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Tech Specs

24″ iMac (Early 2008)

LEM Staff - 2008.04.28

Apple updated the iMac with Intel’s more efficient Penryn processor in April 2008, which has a larger Level 2 cache and includes the SSE4.1 instruction set. The Early 2008 iMac  also moved from the 800 MHz system bus in the Early 2008 iMac to 1066 MHz, and clock speeds now range from 2.4 GHz to all the way up to a 3.06 GHz build-to-order option.

2008 iMac

The aluminum iMacs have three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800 ports, gigabit ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and an 8x SuperDrive – as well as a slim keyboard with USB 2.0 ports. This was the last iMac to use an Ultra ATA interface for its optical drive.

The 2.8 GHz 24-incher has 2 GB of RAM 6 GB maximum), a 320 GB hard drive, an 8x SuperDrive, Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics with 256 MB of dedicated video RAM, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, and Apple’s aluminum keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

Build-to-order options include a 3.06 GHz CPU, Nvidia GeForce 8800 graphics with 512 MB of video memory, larger hard drives, wireless mouse and keyboard, and more.

The 2600 Pro graphics processor is in some respects a step down from the Nvidia GeForce 7300GT and 7600GT in the 24″ Late 2006 iMac. Gaming benchmarks measure GeForce frame rates as anywhere from 20% to nearly 200% higher. There are also many complaints about reflections due to the glossy display.

The Early 2008 iMacs shipped with OS X 10.5.2 Leopard and iLife ’08. The Early 2008 iMacs support OS X 10.11 El Capitan. This was the last 24″ iMac.

Although it is not officially supported, the Early 2008 iMac can run macOS Sierra using Colin Mistr’s Sierra Patch Tool. However, WiFi is not supported on this device. See our macOS Sierra page for more details and a link.

What You Need to Know

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard runs smoothly with 2 GB of system memory, and 2 GB is a practical minimum for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. You can run OS X 10.7 Lion with 2 GB, but it wants 4 GB to flex its muscles. OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.9 Mavericks run poorly with 2 GB and improve drastically with 4-6 GB. OS X 10.10 Yosemite and 10.11 El Capitan really want the 6 GB maximum this model supports.

Unlike earlier iMacs, where every USB port could provide 500 mA of power, only a single high-powered device can be attached to the USB ports, and software will enable one of its downstream ports to supply 500 mA of power. If a second high-powered device is attached, it will behave like a normal bus-powered hub and only provide 100 mA per downstream port.

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 2008.04.28 at US$1,799 (2.8 GHz) and US$2,199 (3.06 GHz); replaced by Early 2009 iMac on 2009.03.03
  • Model no.: A1225
  • Part no.: MB325
  • Model identifier: iMac8,1

Mac OS

  • requires Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard through 10.11 El Capitan, macOS Sierra via patch tool – see macOS Sierra on Low End Macs. Broadcom BCM4321 WiFi module, if present, is not supported by Sierra. Some Early 2008 iMacs have an audio issue that will not let you adjust sound volume in Sierra. macOS 10.4 Mojave and later are not supported.
  • Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatibility
    • Grand Central Dispatch is supported.
    • 64-bit operation is supported.
    • OpenCL is not supported except with the GeForce 8800 GS GPU.
  • OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion compatibility
    • AirPlay Mirroring is not supported.
    • AirDrop is not supported.
    • Power Nap is not supported.
  • OS X 10.10 Yosemite compatibility
    • AirDrop is not supported.
    • AirPlay mirroring is not supported.
    • Handoff is not supported.
    • Instant Hotspot is not supported.
    • Power Nap is not supported.

Core System

  • CPU: 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn”, 3.06 GHz Core 2 Extreme option
  • L2 cache: 6 MB shared cache on CPU
  • Bus: 1066 MHz
  • Performance, Geekbench 3:
    • 32-bit single core: 1656 (3.06 GHz)
    • 32-bit multicore: 2739 (2.8 GHz), 2977 (3.06 GHz)
    • 64-bit single core: 1662 (2.8 GHz), 1735 (3.06 GHz)
    • 64-bit multicore: 3024 (2.8 GHz), 3084 (3.06 GHz)
  • RAM: 2 GB, expandable to 4 GB using two PC-6400 DDR2 SODIMMs

Video

  • Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256 MB RAM, supports up to 1920 x 1200 external digital display, 2048 x 1536 analog display, and monitor spanning
  • Graphics: 24″ build-to-order option: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS with 512 MB RAM, supports up to 1920 x 1200 external digital display, 2048 x 1536 analog display, and monitor spanning
  • Display: 24″ 1920 x 1200 flat panel display
  • Video out: mini-DVI, VGA, S-video, composite (requires adapter)

Drives

  • Hard drive bus: 3 Gbps SATA Rev. 2
  • Hard drive: 320 GB 7200 rpm SATA drive
  • Optical drive bus: Ultra ATA/100 (operates at ATA/33 or ATA/66)
  • SuperDrive: writes DVD±R, DVD+R, and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed, DVD-RW at up to 6x; dual layer 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 16x, reads CDs at up to 24x

Expansion

  • USB: 3 USB 2.0 ports, only 1 high-powered device device allowed
  • FireWire 400: 1 port, 7 Watts
  • FireWire 800: 1 port, 7 Watts
  • Modem: optional 56 kbps USB modem supports v.92
  • Ethernet: 10/100/gigabit
  • AirPort Extreme: 802.11n
  • Bluetooth 2.1: included
  • IR receiver: supports Apple Remote (included)
  • Microphone: internal

Physical

  • Power supply: 248W
  • H x W x D: 20.5 x 22.4 x 8.1 in/52.0 x 56.9 x 20.7 cm
  • Weight: 25.4 lb/11.4 kg

CPU Upgrades

  • none

Online Resources

Keywords: #early2008imac #imacearly2008 #unsupportedsierra

Short link: http://goo.gl/ECuNKZ

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