Apple today updated its all-in-one iMac line, widely praised as the world’s best desktop computers, with the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and powerful new graphics. Starting at $1,199, the new iMac line is the fastest ever with dual-core processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz, quad-core speeds up to 2.93 GHz and discrete graphics including the powerful ATI Radeon HD 5750. The new Magic Trackpad, with a smooth glass and aluminum design, gives iMac users the same intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures that Mac notebook customers have come to love and is available separately for $69.
“We took the world’s best all-in-one and made it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac.”
Dual-core Intel Core i3 and Core i5, and quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 processors set a new benchmark for iMac performance. The processors feature an integrated memory controller to access the system memory directly, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of its faster 1333 MHz memory. New discrete ATI Radeon HD processors deliver incredibly smooth, crisp graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications. iMac displays feature IPS technology to deliver a brilliant image across a wide 178 degree viewing angle. The SD card slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format to handle the latest high-capacity storage cards. Customers of the 27-inch iMac have the option to order a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) as a primary or secondary drive. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rates for faster startup and application launch times.
Every iMac comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse and customers can also order the new Magic Trackpad as an option. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad enables users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click.
Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple’s desktop lineup is a leader in green design. The iMac meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status. iMac features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iMac uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants, uses highly recyclable materials and features material-efficient system and packaging designs. A new Apple Battery Charger provides a convenient and environmentally friendly way to always have a fresh set of batteries for your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Battery Charger is available for $29 and comes with six long shelf life rechargeable batteries.
Every Mac also comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto, with breakthrough ways to organize and manage your photos by who appears in them and where they were taken; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand which offers a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.
Pricing & Availability
The new iMac line is shipping now and available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of US$1,199, includes:
• 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display
• 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
• 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM
• 500GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort for audio and video output (adapters sold separately)
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• iSight video camera
• Gigabit Ethernet
• four USB 2.0 ports
• one SDXC SD card slot
• one FireWire 800 port
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse
Configure-to-order options include up to 8GB of RAM.
The new 21.5-inch 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499, includes:
• 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display
• 3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
• 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
• ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort for audio and video output (adapters sold separately)
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• iSight video camera
• Gigabit Ethernet
• four USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• one SDXC SD card slot
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse
Configure-to-order options include a faster 3.6 GHz Core i5 processor, 2TB hard drive and up to 8GB of RAM.
The new 27-inch 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699, includes:
• 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display
• 3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
• 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
• ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort for audio and video input and output (adapters sold separately)
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• iSight video camera
• Gigabit Ethernet
• four USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• one SDXC SD card slot
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse
Configure-to-order options include a 3.6 GHz Core i5 processor, 2TB hard drive, 256GB solid state drive (SSD) and up to 16GB of RAM.
The new 27-inch 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,999, includes:
• 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display
• 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache
• 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 discrete graphics with 1GB GDDR5
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort for audio and video input and output (adapters sold separately)
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• iSight video camera
• Gigabit Ethernet
• four USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• one SDXC SD card slot
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse
Configure-to-order options include a 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor, a 2TB hard drive, 256GB solid state drive (SSD) and up to 16GB of RAM.
Additional accessories include: Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger, wired Apple Mouse, wired Apple Keyboard, wired Apple Keyboard with numeric keypad, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, the AppleCare Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of iWork, Logic Express 9, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 3.
More info about Apple’s new iMac line and the new Magic Trackpad here.
MacDailyNews Take: “To us longtime Apple watchers, Cupertino seems to be saying, ‘Multi-Touch on the screen only when trackpads are not part of the device.'” – MacDailyNews Take, November 19, 2008
Source: Apple Inc.
I like this trackpad way better than using an iPad or iPhone as the input device since it actually has a physical click. quite important when you need to click and move things in Illustrator or Photoshop.
Yesterday I saw a video about how Apple has influenced Disney/ABC.
Obviously, with all the “Magic” going on at Apple, there’s been influence in the other direction as well.
I’m just waiting for them to merge Apple R&D and Disney Imagineering – after all, the slogan of Imagineering is “We Make the Magic!”
— from a former Imagineer
Magic Trackpad. Do I see touch screen programs from the ipad coming to the imac?
@Dave from Canada –
That’s what I was thinking, too. Shouldn’t be long before we’ll be able to use iOS apps on our Macs. Nice.
I conjecture this Magic Trackpad owes part of its reason for being to the fact that a touch pad is important for iPhone and iPad development testing, and heretofore that wasn’t possible except by first tediously downloading an app to an actual device at each iteration of development (except on the later MBP models). This should make app development on a desktop Mac a little more snappy.
This makes my Core Duo iMac really look old now — and $1199 is doable though I’d prefer the $1499 model just for the larger HD. Now I’ve got to start working on the funding source, aka my husband…
I’m not buying until they bring back matte screens. Period.
I think we forget that no other company offers the tech spec combined with design and ease of use like Apple. I don’t see or hear of any other pc company updating their kit in a time of recession !
