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Apple slices $200 from G5 iMac price

Scott Ard Former Editor in Chief, CNET
CNET former Editor in Chief Scott Ard has been a journalist for more than 20 years and an early tech adopter for even longer. Those two passions led him to editing one of the first tech sections for a daily newspaper in the mid 1990s, and to joining CNET part-time in 1996 and full-time a few years later.
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Scott Ard

Apple has cut $200 off the price of the 20-inch version of the iMac running a PowerPC processor. Last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced a version of the iMac that used Intel chips rather than the PowerPC processor. In a move that sparked chatter and speculation among Apple followers, the Intel machines were priced identically to the PowerPC models--$1,299 for the 17-inch version and $1,699 for the 20-inch variety. The pricing conformity seemed odd considering that Apple is touting the Intel-powered model as running up to twice as fast as the G5 version, while noting that it contains a brain that represents the future for the company, not the past.

Wednesday, however, Apple's online store is reflecting some pricing difference between the models--but the key word is "some." The price of the 20-inch G5 iMac has been dropped to $1,499, making it $200 cheaper than the Intel model. But the 17-inch iMacs are still $1,299, regardless of the chip that is inside. (Amazon is offering rebates of $125 and $150 on all iMacs.)