New iMacs - 24-inch screen

Apple has announced that its iMac range now exclusively uses the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and it’s celebrating the happy occasion by adding a 24in widescreen iMac to the existing 17 and 20in models.

The 17in starts at £679 with a basic 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 512MB RAM, 160GB SATA HDD, a CD/DVD combo drive, Intel GMA950 graphics and a screen resolution of 1,440x900. You can spec this up to a 2GHz CPU with 1GB RAM, a DVD writer and Radeon X1600 graphics for £799.

If you fancy a 20in display with 1,680x1,050 resolution then you’ll pay at least £999 for a 2.16GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 250GB SATA HDD, DVD writer, X1600 graphics and Bluetooth, but what you want to hear about is the 24-incher.

£1,349 gets you a similar spec to the 20in model, but the new 24in widescreen model has an enormous resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels that should satisfy the most ardent movie buff. Apple has wisely chosen to upgrade the graphics to GeForce 7300GT.

That's the entry level version and if you push the boat out a little - 2.33GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 7600GT graphics, 500GB HDD - the price rises to £1859.

All models have 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-in AirPort Extreme, a total of five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire ports, including one FireWire 800 port on the 24-inch model. You also get a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing out-of-the-box, Front Row, iLife ’06 and all models run Mac OS X version 10.4.7 Tiger.®