Photo gallery: Apple iMac (20-inch, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2009)One of the things we appreciate the most about Apple's new 20-inch iMac is that it has almost the same core components as the more expensive 24-inch model. Sure the screen is smaller, and the AU$1999 default configuration reviewed here has a smaller hard drive and less memory than its linemate. You can also find more affordable 20-inch all-in-ones that offer similar sets of basic features. But thanks to its 2.66GHz dual-core CPU and its lean OS X operating system, the 20-inch iMac is perhaps the best deal going for day-to-day multitasking. If you want an all-in-one PC and, like many people, you spend most of your computing time swapping between programs, the 20-inch iMac is a very strong option at this price.
We won't belabour the design of the new iMac too much, as almost nothing has changed since previous models. It's still one of the prettiest computers on the market. Major additions to the outside include a fourth USB 2.0 port and a mini DisplayPort video jack in place of the old mini DVI output. Mini DisplayPort works natively with Apple's new LED Cinema Display monitors. You can also purchase various adapters from Apple to connect the iMac to standard VGA, DVI and dual-link DVI-equipped monitors. Because the iMac's all-in-one design doesn't lend it to your living room, we don't miss HDMI as much here as we did on the new Mac Minis.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Overall, the test results are better for the iMac than on our other recent reviews of Apple's new desktops. The Dell and Gateway PCs in our charts are less expensive than the iMac, but throw in stand-alone 20-inch displays and the price disparity gets smaller. And while both the Dell and the Gateway have quad-core CPUs, that only benefits them on our Photoshop and multi-core Cinebench tests. The 20-inch iMac is very competitive on our iTunes tests, and it also has an amazing advantage on our multitasking benchmark. We would recommend this iMac to anyone who wants an all-in-one for general productivity and light-duty digital media manipulation at home or at work.
As with the 24-inch iMac, we also found the 20-inch model a very capable 3D gaming system. Quake 4 has no 1680x1050 resolution setting to match the 20-inch model's native resolution, but at 1280x1024 with all the detail settings turned up and 4x anti-aliasing, the game looked great and was extremely smooth. If you were to dual-boot this system and load more demanding Windows games like Crysis or Far Cry 2 on the Windows partition, it might give you trouble, but our gaming experience was a significant improvement compared with that of the older iMacs. We suspect the iMac will let you play the majority of both Mac and PC gaming titles with relative smooth frame rates and at least acceptable image quality.
There's not too much else to say about the new iMac. We've mentioned that it has 802.11n wireless networking built-in, and Apple also includes a Bluetooth receiver for remote device syncing and a webcam built into the top edge. The new default Apple keyboard with the iMac is a smaller version than the old model, with no number pad. The pad-inclusive version is still available as a no-cost option on Apple's configurator. Other options include 4GB of RAM for AU$180 and 8GB for a mind-boggling AU$1880, and hard-drive upgrades up to 1TB for AU$220. The useful iLife '09 application suite also comes in the box. Few other desktop vendors can claim to offer a similarly useful set of digital media software for free in their new PCs.
Apple's service and support policies remain one of our disappointments every time we review one of its systems. You get only 90 days on phone support, which for many advanced users might not be the end of the world, but we find it a significant minus for the everyday shopper Apple courts so aggressively. Otherwise you get the typical one year parts and labour warranty, and the comprehensive support resources on Apple's website and user forums.
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