Apple iMac Review

Just like the MacBook Pros the price of the iMac has gone up even though you do get a more than moderate specification. In addition, just like the other Mac products, you can opt to upgrade the features of the iMac. The cost of an extra 4GB of RAM is £160.

The Apple iMac

However, the highest-end 27inch screen option, standard issue costing you £1,399, a £100 less than a 15-inch Intel Core i5 MacBook Pro, has a new option of solid-state hard drives but does not include an HDMI input or blu-ray drive support, although we are sure Apple will add these features soon, hopefully.

The new system still features the same aluminium and glass design, the same LED backlit display is featured in this iMac and almost all of the same ports and inputs as the original iMac, the only addition is the SD card slot, which thanks to the latest iMac update the iMac now supports SDXC cards which go up to 2TB more than enough for anyone.

The iMac comes with a wireless keyboard and the wireless Magic Mouse. The Apple Remote is an optional add-on for an extra £15 and the new Magic Trackpad is an official supported input for an additional £59.

The Magic Trackpad is what is says on the box, a gesture based control pad from the MacBook Pro. The Magic Trackpad is a great addition considering the iMacs lack of a touchscreen unlike the Asus Eee Top range.

The Apple TrackPad

The most dramatic change to the iMac is the incorporation of the Intel Core i3 processor. It is the first level of Intel’s new processor family the perfect entry point for a fast, responsive and adequate PC experience. The i3 processor is a perfect choice for both home and office use and the i3 processors, as the other Intel-I processors features hyperthreading, enabling each core of the processor to work on two tasks at the same time. As a result the dual core processor is virtually a quad-core processor and has a noticeable benefit to the iMacs multitasking capabilities.

Apart from this the GPU is now an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256 of dedicated RAM. Even though it is an entry-level GPU it offers great mid-range performance and DirectX 10.1 support. This means that mid-range games such as DirectX 9 Call of Duty 4 will be handled smoothly even in high detail yet more demanding games such as Crysis will only be playable in medium detail. In all it is a great GPU that offers great performance and support for a great price. However, this does not mean that they’ll be playable on the iMac with COD4 turning out to be all but playable on the iMac. Yet for Valve titles and games such as Team Fortress 2 the iMac is a solid gaming system. Furthermore, it comes with a great range of ports such as four USB ports, a FireWire port, analogue and digital audio jacks as well as a MiniDisplayPort output. Yet, unlike the MacBook Pro, there is no Mini DisplayPort and most importantly there is no blu-ray port.

The Apple iMac: Still not enough

Overall, the iMac is the king of the all-in-one computing kingdom, even if it does over heat thanks, probably, to the new GPU. Nonetheless, this should not be much of a problem as the iMac is certainly not going to be on your lap. Just like other Apple products, especially in the Mac range, Apple include huge amounts of support, software and upgrades, some at a price.