Hold on tight
The case is thinner but the iMac is faster by more
than a narrow margin
There’s a clear evolutionary path from 2004’s iMac G5, the
first to be built into an LCD screen, to the latest aluminum 27in model, which
has the same design as the 21.5m we reviewed last issue. That lengthy heritage
doesn’t detract from what Apple has achieved in this revision, which leverages
new manufacturing techniques to tessellate components into a dramatically
slimmed chassis so neatly that it doesn’t seem a squeeze.
New 27in iMac
The iMac’s body tapers off to a 5mm edge on all sides.
Inevitably, this thickens gradually to a bulge around the back, accommodating
the machine’s internal organs, which is only really obvious in profile. Otherwise,
the smooth curve of the aluminum unibody cleverly renders that protrusion all
but invisible.
While reducing the iMac’s volume, the redesign also shaves
4.26kg off its weight. That’s a reduction of more than 30%, and at 9.54kg the
new 27in is just 240g heavier than the old 21.5m. The change is welcome when
you pull it out of the box, as is Apple’s redesigned packaging, which folds
outwards, making setup a more comfortable job.
Beyond the aesthetics, the 27in chassis allows features you
don’t get in the 21.5m. The hard drive has a faster rotational speed of
7200rpm, and although we weren’t able to dismantle the test system (removing
and replacing the screen, the only way to access the interior, now means
laboriously melting and re-applying adhesive), our speed tests suggest this is
because it’s a 3.5in unit, rather than the 2.5in notebook type found in the
21.5m iMac. This is confirmed by the availability of a 3TB drive option, which
isn’t available in the smaller form factor.
On the back panel is a curved rectangular cutout in the
aluminum surface. Press a small button and its cover can be removed to reveal
the memory sockets, allowing you to upgrade from the standard 8GB of RAM to as
much as 32GB. It feels odd to find an opening in the unibody, something Apple
has studiously avoided on recent MacBooks, but it’s in a very good cause, and
almost makes us wish a similar arrangement had been contemplated for swapping
the hard drive.
The default RAM is fine for everyday stuff, games, and even
most creative tasks. But a major advantage over the new 21.5m model is that you
can easily increase it at any time to cope with more demanding video and
graphics work, or simply to run a lot of heavyweight apps simultaneously
without any delay in switching. There are two empty sockets by default, so you
can keep the two 4GB modules supplied unless you need to replace them with
larger ones to maximize the total. Filling the spare slots with two 4GB modules
from a memory dealer will cost about $52, but it would be more cost effective
to buy two 8GB modules, taking you to 24GB, for $84.5. Replace the two
pre-fitted modules with 8GB packages as well, and the total cost of around $169
for 32GB is still far less than Apple’s frankly insulting charge of $208 for
16GB or $624 for 32GB.
Previously, the memory slots were accessed under the ‘chin’
of the iMac. The edges are too thin to allow this now, so instead there’s a
removable panel on the back, concealed behind the stand. Access is trivially
easy, and replacing RAM is a simple task even for the completely non-technical
user; just remember to earth yourself first by touching a cold water pipe or
radiator.
Elsewhere on the back panel, Apple has trimmed the number of
ports. As with the smaller iMac, there’s no longer a 3.5mm audio input for
connecting an analogue mic or digital optical feed. You can connect an
iPhone-compatible headset with a mic built into its cord to the three-pin
headphone port, but if you want higher input quality than the iMac’s built-in
dual mics can offer, you’ll need to invest in a USB mic or audio interface.
FireWire is also absent, so you’ll need to fork out $32.5
for Apple’s FireWire to Thunderbolt adaptor if you have FireWire storage or an
older video camera to connect. On the upside, the USB ports are now all of the
faster USB 3 variety, and (as with the 21.5m) there are two Thunderbolt ports.
On the front side, there’s no longer an infrared receiver
hidden behind the Apple logo, so you can’t use an Apple Remote to control media
playback. The iOS Remote app is a more capable replacement for controlling
¡Tunes, assuming you have an iOS device, but you’d need to find additional apps
to control other media players and DVD Player.
If you’ve used a Mac or iOS device with a Retina display,
the iMac’s certainly looks softer. Nonetheless, other changes to the display
enhance the picture. Changes to manufacturing techniques have closed up the
distance between the screen and its glass cover. More pleasing is Apple’s claim
of a 75% reduction in reflections. It isn’t quite as good as a matte screen,
and reflections are still noticeable when working with low-luminance images,
yet colors are rendered vividly. The 2560 x 1400-pixel resolution remains a big
practical benefit. It provides enough space to comfortably work on page
layouts, photos and video without having to wrestle with managing your
workspace.
Apple supplied two configurations for testing. One was a
standard specification that’s available from the Apple Store without delay,
with a2.9GHz Core i5processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M graphics processor
with 512MB of dedicated memory. The other was a custom build, with the
processor upgraded toa3.4GHzCore i7 processor with four cores and the top of
the line GTX680MX graphics processor with 2GB of dedicated memory. It also
featured a 1TB Fusion Drive, which actually provides 1.1TB of usable space
because it consolidates the capacity of a 1TB hard drive with 128GB of flash
storage. As we found with the 21.5m, this gives faster effective access speeds
than a hard disk alone, but with a capacity greater than would be affordable
with a flash-based SSD alone.
Both models were supplied with the standard 8GB of RAM
running at 1600MHz, up from 1333MHz in 2011 iMacs. In the £1,499 model, this
led to a 22% improvement over the memory performance of a 2011 top of the line
iMac (with a3.4GHz Core i7 CPU). The customized model delivered an even better
improvement of 28% over the same 2011 model.
As we’d hoped, the new 27in iMac doesn’t use the relatively
slow 5400rpm drives found in the smaller model. Instead, Apple has opted for
7200rpm units, and there’s a huge difference in transfer rates. Where the 21.5m
iMac’s hard drive averaged 102.7MB/sec in our tests, the one in our 2,380$ 27in
managed an average of 186.3MB/sec.
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Specs and prices
·
iMac 27in (Late 2012)
·
With 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 $1,799
·
With 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 $1,999
·
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM (user-upgradable to 32GB)
·
1TB 5400rpm hard drive
·
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M (in 2.9GHz) or GeForce GTX 675MX (in
3.2GHz) graphics processor with 512MB or 1GB GDDR5 memory Two Thunderbolt
ports (with Mini DisplayPort output and optional DVI and VGA adaptors)
·
Four USB 3 ports
·
Gigabit Ethernet
·
SDXC card slot
·
Headphone port/optical audio out
·
Built-in stereo speakers
·
Built-in dual microphones
·
Bluetooth 4.0
·
802.11 n WIFI
·
Apple Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad
·
Apple wireless keyboard OS X10.8 Mountain Lion
·
No-cost alternative of Magic Trackpad and Apple wired keyboard
with numeric keypad;
·
Additional Magic Trackpad $76; external 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R
DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) $84.5; 16GB RAM $208, 32GB $642; 3.4GHz quad-core i7 $208
(3.2GHz); 3TB HD $156; 1TB Fusion Drive $320; 3TB $416; 768GB SSD $1352
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