Apple iMac MB950LL/A 21.5-Inch Desktop

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Product Details

• Item Weight: 30 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 29.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002C74E9C
• Item model number: MB950LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14 in Computer & Accessories (See Bestsellers in Computer & Accessories)

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  Computer & Accessories > Desktops

• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 20, 2009

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Updated with a brilliant 21.5-inch LED-backlit widescreen display in a new edge-to-edge glass design and seamless all aluminum enclosure, the new Apple iMac is ideal for watching high definition movies and TV shows from iTunes, or editing and watching your own videos or photos using iLife. The iMac now also comes standard with a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse, which features Apple's Multi-Touch technology. And it's faster than ever with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The 21.5-inch iMac features a brilliant LED-backlit display with widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.

The iMac declutters your desktop with a wireless keyboard and new Magic Mouse--the world's first Multi-Touch mouse.

The iMac's display offers a 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution (for native 1080p high-definition viewing), and it uses IPS technology to deliver consistent color across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle. This 21.5-inch model also features improved graphics with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor. It's powered by a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which provides an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved multitasking, video, and gaming performance.

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.

Key Features

• 21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with IPS technology, a 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, 320 cd/m2 brightness rating, and 178-degree viewing angle (horizontal and vertical)
• 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3 MB shared L2 cache for excellent multitasking
• 500 GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 RPM)
• 4 GB installed RAM (1066 MHz DDR3; supports up to 16 GB)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor (with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory) for an outstanding everyday graphics experience
• 8x slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer DVD support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/
• Built-in iSight camera for video chatting
• Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible)
• Gigabit Ethernet wired networking (10/100/1000BASE-T)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) for connecting with peripherals such as keyboards, mice and cell phones
• Side-loading SD card slot
• Four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port
• Mini DisplayPort video output with optional adapters for DVI and VGA output
• Built-in stereo speakers with two internal 17-watt high-efficiency amplifiers along with built-in microphone, optical digital audio output/headphone out, optical digital audio input/audio line in
• Dimensions: 20.8 x 7.42 x 17.75 inches (WxDxH)
• Weight: 20.5 pounds
• Included Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse

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

Limited Warranty And Service
The iMac comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan to extend your service and support to three years from your computer's purchase date. Only the AppleCare Protection Plan provides you with direct telephone support from Apple technical experts and the assurance that repairs will be handled by Apple-authorized technicians using genuine Apple parts.

Key Features

Big, Beautiful Display Combined with All-In-One Simplicity

The evolution of the Apple iMac.

The new iMac has come a long way from the first 15-inch iMac. The all-in-one design of the first flat-panel iMac cleaned up the desktop, and put everything you need--display, processor, graphics card, hard drive, optical drive, memory, and more--inside one simple enclosure. New technology inside and out makes the new iMac a worthy addition to the all-in-one dynasty.

This 21.5-inch model features an edge-to-edge glass display that covers nearly the entire front of the enclosure. When all you see is the display, nothing gets between you and what's onscreen. Movies, TV shows, websites, photos--everything looks stunning on the new 16:9 widescreen iMac display. And the LED backlighting in the new iMac helps push more light through the pixels with remarkable brightness and efficiency. And because the LED backlight doesn't take up much space, the iMac enclosure stays thin--even with all the high-performance components inside.

The iMac display is designed to look great from almost any angle. A technology called in-plane switching (IPS) makes this possible. Whether you're sitting in front of the display or standing off to the side, you'll get a perfect picture with superb color consistency and no loss of detail.

The wider iMac display allows more room to separate the two hottest components, the CPU and the GPU. This keeps things cool inside the iMac enclosure. Apple engineers also implemented an intelligent control system that monitors temperatures and delivers just the right amount of airflow to critical components. And the three fans inside iMac have been tuned to be ultraquiet.

While you'll find a collection of ports on the back of iMac, you won't find much else. A seamless, precision-forged enclosure makes the back one continuous aluminum surface. And there's only one cord: the power cord.

