Apple today unveiled the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, featuring the world’s highest resolution display with a breathtaking 14.7 million pixels. At this amazing resolution, text appears sharper than ever, videos are unbelievably lifelike, and you can see new levels of detail in your photos. With the latest quad-core processors, high-performance graphics, Fusion Drive and Thunderbolt 2, iMac with Retina 5K display is the most powerful iMac ever made—it’s the ultimate display combined with the ultimate all-in-one.
“Thirty years after the first Mac changed the world, the new iMac with Retina 5K display running OS X Yosemite is the most insanely great Mac we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With a breathtaking 14.7 million pixel display, faster CPU and graphics, Fusion Drive, and Thunderbolt 2, it’s the most beautiful and powerful iMac ever.”
iMac with Retina 5K display delivers an amazingly immersive user experience. With a resolution of 5120 x 2880, iMac with Retina 5K display has four times more pixels than the standard 27-inch iMac and 67 percent more pixels than a 4K display. Text looks as sharp as it does on a printed page, and you can see more of your high-resolution photos with pixel-for-pixel detail. In apps like Final Cut Pro® X, you can view 4K video at full size while still leaving plenty of room for your assets and editing tools.
The display on the new 27-inch iMac has been engineered for performance, power efficiency and stunning visual quality. iMac with Retina 5K display uses a precisely manufactured oxide TFT-based panel to deliver vivid display brightness from corner to corner. A single supercharged Apple-designed timing controller (TCON), with four times the bandwidth, drives all 14.7 million pixels. iMac with Retina 5K display also uses highly efficient LEDs and organic passivation to improve image quality and reduce display power consumption by 30 percent, even while driving four times more pixels at the same brightness. To improve the contrast ratio, iMac with Retina 5K display uses a new photo alignment process and a compensation film to deliver blacker blacks and more vibrant colors from any viewing angle. In addition, every iMac with Retina 5K display is calibrated using three state-of-the-art spectroradiometers to ensure precise and accurate color.
Not only is iMac with Retina 5K display more beautiful on the outside, it is also more powerful on the inside. It comes with a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, and for the first time can be configured with a 4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.4 GHz. Every new iMac with Retina 5K display also comes with AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and can be configured with AMD Radeon R9 M295X graphics, delivering up to 3.5 teraflops of computing power, the most powerful graphics ever offered on an iMac. iMac with Retina 5K display comes standard with 8GB of memory and a 1TB Fusion Drive for the first time. The new iMac can also be configured with up to 32GB of memory, a 3TB Fusion Drive, or up to 1TB of super-fast, PCIe-based flash storage. In addition, iMac with Retina 5K display includes two Thunderbolt 2 ports that deliver up to 20Gbps each, twice the bandwidth of the previous generation.
Every new Mac® comes with OS X® Yosemite, a powerful new version of OS X, redesigned and refined with a fresh, modern look, powerful new apps and amazing new Continuity features that make working across your Mac and iOS devices more fluid than ever. OS X Yosemite is also engineered to take full advantage of the iMac’s Retina 5K display, delivering stunning clarity across all your apps.
iMovie®, GarageBand® and the suite of iWork® apps come free with every new Mac. iMovie lets you easily create beautiful movies, and you can use GarageBand to make new music or learn to play piano or guitar. iWork productivity apps, Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote®, make it easy to create, edit and share stunning documents, spreadsheets and presentations. iWork has been redesigned with a new look, support for iCloud Drive℠ and a host of new features, including a new comments view in Pages. iWork for iCloud® beta lets you create your document on iPad®, edit it on your Mac and collaborate with friends, even if they’re on a PC.
Pricing & Availability
iMac with Retina 5K display begins shipping today with a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and a 1TB Fusion Drive for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US). Customers can order iMac with Retina 5K display through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com).
Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/imac.
Source: Apple Inc.
And yet again…Apple continues to screw it’s pro customers…where’s my 5K retina display for my MacPro Apple?
Isn’t one of the benefits of a Mac Pro the ability to use a 3rd party monitor of your choice?
With an adapter, you mean?
Look, sales for Apple’s current Thunderbolt display (2560 x 1440 pixel resolution) are minuscule because it Apple continues to put off the long overdue update. No matter how in love with Apple you are, you have to admit that selling monitors designed in 2008 six years later is pretty lame.
Even old products like Airport Express (still offering only 802.11N !!!) and Apple TV are only a couple years old.
If Cook’s intent is to stop offering Mac peripherals and networking products, he should do us a favor and announce it rather than letting formerly great products die on the vine. The wait for competitive products does drive away customers to other manufacturers when Apple can’t step up.
