Apple iMac MB420LL/A 24-Inch Desktop

by Apple

Product Details

• Item Weight: 25.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 35.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001U0OHMQ
• Item model number: MB420LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,176 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 3, 2009

Product Description

Model: MB420LL/A

Amazon.com Product Description

Speedier than ever with the latest Intel dual-core processor, the Apple iMac all-in-one desktop PC packs a complete, high-performance computer into its all-in-one design, sporting a sleek, professional aluminum enclosure that's joined precisely to a 24-inch glass cover to create a virtually seamless front surface. It's powered by a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which includes an amazingly fast 1066 MHz front-side bus speed and super-sized 6 MB L2 cache. This dual-core processor also provides an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved multitasking, video, and gaming performance. And this iMac also gets a boost in video processing power from the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 graphics processor with 512 MB of DDR3 SDRAM of discrete video memory.

Designed with a recyclable anodized aluminum frame and glass cover, the iMac is friendlier to the environment.

The iMac also features an ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard--with dedicated keys for Mac features such as brightness, volume, eject, play/pause, and Exposé--as well as the wired Mighty Mouse. It comes pre-loaded with Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system--an operating system custom-designed for the advanced technology inside--and it also comes with the iLife '09 suite of applications, including iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes.

Hardware features include a 1 TB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM (with an 8 GB maximum capacity), 8x SuperDrive for burning movies to DVD and music mixes to CD, integrated 802.11n wireless LAN, Gigabit Ethernet wired networking, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity.

Power on a Pedestal
With its anodized aluminum frame set upon a sleek pedestal, the new iMac instantly transforms your workspace from cluttered desktop to brilliant display podium. Because the iMac's housing is made from a single sheet of aluminum, you won't see any seams or screws except for a single compartment on the bottom that provides easy access to the memory slots. The glossy widescreen 24-inch glass display makes photos and movies come alive with rich color. And the built-in iSight camera and microphone are integrated so neatly you barely notice they're there. Aside from the design details, the iMac is also friendlier to the environment with highly recyclable and durable materials including scratch-resistant glass and professional grade aluminum.

The compact keyboard's ultrathin anodized aluminum enclosure features low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel.

With its elegant anodized aluminum enclosure, the new Apple Keyboard looks equally at home in your living room or on your desk. Just connect it to the USB port on your iMac and start enjoying the crisp, responsive feel of its low-profile keys. This compact keyboard also includes special function keys for Mac features such as brightness, volume, eject, play/pause, Exposé, and more. Two USB 2.0 ports provide high-speed connectivity for your iPod, Mighty Mouse, digital camera, and other USB-based electronic devices.

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Experience faster, more nimble application performance and improved energy efficiency with this 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Its hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--helps to reduce power consumption while delivering. powerful processing speeds. This 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo processor is aided by a 1066 front-side bus speed and a super-sized 6 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.)

The Intel Core 2 Duo's 128-bit SSE3 vector engine handles 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, accelerating data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. And its two execution cores are designed to share resources and conserve power, helping it to achieve higher levels of performance since it uses fewer watts.

Hard Drive and Memory
The humungous 1 TB Serial-ATA (SATA) hard drive (7200 RPM) quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0. The 4 GB of DDR3 RAM (two SO-DIMMs of 2 GB) have an industry leading 1066 MHz speed, and the RAM capacity can be increased to 8 GB.

Graphics and Video
The 24-inch widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD offers a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. It has a brightness rating of 385 cd/m2 (candela per square meter), a contrast ratio of 750:1, and a viewing angle of 160 degrees (both horizontal and vertical). Offering 512 MB of discrete DDR3 SDRAM video memory, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 is ideal for 3D graphics-intensive games or pro applications like Aperture and Motion.

This iMac also enables you to connect a second display in either extended desktop mode or video mirroring mode. The Mini DisplayPort port offers support for DVI, dual-link DVI, and VGA video connections via an optional adapter.

