Apple Speeds Up iMacs

April 28, 2008
David Schloss, Technology Editor

Apple today bumped up the speeds and graphics power of their iMac line, with the 24-inch iMac now hitting 3.06Ghz on the Core 2 Duo based processor known as Penryn to the ultra-geeky. The machines also now have an improved "L2 Cache," the part of the processor that helps speed up tasks by holding things for the processor to do next. The new iMacs also ship with 2GB of RAM up from the anemic 1GB of the previous model.

More important for photographers though might be the option for the Nvidia GeForce 8800GS, which comes with 512MB of video memory. This is  a hugely-fast card and it's perfect for the Photoshop, Aperture, Lightroom or Painter users.

This, in fact, helps bring the iMac up to many of the specs of the more expensive Mac Pro, making it a great bargain for the photographer who doesn't need the expansion of Apple's tower. The iMac line now starts at $1199 for the 20-inch and goes up to $2199 for the 3.06Ghz 24-inch model with the 8800GS. Hard drive options go up to a 1TB drive as well. (By contrast, the MacPro starts at $2799.)

This means that the average Joe can buy a machine with incredible horesepower, a built-in display and blazing graphics for $1,000 below the cheapest tower model. It's an absolutely killer configuration for the average photographer, and the perfect second machine for a studio.

More information at store.apple.com.