On the market for eight months already, the redesigned, all-in-one, aluminium and glass iMac desktop has received its first major update: a faster processor and what Apple claims are the most powerful graphics ever seen on an iMac.
The powerful graphics punch will be delivered by a GeForce 8800 GS graphics card, the latest revision of the Series 8 chip from Nvidia, the chipset of choice for gamers and those with intense graphics requirements.
The GeForce promises to “deliver up to two times standard performance for graphic-intensive applications”, according to Apple, which adds that this is based on tests carried out earlier this month using pre-production 24-inch iMacs with 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The test used Quake 4 on the 1920 x 1200 ‘high-quality’ setting.
However, this 8800 GS card will only be available with the 24-inch iMac, which retails at €1,919 and is available to order from today. The 20-inch screen iMac comes with a choice of lower-power graphics cards from Radeon.
The iMac range begins at €999 for the 20-inch with a 2.4GHz processor, and climbs to €1299 for a more powerful 2.66MHz Core 2 Duo.
“The iMac’s gorgeous, aluminium and glass, all-in-one design has been an incredible hit with our customers and is just one of the reasons Mac sales are growing three and a half times faster than PC sales,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing.
“With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac,” opines Schiller.
By Marie Boran