Wireless Magic Mouse and Keyboard
Forget the mouse as you know it. Every iMac comes with the wireless Magic Mouse: the world's first Multi-Touch mouse. Use it once and you'll wonder how you ever used anything else. There's no scroll ball, no clunky wheel, no cord, and no visible button. Instead, the Magic Mouse uses Multi-Touch technology to let you control everything with simple gestures. Give them a try and you'll find that Magic Mouse changes the way you interact with your computer. Built-in software lets you configure Magic Mouse any way you want. Its smooth, seamless design is ambidextrous, and it supports two-button clicking--without buttons.

The iMac banishes desktop clutter completely with a wireless keyboard to go with the wireless Magic Mouse. This low-profile keyboard takes up less desk space--24 percent less--than larger keyboards. There's no numeric keypad, so you can place your mouse comfortably next to the keyboard. And built-in Bluetooth means there are no cables to connect.

Built-in Wi-Fi
High-speed 802.11n wireless technology is built into iMac. And with Time Capsule or the AirPort Express Base Station, every computer in every room can wirelessly connect to iMac, the Internet, and each other. Over this network, everyone can print, surf the web, and play music on iTunes through your home stereo--wirelessly.

iSight Webcam
Hidden behind the glass display at the top of iMac is an iSight camera. Use it with iChat, and you can be anywhere without actually being there. Video chat with up to three of your friends, share a video with a colleague, or present to a client. Use iSight with Photo Booth for fun photo effects. And there's no need to waste valuable primping time installing software or configuring the camera.

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)

Environmentally Friendly Design

Because Apple designs both hardware and software, we can reduce our environmental footprint in ways others can't. For starters, a highly efficient power supply reduces the amount of power wasted when bringing electricity from the wall to your Mac. Unlike a lot of PCs, a Mac uses energy-efficient hardware components that work hand in hand with the operating system to conserve power--even between keystrokes.

A Mac also doesn't contain a lot of toxic materials. All Mac displays are mercury and arsenic free, and the internal components are free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

Efficient Power Supply
The iMac includes a highly efficient power supply that reduces the amount of power wasted when bringing electricity from the wall to your computer. Lower power consumption reduces energy bills and lessens the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Advanced Power Management
Unlike a lot of Windows-based PC systems, iMac uses energy-efficient hardware components that work hand in hand with the operating system to conserve power. Mac OS X spins down hard drives and activates sleep mode on already energy-efficient LED-backlit displays. And it balances tasks across both central processors and graphics processors. Mac OS X never misses a power-saving opportunity, no matter how small. It even regulates the processor between keystrokes, reducing power between the letters you type. That's just one of many ways Apple manages small amounts of power that add up to big savings.

ENERGY STAR Qualification
The iMac meets the stringent low power requirements set by the EPA, making it ENERGY STAR qualified. ENERGY STAR 5.0 sets significantly higher efficiency limits for power supplies and aggressive limits for the computer's typical annual power consumption.

Product Description

Featuring brilliant LED-backlit 21.5 widescreen display in a edge-to-edge glass design and seamless all aluminum enclosure. The iMac, is the fastest ever with Intel Core 2 Duo processors starting at 3.06 GHz. Storage is never an issue with the iMac, this unit features a 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive. The iMac ships with a wireless keyboard and the wireless Magic Mouse, the worlds first mouse with Multi-Touch technology. 21.5 iMac - 3.06GHz/500GB HD Apple Wireless Keyboard Magic Mouse Cleaning cloth Power cord Install/restore DVDs Printed and electronic documentation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy replacement for the 20" AND the 24", November 2, 2009

By	Paul C. Huang "Paul Huang" (Arcadia, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The trouble began when the aluminum-bodied 20" iMac replaced the white polycarbonate 20" iMac. Not only does it have a highly-reflective (albeit high-quality, very plane) glass, it has a TN screen that is 6-bit per channel. The TN screen found in the 20" iMac was inferior to the IPS panel found in the 24". Those who demand image quality had two choices: buy the 24" iMac or buy the 20", turn it toward the wall and make the wallpaper white so it lights up the user environment, and buy a quality IPS screen. This back-to-back solution may seem funny, but it does work. The TN screen displays different colors at different viewing angles (Unless the user moves his/her eyes directly over the pixel, the viewing angle variation relative to the pixel position causes the color to vary greatly.