Wired and Wireless Connectivity
The iMac gives you plenty of room to grow, accommodating as many as six peripherals at a time thanks to its four USB 2.0 ports and the two USB 2.0 ports on the Apple Keyboard. It also includes a single powered FireWire 800 port (one of the fastest peripheral standards available)--enabling you to quickly transfer content from compatible digital video cameras, hard drives, and other high-speed devices.

Share files around your house with built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet as well as the next-generation high-speed wireless 802.11n technology, which is integrated into the latest Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. The iMac is also Wi-Fi Certified to work with base stations and routers that use industry-standard 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g wireless technologies.

You get a full complement of ports on the back of the iMac, including four USB 2.0 and one Firewire 800.

The integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity--version 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)--allows you to use a wireless keyboard or mouse, and synchronize peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs. Enjoy high-quality sound on almost any speaker system with double-duty analog/digital audio. Record digital and analog sources through audio line in, perfect for your latest podcast in GarageBand.

SuperDrive
Integrated neatly into the iMac is a slot-loading SuperDrive that lets you play and burn your own CDs and DVDs--including double-layer DVDs. And there's no disc tray--just slide the disc right in. It offers the following speeds:

• Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 4x speed
• Writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed
• Writes DVD-RW at up to 6x speed and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
• Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
• Writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed
• Writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed
• Reads CDs at up to 24x speed

Other Features

• Built-in stereo speakers with internal 24-watt digital amplifier
• Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display
• Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack)
• Audio line in/optical digital audio input (minijack)
• Built-in microphone
• Dimensions: 22.4 x 20.5 x 8.1 inches (WxHxD)
• Weight: 25.4 pounds

The Greenest iMac Yet
The energy-efficient hardware components in the iMac work hand in hand with Mac OS X to create a system that can dynamically adjust power consumption to reduce the energy used overall. The iMac uses an advanced power management system leveraged from the technology that makes the most of battery life in Apple's MacBook family. To reduce energy consumption, the iMac hard drive spins down automatically when inactive, and it also decides which processor--CPU or GPU--is best suited to perform a task efficiently. That means when iMac is idle, it's using as little power as possible.

Apple engineers have worked hard to eliminate many of the toxins that are a common part of desktop computer manufacturing, such as choosing arsenic-free display glass for iMac. They have also removed brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from circuit boards, internal cables, connectors, insulators, adhesives, and more. And the entire iMac computer is integrated into an enclosure made from a single, solid piece of recyclable aluminum, while the display is made of recyclable glass.

The Mac mini meets the stringent low power requirements set by the EPA, giving it ENERGY STAR certification. In addition, Mac mini meets the latest efficiency requirements of ENERGY STAR Version 5.0 Specification for Computers before its July 2009 effective date. It has also earned the highest rating of EPEAT Gold. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, evaluates the environmental impact of a product based on how recyclable it is, how much energy it uses, and how it's designed and manufactured.

Pre-Loaded with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife '09
Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world's most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple's innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Installed software

• Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
• iLife '09 (includes iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, iDVD)

What's in the Box
iMac, Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, cleaning cloth, power cord, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation

Product Description

The all-in-one iMac packs a complete, high-performance computer including the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors into a beautifully thin, anodized aluminum and glass design. The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor with advanced 45-nm process technology and 6MB of shared L2 cache, allowing you to run your applications faster and more efficiently than ever before. This iMac features a glossy 24-inch widescreen display and NVIDIA GeForce graphics, that gives you a blow-you-away level of detail and realism in games, three-dimensional graphics, high-resolution photos, and high-definition video that comes alive with rich, vivid color. Built into the top of iMac is an iSight camera. You'll hardly notice it's there until you want to launch iChat, Photo Booth, or iMovie. iSight is easy to use and highly advanced. The remarkable picture quality and color accuracy make this tiny feature huge. With iLife '09, Mac OS X Leopard, built-in wireless, speakers, and ultrathin anodized aluminum Apple Keyboard, you'll be creating, sharing, surfing, and playing within minutes of opening the box. 24 Glossy Widescreen TFT Active-Matrix (1920 x 1200, 385 cd/m2, 750 - 1 contrast ratio, 178 H/V viewing angle) Liquid Crystal Display Built-in iSight Camera with Microphone NVIDIA GeForce GT130 with 512MB GDDR3 Dedicated Video Memory Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVD+-RW DL/CD-RW) Stereo speakers with 24-watt Digital Amplifier AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ports - 4 x USB 2.0 (2 x USB ports on keyboard), FireWire 800, Optical Digital Audio Output/Headphone out, Optical Digital Audio input/audio line in, Mini DisplayPort with support for DVI, and VGA, connections via Optional Adapter, RJ-45 (LAN) Approximate Unit Dimensions - 20.5 (H) x 22.4 (W) x 8.1 (D) Approximate Unit Weight - 25.4 Pounds

