New iMacs Inbound

July 29th, 2010

Rumors have been swirling for some time now about a refresh for Apple’s iMacs line of computers. The last time the iMacs product line got a real update was during the fall of 2009, when Apple introduced Core i5, and Core i7 processors to their iMac line up, and since then, there has been a lot of speculation about when the next set of upgrades would arrive, and what they would include. Apple has finally announced the features available in the latest batch of iMacs, and the iMac’s future is looking bright.

The new line up of iMacs brings a wider variety of processor options to the market. The i5’s and i7’s found in the last batch of iMacs are now joined by Core i3 processors in the lower end iMacs. Additionally, all of the new iMacs can be ordered with a new, discrete ATI Radeon HD GPU.

Raw processing power isn’t the only thing the new iMacs have to offer. You can also order one with an SSD hard drive, or a regular hard drive in sizes up to 2 TB. You can even get a system with an SSD drive for the operating system, and a regular hard drive for storage. Unfortunately, the SSD drives are only going  to be available on the 27 inch models.

Apple has also made a host of smaller, but welcome changes to the new set of iMacs. For example, the SD card slot included in each new iMac will support the new SDXC standard. Given Apple’s track record for bundling their accessories with their computers, it’s a little surprising to find that the new Magic Trackpad. The trackpad will, instead, be a $69 add on.

The latest batch of iMacs will come in sizes ranging from 21.5 inches up to 27 inches, and the prices on the standard models will run between $1200 and $2,000. Additions such as larger hard drives and additional RAM will increase the price.

It’ll be interesting to see how well the new iMacs perform. The iMac product line has long been considered a “basic” sort of computer, but some of the additions Apple has made in recent history have begun to change that. The high end computers in the latest series of Imacs have some serious horsepower, and they should be capable of tearing through even the toughest tasks. The new iMacs are available now from the Apple store, and should begin to show up in other retail outlets soon.

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