Apple iMac 27in (2011) review

The launch of the new Apple MacBook Pro range a few months ago may have spoiled the surprise for the rest of Apple�s updates, but there�s no doubt most of us at PC Pro were far more excited to see Sandy Bridge make its way into Apple�s beautiful 27in iMac than in its laptops.

Sure enough, it�s now a suitably powerful beast to complement its glorious screen. The shift to Sandy Bridge brings a choice of new processors: the 27in iMac comes with either a 2.7GHz Core i5-2500S or a 3.1GHz Core i5-2400, with the latter upgradeable to a 3.4GHz Core i7-2600 if you�re feeling really flush.

Apple sent us the cheapest model for this review and, aided by 4GB of 1,333MHz DDR3 RAM and a fast 7,200rpm hard disk, the low-power Core i5 coped admirably with our real-world benchmarks. An overall score of 0.83 can�t compete with the latest blisteringly quick desktop PCs, but it trounces the previous fastest all-in-one we�ve tested by a good 10%. It�s a quad-core CPU, so it also coasted through the Multitasking segment with a solid score of 0.76.

The AMD graphics chip has seen an upgrade to the latest generation, inching the iMac closer to being a genuine entertainment machine as well as a do-it-all professional solution. The Radeon HD 6770 powered through our Low and Medium Crysis tests with ease, and managed a creditable 26fps at 1,920 x 1,080 and High settings.

It�s not quite powerful enough for real high-resolution gaming, though: if you want to play at the screen�s native 2,560 x 1,440, you�ll have to lower those settings to Medium, at which point it averaged a playable 32fps. Crysis aside, less demanding games should run at 1080p with few problems, and you may even be able to bump more mainstream games up to native resolution at their highest settings.

There�s still no Blu-ray option � we can understand it not coming as standard but it seems petty to exclude it from the upgrade path completely � but the iMac handled all our HD video smoothly. The FaceTime HD webcam also supports chat with other capable devices, although you�ll be limited by the resolution of the camera at the other end � don�t expect an iPhone user to look as good on your screen as you do on theirs.

As for that non-surprise, the iMac now comes equipped with Thunderbolt ports � one on the 21in models, two on the larger versions � in time for the first compatible RAID arrays to hit the shelves in the coming month or two. You�ll also be able to use the iMac as a second display for your MacBook Pro. It�s a nod to the future for now, but Apple looks to be putting its weight behind Thunderbolt over USB 3, at least for now.

The 27in IPS panel is as glorious as ever, with its 2,560 x 1,440 resolution rendering high-resolution images pin-sharp and displaying 1080p video with a panache that makes us yearn for that Blu-ray drive. It�s very reflective and it has a tendency to crush dark greys into black in images and videos, but that�s how it produces its fabulous contrast and vibrancy.

The rest is pretty much unchanged, with the excellent 17W speakers producing easily enough oomph for movie watching. The familiar Wireless Keyboard now comes with a choice at purchase of either the Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, and you get OS X Snow Leopard pre-installed. Boot Camp works pretty much flawlessly now too, for dual-booting into Windows.

We still have a few issues with the iMac, though. With such a large, obstructive screen in front of you, the positioning of the USB ports on the rear makes no sense other than to satisfy Apple�s insistence on clean lines. And the top of the chassis gets exceedingly hot: using an IR thermometer, we measured the metal at 59�C during intensive tasks, which is the price you pay for the near-silent running.

Then there�s the price, but you know how that works by now. It costs precisely the same as the bottom-end 27in model last year, which is to say a 2.7GHz Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 6770 is �1,399 inc VAT. The faster model is �1,649, and for once we reckon �250 for the step up to 3.1GHz and an HD 6970 looks fairly close to the correct retail pricing.

It goes without saying that the latest round of upgrades only make the 27in Apple iMac even more attractive. We�d prefer at least the option of a Blu-ray drive to go with the marvellous screen and speakers, and some USB ports within reach would prevent the occasional frustrating bout of desk-rearranging. But if you can afford it, it�s still the finest piece of all-in-one engineering on the market.

Author: David Bayon
PCPro

Kanex XD to need remake to work with Thunderbolt iMacs

Accessory maker Kanex said Thursday afternoon that it was developing a new version of the Kanex XD to support the new Thunderbolt-equipped iMacs. Video-in would work on the new ports, Kanex said, but changes were needed. A new version of the HDMI-to-MiniDP adapter was coming "soon."

Thunderbolt supports the official Mini DisplayPort standard and always works with video out. Its carrying data and power on the same cable, however, might create issues for input. The Apple- and Intel-created technology isn't limited to Macs and could be an issue for other computers once Windows developers get an opportunity to use the new interface for themselves.

Electronista

Intel gives Apple early access to Z68 platform

The 2011 iMac is already making use of Intel's BD82Z68 platform controller hub, various investigations show, including one by TonyMacx86. The Z68 platform is not officially scheduled to debut until May 11th, meaning that Intel has once again given Apple early access to new technology. Apple is for example the only computer maker with access to Thunderbolt, a 10Gbps port standard.

Z68 may have more significance in relation to a rumored Intel feature for SSDs, known as Smart Response Technology. Mentioned in documentation for a leaked "Larsen Creek" series of SSDs, Smart Response would allow an SSD to serve as a cache for a regular hard drive. Up to 20GB could potentially be cached, dramatically boosting access speeds in some cases.

