Home Desktops Apple iMac G5 (20-inch, Ambient Light Sensor) Apple · iMac
iMac G5 (20-inch, Ambient Light Sensor) Released May 2005
A white PowerPC all-in-one with dedicated Radeon graphics, built-in wireless networking and an optical drive.
Compare with another desktop Compare with… iMac 24″ (M4) (2024) iMac 24″ (M3) (2023) iMac 24″ (M1) (2021) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) (2020) iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) (2019) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) (2019) iMac Pro (2017) (2017) iMac (21.5-inch, 2017) (2017) iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017) (2017) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) (2017) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015) (2015) iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015) (2015) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) (2015) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015) (2015) iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) (2014) iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014) (2014) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) (2013) iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) (2013) iMac (21.5-inch, Early 2013) (2013) iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) (2012) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012) (2012) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011) (2011) iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) (2011) iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) (2011) iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010) (2010) iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010) (2010) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009) (2009) iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) (2009) iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) (2009) iMac (20-inch, Early 2009) (2009) iMac (24-inch, Early 2009) (2009) iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) (2008) iMac (24-inch, Early 2008) (2008) iMac (20-inch, Mid 2007) (2007) iMac (24-inch, Mid 2007) (2007) iMac (17-inch, Late 2006) (2006) iMac (20-inch, Late 2006) (2006) iMac (24-inch, Late 2006) (2006) iMac (17-inch, Mid 2006) (2006) iMac (17-inch, Early 2006) (2006) iMac (20-inch, Early 2006) (2006) iMac G5 (17-inch, iSight) (2005) iMac G5 (20-inch, iSight) (2005) iMac G5 (17-inch, Ambient Light Sensor) (2005) iMac G5 (17-inch, 2004) (2004) iMac G5 (20-inch, 2004) (2004) iMac G4 (20-inch, USB 2.0) (2003) iMac G4 (15-inch, USB 2.0) (2003) iMac G4 (17-inch, USB 2.0) (2003) iMac G4 (15-inch, Early 2003) (2003) iMac G4 (17-inch, Early 2003) (2003) iMac G4 (17-inch, Flat Panel) (2002) iMac G4 (15-inch, Flat Panel) (2002) iMac G3 (Summer 2001) (2001) iMac G3 (Early 2001) (2001) iMac G3 (Summer 2000) (2000) iMac G3 (Slot Loading, 1999) (1999) iMac G3 (Mid 1999) (1999) iMac G3 (Early 1999) (1999) iMac G3 (Revision B) (1998) iMac G3 (1998) (1998) Mac mini (M6 or M5 Pro) (2026) Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) (2026) Mac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra) (2025) Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro) (2024) Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) (2023) Mac Studio (M2 Max or M2 Ultra) (2023) Mac mini (M2 or M2 Pro) (2023) Mac Studio (M1 Max / M1 Ultra) (2022) Mac mini (M1) (2020) Mac Pro (2019) (2019) Mac mini (2018) (2018) Mac mini (Late 2014) (2014) Mac Pro (Late 2013) (2013) Mac mini (Late 2012) (2012) Mac Pro (Mid 2012) (2012) Mac mini (Mid 2011) (2011) Mac Pro (Mid 2010) (2010) Mac mini (Mid 2010) (2010) Mac mini (Late 2009) (2009) Mac mini (Early 2009) (2009) Mac Pro (Early 2009) (2009) Mac Pro (Early 2008) (2008) Mac mini (Mid 2007) (2007) Mac mini (Late 2006) (2006) Mac Pro (2006) (2006) Mac mini (Early 2006) (2006) Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) (2005) eMac (2005) (2005) Power Mac G5 (Early 2005) (2005) Mac mini (2005) (2005) Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) (2004) Power Mac G5 (June 2004) (2004) eMac (USB 2.0, 2004) (2004) Power Mac G5 (2003) (2003) Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2003) (2003) eMac (ATI Graphics, 2003) (2003) Power Mac G4 (FW800) (2003) Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2002) (2002) eMac (2002) (2002) Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2002) (2002) Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2001) (2001) Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio) (2001) Power Mac G4 Cube (2000) Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) (2000) Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) (1999) Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) (1999) Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics) (1999) Power Macintosh G3 Desktop (1997) Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower (1997) Power Macintosh 8600/300 (1997) Power Macintosh 9600/300 (1997) Power Macintosh 9600/350 (1997) Power Macintosh 4400/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 5400/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 5500/225 (1997) Power Macintosh 5500/250 (1997) Power Macintosh 5500/275 (1997) Power Macintosh 6500/225 (1997) Power Macintosh 6500/250 (1997) Power Macintosh 6500/275 (1997) Power Macintosh 6500/300 (1997) Power Macintosh 7300/166 (1997) Power Macintosh 7300/180 (1997) Power Macintosh 7300/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 7600/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 8600/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 8600/250 (1997) Power