Apple unveiled the 8th generation of iMacs with a refreshed design and feature set at their special event at San Jose, California. The new iMac is packed with third generation Intel Quad Core i5 or i7 processor, supports up to 32 GB of RAM, up to 3TB of storage, four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, 720p front camera and NVIDIA’s GeForce graphics. Check out more details after the break!
Design & Features
The new iMac is amazingly thin. It is just 5 mm thin at its edge with up to 40 percent less volume and weighs 8 pounds less than the previous models of iMacs. It is packed with third-generation quad-core Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor with a clock speed of up to 3.2GHz and Turbo Boost 2.0 technology allowing the processors to manage performance without sacrificing efficiency.
The all new iMacs uses NVIDIA’s new Kepler graphics architecture delivering up to 60 percent faster graphics performance than the previous generation so you can get best out of your iMac when you’re using graphics-intensive apps like 3D games or high-resolution photo and video editors.
Every iMac comes with two Thunderbolt ports allowing you to transfer data at superfast speeds and offering huge expansion capabilities. Besides the Thunderbolt ports, every iMac also ships with four USB 3.0 ports giving you plenty of peripheral possibilities, including your iPhone or iPod, printer or Apple USB SuperDrive (since the optical drive has been removed in new iMacs to support the thin design).
The 8th generation of iMac gives you option to go with up to 768GB of flash storage or with a traditional hard drive up to 3 TB. It also features a new Fusion Drive, which Apple introduced for the first time, which combines a high-capacity hard drive with high-performance flash storage. Fusion Drive automatically and intelligently manages your data so that frequently used apps, documents, photos and other files stay on the faster flash storage, while infrequently used items move to the hard drive thus improving overall performance. This works in tandem with OS X Mountain Lion so it contains both hardware and software working together to provide fast performing storage.
The new iMac is packed with so many features but it still misses one: the Retina Display. We doubt it’ll be cost effective by any means to create such large Retina Display or even if they’re needed at the moment. The 8th generation iMac comes in the sam two sizes as before: 27-inches with 2560×1440 and 21.5-inches with 1920×1080 resolution. But the displays contain lots of improvements such as a full laminated display which eliminates the gap between the LCD and the glass, upto 75% reduction in reflection and improved color reproduction.
Price and Availability
The all new 2012 iMacs are available for pre-order: 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 1TB hard drive is available for 1,299 while 27-inch iMac the with same specs is available for pre-order starting at $1,799.
Head over to Apple Store to pre-order the new iMac.