That’s not a benefit, that’s forcing us to use inferior plastic cheap products.
Could buy this iMac and use it as a screen for your Mac Pro with the thunderbolt connector. It’s cheeper then most, if not all available 4k displays.
If Apple can deliver a $2500 iMac with this display quality, they can create a CHEAPER monitor, without the computer, stands to reason. Don’t wan’t an iMac. That’s why I invested $4K in a new MacPro! And chefpastry, if I wanted an overpriced piece of 4K crud, I’d have bought one already.
First things first… A 5k for the pro will surely come, the iMac production priority right now is justified mu any means.
hmmm…options. You could get one of these “crud” displays, as you call them for around $3,000. Second, you could wait for Apple to give you this display you want, done correctly. However, I wouldn’t expect it to be much cheaper then this iMac. Thirdly, you could get this iMac, which is cheaper then most 4K displays; has a 5K as opposed to 4K; built in storage; and secondary, headless processing power for less then most other 4K displays.
Seems you have a glut of options available but would rather complain about a thing that doesn’t exist yet. And it’s not just that Apple hasn’t done this and others have, no one has a display like this for the price point you’re hoping for.
I also have a Mac Pro and have been using my older 27″ iMac as the display for it, with much success. Would I like a cheaper 4K (better yet 5K) display? Sure, but it doesn’t exist yet.
Sorry praus…I don’t WANT an iMac, another computer to manage, no matter how cheap it is with the latest tech. I just disagree with your needs meeting my needs.
Then stop bitching. What you want doesn’t exist yet. However, it does require that Apple first puts this tech into iMacs to make it more affordable as a stand alone.
Once Apple has the economies of scale from iMac sales with this tech, they can then make a stand alone version thats more affordable (still wouldn’t expect it to be much cheaper then $2,500. Maybe $1,999).
Which option would you rather, that they get production of this tech ramped up through iMac sales so it is affordable, or that they make a $3,000+ stand alone display out of the gate for the much more limited Mac Pro crowd?
You’re either some one who “needs” a 4K display (high end pro user) and you can put down $2,500 for a display that happens to also be a computer or you’re not. In the case of the latter, you can simply wait till it’s ready. You seem to want bleeding edge technology but are not willing to pay bleeding edge prices. In that case, you will need to wait for the more affordable option.
God praus, you’re so wrong again. Price isn’t the issue, the quality of an apple product is. I can guarantee you, I’ve given more of my hard earned money to apple then you will probably ever give, so it’s not cost. You’re economies argument is BS too. First off, it’s a company worth over $100B, so it wouldn’t hurt them to do a high end monitor. How many people do you think buy the thunderbolt display? I have a right, as a high end apple consumer to expect apple to deliver a high end monitor for it’s pro customers. They have right not to answer. And I have a right to complain they don’t give a damn about this segment, because they don’t. It’s as simple as that, troll.
Not many people buy thunderbolt displays. Really their main customer with this display would be the Mac Pro user (a fairly small audience). It’s definitely not the mini crowd (you don’t spend $500+ on a computer and then $2k-$3k on a monitor). While Mac Book Pro users do buy displays (and will buy a small portion of these new standalones when they’re ready), they usually don’t need something this high end, or they just use it as a laptop and never hook it up to a display at all. So, we’re pretty much left with the Mac Pro users.
That makes this a niche product. As such, it’s either going to cost more (over $3,000), or it’s going to need to use the economies of scale from iMac production to make it affordable. Apple does not sell low margin products, we both know this. As an investor, I hope they never start doing that. This is very new tech. The equipment to build this tech, needs time to yield large quantities of displays, when they make these screens en mass for the iMac. Once they do that, they will be able to make the standalone display. For them to try and sell this niche product without the large ramp up in production of these new screens from the iMac first, we would be left with a very expensive display and no one would buy it.
This is Apple, they will take their time and do it right. They will not come out with low margin products, cheaply made shit or stuff thats so cost prohibitive that no one will buy it.
Your argument is completely bust praus, because the Mac Pro itself is a niche market. Yet, after 5+ years of dying on the vine, Apple sent TEN OF MILLIONS developing a niche computer. You’re telling me they couldn’t develop a new 4K display (even 5K maybe) alongside their new flagship product? They certainly advertised it as the best thing! Why would you spend tens or millions developing the pro line and not offer a stunning display to go with it? After all, that’s what they just did with the new iMac Retina. It’s a niche market with a decent computer running a stunning display. Yes, it’s niche! Not many consumers will buy a $2500 iMac. You’re now charging old Mac Pro tower prices.
