Just in time for the upcoming back-to-school season, Apple has given its iMac line its perennial update. Although the newest iMacs look identical to their older cousins, a bit of retooling under the hood leaves them faster and more capable than ever. Will you notice? Here’s a rundown of what’s new, and what it means to you.
Core i3, i5 and i7 Processors
The trusty Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad designations have disappeared in favor, appropriately enough, of Intel’s new i-branded Nehalemn-architecture chips. Although they share the same clock speeds, the new chips use a 32nm fabrication, which improves both performance and efficiency. Other technologies, including hyper threading and smart cache, should also improve performance, albeit incrementally.
ATI Radeon HD Graphics
Apple has jumped ship on the GeForce 9-series cards found in the last iMacs and switched to AMD’s Radeon HD cards. You’ll also notice no “mobility” or “M” designation tacked on there. These are the full-power desktop versions of the new cards, not the neutered notebook versions the last-generation iMac was using. Long story short: They should offer significantly improved gaming performance for folks hoping to install Bootcamp and get their Crysis on. Especially if you opt for the big-daddy Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB of onboard GDDR5 memory.
Support for dual hard drives
It used to be you could order an iMac with a standard magnetic drive, or a speedy solid-state drive. This time around, Apple has eliminated the either-or proposition with the option to equip your new iMac with both a 256GB solid-state drive and a conventional drive. Sound like overkill? For many users, it might be, but loading the operating system and certain programs onto the SSD can significantly improve load times, while a conventional drive keeps a terabyte or two handy for large video and music collections.
The Apple iMac continues to remain one of the most powerful all-in-one systems available. While it is not as upgradeable as a full on desktop system, Apple gives users the ability to upgrade most major components including hard drive and RAM. In our book, the new iMac gives users an experience worth paying for!
WOW. some people need to check their facts. It hilarious when a PC user starts rattling off statistics which are FALSE!.
1)OSX is not based off of linux, its UNIX, similar but not the same.
2)Microsoft owes their whole "usability" to apple. because they basically loaned it from apple and continue to pay money for every license sold.
3)mac have been PROVEN to work faster than a pc, with hardware that is exact in both computers-it isnt the hardware(its the software)
If u noticed, after a month or so after buying or reinstalling windows on a computer, IT SLOWS DOWN. a mac NEVER DOES. its like the energizer bunny!
Windows has the holes it has because it was never created, if u know your history, windows is actually based off of mac. Windows 3.1 was a hacked copy or Mac 7.5.5. Bill Gates got the nickname, the Backward man, because he actually though he could rip off apple by copying their OS and deleting and changing a few lines of codes. And the paid out the Booty for it, and do every year.
Also, Mac OS X has been out since 2001. it has had 6 "updates" they may be a new OS but being as it is still labeled at MAC OS X, its technically a update. Being that when you boot the OS disk, you can simply upgrade. lol
Since 2001, Microsoft has had MANY new OS's ME, XP, Vista, and 7. 2 of them (ME and VISTA- have been the worst OS's ever produced, and Microsoft acknowledges it)
So if ur a pc user, listen, you owe ALOT to apple, windows owes its whole existence to apple, that being said. dont go on about how you PC cost half of a apple and works just as well. because it just shows u haven't even used a mac. so save yourself the embarrassment and shut your trap. cuz ya obviously dont know what your talking about.
The fact that the same company that designs the cpu architecture also design its OS is just brilliant! Thats why its so user friendly , clean and efficient. Thats what you are paying for.
Yes, we know you can create a pc for 1/8 of the price but itll be 1/8 of an apple machine and thats a fact.
You all just need to get a life instead of carrying on a silly debate that comes down to what a person can afford and personal preference.
More like create a PC for 1/8 the price of an Apple and it will be equal to that Apple…and you can take that to the bank!
So if an iMac costs $1500, you can get a Windows PC for $187.50? Because that's 1/8th the price….
For an equivalent, yes. Have you seen a $1500 iMac? Outrageous!
hah nice try.
It is very possible to run OS X on a custom built PC, but at that point the user is proficient enough to use a real operating system, and not kid around with Snow Leopard. Yes, let's build a system that can boot every OS known to mankind and has an 8 disk RAID 0 array. Now tell me, which OS do you spend the majority of your time with?
