Apple iMac 24-inch: Love is in the air

A few years ago it looked like Apple would stay in its niche market forever, while Windows PCs ruled the world. But the latest Macs are competitive on price with high-end systems from companies such as Dell, and the new Intel-based machines will run Windows in a sandbox, helping people make the daring transition to OS X.

To top it all off, yesterday Apple released a gorgeous 24-inch iMac, the fastest iMac ever. If that doesn't tempt you to switch, you clearly have an iron will (and possibly an 'RTFM' t-shirt).

The 24-inch iMac (from £1,349) runs a 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.33GHz. Apple's stats claim that the new processor delivers up to 50 per cent more performance than the previous 20-inch iMac. It also doubles the amount of L2 cache to 4MB, which is shared between the twin cores.

As with previous iMacs, the entire system is embedded in the monitor -- even though the chassis is impressively thin. Thanks to some crafty engineering, the iMac is barely thicker than a 24-inch Dell LCD screen.

This is a pretty brutal tool for anyone who works with digital video or photography. We've used Macs that are half as powerful to edit full-frame HD video in Final Cut Pro and they've flown. Budding filmmakers take note: this is much more powerful than the Power Mac that Walter Murch used to edit Cold Mountain, and a fraction of the price. Expect a full review soon. -CS

Update: We now have a full review of the Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (24-inch) live in our Reviews channel.

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• Apple,
• Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (24-inch, 2.16GHz),
• film,
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