Apple iMac 24-inch (2009 edition)

Full Review

The early 2009 Apple iMac 24-inch all-in-one desktop computer looks exactly like the 2008 version, but there are substantial changes under the hood. Apple has three configurations for the 24-inch iMac offering, but just one for the 20-inch model. Clearly, they want you to spend more and get the bigger screen version--which, if you have the money, is an excellent choice.

Design
The iMac we reviewed is the in-between configuration but it’s pretty powerful. At the 24-inch iMac's heart lies a Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.93 GHz, paired with 4GB of DDR3 RAM running at 1066 MHz. A 640GB hard drive and an Nvidia Geforce GT120 with 256 MB of RAM complete the hardware specifications. The external appearance of the iMac hasn’t changed at all, though Apple has lopped off the firewire-400 port and replaced it with another USB port, for a total of four USB ports. It still has a FireWire-800 port, and you can plug in FireWire-400 devices with an adapter. The Mini-DVI port has been changed as well, to a Mini-Display port. This can be converted to DVI with an adapter, though Apple does not supply these in the box.

The ineffable Mac aura is something you can’t put a price on though, and if you have the money, this is a good buy.

The keyboard has changed though, and sadly for the worse. The number has been removed and now the keyboard just looks wrong-especially next to the huge 24-inch screen. The low-profile chiclet keys also don’t seem right, but you can get used to that. The omission of
the number pad is a more grievous sin. The mouse is the same old Mighty Mouse. Personally, we don’t like it much, but that’s a matter of taste. The screen is gorgeous. It’s bright, too bright in fact. We had to move the brightness slider well over to the left before it was comfortable to use. Colors are vivid, and viewing angles are much wider than standard TN-panels.

Performance
Our MacWorld US colleagues ran a standard set of benchmarks on all the new iMacs, and found a substantial improvement in terms of performance. The new models are between 11-25 percent faster at all tasks in SpeedBench (the OSX analog to WorldBench 6). The fastest iMac, the 3.06GHz 24-inch iMac posted an overall Speedmark score that was 24 points (8 percent) higher than the previous 24-inch iMac with the same 3.06-GHz Core 2 Duo processor. The new entry-level iMac, a 2.66-GHz 20-inch model, had a Speedmark score that was 26 points higher (11 percent) than the previous entry-level model, a 2.4-GHz 20-inch iMac. There’s a Rs. 20,000 difference between the high-end 3.06-GHz iMac and the 2.93-GHz iMac. Looking at the Speedmark score, there’s only an 11-point difference (4 percent) between the two iMacs. But the key difference between the two is the graphics card; the 3.06GHz iMac has a 512MB Nvidia Geforce GT 130, while the 2.93-GHz iMac has a 256MB Nvidia Geforce GT 120. The 3.06-GHz iMac posted 7 more frames per second (11 percent) than the 2.93-GHz iMac in our Call of Duty frame rate test.

Conclusion
As with all Apple products, the rub lies in the price. For nearly a lakh, you get a powerful machine with excellent design and a great screen, with Mac OS X running as the OS. Is it worth it? Not on a pure price performance basis, considering that you can get a lot more power for this price. The ineffable Mac aura is something you can’t put a price on though, and if you have the money, this is a good buy.

Bottom Line

The cool new 24-inch Apple iMac, with a hardware overhaul, continues to impress. If price isn't a consideration, it is still the premium lifestyle all-in-one desktop computer to beat.