Apple iMac 24″ (M3) vs Apple iMac G5 (17-inch, Ambient Light Sensor)

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iMac 24″ (M3) compared with iMac G5 (17-inch, Ambient Light Sensor)

	AppleiMac 24″ (M3)	AppleiMac G5 (17-inch, Ambient Light Sensor)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2023	May 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M3	IBM PowerPC G5 1.8 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor) or IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor)
CPU cores
CPU cores	8	1
Graphics
Graphics	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Memory
Memory	8 GB or 24 GB (better)	512 MB or 2 GB
Storage
Storage	256 GB to 2 TB (better)	160 GB to 400 GB
CPU
CPU	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores	1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 with 600 MHz frontside bus and Combo drive, or 2.0 GHz with 667 MHz bus and SuperDrive; both have 512 KB L2 cache. Generic maker-clock chip records retain the single-core identity cross-checked with exact EveryMac sources; uncertain 970/970FX silicon revision is not inferred.
GPU
GPU	8-core GPU (two-port model) or 10-core GPU (four-port models); hardware-accelerated ray tracing	ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB dedicated video memory; AGP 8x support.
Memory type
Memory type	–	400 MHz DDR SDRAM (PC3200), two 184-pin DIMM slots; 512 MB standard and 2 GB supported maximum. Configurations conservatively list the published base and maximum; no intermediate factory pairing is inferred.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	100GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD	160 GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, configurable to 250 or 400 GB. The 1.8 GHz base has a Combo drive (DVD reading/CD writing); the 2.0 GHz base has an 8x SuperDrive with 2.4x double-layer DVD writing.
Media engine
Media engine	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; video decode engine; video encode engine; ProRes encode and decode engine; AV1 decode	–
Display
Screen size
Screen size	24″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	4480 × 2520 (better)	1440 × 900
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	60 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	500 nits	–
Display type
Display type	4.5K Retina display; actual diagonal 23.5 inches	Widescreen LCD with millions of colours; panel technology, refresh rate and brightness not published in the retained exact maker specification.
Pixel density
Pixel density	218 ppi	–
Display features
Display features	1 billion colours; wide colour (P3); True Tone	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB4, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	–	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 1	–
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	802.11g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	2.0 + EDR
Camera
Camera	1080p FaceTime HD	–
Back ports
Back ports	Two-port model: 2 × Thunderbolt / USB 4 with DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s), USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s), Gigabit Ethernet optional; four-port models add 2 × USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s) and Gigabit Ethernet as standard; 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones	Three USB 2.0 ports on the computer, plus two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard; two FireWire 400 ports, Mini-VGA output, Gigabit Ethernet, headphone/optical output and audio line-in. Built-in 56K V.92 modem is confirmed by launch press and exact manual; retained USB-HSP wording describes its internal transport, rather than an extra external USB device.
External displays
External displays	One at up to 6K 60Hz	Optional Mini-VGA adapters provide VGA, S-video or composite output; no DVI connector is listed.
Camera
Camera	1080p FaceTime HD camera; advanced image signal processor with computational video	–
Speakers
Speakers	High-fidelity six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo sound; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming	–
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Magic Keyboard (two-port model) or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (four-port models), and Magic Mouse; Magic Trackpad or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad available instead	Apple Keyboard and Apple Mouse; the later Mighty Mouse and iSight-generation remote are not substituted for the launch accessories.
Design and power
Type
Type	All-in-one	All-in-one
Weight
Weight	4.43 kg (better)	8.4 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	547 × 147 × 461 mm	426 × 173 × 430 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Power supply
Power supply	143W external power adapter; power lead (2 m)	–
Colours
Colours	Two-port model: Blue, Green, Pink, Silver; four-port models also Yellow, Orange, Purple	–
In the box
In the box	iMac, Magic Keyboard (with Touch ID on four-port models), Magic Mouse, 143W power adapter, power lead (2 m), USB-C to Lightning Cable	iMac G5, keyboard, mouse, power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation; Mac OS X Tiger, iLife ’05 and AppleWorks. Classic support is available but not preinstalled and cannot boot Mac OS 9.