iMac Core Duo for Education

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Overview

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Apple surprised a lot of us by introducing a scaled back version of the 17" iMac Core Duo. To shave US$400 from the iMac's retail price, Apple replaced the SuperDrive with a 24x Combo drive, used an 80 GB (vs. 160 GB) hard drive, and went with Intel GMA 950 graphics instead of the ATI Radeon X1600 video with dedicated memory used in the other iMacs.

The iSight remains, but the remote control included with the last two versions of the iMac is not bundled with the education iMac. Bluetooth is not included with this iMac.

The education iMac uses Intel GMA950 graphics with "vampire video" (the video bites into system memory). The Intel processor uses 80 MB of system memory for the display, so upgrading RAM beyond 512 MB is a good idea.

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. Power PC 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.

iMac G5

The only things that seem to be missing are FireWire 800, which Apple still reserves for their "pro" models and has never yet put on an iMac, and AppleWorks, a product Apple has bundled with every previous iMac. This is the first iMac ever to officially support monitor spanning.

The new iMac ships with Mac OS X 10.4.7 and iLife '06, which is also a universal binary.

Details

introduced 2006.07.05 at US$899 (education market only); replaced 2006.09.06 by iMac Core2 Duo
requires Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later
CPU: 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, Socket 479 makes upgrades possible
bus: 677 MHz
RAM: 512 MB (two 256 MB modules), expandable to 2 GB using two PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMMs
Graphics: integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics, supports monitor spanning, resolutions supported unknown at present
VRAM: none, used 80 MB of system memory
monitor: 1440 x 900 flat panel display
video out: mini-DVI, VGA, S-video, composite (requires adapter)
L2 cache: 2 MB shared cache on CPU
hard drive: 80 GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA drive
Combo drive: 24x
USB: 3 USB 2.0 ports
FireWire: 2 FW400 ports
Optional 56 kbps USB modem supports v.92 standard
ethernet: 10/100/gigabit
WiFi: 802.11g AirPort Extreme included
Bluetooth 2.0: not included
Microphone: internal
power: 180W
H x W x D: 16.9 x 16.8 x 6.8 in/43 x 42.6 x 17.3 cm
weight: 15.5 lb/7 kg
upgrade path: none
Part no.: unknown

Upgrades

none at present

Online Resources

Best online iMac Core Duo deals, updated biweekly.
Best Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' deals. Best online prices for Mac OS X 10.4.
Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' deals. Best online prices for Mac OS X 10.5.
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