iMac 1.83GHz Intel 17-inch (Core Duo)

Intel | Core Duo 1.83GHz | Early 2006

Longtime rumors were finally confirmed on June 6, 2005, during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

In his keynote presentation, CEO Steve Jobs revealed plans to deliver Apple Macintosh computers with Intel inside by the same time the following year.

Steve Jobs also announced that all Macs would transition to Intel chips by the end of 2007. He added, “It’s been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel’s technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years.”

The crowd of more than 3,800 attendees were offered a $999 “Developer Transition Kit” for testing applications being ported to Intel-based Macs. The kit included various beta preparation software and an Intel development system.

The firstfruits of Apple’s labor would arrive on January 10, 2006, notably sooner than the one year time frame alluded to in the keynote. The iMac and MacBook Pro would share the honor of being the first Macs to employ Intel Core Duo processors.

Two Intel-powered iMacs were introduced; this model and its more capable sibling, the 20-inch 2.0GHz iMac. The beautiful “Chin” design stayed the same but inside beat the heart of an Intel CPU.

This series replaced the short-lived iMac G5 iSight (Revision C) series released only 90 days earlier. The price, and basically the features, pretty much remained identical to the previous G5 series.

In addition to Mac OS X 10.4.4, Apple wisely provided “universal binary” versions of iLife ‘06 and the other Apple preinstalled applications. Other important third-party software would take much longer to go native.

This model was powered by the 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 processor with Smart Cache using 2MB shared L2 cache at full processor speed. The Intel CPU used SpeedStep technology, which saved power by automatically adjusting the processor speed.

The preceding short-lived G5 series was the first to employ DDR2. The Duo Core series went one step further using PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2 instead of PC2-4200 533MHz DDR2. Although it did take a half-step backward by limiting expansion to 2GB versus the previous 2.5GB.

The SuperDrive, hard drive, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth support remained the same as its predecessors, with the frontside bus creeping up from 633MHz to 667MHz.

ATI once again provided graphics support for the iMac. This first pair of Intel models used the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor using PCI Express and 128MB of GDDR3 video memory.

Both models included two FireWire 400 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, (two more USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard), VGA output port, S-video and composite video output, headphone output, audio line in, and built-in modem and Ethernet. And in another first for the iMac, the Intel models added a mini-DVI port and DVI output port.

This model came with a built-in stereo speaker system, built-in microphone, built-in iSight camera, as well as the white keyboard, Mighty Mouse and Apple Remote.

The Intel models marked the beginning of a new era for Apple but also the demise of another era. At this juncture support for Classic mode had departed and Bootcamp would soon arrive. No longer would Macs support the venerable Classic environment without third-party workarounds.

system software

Installed OS: Mac OS X v10.4.4 “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 Duo designation is derived from this series being the first to transition from PowerPC to Intel Core Duo CPUs.

[5] The Early 2006 designation is derived from the January introduction date.

design

Photo credit: Apple