After rumors of production delays, Apple's new updated iMacs go on sale this Friday.
The new 21.5-inch iMac is available Nov. 30, just squeaking in under the November deadline Apple set for itself when it first announced the new line of computers.
The 27-inch version will be available sometime in December, though they will available for preorder on the Apple website on Friday, as well.
The baseline 21.5-inch model is priced at $1,299. It features a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of 1600 MHz RAM, a 1 TB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics card.
The $1,499 model of the 21.5-inch iMac upgrades the processor to a 2.9 GHz i5 and the graphics to a GeForce GT 650M.
The 27-inch iMac starts at $1,799 for a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of 1600 MHz RAM, a 1 TB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphic card.
The $1,999 model of the 27-inch iMac upgrades the processor to a 3.2 GHz i5 and the graphics to a GeForce GTX 675MX.
As usual, Apple offers a slew of optional upgrades, though no word on the pricing of the extra options.
Processors in both models can be upgraded to an Intel Core i7, and extra RAM is likely an option (though it's cheaper to buy RAM from a third-party like Kingston or Crucial and install it yourself).
Apple is also offering FusionDrive, a hybrid hard drive that has 128 GB of flash memory combined with a traditional spinning hard drive. The OS decides where to put data to best optimize performance. Apple says this gives the speed of flash memory and the capacity of traditional hard drives. That sounds great, if it's true, though I wonder if it just makes the drive twice as likely to break. Perhaps there are redundancies built in, but no specifics yet.
Apple is also touting the display, which it says reduces glare by 75 percent.
The displays have actually been the sticking point in Apple's production pipeline lately. The company is waging copyright battles with Samsung and has moved the sourcing of all their displays from Samsung to LG.
That's kept Apple from producing as many units as they'd like. Sources say Apple wanted to sell 10 million iPad 2's by Christmas, but it looks like they'll only have about 6 million on hand.
And the iMacs may have been out earlier this month if not for display shortages.
LG makes fine displays, so quality shouldn't be affected, but supplies might run low quickly. If you want one of the new iMacs for the holidays, buy or preorder it on Friday.
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