Apple is refreshing its 27-inch iMac, though you’ll need a keen eye to spot the differences. The new model doesn’t look any different from its predecessors, sporting the same classic look Apple has used for several years now with thick bezels surrounding the 5K display.
You won’t find any radically new features here either. There’s still no biometric authentication, meaning there’s no Face ID or Touch ID, and the screen uses the exact same panel and pixel resolution as before. Most of the changes are on the inside and impact performance.
New, Better Numbers
The 27-inch iMac will use Intel’s newer 10th-gen Comet Lake processors, with six- or eight-core configurations as the standard. Power users, you’ll be happy to hear a 10-core Intel Core i9 option is available. Apple says these improvements should offer up to a 65 percent CPU performance increase over last year’s refreshed 27-inch iMacs.
On the graphics front, you’ll get options within AMD’s Radeon Pro 5000 series, with the 5300 XT and 5500 XT being offered with 8 gigabytes of VRAM in the standard configurations, but you can also shell out for a 5700 XT with 16 gigabytes of VRAM for up to 55 percent faster GPU performance.
Those bumps in CPU and GPU performance will be complemented by a complete move to DDR4 solid state drives for all models. That means Apple’s entire iMac line now uses SSDs, including the 21.5-inch iMacs, which sh