In August , while look back the Mac Pro , I openly pondered whether some Power Mac users might be more quenched with the iMac than the Mac Pro :
I got even more food for thought Wednesday , as Apple announced an overhaul of the iMac merchandise line — complete with a new $ 1,999 top - of - the - line iMac with a 24 - inch display and 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo processor . Even more impressively , the 20- and 24 - inch iMacs can be upgraded to a 2.33GHz Core 2 duet central processing unit as a $ 250 “ work up to ordering ” option onApple ’s Web internet site .
Now , this iMac announcement does make the iMac product furrow a chip more complicated than it was before . By my reckoning , we ’ve now gotfourstandard iMac configurations out there , and that ’s not number the 2.33GHz central processing unit option .
The big news that most people will focus on is that there ’s a Modern , giant - sized iMac : the 24 - inch modeling , which weighs in at 25 pounds ( nine pound heavy than the 17 - inch model ! ) . We ’ve certainly jest about it around the office — it ’s the Mac forBigfoot , theAbominable Snowman , or maybeThe Leader .
But a 24 - in iMac really is n’t nonsensical at all . I ’m write this clause in front of a 23 - in Apple Cinema Display with a native resolution of 1,920 - by-1,200 pixel . The exhibit on the 24 - inch iMac has just the same aboriginal result , but obviously is slightly big in forcible size . In any upshot , it ’s a comfortable size of it . It might be the biggest iMac on criminal record , but it ’s on equivalence with a decent - sized professional monitor .
More important , though , is the addition of a FireWire 800 port , which brings high - stop number storage to the iMac for the first time . When I pondered the idea of switching from a Power Mac to an iMac last calendar month , I felt that one of the major stumbling blocks was the lack of quick outside memory . My Power Mac G5 has two speedy internal SATA drives ; I had a hard time picturing myself editing videos with a one-horse external drive , or copying reams of data point to the extraneous crusade just so I could free up space on my riotous internal drive .
Now look where we are today : you’re able to buy an iMac with the equivalent of a built - in 23 - inch Apple Cinema Display , with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor , up to 3 GB of RAM , and a quick FireWire 800 port for fast external depot . If you do n’t need all 24 inches of iMac good , there ’s always the 20 - column inch model — and since these iMacs still support screen spanning via their make - in mini - DVI connector , you may drive a second screenland if you require more screen space .
( And if you ’re someone who ’s obsessed with paries - mount your Mac , rejoice — Apple ’s extend an optional wall - mount adaptor for the 24 - in model , a feature not available on late Intel - found iMac systems . )
All told , these new iMacs make a pretty compelling system for those of us who do n’t need all the toll and pennywhistle of the Mac Pro . And for me , the plus of FireWire 800 pushes it over the edge . Now when I replace my Power Mac G5 at plate , I ’m going to give these Core 2 couple iMacs serious consideration .
