Keep your eyes out for flocks of thieving magpies while bringing your shiny, new iMac home.

The high-performance iMac features an anodized aluminum frame and glossy glass cover. With a look like that, Apple fans won’t be the only ones lusting after it.  

When Apple’s store went down early this morning anticipation heated up. Would Steve Jobs announce the new iMacs at Apple’s summer press conference?

Indeed he did. Apple showed off its latest iteration of iMac, the all-in-one desktop computer. Boy, is it one sleek little machine.

iMac was first introduced back in 1998, a kind of goofy looking CRT monitor with translucent side panels that had its computer built in. A novel idea even for the time, it wasn’t until Apple started working with LCD screens that the “look ma, no computer box”  iMac design got interesting.

The new iMac is an amazing work of high-tech art.

Anodized aluminum and glass grace the new iMac. It looks not-so-suspiciously similar to the new iPhone.

Jobs said the materials used in the new iMac give it an environmental edge. Aluminum and glass are easier to recycle than other materials Apple could have used. The company has an extensive recycling program on all its products.

But is Apple’s new desktop diva all beauty and no beast? A look under the hood of its 24-inch widescreen 1900x1200 model reveals a 2.4 GHz Intel core duo processor.

The stock model will get you 1GB RAM, a 320GB SATA drive and ATI’s Radeon HD 2600 Pro video processor. These can be custom upgraded when you order from Apple.

The stock, 24-inch unit will sell for a cool US $1,799. Not bad for an Apple product but a little pricey if you’re on the local computer shop build-a-PC budget.