Display
The highlight of the new iMac has to be its 27-inch Retina 5K
display with a stunning resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 pixels. This means
it has 14.7 million pixels, or four times more than a standard 27-inch
iMac display and 67 per cent more than a 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels)
display.
Some might say that 5K is overkill.
But the same was said when 4K TV sets were introduced. Now, viewers are embracing 4K TVs as if they were their own children.
Once you view the 5K Retina display, you will want one. It makes
everything look awesomely sharp. It makes your full high-definition TV
look like a VGA display of yesteryear.
The brightness level looks consistent throughout. The viewing angle
is wide enough that the screen can be clearly seen even if you sit
slouched to the side of the screen. However, there is colour shift -
albeit slight - when it is viewed from the sides and it is a tad
reflective.
Photographers and others who work with images will swoon over the
details they will be able to see in photographs. Videographers will be
able to edit 4K video footage in its full glory, while having enough
display space for editing tools.
Casual users will go gaga over the crystal-clear text and pictures when browsing websites.
Design
The new iMac follows its predecessors with the aluminium chassis and black bezel around the display.
At its sides, the all-in-one tapers to a width of 5mm. But it bulges at the back, where it sits above the aluminium stand.
It is like having a 5K monitor with a built-in computer. The only
drawback is that you cannot connect this iMac to another laptop or game
console and use it as a monitor.
Processor
The Retina iMac comes standard with a 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
processor, an AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics processing unit (GPU) with
2GB of video memory, 8GB of system memory and 1TB of hybrid drive.
However, you can improve the iMac's performance by upgrading to a
4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, an AMD Radeon R9 M295X GPU with
4GB of video memory, 32GB of system memory and 3TB of hybrid drive.
In addition, the iMac with Retina 5K display has two Thunderbolt 2
ports that deliver up to 20Gbps each, twice the bandwidth of the
previous generation.
