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Apple updates the iMac, adds Haswell processors and 1TB Flash storage (for a price)

iMac 2013
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Hopefully you didn’t order an iMac yesterday. In a surprisingly subdued move for the normally theatrical device maker, today Apple issued a press release letting us know that it’s now selling iMacs with upgraded processors. The look and design of the all-in-one computer has not changed from last year’s model at all, from what we can tell, but the insides certainly have.

The iMac still comes with a 21.5-inch or 27-inch screen. The entry-level 21.5-inch model has a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Iris Pro graphics. The 27-inch model also comes with a quad-core Core i5 and Nvidia GeForce 700 series card. Apple claims that the new models have “twice the video memory and 40 percent faster performance” than last year’s iMacs. Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.5GHz and fancy GeForce GTX 780M graphics cards with 4GB of video memory are also available. RAM starts at 8GB but can be upgraded to 32GB.

Apple says that its new Fusion Drives are as much as 50 percent faster than last year’s models. You can choose between 1 terabyte or 3TB hard drives, or pay a lot extra to have a flash-based drive up to 1TB.

The new iMacs are available in the Apple store now and start at $1,300. If you trick it out with an upgraded processor, 32GB of RAM, a fancy GeForce processor with 4GB of video memory, and 1TB of flash storage, you’ll end up spending about $4,000.

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Jeffrey Van Camp
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