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Apple iMac MB323LL/A 20-inch Desktop PC (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
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| Price: | $1,499.83 |
Availability: Usually ships in 3-4 business days
Ships from and sold by Techno Intelligence
5 new or used available from $1,175.00
Average customer review:
Product Description
Just when you thought iMac had everything, now there’s even more. With the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of 800MHz DDR2 memory standard, and Mac OS X Leopard and iLife ’08, it’s the ultimate all-in-one. iMac packs amazing performance into a stunningly slim space.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #620 in Personal Computers
- Brand: Apple
- Model: MB323LL/A
- Dimensions: 35.00 pounds
- CPU: Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHz
- Memory: 1000MB DDR2 SDRAM
- Hard Disk: 250GB
- Processors: 2
- Display size: 20
Features
- All-in-one Mac desktop with 20-inch glossy screen and sleek anodized aluminum enclosure
- 2.40 GHz "Penryn" Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 250 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM (4 GB max), 8x multi-format/dual-layer SuperDrive
- 802.11n Wi-Fi (as well as 802.11a/b/g); Gigabit Ethernet; ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT video card (128 MB memory)
- Three USB 2.0, one FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, Mini-DVI output, audio line in/optical digital audio input (minijack)
- Pre-loaded with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and iLife '08; includes wired keyboard and wired mouse
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
Speedier than ever with the latest Intel dual-core processor, the Apple iMac all-in-one desktop PC sports a sleek, professional aluminum enclosure that's joined precisely to a 20-inch glass cover to create a virtually seamless front surface. It's powered by a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which includess an amazingly fast 1066 MHz front-side bus speed and super-sized 6 MB L2 cache. Part of Intel's 45-nanometer (nm) Penryn series, this processor boosts both speed and efficiency while helping to reduce power consumption. This dual-core processor also provides an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved multitasking, video, and gaming performance.
The iMac also features an ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard--with an extended layout and dedicated keys for Mac features such as brightness, volume, eject, play/pause, and Exposé--as well as the wired Mighty Mouse. It's pre-loaded with Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system, which enables easy backup of your most important data via Time Machine, a redesigned desktop that helps eliminate clutter. It also comes with the iLife '08 suite of applications--including iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes--and the newest version of the fast-loading Safari web browser.
Hardware features include a 250 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM (with a 4 GB maximum capacity), 8x SuperDrive for burning movies to DVD and music mixes to CD, integrated 802.11n wireless LAN, Gigabit Ethernet wired networking, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity, and ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT video card with 128 MB dedicated memory.
Power on a Pedestal
 Designed with a recyclable anodized aluminum frame and glass cover, the iMac is friendlier to the environment.. |
 The new keyboard's ultrathin anodized aluminum enclosure features low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel. |
With its elegant anodized aluminum enclosure, the new Apple Keyboard looks equally at home in your living room or on your desk. Just connect it to the USB port on your iMac and start enjoying the crisp, responsive feel of its low-profile keys. The extended layout has a full complement of keys, including document navigation controls, a numeric keypad, and special function keys for Mac features such as brightness, volume, eject, play/pause, Exposé, and more. Two USB 2.0 ports provide high-speed connectivity for your iPod, Mighty Mouse, digital camera, and other USB-based electronic devices.
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Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Experience faster, more nimble application performance and improved energy efficiency with this 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor from Intel's 45nm Penryn lineup. The new hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--helps to reduce power consumption while delivering. powerful processing speeds. This 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor is aided by a 1066 front-side bus speed and a super-sized 6 MB L2 cache--both top-of-the-line for Intel's Penryn processors. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.)
The Intel Core 2 Duo's 128-bit SSE3 vector engine handles 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, accelerating data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. And its two execution cores are designed to share resources and conserve power, helping it to achieve higher levels of performance since it uses fewer watts.
Hard Drive and Memory
The 250 GB Serial-ATA (SATA) hard drive (7200 RPM) quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0. The 1 GB of PC6400 DDR2 RAM (one SO-DIMM) has an industry-leading 800 MHz speed, and the RAM capacity can be increased to 4 GB.
Graphics and Video
The 20-inch widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD offers a resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels. It has a brightness rating of 290 cd/m2 (candela per square meter), a contrast ratio of 800:1, and a viewing angle of 160 degrees (both horizontal and vertical). An ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics processor powers the iMac with 128 MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory. It features some of the most advanced graphics technology available and delivers new levels of visual realism and a huge texture fill rate for smooth surfaces and complex character details. GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 3) is a graphics card-specific memory technology that's better able to deliver fluid frame rates for even the most advanced games and applications.
This iMac also enables you to connect a second display in either extended desktop mode or video mirroring mode. The mini-DVI port connects to DVI displays, VGA monitors and projectors, and S-video and composite devices using the appropriate adapter (sold separately).
Wired and Wireless Connectivity
 You get a full complement of ports on the back of the iMac, including three USB 2.0 and two flavors of Firewire--400 and 800. |
Share files around your house with built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet as well as the next-generation high-speed wireless 802.11n technology, which is integrated into the latest Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. The iMac is also Wi-Fi Certified to work with base stations and routers that use industry-standard 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g wireless technologies.
The integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity--version 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)--allows you to use a wireless keyboard or mouse, and synchronize peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs. Enjoy high-quality sound on almost any speaker system with double-duty analog/digital audio. Record digital and analog sources through audio line in, perfect for your latest podcast in GarageBand.
SuperDrive
Integrated neatly into the iMac is a slot-loading SuperDrive that lets you play and burn your own CDs and DVDs--including double-layer DVDs. And there's no disc tray--just slide the disc right in. It offers the following speeds:
- Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 4x speed
- Writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed
- Writes DVD-RW at up to 6x speed and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
- Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
- Writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed
- Writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed
- Reads CDs at up to 24x speed
Other Features
- Two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4 GB of RAM
- Built-in stereo speakers with internal 24-watt digital amplifier
- Support for external display in extended desktop mode: 1920 by 1200 pixels for digital and 2048 by 1536 pixels for analog
- Meets ENERGY STAR requirements with maximum continuous power rating of 200 watts
- Dimensions: 19.1 x 18.5 x 7.4 inches (WxHxD)
 Preloaded with Leopard, you'll enjoy enhanced productivity and a clutter-free desktop (thanks to the the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks). |
Preloaded with Leopard and iLife '08
The biggest Mac OS X upgrade ever, the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system features over 300 new features, including:
- Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac
- A redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs
- Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application
- Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them
- A brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock
- Major enhancements to Mail and iChat
Time Machine lets you easily back up all of the data on your Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac. In the event a file is lost, you can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file.
The iMac also comes with the iLife '08 suite of applications that make it easy to live the digital life. Use iPhoto to share entire high-res photo albums with anyone who's got an email address. Break into indie filmmaking with iMovie and iDVD. Then take all the stuff you made on your iMac and share it on the web in one click with iWeb.
iLife '08 also features iWeb '08, with live web widgets such as Google Maps that let you create even more dynamic websites, and GarageBand '08, with its new Magic GarageBand feature that makes it fun and easy for both musicians and non-musicians to create great sounding songs.
Included Software
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools); iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
What's in the Box
iMac, Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, Apple Remote, cleaning cloth, power cord, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation
Customer Reviews
Amazing Machine!
This 24" Imac with the 2.8 gig core 2 duo just cannot be beat. Don't get the 20" when for only $400 or $500 more you can get all that extra screen real estate, a bigger hard drive, and faster chip. The screen is the real star here though-- just soooo beautiful and increases work capacity by allowing you to write or work on a spreadsheet while having your supporting data up next to it. The machine is whisper quiet, looks gorgeous on a desk, has all the power you could ever want, comes with the best operating system and additional software on the planet, and the giant screen lets you work efficiently and without eye strain! Leopard was meant to be run on a screen this big as it really let's you take advantage of spaces, widgets, the dock and even spotlight and finder.
I've only had this Imac for 3 days, but so far the performance is dizzying. I typically fire up my Toshiba laptop (Pentium M 1.86 w/XP Home) in the morning and go and pour a cup of coffee before I even get to my login screen. Then I login and take another minute to 3 minute trip while i wait for it to boot up. On this Imac, you push the discreetly concealed button on the back and in less than 10 seconds you are ready to go. Shutting down is the same. Opening up the apps is super fast as well. I plan on putting photoshop on it soon, and I expect it to be great with the 2 gigs of ram that comes with it, but its easy enough to upgrade to 4 if necessary.
I honestly can't imagine anyone would be less than 100% satisfied with this computer. Check out CNET's review if you don't believe me--it's pretty stellar.
An ingenious mix of scintillating computing, extremely good design
I will break this review into three parts: (1) The Machine (hardware), (2) its Mind (OS X.5 and other included software) and (3) Everything else
(1) The Machine:
Let me just state that in order to truly appreciate the beauty of this computer you have to admire it from two feet away! Words can't do justice to such wonderful piece of artful engineering - ultramodern, sleek, stylish and yet eminently environment friendly. Solid anodized aluminum body with shiny black glass front and matte black metal back barring the shiny apple logo - it is perched on a strong tiltable base in a seemless fashion. There are 2 firewire ports (400+800) and 3 USB2 ports on the back, right lower portion along with a gigabit ethernet port. Theoretically the only wire you will need to run this gorgeous yet ferociously fast beast is the power cable! As it ships from amazon it comes with a wired beautiful, very low profile, solid aluminum base keyboard with white keys and a wired mighty mouse. If you order it from Apple store online, you can choose the wireless (bluetooth) keyboard+mouse as an option for extra $40. It is probably the only computer that ships with a black suede-ish polishing cloth - to keep your machine at its shiny best.
