[3] At the Macworld Conference and Expo on January 10, 2006, Steve Jobs announced that the new iMac would be the first Macintosh to use an Intel processors.

The introduction of the new iMac alongside the MacBook Pro was the start of the Mac transition to Intel processors, six months earlier than the timetable Apple established.

[4] It retained the look and features of the preceding iMac G5, with a white plastic enclosure less than 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) at its thinnest edge.

[4][5][6] One update from the iMac G5 was the addition of a Mini-DVI port that allowed for extending the computer contents to a second monitor versus mirroring the image.

[7] In early February 2006, Apple confirmed reports of video display problems on the new Intel-based iMacs.

[citation needed] An education-only model of the iMac shipped in July 2006 that replaced the eMac in Apple's lineup.

[11] Other criticisms included the low amount of starting memory, lack of user-serviceability, and the chin, which Anand Lal Shimpi called "bottom-heavy".

[6][5] In August 2007, Apple introduced a complete redesign of the iMac, featuring an aluminum, glass and plastic enclosure.

[22][23] Users could, however, replace this version with a more traditional, full-size model with a numeric keypad by requesting Apple to build their machine to order through its online store.

The 2012 iMac also features the option of a Fusion Drive which combines an SSD and a conventional HDD to create more efficient and faster storage.

On March 5, 2013, Apple quietly announced an education-only version of the iMac, with less powerful specs for a cheaper price.

[49] On September 24, 2013, the 2012 iMac model was updated with 4th-generation Intel Haswell processors and Nvidia 7xx series GPU, promising up to 1.4× improvements in performance.

It also has 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which is capable of reaching speeds up to 1300 Mbit/s[50] and PCIe-based flash storage, offering up to 1.5× the performance of previous Ivy Bridge unibody iMacs.

These became the last iMacs to offer Target Display Mode, as the Retina line introduced the following year are incompatible with the feature due to resolution differences.

At WWDC on June 5, 2017, a refreshed model was added with Kaby Lake processors and Bluetooth 4.2 support.

It was sold in a single stock configuration priced at $1,099 with a 2.3 GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor.

The machine was heavily criticized (more so towards the end of its production) for its lagging specifications, outdated design, and comparatively high price.

Secondary storage was also upgraded to a 1 TB[68] Fusion drive as standard and video options changed over to AMD Radeon R9 M290X and M295X.

Later that year, a 21.5-inch "4K" model with a resolution of 4096 × 2304 was released on October 13, 2015, with older Broadwell processors, as the 27-inch counterparts were upgraded that day directly to Skylake ones.

On August 4, 2020, Apple refreshed the 27-inch 5K iMac with Comet Lake processors, AMD RDNA architecture GPUs, the T2 security chip, a 1080p FaceTime camera, Bluetooth 5, improved speakers and microphones, and solid state drives (SSD) standard.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and nano-etched glass, similar to the Pro Display XDR, are available as upgrade options.