"TrueType/OpenType on the Mac:
Recent versions of Mac OS can use the same TrueType/OpenType font files as Windows. Older versions of Mac OS require that font data be stored in a resource file. Each resource file can contain many types of resources. A Mac recource TrueType font file must have a FOND resource along with the TrueType data resource. "
Thats from a Windows application maker's site. Don't you just love the coverups in the Windows. They make it sound like Apple just is catching up with Windows when in fact TrueType WAS INVENTED BY APPLE AND ADOPTED BY WINDOWS.
There is a reason your PC is better these days – its because it HAS BEEN USING licensed APPLE TECHNOLOGY for OVER 10 Years. Thats a FACT so if you don't like Macs stop using your PC because its got a lot of Apples in it.
LOL, that comment about Apple's current OS is based on Linux like technology developed on a PC. Were you born yesterday? Apple's OS is based upon a little company called Next – a hobby Steve Jobs had while he was away from Apple. What butt crack did you dig that "fact" out of Linux boy?
There is no debate. Just as the Woz said – pcs are really just a "perverted" version of Apples. Microsoft invent DOS? Nope, they bought it. After that they were successfully sued in court by Apple for copying Apple's OS; yes Apple won, but at that time the laws were not up with the technology so Apple only got $1.00. After that they bought Apple technology to make Windows more like a Macintosh – every PC since 1998-99 era with Windows has Apple technology in it.
LOL, so your pc is great because you have have more freedom to custom build it. Well why not build your car also? In the time it takes you to build your pc (which will be outdated by faster hardware every 3 months or so) I can make a fortune on my Mac. You guys work cheap. You need to pay people to do the cheap jobs (assembly computer instantly at factory for you) while you do the jobs that pay well. By building you own pc you working for peanuts.
I'm sorry but, did anyone actually answer, New iMac vs Old iMac: Is it Worth It?
I have been using a Mac for 12 years– Yep they cost Twice as much $$ and Worth Every Penny –
In 12 years I have wasted Zero time doing Daily Windows virus updates–
I have edited about 300 TV programs– Zero Crashes or lost time — Lots of $$$ made–
Iphones are now being used to program CNC metal machining equipment wirelessly–Very Cool-
It's not even about affordability; it's about not knowing how to actually build a computer, and thus not understanding that the OS X environment can run on a computer that is 1/3 the cost of an APPL branded machine, yet performs as well if not better.
I use Mac and WIndows. I recently got a brand new Mac mini. Since my first Mac 2ci I paid $5000 for many years ago (which still works by the way) I have been a hard core Apple/Mac fan boy up the wazoo. I still feel the same about the hardware but I am no longer a fan of the company.
A while back I after applying online I was invited to a small "job fair" at a local Apple Store with about 10 other people. I didn't get the job at the Apple store but I didn't expect to having no retail experience. It was a long shot but I was hopeful.
After avoiding my calls for a week to find out if the job was filled I was finally told over the phone by the person in charge of hiring, that all of the employees refused to work with me. I was told that everyone HATED me (her words) I was basically a horrible person, annoying, I talked too much… etc etc… this went on for about 20 minutes in agonizing detail, in a soul destroying hurtful happy tone of voice, as if she was talking about the weather.. I was in shock by the brutal "honesty". It was an agonizing experience and took support from my family and friends to convince me I was not the awful hideous obnoxious troll the "Apple Zombies" told me I was. I was very depressed by the incident and it took me a while to get over it (it still kind of hurts a bit when it pops into my head).
Since then, I still use Apple products. However that is all. I use them, I don't "live them" like I use to. I don't care what kind of computers aquaintences buy anymore. If they want a PC buy one. If they want a Mac buy one. They are quality products. They are good products, but my 5 year old Windows PC has been my main production machine for a while now and it it works too (not as much fun I admit). I prefer the Mac but would never shop at an Apple store. I can barely walk by an Apple store without the memory of that horrible incident popping back into my head.
Try not to base your opinion of the company on one insensitive manager.