The 21.5" is a major leap forward, because the entry-level iMac has the same GHz rating as the old top-of-the-line model, has a new two-AA bluetooth keyboard, and a wireless mouse. These are the added value that used to be extra before, and the Magic Mouse wasn't even available.

With the new 21.5", the users no longer have to choose a larger screen simply for better image/color quality. The glass, however, continues to be highly reflective and uncoated (no anti-reflective coating, as you may find on camera lenses, MacBook Air, and even Audi TT's speedometer/Tachometer).

Those who do not use the numeric keypad would definitely welcome the small-footprint wireless keyboard. It allows the user to bring the mouse closer to the keyboard and reduce wrist, forearm, and shoulder stress.

The Magic Mouse has finally done away with the problem-prone scroll ball found in the Mighty Mouse. I wish the top surface of this mouse were more matte/velvety than the glossy surface it is. The glossy surface is nothing more than cosmetic. Imagine if the trackpad on all the Mac portables turn glossy. I am sure there would be plenty of complaints. The glossy surface on the predecessor was OK because the fingers didn't have to glide over the glossy surface. Although the glossy surface is not a problem for me, because I don't use a mouse at all (Kensington Expert Mouse and WACOM, please), those with sweaty fingers would find it problematic.

Those familiar with the round iMac mouse will find this familiar: Its symmetrical shape lets the user easily lose orientation, because there is not a cord attached to it. As a result, the user must look at the logo first to identify which direction is supposed to be pointing up.

The integrated nVidia 9400M is more than good enough for casual users. Those who may need 3D or gaming capabilities should choose the other models with independent video cards.

NOW, THE $500 QUESTION. How does this screen compare to the 24" in physical dimension? This screen has 1920 pixels across, which is the same as the 24". The 21.5" is 18.7" wide, which is slightly narrower than the 20.25" width found on the 24". This means the 21.5" has higher pixel density. What about the height? 12.75" for the 24" iMac and 10.5" for the 21.5" iMac.

I forgot to mention that in the past, the power switch has a different shiny surface (while the entire back is matte) and has a concave surface. However, this one is perfectly flush to the back and is very difficult to detect. It takes some poking around. Another thing: they new wireless keyboard is noticeably noisier than the USB or previous three-AA aluminum wireless keyboard. Apparently the mechanism is not the same as the other aluminum keyboards.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant and powerful, it simply works, November 18, 2009

By	James Peterson "YMMV" (Savannah, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been a PC users since the PCXT days. Now I have a mac. I really have been suprised at how easy it is to learn the mac way of doing things.

I'm a programmer by trade (not a desktop coder, but mainframe/database) and I actually decided to buy the iMac because of my desire to create apps for my iPhone. I was shocked to learn that I could keep my windows environment. I could have both worlds.

So far, everything has been very easy to install and use. I had the windows/vmware setup and the iPhone SDK install the first day. Coming from a PC, I'm delighted at how elegant the interface is, even the mouse and keyboard are elegant. The screen is very nice. Colors seem very good, but I haven't done any photo editing and color correction/matching (so you'll have to get the pros opinion on that one).

Windows runs very well on it and I've had no problems with it.

I can't see changing back to a PC for my uses (not a gamer). This iMac was the best value IMO, compared to the other mac's and macbooks. Even compared to the new mac mini (if you add in the additional cost of a good monitor, bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse, the mini was closing in on the iMac price). I'd recommend this iMac for any deveoper to use as a base system. Power seems more than sufficient add to that the capability to run windows as well and you have one of the best values in a development system I've seen.

