Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac to date to the line, a whopping 24″ model with a 1920 x 1200 pixel display.

All four models (17″ 1.83 and 2.0 GHz, 20″ and 24″ 2.16 GHz) have a 667 MHz bus, three USB 2.0 ports along with at least one FireWire 400 port, gigabit ethernet, and AirPort Extreme.

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There’s more variety than ever before in the iMac line. The entry-level 1.83 GHz model uses Intel GMA 950 graphics, carried over from the education iMac introduced in July 2006. This model comes with a Combo drive, 512 MB of RAM (2 GB maximum), a 160 GB hard drive, two FireWire 400 ports, and Apple’s USB keyboard and Mighty Mouse. Because this model dedicates 80 MB of RAM for the GMA 950 video, we strongly recommend at least 1 GB of RAM.

The 2.0 GHz 17″ iMac has 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive, an 8x SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0, and Apple’s USB keyboard and Mighty Mouse. Like the 20″ and 24″ models, it can accept up to 4 GB of RAM, although it will only recognize 3 GB.

The 20″ and 24″ models shipped with a 250 GB hard drive and had a 2.33 GHz build-to-order option.

The 17″ 2.0 GHz and 20″ 2.16 GHz models use the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor with 128 MB of memory, while the 24″ iMac includes Nvidia GeForce 7300GT graphics with 128 MB of video RAM. The 24″ model was the first iMac to include FireWire 800.

The new iMac ships with Mac OS X 10.4.7 and iLife ’06.

What You Need to Know

The stock 512 MB of system memory on the entry-level 17-incher is adequate for OS X 10.4 Tiger, going to 1 GB really improves things, and upgrading to 2-3 GB of RAM will make a further improvement. 1 GB of memory is sufficient to run OS X 10.5 Leopard decently, but you should upgrade to at least 2 GB for really good performance. OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard can run on a 1 GB Mac but cries out for 2 GB of memory and is unleashed with 3 GB. OS X 10.7 Lion wants at least 2 GB of RAM and benefits from 3 GB.

The CPU is mounted in Socket M, allowing upgrades as high as 2.33 GHz (see CPU Upgrade Options for 2006 iMacs).

Intel-based Macs use a partitioning scheme known as GPT. Only Macintel models can boot from GPT hard drives. Both PowerPC and Intel Macs can boot from APM (Apple’s old partitioning scheme) hard drives, which is the format you must use to create a universal boot drive in Leopard. PowerPC Macs running any version of the Mac OS prior to 10.4.2 cannot mount GPT volumes. PowerPC Macs won’t let you install OS X to a USB drive or choose it as your startup volume, although there is a work around for that.

Details

introduced 2006.09.06 at US$999 (17″ 1.83 GHz), US$1,199 (2.0 GHz), US$1,499 (20″ 2.16 GHz), and US$1,999 (24″ 2.16 GHz); replaced by a faster model on 2007.08.07.
Model identifier: iMac5,1 (iMac5,2 for 1.83 GHz 17″ model)
Model no.: A1195 (17″ 1.83 GHz), A1208 (17″ 2.0 GHz), A1207 (20″), A1200 (24″)
Part no.: MA710 (17″ 1.83 GHz), MA590 (17″ 2.0 GHz), MA589 (20″), MA456 (24″)
Latest EFI Boot ROM: EFI 1.2

Mac OS

requires Mac OS X 10.4.7 Tiger to 10.7 Lion, not compatible with 10.8 Mountain Lion or later
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatibility
- Grand Central Dispatch is supported.
- 64-bit operation is supported.
- OpenCL is not supported.

Core System

CPU: 1.83/2.0/2.16/2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Merom, Socket M makes upgrades possible
L2 cache: 2/4 MB shared cache on CPU
Bus: 667 MHz
RAM: 512/1024 MB, expandable to 4 GB using two PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMMs, although only 3 GB is accessible.
Performance, Geekbench 2:
- Leopard: 2373 (1.83 GHz), 2596 (2.0 GHz), 2773 (2.16 GHz), 2867 (2.33 GHz)
- Tiger: 2392 (1.83 GHz), 2649 (2.0 GHz), 2862 (2.16 GHz), 3058 (2.33 GHz),
Performance, Geekbench 3:
- 32-bit single core: 1075 (2.0 GHz), 1153 (2.16 GHz), 1224 (2.33 GHz)
- 32-bit multicore: 1889 (2.0 GHz), 2028 (2.16 GHz), 2164 (2.33 GHz)
- 64-bit single core: 1164 (2.0 GHz), 1241 (2.16 GHz)
- 64-bit multicore: 2054 (2.0 GHz), 2162 (2.16 GHz)

