March 5, 2009 The second major product announcement from the folks at Apple this week is an update to its iMac® and Mac® mini desktop lines, including a 24-inch iMac. At the same recommended retail price as the previous generation 20-inch model, the 24-inch iMac update offers 30 percent more screen real estate and has twice the memory and twice the storage while the Mac mini boasts new integrated graphics.
The Mac mini
Claimed by Apple to be the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer, the Mac mini's energy efficiency equates to drawing less than 13 watts of power when idle - up to 10 times less than a typical desktop PC. It comes with a Mac OS® X Leopard® operating system and iLife® ’09 consumer applications for managing and organizing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music.
The Mac mini measures 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches and features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®.
The mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before and now has dual display support which can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections.
The iMac
The iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display and includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics.
The new iMac features a glossy display with a built-in iSight® video camera, mic and speakers. It also includes a Mini DisplayPort connector for a pure digital signal to Apple’s new 24-inch LED Cinema Display with adapters available for DisplayPort, VGA, DVI and Dual-Link DVI displays. iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n Wi-Fi networking; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Gigabit Ethernet; a total of six USB 2.0 ports (including two on the Apple Keyboard); and one FireWire® 800 port. The green Apple
Apple advises that both iMac and Mac exceed current Energy Star 4.0 requirements and they are working towards the more stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements which will become effective later this year. Both iMac and Mac mini use PVC-free internal components and cables and do not contain brominated flame retardants. They both feature material-efficient system and packaging designs and use highly recyclable materials.
Every Mac comes with Apple’s iLife ’09 suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. iLife ’09 features iPhoto®, which introduces Faces and Places to organize and manage your photos and iMovie® features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization. Every Mac also includes the Leopard operating system which features the Time Machine™ back up system; a redesigned Finder™ to browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a system to see files without opening an application; Spaces®, a feature used to create groups of applications and to switch between them; Mail with setup and personalized stationery; and iChat®, video chat.
Apple also announced that its AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi Base Station and Time Capsule® now feature simultaneous 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual-band networking, range and compatibility. The Guest Network feature allows setting up a secondary network for friends and visitors with Internet-only access to avoid handing out your WiFi password. Time Capsule combines an 802.11n router and server-grade hard disk for wireless back-up with Time Machine, and is available in two models: a 500GB model a 1TB model.
Model features and Price
The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:
- 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
- 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
- the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.
The new 24-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:
- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
- 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; andthe Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.
The new 24-inch 2.93 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:
- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
- 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120; with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; andthe Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.
The new 24-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $2,199 (US), includes:
- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
- 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 130; with 512MB GDDR3 memory;
- 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.
A range of build-to-order options are also available. See the Apple site for details.
