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3.07 GHZ iMac available today!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This latest and most powerful iMac with up to 4GB RAM, has arrived: It uses an overclocked custom made 45nm Penryn 3.06GHz chip with a 1066MHz frontside bus, an Apple exclusive design so others cannot simply adapt so fast. Source.



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Its max of 4GB or RAM appears to be the one major shortchanging, (like Canon's use of less-capable focus in the Xsi, D40 and 5D models) so as not to cannibalize their flagship products.

However, as it has a fast graphics card, Apples own Aperture II, will race along fine while Photoshop will have to rely are more hard disk use for virtual memory.

"With ATI Radeon HD graphics standard, iMac delivers smooth video playback and realistic visual environments. And now you have the option to upgrade to the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS and 512MB of dedicated video memory, this 24-inch iMac configuration reaches a whole new, blow-you-away level of detail and realism in games, three-dimensional graphics, high-resolution photos, and high-definition video." Source.

Apples test with a 2.8 GHZ Core 2 duo Intel processor declared that the new NVIDIA GE Force 8800GS ran Quake in their particular setup 2.2x faster than the Radeon HD 2600 Pro previously used. Well I'm not a quake user, and I don't know to what extent the faster functions will reflect on PS rendering speeds. I always get disappointed. Still my wife's 2GHZ Intel Dual Core 2 Duo 24" iMac 1GB RAM, speed through large multilayered files fast enough for most work.

Having lots of free disk space seems to help these single drive iMac do very well even with no scratch disk.

One nice thing they give you is $1 back if you give them $2,200 for the 3.06 GHZ version with 2GB RAM. Still, with the supplied 500GB drive it's still an impressive Photoshop demon capable for most tasks. I'd add max out to 4GB RAM.

However, you must look at the screen at different head positions and be satisfied that you can accept any color changes that might occur at certain angles. I have not seen this one as yet. However, my wife's 2GHZ core 2 Duo 24" iMac needs to be angled right or else one could get false colors. I am now used it it and for most purposes it's fine.

I expect that the 2.8 GHZ 320 GB version is the better buy. For all intents and purposes it's going to do as well. I expect that the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memo is fine even for Aperture II. Besides, one still gets back $1!

Of course you have to cough up $1800 first, but then thats $401 in your pocket!

Asher
 
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