Apple iMac (27inch, 2014)

Apple's flagship all-in-one desktop, the 27-inch iMac, has been updated with new components, including a 5,120x2,880-pixel-resolution screen -- twice the resolution of the current top iMac.


The 15-inch MacBook Pro has a better-than-HD Retina display, with a 2,880x1,800-pixel native resolution and the high-end Mac Pro desktop is built around 4K output, but the most recent 27-inch iMac all-in-one desktop has a 2,560x1,440 native resolution. That's certainly better than the 1,920x1,080 native resolution found on most laptops and all-in-one desktops, but in the UHD era, it was starting to feel less than premium.


Officially called the Retina 5K Display, the screen uses a new material, oxide TFT, and borrowed tech from the Retina iPad to reduce pixel cross talk to keep images sharp. The panel is also just as bright as the last-gen model, but uses 30 percent less energy.


Tim Stevens/CNET


Other premium big-screen all-in-ones, such as the Dell XPS 27, also have 2,560x1,440 displays, and computer monitors with true 4K 3,840x2,160 resolution are falling in price, to around $550.


While the new iMac is a step beyond the 2013 model, it still uses CPUs from Intel's current fourth-gen Core i-series, also known by the codename Haswell, with the starting configuration featuring a quad-core 3.5GHz Core i5. Those in need of even more power can bump up to a 4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7. The long-awaited replacement for Haswell, known by the codename Broadwell, has been delayed and is not expected to appear in systems until early 2015 at the earliest.


While the last several generations of Macs have features Nvidia graphics cards, this new iMac makes the move back to rival AMD, with the Radeon R9 290X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. An AMD Radeon R9 M295X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory is available as well.


Gaming has never been a big deal on Macs, but the graphics card muscle is vital for video editing and encoding, as well as CAD and design tasks, and one reason people choose a 15-inch MacBook Retina Pro, 27-inch iMac, or Mac Pro desktop, all of which include discrete graphics cards.


Storage options in the new iMac with Retina 5K Display start with a 1TB Fusion Drive, but can be configured with a 3TB Fusion Drive or a 256GB, 512GB or 1TB solid-state drive.


Memory starts with 8GB (two sticks of 4GB), though with four slots total, you can opt to pay Apple for 16GB or 32GB.


Earlier in 2014, Apple released a new version of the smaller 21.5-inch iMac. This low-cost model, starting at $1,099, took a different approach, essentially putting the mobile components of a 13-inch MacBook Air (base price $999) into an all-in-one desktop.


The new 27-inch iMac is available now, starting at $2,499. We'll be testing and benchmarking one of the new models over the coming days for a full review.


This is a developing story. Follow CNET's Apple live blog and see all of today's Apple news.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5 Reasons iPhone 6 Won't Be Popular

Eset nod32 ativirus 6 free usernames and passwords

Apple's self