iMac 2.16GHz Intel 24-inch (Core 2 Duo)

Intel | Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz | Late 2006

This was the first 24-inch iMac ever and the flagship of the iMac line at this point. The crisp 1920 by 1200 widescreen display is stunning.

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 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 huge 24-inch model, Apple also released a low-end 17-inch 1.83MHz iMac, a 17-inch 2.0GHz iMac and a 20-inch 2.16GHz iMac.

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.

This model came standard with the 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 2.33GHz build-to-order option. The speedy new Intel chip was 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.

Unlike the other models that had ATI graphics processors, the 24-inch flagship used a PCI Express-based NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM. There was also a build-to-order option for the NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM.

And in another first for iMacs, this is the only iMac with a FireWire 800 port. Instead of two FireWire 400 ports, as had previously been the case, this model had one FireWire 800 and one FireWire 400 port.

This model offered an optional VESA mount adapter kit and incorporated all of the great built-in features of previous models.

It came with an iSight camera, Airport Extreme, IR Receiver, two FireWire ports (one 800 and one 400), 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