You don’t think the big media houses, agencies, studios, etc., wouldn’t shell out $3-4K to go with their new Mac Pro investments. Apple would have made back their initial investment rather quickly. Even if they sold 10K displays for $4K a pop, they’d make $40M on the sales of the displays. I’m sure it wouldn’t take $40M to design and make a stand-alone display, especially if you’re developing it alongside your new iMac Retina display and can split the R&D costs.
Your argument, especially as an investor, (I have major investments in the company as well, BTW…they make up a rather large percentage of my retirement account.) makes no sense. As an investor, I’m concerned they ARE shunning a highly profitable segment of the market, the people who ARE willing to shell out big money for their products. Consumers have a tight budget. Deep pockets don’t. The pro market, while cost conscious, is basically free money, due to their loyalty alone.
I agree completely! Apple, where are the 5K displays? I don’t want a display with a soon-to-be-obsolete chip-set in it. I want a display I can use for years as I upgrade my computer.
I just don’t get the all-in-one strategy. A display plus a Mac Mini with the same GPU, GPU & storage would be a better.
At least Apple got it right with AppleTV, the set top box and display (TV) are separate.
How exactly would you use it as a screen? You can’t. It cannot output it’s display from any external machine, unless you hack it somehow and void your Apple Care.
It’s a feature called TDM Mike. Otherwise known as Thunderbolt Display Mode, where the device will turn itself into a dumb screen in a chain. The problem with everyone suggesting this though, the tech required to do this doesn’t exist in even the newest, older equipment. A 5K display needs a lot of bandwidth and the new mac pros don’t have a port that can drive that monitor stand-alone. I’m sure there are solutions, or a solution, but apple hasn’t said it yet and they didn’t deliver for the pros at this time, yet again.
The thunderbolt 2 ports on the Mac Pro are fully capable of running 2 4K displays simultaneously. I doubt they would have issue with one 5K display on an iMac (or the eventually released stand alone display).
Nope, wrong again. At present, the thinking is the ports on a Mac Pro run Display port 1.2, which maxes out @ 17 Gbits/s. You’d need two thunderbolt 2 ports to drive the data to an iMac display running in 5K since you’d need about 25Gbits/s for your bandwidth, so they estimate. In short, the tech on the NEW Mac Pros is already too old to drive Apple’s NEW monitor. It hasn’t even been a year and we STILL don’t have a capable display. If you’re going to design a high-end niche computer with no display, what’s the point. I understand the mini, it’s designed to run with low cost, low quality displays. But the flagship isn’t!
“At present, the thinking is”
Cod for, “I read this somewhere but I don’t really understand it”
Thunderbolt is not just mini display. It supports mini display but it’s also a PCIe connection. Thats like a fat pipe of data directly from your graphics card to the monitor. As both devices use Thunderbolt 2, not just mini display, this should not be an issue.
I also asked some people at Apple as I have friends who work there and they confirm this new iMac can work as a display in Target Display Mode for the Mac Pro.
Well, your friends are idiots. I’ve spoken with Apple and they’ve basically confirmed it. If the link below doesn’t work, head on over to the MacRumors website and look for the headline “Retina 5K iMac Will Not Act as External Display, Standalone Apple 5K Display Unlikely Soon” to see how wrong you are. I’m done trying to explain it to you.
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/17/retina-5k-imac-external-display-no/
I suspect the iMac gets it first due to cabling. They can control the bus better internally than with an external Cinema Display.
My concern are the refresh rates and tearing mid screen. But with allocation, where I work, I won’t get to see first gen anyway. I will have to wait for a while. I still have until 2016 before I get to replace my 2011 iMac.
How is this screwing you?
disappointed with the inability for the displays to display more colors, 14.7 is nice, but its nowhere near a display that can show 16 bit color, or over a billion colors.
yup.. I dropped close to 10k on my mac pro setup and still waiting for 4k made from apple..and now they push out the 5k to every grandmother with a Facebook account. REALLY annoyed.
Phenomenal value for $2,499!
I’d rather have a good retina MBP for that kind of moolah, but to each his own.
I’m trying not to be an ass about it but Apple’s really starting to piss me off with the release of the iMac 5k Retina but a 4k or 5k cinema display for my MacPro and MacBook Pro are no where to be found.
Does really kind of give you a big f-you kind of feeling to us professional users of their products.
You do know you can use the new iMac as a display, right. And it cost less the a 4k display
Patience grasshopper, there’s far more people who want and will buy this iMac right now…
What the heck did they mean by “its been too long”? No surprise today. Not happy how they lead people on. Anyone else?
