Apple iMac Core Duo (17-inch, 1.83GHz)

CNET editors' take

• Reviewed by:
  Rich Brown
• Edited by:
  Rich Brown
• Reviewed on: 01/11/2006
• Released on: 01/10/2006

Upside: Most of what we know about the new iMac Core Duo is good news. Apple introduced two models with this announcement: the $1,299 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac and the $1,699 20-inch 2.0GHz system. The baseline prices for each should look familiar; they remain unchanged from the two previous-generation iMac G5 models. And aside from the CPU, the new iMacs have the same features as the preceding models, including the integrated iSight camera, Apple's Front Row media player software, and integrated wireless networking and Bluetooth capability. Getting the same features and an allegedly faster CPU for the same price as the preceding iMac G5 sounds great to us, especially considering that we just gave the iMac G5 an Editors' Choice award.

Apple also introduced a minor upgrade to the 3D graphics chip on the new iMacs. Instead of the old ATI Radeon X600, you now get the Radeon X1600, a video-friendly 3D chip with advanced decoding capabilities (although by no means a gaming powerhouse). The new iMacs ship with OS X 10.4.4, which features some incremental tweaks to Apple's operating system. In addition, you get Apple's new iLife '06 software, also announced at Macworld. The suite includes minor updates to the current iLife programs, as well as the new iWeb Web design software.

Compare prices for Apple iMac Core Duo

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 17 reviews
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• Showing 3 of 17 user reviews

• 1.0 stars

  "It goes haywire by itself from hour to hour, day to day"

  by simpletony on December 19, 2008

• 2.5 stars

  0 out of 1 people found this helpful

  "I've been thinking about buying a Macintosh but:"

  by borg3of31 on June 15, 2007

• 4.5 stars

  "This thing is like my child! It is my greatest asset on the planet and, boy, does it work!"

  by murf1992 on February 23, 2007

• See all 17 user reviews Write review

Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

• alaTest.com

  Editors' rating: 86

  Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 449 reviews of Apple iMac Core Duo from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 78/100 and users 85/100. Comparing these reviews to 66031 other Desktops reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 86/100 = Very Good.

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• computerarts.co.uk

  Editors' rating: 80

  Summary: This is the future of the Mac, but slow-running applications are the price you pay for early adoption. If you need an iMac, future-proof yourself and buy a Core Duo. If you're thinking of upgrading, hold off until apps that can take full advantage of ...

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• stuff.tv

  Editors' rating: 100

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• macworld.co.uk

  Editors' rating: 80

  Summary: Overall, the features Apple removed from the standard iMac to make this one more affordable are good choices given the target market. However, the lack of included software for word processing, page layout, and spreadsheets may be a calculated risk on ...

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• pcworld.com

  Editors' rating: 76

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• appleinsider.com

  Editors' rating: 80

  Summary: One could argue that the iMac is not meant for power users, and that's why Apple transitioned it to Intel first. But cropping images in Photoshop should not cause any dual-2.0GHz machine to slow to a crawl

  Read full review