Apple’s new iMacs feature “a quad-core refresh across the board and a new set of AMD Radeon graphics chips to match,” Vincent Nguyen reports for SlashGear. “Still, no aesthetic change – bar the addition of a Thunderbolt port on the back – and no Blu-ray or touchscreen. Has the iMac kept pace with the rest of the market?”
“Thunderbolt – née Intel Light Peak in partnership with Apple – made its debut on the MacBook Pro earlier this year, a high-speed connectivity standard hoping to replace not only USB 2.0/3.0, FireWire and eSATA, but display connections too,” Nguyen reports. “Using the same connector as Mini DisplayPort – meaning you can plug in either a Thunderbolt peripheral or an external display – it supports daisy-chaining of up to six devices per port, with enough bandwidth for simultaneous display of six uncompressed HD videos. Hardware using Thunderbolt is still in short supply – high-performance storage and multimedia interfaces are expected later this year – but the iMac 27′s twin ports does mean that, for the first time, you can hook up two external displays and spread your OS X desktop across three screens.”
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Apple’s new iMac “offers a compelling combination of performance, style and convenience,” Nguyen reports. “It’s hard not to be charmed by the 2011 iMac’s combination of swift processors and capable graphics. The aesthetic may not have changed in a generation or two but is still arguably well ahead of the plastic PC pack, and the price – although in the premium space – reflects the components, the quality of the display and, yes, the Apple cachet… the 2011 iMac is a polished update to one of the best machines on the market today.”
Read the full review here.
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Benchmarks prove 2011 iMacs 25% faster than last-gen iMacs; 70% faster than Core 2 Duo models – May 6, 2011
Thunderbolt-equipped Mac: You’re so going to want this – May 5, 2011
Apple’s new 27-inch iMacs support dual-monitor out via dual Thunderbolt ports – May 3, 2011
Apple unveils new iMac with next-gen quad-core processors, graphics and Thunderbolt I/O technology – May 3, 2011
My new 27″ iMac w/ i7 3.4GHz quad core & 8GB RAM arrived yesterday. Today I am checking it out for the first time. It replaced a 2.66GHz iMac from ’09 here at my business. The Geekbench score is over three times faster on the new machine.
The performance difference is huge! I particularly notice it when editing 20+ MB RAW images in Aperture 3. There’s just no lag. This thing runs like a scalded cat! Everything has been instantaneous so far. This thing is going to save me time, make my life easier and hopefully make me more $. Seems like money well spent so far.
> and no Blu-ray or touchscreen.
And iMacs are not going to get those features
It’s Slashgear. They’re part of the spectard cartel. They can’t help themselves.
All true. But good luck replacing the non standard hard drive when it fails after AppleCare expires. It’s gonna cost you!
True, but I expect that OWC and others will have a solution in less than the 3 years of Apple Care coverage.
One more thing…
No Blu Ray sucks. And please, let’s not hear the usual argument from those who say they’ve never used their optical drive and enjoy their 720p downloads. Blu Ray is for video professionals who need to author and play Blu Ray discs as a means of easily delivering 1080p content to paying clients.
That may be true, but video professionals use Mac Pros, not iMacs.
Why not just add an external blu ray drive. Checking the specs on the 27″ it looks capable. Probably want at least the 1gb vid card though.
I was just going to say that. It seems the whole point of the Thunderbolt high speed port is too easily add whichever external devices you like and no longer have to open your machines.
Yes.
You will be able to have 12 Blu-ray burners if you want. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that you can’t actually play a Blu Ray disc. You also must use third party software to properly author the disc. Apple needs to address this now with the required improvements to the operating system and software.
Why is Apple sticking with old technology DVD drives (launched in 1997) when the state of the art and the industry standard format since 2008 has been blu-ray. Please don’t mention other alternatives when so many people want it! This is one area where Apple is falling behind Windows Big Time!
@ George
“Why is Apple sticking with old technology DVD drives (launched in 1997) when the state of the art and the industry standard format since 2008 has been blu-ray. This is one area where Apple is falling behind Windows Big Time!”
Not only is there lack of blu-ray, but my last 2 Macs have been unable to burn good CDs!
3 Macs ago I had an external SCSI CD burner and it was flawless. The CDs it burned were always perfect.
On the G4/733Mhz Quicksilver and the current 2.4MHz Core2duo MacBook CDs are ALWAYS faulty, especially near the end of them. Anyone else have that problem? It really pisses me off, especially when Apple are supposed to be so good with mutimedia.
Could be that Bluray burners generate a lot of heat for a compact package like the iMac. Just a guess.
I don’t think it’s a heat issue. A blu-ray player/DVD/CD burner would suffice. I don’t think anybody is interested in burning blu-ray discs, but in 2011 blu-ray playback is expected!