say Apple should include a free upgrade to Leopard with a purchase of a new system today? If only someone could tell me if they will...
Also, if I wasn't so busy, I'd do the research to find out which Intel processor model they are using in their systems. I know one is 2ghz, 2.4ghz, and 2.8ghz, but which models? I know the new MacBook Pros have 2.4ghz processors, and I am praying that Apple wouldn't put a mobile processor into their iMac. So can someone tell me model numbers? I hope it's at least in the 6000 series.
They are mobile processors. the 2.8GHz version is the X7900, Merom core, 800MHz bus. It's the fastest mobile processor Intel sells.
Sorry if my last post didn't come out clear. I'm interested in the Intel processor names, not the iMac model number. Make sense?
I'm full of questions today, but I forgot to ask what the resolution is on the iSight camera? 640x480? 1.3mp? 2mp?
It look nice, but the graphics options are a step backwards.
I can't find any 2.8 GHz core 2s out there. Does Apple somehow get its own processor? Or did they underclock the 2.93 GHz for some reason?
Still comes with a one-button mouse? Sigh.
The way the Mighty Mouse was designed it has no buttons. You can actually customized it with one or two buttons layout.
Wow... I think I just may have been converted.
I like FW800 addition to the 20" however I still want to see an eSata or at least an express card expansion slot to add eSata for faster/lower resource hogging HDD connections. It's the one thing that I really miss on my CoreDuo iMac.
The ability to expand to 4GB of RAM is the other nice improvement. The new enclosure looks alright, personally I have no preference between this and the old white.
The glossy screen I'm not sold on yet. I do a lot of photo work and everyone says gloss is better for photos, but I tend to disagree in that you loose a lot of details in the shadows. Using glass instead of the MacBook's plastic might prove me wrong. But I'd like to see how it looks.
Apples stuff is crap
The black frame and back point to a leopard designed mac. no?
Am I the only one who thinks that Apple needs to compress their price range some? The Core 2 Duo Extreme unit is priced at $2,299, but you can get a Mac Pro with quad 2.66 GHz processing cores for $2,199 from the Apple Refurb store and have a fully-expandable Mac instead.
I think Apple need a quad core in the top-of-the-line iMac or a price that's $400 lower.
Wow. I'm really dissapointed, of all the AMAZING designs that apple has come up with even years ago, & this? I don't get it... is it a practical joke? I mean, come on. I've been waiting for one of these, but I guess i'll just get a macbook pro.
the new imac is very impressive and i would like to go buy a couple for the house.
but i wont at least until new os is preloaded & any bugs worked out of series 1 release
i would like to offer a few ways to improve the "chin" factor, make the display the entire front face still bordered by black w/brushed aluminum frame, have the dock fill the lower portion bordered by black thereby creating a 16:9 desktop/display area.
how about a darth vader imac all black with brushed alum. apple logo (and stand)
great new product!, however the tag line: "You cant be too thin, or too powerful" sounds like the ad line for Meryl Streep in " The Devil wears Prada".......Apples marketing is usually much better that this.
Mike
I hope they lower MacBook prices, since this has too much of a better value. Compare these.
17" MacBook Pro ($2799)
2.4 Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
160 GB HDD
24" iMac ($2299)
2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme
1 GB RAM
500 GB HDD
From extremetech.com review of Radeon HD 2600 Pro:
"It's hard to recommend the Radeon HD 2600 Pro. The $100 price seems attractive, but it comes at a cost. To get good performance out of even year-old games, you'll need to start cranking detail levels down, even at the conservative resolution of 1280x1024. Forget about DX10 stuff: So far, it all runs like molasses. To some extent, this is par for the course for $100 graphics cards. They just don't deliver a satisfying game-playing experience."
If they'd just put a DVI input on the monitor, I'd be all over it.
Beautiful...and powerful.
keyboard is luuuuuush will be a lot less painful typing. Going to order top spec one with wireless K & M plus Iwill the wired set seperately. I think the gfx card is fine for an imac and OSX , not to demanding. Will never understand why people waste there money on an imac then put XP on to play games? And then moan about the performance. Macs are and have never been about games. Its a whole experience and comunity you buy into. Anyways... nice update steve I LIKE IT alot. And just think the glossy glass screen will make the tipex your old man puts on it a lot easier to come off lol
ok i love the design, and the price is unbeatable!! I want one badly, but i thinks its a good idea to wait for leopard to come out...i dont feel like buying a new OS, its only 2 months away...