Macintosh 9600/200 (1997) Power Macintosh 9600/200MP (1997) Power Macintosh 9600/233 (1997) Power Macintosh 4400/160 (1996) Power Macintosh 6300/120 (1996) Macintosh Performa 5400/160 (1996) Macintosh Performa 6360 (1996) Macintosh Performa 6400/180 (1996) Macintosh Performa 6400/200 (1996) Power Macintosh 5260/100 (1996) Power Macintosh 5260/120 (1996) Power Macintosh 5400/120 (1996) Power Macintosh 5400/180 (1996) Power Macintosh 7200/100 (1996) Power Macintosh 7200/120 (1996) Power Macintosh 7600/120 (1996) Power Macintosh 7600/132 (1996) Power Macintosh 8200/100 (1996) Power Macintosh 8200/120 (1996) Power Macintosh 8500/132 (1996) Power Macintosh 8500/150 (1996) Power Macintosh 8500/180 (1996) Power Macintosh 9500/150 (1996) Power Macintosh 9500/180MP (1996) Power Macintosh 9500/200 (1996) Macintosh LC 580 (1995) Macintosh Performa 5200CD (1995) Macintosh Performa 5300CD (1995) Macintosh Performa 6300CD (1995) Power Macintosh 6100/66 (1995) Power Macintosh 6100/66 DOS Compatible (1995) Power Macintosh 6100/66AV (1995) Power Macintosh 6200/75 (1995) Power Macintosh 7100/80 (1995) Power Macintosh 7100/80AV (1995) Power Macintosh 7200/75 (1995) Power Macintosh 7200/90 (1995) Power Macintosh 7500/100 (1995) Power Macintosh 8100/100 (1995) Power Macintosh 8100/100AV (1995) Power Macintosh 8500/120 (1995) Power Macintosh 9500/120 (1995) Power Macintosh 9500/132 (1995) Macintosh Quadra 610 DOS Compatible (1994) Power Macintosh 6100/60 (1994) Macintosh LC 550 (1994) Macintosh LC 575 (1994) Macintosh LC 630 (1994) Macintosh Quadra 630 (1994) Power Macintosh 6100/60AV (1994) Power Macintosh 7100/66 (1994) Power Macintosh 7100/66AV (1994) Power Macintosh 8100/110 (1994) Power Macintosh 8100/80 (1994) Power Macintosh 8100/80AV (1994) Macintosh TV (1993) Macintosh Color Classic (1993) Macintosh Centris 610 (1993) Macintosh Centris 650 (1993) Macintosh Centris 660AV (1993) Macintosh LC 475 (1993) Macintosh LC 520 (1993) Macintosh LC III (1993) Macintosh Quadra 605 (1993) Macintosh Quadra 610 (1993) Macintosh Quadra 650 (1993) Macintosh Quadra 800 (1993) Macintosh Quadra 840AV (1993) Macintosh Quadra 950 (1992) Macintosh LC II (1992) Macintosh Quadra 700 (1991) Macintosh Quadra 900 (1991) Macintosh Classic II (1991) Macintosh Classic (1990) Macintosh IIsi (1990) Macintosh LC (1990) Macintosh IIfx (1990) Macintosh IIci (1989) Macintosh IIcx (1989) Macintosh SE FDHD (1989) Macintosh SE/30 (1989) Macintosh IIx (1988) Macintosh II (1987) Macintosh SE (1987) Macintosh Plus (1986) Apple IIgs (1986) (1986) Macintosh XL (1985) Macintosh 512K (1984) Macintosh 128K (1984) Macintosh 512Ke Macintosh Color Classic II Macintosh IIvi Macintosh IIvx Macintosh LC 630 DOS Compatible Macintosh LC III+ Macintosh Performa 600 Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh NUC 15 Pro (2025) Desktop (AMD Ryzen AI Max 300 Series) (2025) OmniStudio X 31.5″ All-in-One (2024) IdeaCentre AIO 27IPH11 (2026) IdeaCentre AIO 27ARR9 (2024) Model history · 3 models, 2003–2005 2003 iMac G4 (20-inch, USB 2.0) Compare 2004 iMac G5 (20-inch, 2004) Compare 2005 iMac G5 (20-inch, Ambient Light Sensor)
Type All-in-one
Processor IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor)
Memory 512 MB – 2 GB
Storage 250 GB – 400 GB
Screen 20″
Weight 11.4 kg
Processor IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor)
CPU cores 1
Graphics ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Memory 512 MB or 2 GB
Storage 250 GB to 400 GB
CPU 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5 with 667 MHz frontside bus, 512 KB L2 cache and SuperDrive. 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 ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB dedicated video memory; AGP 8x support.
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.
Storage type 250 GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, configurable to 400 GB; 8x SuperDrive with 2.4x double-layer DVD writing. Display
Screen size 20″
Resolution 1680 × 1050
Display type Widescreen LCD with millions of colours; panel technology, refresh rate and brightness not published in the retained exact maker specification. Connections
Ports 3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet 1 Gb/s
Wi-Fi 802.11g
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Back ports 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 Optional Mini-VGA adapters provide VGA, S-video or composite output; no DVI connector is listed.
Speakers Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.
Keyboard and mouse Apple Keyboard and Apple Mouse; the later Mighty Mouse and iSight-generation remote are not substituted for the launch accessories. Design and power
Type All-in-one
Weight 11.4 kg
Width × depth × height 493 × 189 × 472 mm
Operating system macOS
In the box 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. Configurations Processor Memory Storage Storage type Graphics IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor) 512 MB 250 GB Hard drive ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor) 512 MB 400 GB Hard drive ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor) 2 GB 250 GB Hard drive ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) IBM PowerPC G5 2 GHz (iMac Ambient Light Sensor) 2 GB 400 GB Hard drive ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Pros and cons Pros + Dedicated graphics memory+ Two accessible memory slots+ Keyboard and mouse includedCons − Single-core processor− USB ports limited to USB 2.0− External video output uses optional adaptersPrevious model: iMac G5 (20-inch, 2004) . Newer model: iMac G5 (20-inch, iSight) .