Apple is reportedly pushing out delivery of combo SSD/HDD iMacs to between 2 and 3 weeks for 21.5-inch models, and 4 to 6 weeks for 27-inch systems. It's speculated that Apple could therefore be waiting for the arrival of Larsen Creek drives. It may also have to produce an update for Snow Leopard, and/or implement support in Lion.

Electronista

New 27-inch Core I5 IMac/3.1GHz Speed Results

On Tuesday, Apple released an updated line of iMacs, featuring quad-core Sandy Bridge Intel processors and Thunderbolt ports. Macworld Lab has all four standard configuration models, and the results for the $1999 27-inch iMac are in. The results do not disappoint, with the new iMac besting the previous generation of standard-configuration iMacs. The new 3.1GHz iMac even bested the performance of some impressively-equipped build-to-order models we've tested previously.

The $1999 iMac was the first to arrive in our lab and the first to be tested. At the heart of this iMac is a 3.1GHz Core i5 quad-core processor. This iMac also has a 1TB 7200-rpm hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 1GB of video memory.

Our overall system performance test suite, Speedmark 6.5, shows the new system to be 16 percent faster than the previous high-end standard configuration iMac, a 27-inch 2.8GHz Core i5 quad-core model with a 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive, and ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics with 1GB of dedicated RAM. (Apple considered the older 27-inch 2.8GHz Core i5 iMac a BTO option, but the online Apple Store didn't treat it like one, so we decided to treat it like a standard configuration model.)

In our iTunes encode test, the new iMac was 22 percent faster than the 27-inch 2.8GHz Core i5 iMac. The new iMac was also 18 percent faster in our Handbrake test, 20 percent faster in the Cinebench graphics test, 21 percent faster in the Cinebench CPU test, and 16 percent faster in our MathematicaMark tests.

Like the older 27-inch 2.8GHz Core i5 iMac, all of the new standard-configuration iMacs support Turbo Boost, which can give more processing power to individual cores when needed. And also like the older 27-inch 2.8GHz Core i5 iMac, all of the new standard-configuration iMacs don't have Hyper Threading, a technology that presents the OS with two virtual cores for each physical core.

Comparing the new system to last year's BTO models, we see less of a difference in performance. Just two Speedmark points separate the new 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac from the 2.93GHz Core i7 quad-core BTO iMac. The 2.93GHz model, like all 2010 iMacs, does not use Sandy Bridge processors, but it does support both Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost. In applications such as Cinebench and MathematicaMark, which can take advantage of eight virtual cores, the 2.93GHz BTO iMac outperformed the new 3.1GHz iMac.

Another 2010 BTO model, the 27-inch 3.6GHz Core i5 iMac, used a dual core processor at a faster clock speed. In terms of overall performance, the new standard 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac outperformed the 3.6GHz 2010 BTO iMac by 14 percent. In applications that make efficient use of four processors (Cinebench, Mathematica, and Handbrake), the new iMac was dominant, finishing 35 percent, 67 percent and 42 percent faster, respectively. In many tasks, however, having faster but fewer processors is an advantage, as can be seen in zipping and unzipping folders, and opening a Word document in Pages.

Compared to the 15-inch 2.2GHz Core i7 quad core MacBook Pro, the new 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac was 10 percent faster overall, and a few seconds faster in almost all of our individual application tests.

Compared to a recent six-core 3.33GHz Xeon Westmere Mac Pro with 8GB of RAM, the Mac Pro was about 15 percent faster overall than the new iMac. The iMac was a little faster in the graphics tests and iTunes encode tests, but considerably slower in most tasks, especially MathematicaMark and Cinebench CPU tests.

We're busy testing the other new models, so check back for more benchmarks soon. (The wait for Thunderbolt performance results will be longer, however, as the first few drives announced won't be available until this summer.) We're also working on the full review of the new iMacs.

PCworld

Apple unveils new iMacs: all quad-core, Thunderbolt

Apple as expected today unveiled its 2011 iMac. The new models are all based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and are the first to go entirely quad-core, starting with the 2.5GHz Core i5 and scaling up to the 3.4GHz Core i7. Each now uses the same 10Gbps Thunderbolt technology from the MacBook Pro that also doubles as a mini DisplayPort output; two are on the back.

FaceTime HD cameras are also new and give conversations between newer Macs a true widescreen conversation. AMD's Radeon HD 6000M series graphics define the line and give them more efficient graphics than before.

A 21.5-inch model starts the line and comes with the 2.5GHz Core i5, a Radeon HD 6750M, and a 500GB hard drive for $1,199; a 2.7GHz Core i5, a Radeon HD 6770M, and a 1TB drive raise the price to $1,499. Buyers of 27-inch models can start off with a 2.7GHz Core i5, a Radeon HD 6770M, and a 1TB disk for $1,699, while the 3.1GHz Core i5, a Radeon HD 6970M, and a 1TB drive cost $1,999.

Build-to-order options include the 3.4GHz Core i7, up to 2TB of disk space, a 256GB SSD (separate from main storage), up to 16GB of RAM, and AppleCare.

Electronista