Apple iMac 24″ (M3) vs Apple iMac G5 (20-inch, 2004)

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iMac 24″ (M3) compared with iMac G5 (20-inch, 2004)

	AppleiMac 24″ (M3)	AppleiMac G5 (20-inch, 2004)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2023	September 2004
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M3	IBM PowerPC G5 1.8 GHz (iMac 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	8	1
Graphics
Graphics	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	8 GB or 24 GB (better)	256 MB or 2 GB
Storage
Storage	256 GB to 2 TB (better)	160 GB to 250 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 512 KB on-chip L2 cache. Generic maker-clock chip record retains the single-core identity; uncertain silicon revision is not inferred.
GPU
GPU	8-core GPU (two-port model) or 10-core GPU (four-port models); hardware-accelerated ray tracing	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB dedicated DDR video memory and AGP 8x support.
Memory type
Memory type	–	256 MB PC3200 (400 MHz) DDR SDRAM standard, expandable to 2 GB in two slots. Configurations conservatively list the published base and maker maximum.
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, with a 250 GB build-to-order option confirmed by maker launch press. Slot-loading SuperDrive DVD-R/CD-RW writes DVD-R at 4x and reads DVDs at 8x; writes CD-R at 16x and CD-RW at 8x.
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″	20″
Resolution
Resolution	4480 × 2520 (better)	1680 × 1050
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	60 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	500 nits (better)	230 nits
Display type
Display type	4.5K Retina display; actual diagonal 23.5 inches	Widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD with millions of colours and typical 350:1 contrast. Panel technology and refresh rate are not published in the exact maker sheet.
Pixel density
Pixel density	218 ppi	–
Display features
Display features	1 billion colours; wide colour (P3); True Tone	Typical viewing angles: 170° horizontal and vertical.
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB4, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	–	0.1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 1	–
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	–
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, up to 480 Mbps, plus two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard; two FireWire 400 ports with 8 W shared power, Mini-VGA, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, headphone/optical digital audio output and audio line-in. AirPort Extreme 802.11g card and internal Bluetooth module are optional, rather than standard.
External displays
External displays	One at up to 6K 60Hz	Mini-VGA provides video mirroring on a VGA display or S-video/composite television through optional adapters. Output resolutions: 640 × 480 at 60 Hz, 800 × 600 at 75 Hz or 1024 × 768 at 75 Hz.
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, internal 12 W digital amplifier and built-in 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, Apple Mouse and modem cable.
Design and power
Type
Type	All-in-one	All-in-one
Weight
Weight	4.43 kg (better)	11.4 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	547 × 147 × 461 mm	493 × 189 × 472 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	–	Published metric size and reference weight; weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Power supply
Power supply	143W external power adapter; power lead (2 m)	100–120 V AC or 100–240 V AC depending on country of purchase, 47–63 Hz, single phase; maximum continuous power 180 W.
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	Launch Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, iLife ’04 and bundled productivity software, with Classic environment support. The retained specification lists the later iLife ’05 bundle. Apple announced the model on 31 August 2004 and stated worldwide shipping would begin in mid-September; the release field therefore retains September month precision.