Yup, the gloss white is surely on it's way out. It doesn't look as classy as the brushed metal design, a bit childish actually. The mouse and keyboard (until now) looked out of place with the Mac PRO and other Alu products. If it wasn't for the power unit on my Macbook the mighty mouse would seem to me like a third party peripheral.
I love the commentarty on the iMac offering less harware for more money. That they are just plain more expensive, etc. PEOPLE! You get what you pay for! If I wanted a piece of S%&T then YES, I could pay less! Then YES! ALSO I could be riddled with glitches, software problems and never ending system crashes and ALL THE OTHER BULLS&&%T that comes with a Windows based machine. I bought my first Mac two years ago and would never run Windows again. Even if I had one of the newer macs with Intel...I wouldn't put that Windows crap in my Mac machine. Sure, there are things that are only available for Windows...but I can bet none of it is so important that anyone over the age of 30...non-gamer, would ever need or miss. WAKE UP...if you want QUALITY, YOU PAY! You are paying for a superior OS that runs seamlessly with amazingly asthetic hardware. Apple is sophisticated and grown-up. Hey kids, when you're done playing, come on over to superior.
oh, I forgot to say adult over the age of 30, non gamer OR the adult who may need a Windows based PC for work purposes. But, I've seen many of those folks with their own personal Apple systems and the crap PC provided by their employer.
For those who have yet to buy heres an update on mine. Repeated hard crashes after a mouse click independent of application or web site. These are crashes as if you pulled the plug out of the wall! Not freezes or hangups.
Now last night internet connection going out and finally quit altogether yet worked when ethernet cable plugged into old mac.
Finally after several calls and doing the same old jump-through-hoop routines I got a main guy type at apple. Alas he made me do the dreaded erase and reinstall routine. That lost about 6 hrs of work. lol. Wants me to run it with nothing but the supplied aps for a week or so and see....
I have to say these mouse crashes were odd. Like sending a signal to shut off the power. Not your normal 'slow' shutdwn screen
Wow, iMac is now beautiful (in black and silver skin), But it doesn't match its own keyboard 'coz their buttons are white. it doesn't match its own mouse 'coz it's entirely white. And its remote 'coz its casing are white and its buttons are white, too. The Apple remote should be in silver skin and has a black buttons. Its own keyboard's keys should be black 'coz its casing's color is silver. If we buy a new iMac, don't include its own keyboard and mouse (until the new Apple keyboard and mouse has been redesigned to black and silver) and we should buy black and silver PC keyboard and mouse to match iMac's color.
I can't stand glossy screens!!!...The horror...the horror. Too damn reflective. That was apples big mistake. He said in his conference that people as for the glossy screens...that's pure bullshit. Deal breaker.
Very interesting to read all the comments on here.
I purchased the 24" 1gb model as my PC had crashed, I needed a new computer quickly. As such the timing of the release of these was ideal. I had hankered after a Mac for years but was perturbed by the inability to run Windows software.
I am so happy with my purchase that I am keeping it as a Mac, I develop websites and am migrating over - the main issue being I have a lot of legacy sites using classic .asp with MS Access databases at the back end, so that's not easy.
Sorry, back on topic, I had the condensation issue the first time I ran the machine. I had picked it up from my retailer (not Apple) and brought it home in the car. I assumed the issue was one of general condensation as it only occurred that first time and I've subsequently not had it recur. If it had remained into the second day I definitely would have returned it. As a general note, I would recommend anyone reading this stores their data on a NAS or equivalent, it's viable for most of us who can afford an iMac to do so and believe me, having suffered expensive and time-consuming hd crashes on my pcs, the investment is so worth it. Even if you never get a crash, the feeling of security is just so great.
In summary I am very impressed by the Mac, and don't intend going back to a PC, despite the condensation problem and a few instructions to restart...