$29 for the battery charger is rather steep.
iOS apps will definitely be a part of the desktop experience before long — maybe invoked in a similar way as Dashboard (maybe even replacing Dashboard).
Need an easy way to limit swipes and gestures to particular apps. Right now it’s impossible to use the Magic Mouse in Photoshop without changing fields inadvertently. The slightest touch shifts values all over the place.
Any recommendations on Magic Prefs, Better Touch Tool or another app to solve this?
@qka
So don’t buy it. We don’t mind.
So, I just purchased a new iMac for my work on July 7th. Can I upgrade to the new iMac for free?
magic trackpad and photoshop….
There are people whining about this on AppleInsider, believe it or not.
I made a comparison between the $1999 27″ iMac and a Dell XPS Studio 9000.
The results are quite awesome.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showpost.php?p=1684541&postcount=128
My oh my, that Magic TrackPad is AWESOME!
I’ve just ordered one, can’t wait for delivery tomorrow!!!!!
Someone commented yesterday asking Apple to allow Dashboard to be a runtime environment for iOS Apps. I reckon this is a dead-cert now…
Why in the world do I have an HD camera on my iPhone, but STILL a low rez camera built into the iMac? This many years and no improvement? What if this YouTube thing takes off?
I remember a time, back in the bad old Marketing-As-Management days of Apple when they’d release the new Macs just AT or even AFTER the beginning of the new school year. NOT intelligent.
It’s good to see Apple releasing new products of interest to schools and students at the RIGHT TIME. Bravo. All gears properly meshed and in motion.
Re: The “official” Apple rechargeable batteries and charger.
http://www.apple.com/battery-charger/
I’ll bet a set of charged batteries lasts longer in that wireless Magic Trackpad, compared to any Apple wireless mouse. Nothing needs to light up for tracking.
The Magic Trackpad is a nice addition. Over the next two iMac revisions, I’ll bet it goes on to being an optional “replacement” for a mouse (instead of being an optional $69 “addition” currently) to the default choice (provided “instead” of a mouse unless the customer chooses otherwise).
This is a cool angle
Apple needs to create and sell a separate wireless numeric keypad with the same profile as the keyboard and this new trackpad. They would look cool all lined up in a row. Or perhaps some enterprising third-party can create software and an overlay for the Magic Trackpad that turns it into a touch-based numeric keypad, on command. There are some interesting possibilities for the Magic Trackpad, now that it’s a separate input device.
I have the latest and greatest iMac 27″ and most recent MBP 17″–both with i7 chips and upgraded RAM, HD, etc. I would have instantly purchased a new one of each, if ONLY they had USB 3.0, FW 1600, or eSata 6. I wonder how many sales Apple lost due to a $15 – $30 part? NOT SMART! USB 3.0 IS the new standard; not WILL be.
@Fat Basterd
MacinScott is right. The 21.5″ (1920×1080) is basically the old 24″ with 120 pixels removed from the vertical direction (1920×1200). I like the extra vertical real estate on the 24″ display, and I don’t mind the fact that 16:9 video is letterboxed. That’s why I cannot understand the complaints regarding the aspect ratio of the iPad display. Sure you have black bars when you watch 16:9 video. But do you actually want Apple to delete those pixels when they are so useful for other applications, such as ebooks?
Nice new kit, but I am surprised about no USB 3.0. Maybe they want to bring it on board closer to when they add it to the iPhone.
Do you think we will see Intel’s Lightstream (or whatever it’s called) come to the Mac next year? There are a lot of tech connectivity advances coming over the next few years, e.g. the replacement for HDMI that uses CAT5 cable; gigabit wireless, etc…
I really am surprised by no USB 3 though…
I’ve used Chinese character input from OSX 10.6 on a laptop and it’s incredible. I think the magic trackpad will find a huge audience for Japanese, Chinese character input & those who can’t input that type of text thru a keyboard. Apple really needs to showcase that on the magic trackpad pages.
Never fails! I bought the previous latest and greatest iMac 27″ 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor w/ 12 GB ram in Feb 2010.
Just ask me when I’m going to buy a new Mac and then wait a few months to get the new upgrade.
Anyone interested in my OLD iMac?
No blu-ray burner, no sale.
But I am starting to get weak. So, let me see if I understand. Apple has NOTHING to burn blu-rays for imacs, only Mac Pros.
FCP HAS blu-ray burning SOFTWARE for the Mac pros.
Apple has NO software for i-macs. (i-life)
What about FCE? Does FCE let you burn blu-ray?
So do I ONLY get blu-ray editing/burning with the Mac Pro/FCP, which gives me editing/burning software, but has NO blu-ray?
This sucks ! I may add one (burner) to a new i-mac, but then there’s NO support from i-life/FCP?
What good is 2560 x 1440 res for watching a movie? I want to watch the movie AT 2560 x 1440 !!! Does Apple have something up, we don’t know about yet? Will we be DOWNLOADING movies at that res, or higher?