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great home/media alternative, a review from a PC user - 4 1/2 stars, March 25, 2009

By 

Adam - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple iMac MB418LL/A 24-Inch Desktop (Personal Computers)

This review is intended mainly for PC users who are new to the Mac. I'm not a huge computer person, I've always had PCs, and frankly I've always thought Macs were for hippies with ponytails. I pretty much have to use a PC for my job functions, but over the last few years I've been underwhelmed by both my home and work desktop (both dells) and my home notebook (HP). I'm fed up with the windows BS - freezing for no reason, slowing down for no reason, taking forever to shutdown/startup, constantly nagging to update virus software etc. I'm ok putting up with this for my work PC, but when it was time to replace my home desktop I decided to take a look at the Mac. I'm glad I did. I went with the 2.66ghz iMac with 24" monitor and 640gig HD.


First Impressions: Coming from a Dell, the iMac was pretty damn impressive right out of the box. The single box was smaller than I expected, and Amazon packed it pretty good (important because Amazon has dropped the ball on this before on other items). The 24" screen is HUGE and looks great. Setup is a breeze - it took much longer to disconnect my PC than to set this up. Just plug it in, connect to router, connect keyboard and you are ready. No, I don't miss the gigantic bundle of wires that used to be next to my desk. I was connected and playing around with this within 5 minutes of opening the box.

Pros: Beautiful screen, fast, easy to get set up and start using. The display is impressive compared to a windows PC. No dealing with virus software nagging for updates. The Time Machine feature makes it extremely easy to back up. Great overall design w/ few wires and nice touches like 2 USB inputs on the keyboard, camera built into monitor etc.

Cons: No Bluray player option (why not?). No numeric pad on keyboard (but I can't knock them for this since it is an option if you order from Apple's website). Built in speakers in monitor are pretty weak for music (I'll upgrade). I do think the "it's so intuitive to use" hype of Macs is a bit overhyped today - I think the user interface on a windows machine is just as intuitive, albeit much less visually impressive.

Where to buy: I purchased this from Amazon and I'm glad I did, as I saved about $150 vs. the Apple store. The downside to ordering on Amazon is the apple store gives you a few choices (like a numeric pad on the keyboard and wireless mouse) that Amazon does not. I initially started to purchase this from the Apple website because I wanted the numeric keypad, but as I was checking out I noticed they slapped me with sales tax of about $100 - you normally don't pay sales tax when you buy on the internet and the vendor is out of state. When I saw that I immediately cancelled my order and purchased from Amazon (plus Amazon was a bit cheaper to begin with in addition to no sales tax). Amazon also shipped it to me faster (though I have Amazon Prime), and did a good job packaging it. If you go w/ the apple store online, pay attention to sales tax your results may vary depending on your state.

Bottom line: I'm glad I got this. It's a great alternative for a home computer which I mostly use for internet and media purposes (I won't be installing excel on this machine!). It is a bit pricey compared to a PC, but it's worth it if you appreciate the impressive design, nice asthetics, great monitor, and less headache vs. a PC.

106 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Fantastic., March 11, 2009

By 

D. Rich (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple iMac MB418LL/A 24-Inch Desktop (Personal Computers)

First of all, I am a software developer who primarily uses my home computer for web development. I was previously struggling with a Dell laptop that was running Windows XP, and gave me nothing but problems from the beginning. Everything from the shoddy construction of the computer itself, to the slow software bogged-down by antivirus software made every task a chore. I was already in the market for a new desktop, and was leaning towards an iMac. When the new lineup with the upgraded RAM, hard drive, and nVidia graphics card was released, I decided the time was right to upgrade.

