Apple announces new iMacs with aluminum enclosure, glass displays

Well the rumors that date all the way back to May were true - today Apple announced a redesigned, cheaper iMac and the loss of the 17-inch model. Let us all take a moment of silence for our fallen comrade.

Now that that's over, let's get to the good stuff. The new iMac tosses aside the old 'n busted plastic and LCD design for two of Apple's increasingly favorite materials: aluminum and glass (Exhibit A: the iPhone). Steve says customers absolutely love the glass and glossy displays, so the new iMac now continues the trend. With the loss of the 17-inch, however, the lineup has been slimmed down to two primary model sizes: a 20-inch now starting at $1199, and a 24-inch at $1799. For their respective sizes, this is a price drop of $200 across the board, but this now means that the barrier to entry for the iMac lineup has actually risen by $200.

The new models, their features and prices are as follows:

• 20-inch introductory iMac: 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 250 GB SATA Hard Drive, 8x SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT video card - $1199
  

• 20-inch mid-level iMac: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 320 GB SATA Hard Drive, 8x SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro video card - $1499

• 24-inch top line iMac: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 320 GB SATA Hard Drive, 8x SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro video card - $1799

[Update: Wow, now that I can finally get into the store (barely), I can confirm commenters are right: there is a 4th iMac at the top of the line offering a 24-inch display, 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 500GB SATA Hard Drive for $2299.]

All new iMacs feature that fancy, 0.33-inch keyboard that was leaked not long ago, and all models are available and shipping immediately. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now let the credit cards fly!