Ditto. Disappointed with no apple TV announcement, puzzled by the “it’s been too long” teaser.
They were referring to updates to the Mac Mini??? If so, agreed – it has been too long.
LOL! I thought going in that it surely had to be about the Apple TV (been just a “hobby” for too long) but now I’m wondering what that did mean. Maybe it was a joke about having 2 keynotes one month apart?
Regardless, glad to see the Mac mini get some lovin’ today.
I wonder if at the last minute they had to abort on a new Apple TV announcement (probably due to content issues). I still think the “it’s been too long” was a reference to TV.
You’ll never get the Apple TV you want. Look at what CBS announced today. They are all going to do what they want to do.
Could here possibly be another announcement in November?
Big let down about the Apple TV. I hope they sneak in another announcement soon about it, but I doubt it. Tim Cook said something about finishing up the year.
Yes! I still don’t understand why everyone loves laptops. I’ll take a 27″ iMac over a 15″ MacBook Pro any day. And now that there’s a Retina 5K Display, it’s no contest.
Graphic designers and photographers alike can rejoice. Sorry, video pros may still have to wait a bit longer for a standalone 5K Display that will probably cost almost as much.
Do you not understand. You can go by a 4k display for 3000 dollars, or u can buy this beautiful 27 inch 5k display for 2499, and it is and all in one Mac as well. You do know you can hook this up to your Mac Pro as a display right. Thunderbolt.
Give it up already tirple3zy. Yes, if we own pros, we KNOW we can do what you’re saying…we just don’t WANT to do what your saying. Get it?
See my comment further down triple3zy, you apparently CAN NOT use the iMac in TDM with a mac pro. It’s not supported.
Mac Mini is nice to be updated. However, as a tagline for the main event, once again PR and Marketing departments chose less than wisely.
Ain’t that a bitch. For the past year I’ve been fat, dumb, and happy after buying a 27″ iMac. Now Apple releases a 27″ with a Retina display and I have lust in my heart again.
Dell has announced a “5k 27″ display for release before January. If I were a video professional that really needed the extra horsepower of a Mac Pro, I’d get the best 4k monitor I could find and then use a 27” 2560×1440 monitor like the Thunderbolt display. Then I’d look at the Dell 5k when it came out. If that wasn’t good enough, I’d just drop 2500 on the new iMac.
My late 2012 iMac is a beautiful, blazingly fast computer and it is the only computer I’ve ever used all day long that I don’t struggle with eye strain at the end of the day. I suspect for 85% of the professional audio/photo/desktop publishing and even production video people the new iMac will be an absolute screamer that will be a pure joy to use day in and day out.. In addition, EVERY office worker would love a new Mac.
Apple is not in the display business. Display companies should look at what Apple is doing and step up their efforts.
At this time rp, it’s believed that the Mac Pro will NOT work with this display in TDM. The bandwidth requirements are too high to drive at 5K resolution. So no, it won’t work.
Apple TV will beam or stream so nice on this beauty which will double as a killer video editing and graphics station.
Say, did the subscription model avalanche hit yet to name this iMac an Apple TV?
I have a several-year-old Mac Pro with maxed drive bays and even got a USB 3.0 card for it (not Thunderbolt capable, though). DVD and Blu-Ray internal drives (which I still occasionally use). Original 27″ (non-Thunderbolt) LED cinema display. Apple’s shut me out again. There’s no upgrade path that doesn’t take me backward or cost me twice as much to replicate in peripherals and cabling as what I have now.
I guess that means I’m stuck until that Thunderbolt-capable tower comes along (and I’m not holding my breath for it). But I’ll bet there are others out there like me – want to upgrade, and can afford it, but can’t make sense out of it logically. Although a new non-iMac 5K Thunderbolt display would have been awfully tempting to open the purse-strings for a total make-over.
BPM. I love the new stuffAlready ordered the new 27/5k fully tricked out [1TB flash, plus the upgraded chip & RAM choices] and a fully tricked out new mini. Despite the early naysaying, I think most of these products are on target. And I will order a new iPad Mini tomorrow. And “it’s been too long”] struck me more as tongue in cheek, since we just had an Apple event last month. Would I love an update for ATV? Sure, who wouldn’t. But I went ahead and ordered another one of those to replace an aging first gen ATV. It’s still a great little device.