Video

Graphics, 17″ 1.83 GHz: Intel GMA 950, supports up to 1920 x 1200 external digital display, 2048 x 1536 analog display, and monitor spanning
Graphics, 17″ 2.0 GHz and 20″ 2.16 GHz: ATI Radeon X1600 with 128 MB RAM (256 MB optional), supports up to 1920 x 1200 external digital display, 2048 x 1536 analog display, and monitor spanning
Graphics, 24″ 2.16 GHz: Nvidia GeForce 7300GT with 128 MB RAM (GeForce 7600GT with 256 MB optional), supports up to 1920 x 1200 external digital display, 2048 x 1536 analog display, and monitor spanning
Display:
- 17″ 1440 x 900 flat panel display
- 20″ 1680 x 1050 flat panel display
- 24″ 1920 x 1280 flat panel display
Video out: mini-DVI, VGA, S-video, composite (requires adapter)

Drives

Hard drive bus: 1.5 Gbps SATA Rev. 1
Hard drive: 160/250 GB 7200 rpm SATA drive
Optical drive bus: Ultra ATA/100 (operates at ATA/33)
Combo drive: reads DVD at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R at 24x, CD-RW at 16x; reads CDs at 24x
SuperDrive: writes DVD±R discs at up to 8x speed, dual layer at up to 2.4x; DVD±RW at up to 4x; reads DVDs at up to 8x, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x, reads CDs at up to 24x

Expansion

USB: 3 USB 2.0 ports
FireWire 400: 2 ports on 17″ and 20″, 8W shared output
FireWire 800: 1 port on 24″ model only, 15W shared output with single FireWire 400 port
Modem: optional 56 kbps USB modem supports v.92
Ethernet: 10/100/gigabit
WiFi: 802.11g AirPort Extreme included
Bluetooth 2.0: included on all but 17″ 1.83 GHz model
IR receiver: supports Apple Remote (included)
Microphone: internal

Physical

H x W x D (17″): 16.9 x 16.8 x 6.8 in/43 x 42.6 x 17.3 cm
H x W x D (20″): 18.6 x 19.4 x 7.4 in/47.2 x 49.3 x 18.9 cm
H x W x D (24″): 20.6 x 22.6 x 8.1 in/52.3 x 57.4 x 20.7 cm
weight (17″): 15.5 lb/7 kg
weight (20″): 22 lb/10 kg
weight (24″): 24.7 lb/11.2 kg
Power supply: 180W

CPU Upgrades

CPU can be replaced with faster Socket M Core 2 Duo CPU

Online Resources

What’s the Best Version of OS X for My Mac?, Ian R Campbell, The Sensible Mac, 2008.02.28. Which version of Mac OS X is best for your hardware depends on several factors.
The iMac Legacy: After the G3, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2008.08.15. The G3 iMac influenced the whole industry, but Apple continued to move forward with innovative designs using G4, G5, and Intel processors.
Know Your Mac’s Upgrade Options, Phil Herlihy, The Usefulness Equation, 2008.08.26. Any Mac can be upgraded, but it’s a question of what can be upgraded – RAM, hard drive, video, CPU – and how far it can be upgraded.
Why the 20″ iMac is perfect for home or school, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 2009.09.29. The aluminum iMac has plenty of power and screen space, yet it’s small enough and light enough to tote from place to place.
5 best desktop Macs for gaming for under $1,000, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 2009.09.10. You can have a decently configured gaming Mac for as little as $300 – and the ultimate for under $700.
The 64-bitness of Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.08.19. Although Apple is promoting ‘Snow Leopard’ as a fully 64-bit operating system, it defaults to running in 32-bit mode.
The Road Ahead: 64-bit Computing, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.08.19. Personal computers started with 8-bit CPUs, Macs started out with a 24-bit operating system, and 32-bit computing is starting to give way to 64 bits.
OS X 10.6 requirements, why Apple owns the high end, when to upgrade your Mac, and more, Mac News Review, 2009.08.14. Also

Crossover Mac Os X 10. 7. 5