It boots up very quickly and runs whisper quiet. You do not hear hard drive spinning sounds or fan noise when performing processor intensive tasks. As for performance, the 2.8 GHz dual core processor with 1066 MHz front side bus and 2 Gb RAM gets you through your tasks sliding smoothly like you are skating on ice. Let me get to the important part - the screen, some people harp on that issue quit a bit. I just adore the ultra-sharp glossy screen with 1920x1200 pixels (more than enough pixels to see 1080p HD video). It is very bright even at the lowest brightness setting, with extremely good contrast, and the colors are rich and vibrant. Your average photo will look terrific on this screen - you have to see it to believe it! Yes, as it is designed with glass in the front, you only get the glossy screen and no option for the older matte screen. And I am using the machine in the worst case scenario - with three windows right behind my chair! So understandably, I was quite worried by those criticisms that it might be unusable in my desk. When the machine is sleeping, you will see the black glass screen reflecting the whole room like a dark mirror - but once you wake her up, you will notice that the reflections almost completely disappeared as your eye's focal plane automatically shifts from the reflective exterior surface to your desktop displayed crisply on the LCD screen, several mm deeper from the surface. So yes, if you want to refocus your eye and just keep seeing the reflections, you could choose to - but chances are you will most likely notice that the reflections have magically disappeared once the screen comes to life. Also let me further qualify that I am not a professional in photo/video field - but I am a serious amateur photographer and am very happy with editing my pictures in this machine (love Aperture 2.0).
(2) The Mind
(i) OS X.5 Leopard: I will not rattle out all the 200+ new features on this current version of the Mac OS compared to Tiger. But I will tell you my favorite ones - (a) Time Machine - backs up the entire system every hour with zero intervention from the user's side. It runs for 2-10 minutes in the background backing up only things that have *changed* in the last one hour of usage. It is the best back up solution I have encountered thus far. (b) Coverflow with Quicklook - more useful than you might think, for navigating through the average folders. This feature gives gives a preview (actual view - not an 'icon') of the document without having to open the application and you can flip through the contents like they are pages of a book, by just scrolling your mouse wheel. Just amazing. (c) Multiple desktops - group together the applications you use together in their own desktop without being distracted by other open applications/windows. You can quickly flip through upto 16 desktops although I don't use more than 2 currently (could be a great boon for multitaskers) (d) New Mail and Calendar: Now google's IMAP mail and apple mail work wonderfully well together better than ever before. Calendar runs in the background all the time and dates and events on your email are automatically understood and underlined - you can add them to your calendar without opening calendar at all. (d) Widgets and Spotlight launch faster and perform better than in Tiger (e) As mentioned before, boot up times are extremely fast, although I have already 80 GB of data on the hard drive and tons of applications installed. However, unless a software update asks for a restart I don't do it - putting it to sleep is quite energy efficient and the iMac doesn't slow down at all even if it is running for weeks without rebooting. (f) System wide spell checker, grammar checker, dictionary and thesaurus. Now the dictionary/thesaurus includes an apple help/reference guide as well as wikipedia! I think I can go on and on with all the little features that I discover everyday - but the bottomline is if you are upgrading from *any* operating system, 10.5 will thrill you.
(ii) The bundled applications are top of the class programs (called "Apps" for short in the mac world) that are extremely well designed and are ones you can actually use - as opposed to the crapware, trial ware and bloatware that comes bundled with PCs. iLife suite is a gem - although for my photography needs, I use Aperture 2.0, which is bought separately, instead of iPhoto which is very good for the average user. It even comes with all the drivers you need for booting Windows XP or Vista on a separate partition (BOOT CAMP) if you need that at all for some reason or other.
(3) Everything Else:
(a) Just one power cord for the mac and one for the Time Capsule (read about it elsewhere) replaced *EIGHT* power cords and power adapters I had before. Just imagine the jungle of wires that just disappeared with this all-in-one.
(b) Unparalleled esthetics and the legendary ease of use
[...]
I personally do not have ANY negatives after 3 weeks of using the machine and will update this review if I find one.
APPLE SAYS THIS IS A "USED" COMPUTER-WON'T SUPPORT IT
I purchased this imac at the end of August 08. It worked fine for 2 or 3 days, then it suddenly began to shut off for no reason. The computer would often reboot, cycle on, then reboot again. I called Apple for support but was told they would not give me any phone support because my computer had originally been purchased in May 2008. Not by me, of course, but by Amazon. It was bought new from Apple with 90 days free phone support. Apparently, the fact that I had purchased it new from Amazon in August doesn't matter to Apple.
I,m angry at Amazon for not informing me that my phone support had already expired and my hardware support was 3 months gone before I even bought the computer. I'm not so happy with Apple either. They told me that Amazon wasn't an "authorized reseller".
I had to ship the computer to an Apple store 200 miles away for repair. They replaced a faulty power supply. I decided to buy an extended warranty to protect my investment.
The computer seems to work fine now. I'm hoping this first "issue" with apple will be uncommon.
I know things can go wrong when you first buy something like this. So I'm a little surprised at this warranty situation and I wonder if it is true of many of the items from Amazon. I've been a long-time customer of Amazon, buying numerous products in the past. Are my warranties and support there when I need them? You may want to consider buying this item directly from Apple.