Grrrilla, here is my suggestion: go out and buy a new iMac, tricked out for $3200. Then go out and spend another $1000 on remote storage. You’ll pay all this off in increased productivity in a few months. Even if you have to cough up the bucks for a Thunderbolt box for a specialty PCI card. 5k for a professional’s day in and day out work tool is nothing. You could do this even cheaper by forgetting about the external stuff and just leave your existing Mac on the network and use whatever is inside of it when you need it.
My first 100% used day in day out CAD system was a 486-66 with a 800×600 17″ monitor and a 14″ Hercules monochrome monitor. It cost $6000 in 1993 (plus $5000 more for the software). I made a ton of money with that computer.
By comparison my $2800 iMac blows that away. I make even MORE money now.
If you are using a Mac to make money, think about productivity. The dollars are worth it.
PS: I’ve used my DVD drive attached to my iMac just to load Windows and copy some .mp3 files from a friend in the 22 months I’ve owned it. I’ve watched exactly 4 BlueRay movies at friends houses in my life. Streaming from netflix or Apple TV is what people do. I don’t know of a video rental store anywhere around me.
To everyone that keep raving on about using the iMac in TDM, and my comment that I’m angry Apple ignored their pro users, here’s the facts as they’re known at this moment from Apple Geniuses. Currently, it is NOT believed that a Mac Pro can drive this monitor in 5K mode. Not compatible. So to everyone like praus and triple3zy, who keep perpetuating the fallacy that you can buy this computer, run it in TDM with your mac pro and get a computer for free, it’s appearing that you can NOT do this. So my original comment still stands…Apple screwed its pro customers in favor of providing tech to consumers they don’t need! My grandma doesn’t need a 5K iMac to look at her photos, but I need at least a 4K display to run my photography business, so yeah, I’m a little more pissed now.
Hire Grandma and let her improve your business instead of complaining!
Sorry Tom, you’re what’s wrong with Apple. Complacency. You like everything they shovel out. I’ve been a loyal Apple customer for over 28 years, and they’ve slowly made my job more difficult (and less enjoyable) because they’re chasing the consumer dollar. I’m not saying the iMac isn’t something stellar, it is. I’m simply stating that Apple is still screwing it’s pro customers in lieu of proving tech to the masses they don’t need. There’s less of a target need for the high end consumer iMac, just like the pro. Why can’t they simply produce two products at the same time, or deliver a product that will work for both. It’s B.S.
Apple is not the only computer manufacturer that doesn’t offer a 4k display. There is an economy of scale that makes it difficult. Apple can sell 20x or more 5K iMacs than they sell stand alone displays. Their strategy is not satisfying your “want”, but it is not keeping you from obtaining a 4k display. On the bright side, the display technology they introduced today does at least indicate more than every that there may be an updated Cinema display on the horizon; once the manufacturing capability exceeds what they need to support the iMac.
I disagree with you Spark. There’s not a big market for a lot of people who are willing to shell out $2500 for an iMac. You’re approaching old Pro pricing for computers there, and the “masses” are at the $12-1500 target price, and that’s the high end. You realize that, right? $2500! It’s what I’d start at for base pricing for the old tower mac pros I’d buy. Everyone used to say, $2500, are you stupid? Mac’s cost too much!!
They’ve already been selling a stand alone monitor for years, and I’m sure it’s not a huge money maker for them either, but they do it. They spent many millions to develop the new mac pro, telling us how great it was that it could drive four 4K displays, while at the same time didn’t either spend, or deliver, a 4K display to worthy of their accomplishments. In other words, they did just enough to please their pro customers. They’ve since had almost another year, and still they have nothing to assure us they give a damn.
Quite impressive.. Actually 67% more pixels than 4K (4096 x 2160) and 78% more than UHD (3840 x 2160)..
It’s good to see that Apple is expanding the Fusion Drive. That is such an AWESOME concept!
I see it as the Apple TV in disguised as an iMac! If that’s wrong then a new 5k cinema display would be when hooked up with the AppleTV…
Damn and I just bought a 27″ iMac in the spring.
I buy this iMac. That’s it.
4k monitors cost $600, not $3000! Given that Dell’s 5k also costs $2500, the idea of buying an iMac just for the display sounds like a good temporary solution. Sell or repurpose the iMac when cheeper 5k monitors come out.
Oops, in my other post I didn’t know yet that the TDM mode couldn’t be used.
But I think you guys have answered your own questions here. The reason there isn’t a 5k stand alone display is that no existing Mac can support it!
Of course they could have a display with the iMac’s video card built in, then ANY mac with a thunderbolt port could use it. But Apple probably has a limit to the number of these displays they can produce, so are starting with the iMac.
I like this web site so much, saved to favorites. “To hold a pen is to be at war.” by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.