Apple has defied that assumption that the desktop is on the outs and dropped refreshed super-thin iMacs at its event today. They were expected earlier this year at WWDC, but an update is better late than never.
The new models are 80 per cent thinner than their predecessors. We didn’t anticipate a redesign, but they’re incredibly beautiful from what we can see. Apple will offer iMacs in 21.5-inch and 27-inch versions, the latter of which has a resolution of 2560×1440.
The screen has 75 per cent less reflection, and a few other features like an HD camera, dual microphones and a stereo sound system that’s supposed to be much better than the previous generation. Specs got a bump too — the new machine has quad-core i5 or i7 processors, and up to 32GB of RAM and as much as 768GB of flash storage. These guys have four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt, which is very nice. On top of that, there’s an SD card, gigabit ethernet, and a new option called a fusion drive — that’s 128GB of flash storage plus 1TB or 3TB of hard drive combined into one hard drive. Sounds interesting, and we’ll be taking a closer look.
The smaller model starts at $1429 in Australia and ships in November, while the 27-incher starts at $1999 and ships in December. [Apple]
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