Apple Updates iMacs With Haswell Chips, Faster GPU
Apple today announced a refresh to its iMac lineup, which adds Intel’s new Haswell processors, next-gen Wi-Fi, and more.
The base 21.5-inch model will most likely sport the quad-core Core i5-4570R (2.7GHz base clock, turbo up to 3.2GHz with Iris Pro graphics), and the top of the line 27-inch SKU bringing what is likely the Core i7-4771 (3.5GHz base clock, turbo up to 3.9GHz).
The faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi (also known as Gigabit Wi-Fi) paves the way for up to three times faster wireless data transfers compared to the previous generation. Apple of course recently updated its AirPort wireless appliances with 802.11ac compatibility.
Due to the new PCIe-based flash storage (also found in the mid-2013 MacBook Air), Apple says the iMac’s optional Fusion Drive (a HDD + SDD combo) is now up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation.
iMac comes standard with 8 gigabytes of memory and a 1-terabyte hard drive, and customers can choose to configure their iMac with up to 32 gigabytes of memory and up to a 3-terabyte hard drive. iMac also comes with two Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports for connecting to external storage and other high performance peripherals.
On the graphics side, the top spec gets a decent upgrade, with the Nvidia GTX 780M offering higher clock speeds and more RAM over its predecessor, the GTX 680MX. On the low end, we see Intel’s own Iris Pro integrated graphics take the place of Nvidia’s GT 640M, a good indicator that Intel’s graphics efforts are making inroads on lower specced machines.
The new iMacs ship with Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Indian pricing and availability will be announced soon!
