After rumors of production delays, Apple's new updated iMacs go on sale today.
Australian Ben Pasternak posted an unboxing video (below the story), and Japanese site Kodawarisan already has teardown pics.
The new 21.5-inch iMac is available now, 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 are available for preorder on the Apple website now, 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 the lower-end version of the 21.5-inch iMac can only upgrade the RAM, doubling it to 16 GB for $200.
The higher-end version of the 21.5-inch iMac also offers an upgrade to a 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7 for $200 and a 1 TB FusionDrive for $250.
FusionDrive is 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.
The lower-end 27-inch version loses the ability to upgrade the processor, but offers upgrades up to 32 GB of RAM, a 3TB FusionDrive or a 768 GB solid state flash drive. While mid-range versions of those upgrades can be useful, the most expensive ones seem exorbitantly-priced and unnecessary.
It's cheaper to buy RAM from a third-party like Kingston or Crucial and install it yourself.
As for the top-of-the-line 27-inch iMac, the upgrade to a 3.4 GHz i7 is a no-brainer for only $200. The other options are the same as the lower-end 27-inch, though the graphics card can be upgraded, useful for video games.
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 soon.
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