iMac 2.16GHz Intel 20-inch (Core 2 Duo)

Intel | Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz | Late 2006

The year 2006 was an exciting period for the iMac. Apple had introduced the first Intel processors into the iMac line in January, then six months later in July, the Intel Core Duo iMac Educational model was released.

September arrived and Apple launched the “Late 2006″ iMac series featuring four models using Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

This was one of the broadest iMac series ever to be offered by Apple. In addition to this 20-inch 2.16GHz model, customers could also select from a low-end 17-inch 1.83MHz iMac, or 17-inch 2.0GHz iMac or the colossal 24-inch 2.16GHz iMac flagship.

Apple claimed the new Intel Core 2 Duo CPU had 50% more processing power than the previous Core Duo version. The Intel CPU used a technology called SpeedStep, which conserved power by automatically throttling back the processor speed.

Like its gargantuan 24-inch sister, this model came standard with the 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 2.33GHz build-to-order option. Both these models had 250GB hard drives.

This model used the ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 SDRAM, the same as its less powerful 17-inch 2.0GHz sister, while the 24-inch behemoth used the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT with 128MB GDDR3 SDRAM.

The new Intel chips were complemented by a whopping 4MB of shared L2 cache running at full processor speed, a 667MHz system bus and a full 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, which for the first time was expandable to 3GB.

The base model was somewhat less robust than its sisters with only 2MB of Level 2 cache and 512MB of SDRAM.

As with all Macintosh computers, this iMac incorporated a bevy of features built-in from the start. This model had an iSight camera, Airport Extreme, IR Receiver, two FireWire 400 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, (two more USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard), DVI, VGA, S-video, composite video connections, stereo speakers, microphone, headphone output, audio line in, Ethernet, and of course, the white keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

All but the base model included a built-in Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module and Apple Remote.

Less than a year away, on August 7, 2007, the white plastic design would be replaced by the introduction of the aluminum iMacs.

system software

Installed OS: Mac OS X v10.4.7 “Tiger”

etymology

[1] iMac: From Internet + Mac

[2] The “i” in iMac originally stood for Internet but eventually developed into a marketing symbol for a wide range of Apple products.

[3] The Chin designation is derived from the area beneath the display resembling a square jaw.

[4] The Core 2 Duo designation is derived from this series being the first to transition from Intel Core Duo to Core 2 Duo CPUs.

design

Photo credit: Apple