All this and lets face it the mac experience is very pleasant, and it doesn't hurt to expand your development into the mac arena.

After one week, I'm already a satified mac user.

I'll update after a year or so of use and abuse.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two years of lovin' my imac, two weeks of ecstasy with this new imac., November 21, 2009

By	J. Parkes (Fl USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have twenty years of Microsoft PC experience, OK so I was a slow learner. Ten years ago I bought my first Mac. Over those ten years I rode the Mac technology wave into the future by upgrading when it made sense, or after a quantum leap in tech or design changes that made me envious.
I won't go into my hatred for Microsoft, but I will tell you that my life has changed since I went to Mac. Learning Windows took years, mainly what to do when bad things happened, but also following the convoluted logic involved in operating windows. Repairs mostly were beyond my ability to deal with and service was expensive.
With Apple computers there is about a one week learning experience, but You can do it without reading the manual, it's that user friendly.
I have owned five different Macs, all but one was in perfect condition when I replaced it for a more advanced model, to my surprise was the way they held resale value. Each used mac I sold went for a surprising amount of money so the investment is good as compared with a three year old PC which are sold at pawn shops for pennies on the dollar and usually have hidden issues.
Macs are not 100% perfect, but they come close. In ten years I had one hard drive failure, it was recent on my 2007 imac so for 99.00 I installed a WD caviar black one terabyte drive that I installed in thirty minutes by following a you tube video on how it was done. My 2007 imac starts in under twenty seconds and has never glitched or locked up. it will run with the wind, and though I don't run very graphic intensive programs I have every reason to believe it will fare well. There are Macs made for that kind of intensive work but 90% of us will never need that level of machine. I run my iMac eighteen hours a day, share it with my children and never worry about failures.

On to my new 21.5 inch iMac. I considered the 27 inch model but sitting in front of it at the store I don't need that much screen, it seemed too much, a space problem requiring changes to my desk and honestly you don't really need anything so big when you sit two feet from it.

The advances in technology, the best available quality components ( as opposed to PC's lowest bidder policy) gives great reliability, and worry free years of use make the Macs a sound investment, and the longevity that make PC manufactures cringe. Both companies started in the same basement with truly brilliant minds, the separation was a godsend, you see competition is good for the consumer and the advancement in technology.

The clear results are that over the years one company built an affordable PC that appealed to the masses, while the other insisted that quality, craftsmanship, and reliability would outlast the short term gains of an inferior product. Apples plans were long term, and word of mouth, along with a superior product has finally come out into the light, and even many PC owners are now making the switch. Apple was always ahead of its time, but the time has come, the time is now. The success of the iPod, and the domination of the iPhone are very clear road signs telling the market what Apple has been doing, what their equipment is about, and it is changing the market.

My new iMac is everything I had hoped for and more, and when governments, business, and the people at home learn how far superior the Mac is compared to the PC, well.. I'm going to be buying Apple stock.

Microsoft is in major damage control mode, the commercials are the proof of that if the PC itself is not enough proof in itself.
Windows 7, while an improvement over Vista, is still a buggy patch job on an inferior product.

Apple is gaining new converts and the word is spreading, the numbers don't lie. As those numbers rise the cost for Apple computers will fall. This is the beginning of a snowball effect that Microsoft doesn't have a hope of slowing, and over the next two or three years we will see Microsoft in desperate attempts to stop the losses by redesigning their entire product line and hardware requirements by third party PC manufacturers.

I love my new iMac, and highly recommend to those sitting on the fence considering a new computer to do your homework, visit an Apple seller and sit down for an hour with one of these new machines before buying into an "Edsel" (Microsoft PC) type product. It's a big purchase, think it through, and don't let your inexperience with the Mac scare you, you'll be up and running before you figure out how to set up an e-mail account on windows 7.

On a budget? The Mac mini is an amazing computer, and you can use your PC's monitor. I think they cost around 599, so don't let money be the issue.