I purchased the 24" 640GB/4GB iMac from Apple because I received a substantial discount through my company, and one week later it arrived. I was extrememly excited to open the box, and after doing so was not disappointed. The computer comes packaged beautifully, and looks awesome. Everything about the design and packaging exudes minimalism and simplicity. I plugged in the keyboard, mouse, and power cord, pushed the power button, and was off. The startup included a cool animation followed by the typical registration/configuration screens. About 5 minutes after pulling the computer out of the box, I was exploring the massive desktop and checking my email. The software runs smoothly, and everything loads instantaneously. The computer runs silently, and restarting the computer takes about 15 seconds. The keyboard is wafer-thin, and is not the most ergonomically-sound piece of equipment I have seen, but it is still very nice, and the mouse is the best I have used.

As a user who does more than just surf the net and check email, I can say that there really is no comparison between my old computer and this one- they are two different machines, and this one is just capable of doing things that my old one wasn't. My old laptop actually had a 3GHz Intel P4 and 1GB of RAM, so we're not talking about a 386 here. However the software and crappy hardware were a constant headache- I actually had to solder together several wires in the motherboard due to a widely reported design flaw which Dell would not fix. They actually suggested that I mail the laptop in for $200 so they could diagnose the problem. That one episode is why I will NEVER consider a Dell again. They build crap and don't stand behind their products. Due to a virus, I had to wipe my hard drive clean and reinstall Windows, losing about two years worth of files in the process. I am with Apple for the long haul.

So to summarize, if you are on the fence about this computer, and don't care to wait for Snow Leopard to be released, get this computer- there will be no buyer's remorse. Also, definitely opt for the 24" model- the screen is enormous, and the display is just gorgeous. One suggestion- Apple packages the new iMac's with a keyboard with NO numberpad. If purchasing from Apple you can opt for the full keyboard for no extra charge. Since Amazon typically sells these at a substantial discount from the Apple store (and with no tax), it is probably worth just dealing with the shipped keyboard (since I don't think Amazon allows any customization). You can always use another USB keyboard, but the Mighty Mouse has a cord that is about 6 inches long, so it is really designed to plug into the keyboard, so if you are subbing in a different keyboard and want to use the Mighty Mouse, you will probably have to have a USB port on the keyboard.

90 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, March 15, 2009

By 

Princeps P "The Princeps" (The PHX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple iMac MB417LL/A 20-Inch Desktop (Personal Computers)

I just recently purchased this wonderful piece of engineering and I am very impressed with it. I have always been a user of Windows based machines but I am currently learning programming and have branched out to Linux based laptops in my studies. Sadly, the past five years I have only used laptops because of the size of my apartment, I just could not fit a tower. Even more discouraging, the all in one Windows based machines only have Vista. I was actually in the market for a Macbook but when I saw the new iMac I was in love. It was the perfect size for me to finally have a desktop after all these years. The screen, resolution and colors are beautiful. Even from few feet away I can view the screen clearly. It feels so good not to squint at a laptop screen. It has been easy to adjust to this OS and I find the experience painless. The feel of the keyboard is like no other; I was apprehensive about the small size but typing is incredible and quiet. I did have an issue regarding iTunes but the customer support was fantastic and they resolved the issue better then I imagined. Compared to Windows based machine one may find the power in the iMac to be less but keep in mind Mac's are very efficient with resources. For example, the new iMac is ready to go after a few seconds after startup. My mother's HP with 4gb of ram, same speed processor and dedicated video graphics memory-requires a few minute to boot up to a usable environment. I am able to open application(s) in the Mac very quickly after startup. I am very impressed and I can't wait to play around with Xcode and other development options. In the end I highly recommend to anyone looking for a solid system for home use. Power users may want to consider the iMac with dedicated graphics. Just one last note upgrading the 2Gb RAM to 4Gb is very easy and cost around $60.

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