Apple just quietly refreshed its iMac lineup with the latest specs. The form factor remains the same, with the 21.5-inch being offered in Full HD and 4K resolution, with the 27-inch being offered in 5K.
“Customers are going to love the huge boost in iMac performance. With up to 8-core processors and powerful Vega graphics, the iMac lineup is stronger than ever.”
– Tom Boger
Senior Director of Mac Product Marketing, Apple
Performance Boosts
The iMac now offers up to the latest 9th-generation Intel processors, with up to 8-cores of processing power.
The 21.5-inch iMac now features the 8th-generation quad-core processors, and for the first time, the option for 6-cores as well, offering up to 60% more performance!
The 27-inch iMac now features the 9th-generation 6-core and 8-core processors, that offer up to 2.4 times the performance of the previous iMac.
Vega Graphics
Perhaps the greatest change is the introduction of the Vega graphics option, which was previously limited to the iMac Pro lineup. Though this is a $450 additional option, the option is a very welcome addition to the lineup.
The new option allows the 21.5-inch iMac to deliver up to 80% faster graphics performance, with the 27-inch delivering up to 50% faster graphics performance. This further reduces the gap between the iMac and iMac Pro lineup, allowing more pro users to potentially use the iMac for graphically intense workloads.
Also, a few other changes to note is that the ultra-fast “fusion drive” SSD is now standard on the 27-inch model, with a configurable option on the 21.5-inch.
Conclusion
The new iMac starts at $1,099 for the 21.5-inch, with the 27-inch going all the way up to $5,378 with all the hardware fully maxed out.
The new iMacs don’t have much of a difference compared to the old, but the iMacs continue to be the most popular desktop Mac, and the much-needed hardware refresh will be well appreciated for buyers that were holding out for the new specs. The new iMac refresh could mean more pro users buying the iMac instead of the iMac Pro, and casual users enjoying better performance out of an already amazing desktop.
(Image Source: Apple)
