Even before officially collecting my iMac Intel Core Duo 17″, I’m already contemplating upgrade options. Being an Intel-based machine, and fortunately, a socket-based architecture, I not only have a processor upgrade path from the first gen Intel Core Duo 1.83Ghz chip (“Yonah”) to a faster chip, I can look at the latest 64-bit “Merom” Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which is socket and motherboard-compatible. The T7400 “Merom” is a low-power processor, suited for laptop applications.
Since switching to Intel architecture, Apple’s first Intel-based machine, the Mac Mini, has seen many tabulated processor upgrade reports. And so far, there has been one successful iMac Intel one, using an engineering sample T7400 2.16Ghz Merom processor. Interesting. Some Apple retailers offer processor upgrades out of the box, which is nice.
I will likely to bump the RAM to 2GB (which will cost around RM900) as the first upgrade step. When the Merom is available via retail channels (if not, then I’ll look for friends from Intel!), I will most definitely attempt a self-upgrade. (I just love ripping machines apart!).
Check out Wikipedia on the Intel Core 2 Duo and Core Duo product line.
I’m excited! Woohooo!
