Apple updates 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs with six-core Intel processors

New iMacs are finally here.

Nearly two years since their last update, Apple’s finally beefing up its its 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs with faster Intel processors and more powerful AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics.

The new 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina display and 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display look and feel identical to the previous-gen iMacs last refreshed in June 2017. 

Apple’s changed nothing about the iMac’s iconic aluminum chassis and glass screen. Same screen sizes and resolution, same brightness and wide (P3) color gamut, and same ports (two Thunderbolt USB-C, four USB 3, SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet, and headphone jack).

Inside of sleek machines, however, is all new.

The entry-level 21.5-inch 4K iMac is powered by an Intel 8th-gen Core i5 processor and can be configured with a new six-core Core i7 processor option. Apple says the new Intel chips deliver “up to 60 percent faster performance.

Graphics performance has also jumped on the new iMac. With AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics, Apple claims “up to 80 percent” improvement for GPU-intensive operations such as video editing and gaming. Whether or not the 21-inch 4K iMac can run Fortnite at 60 fps is something we’re sure everyone is dying to find out, though.

The 21.5-inch iMac comes with 8GB of 2,666MHz DDR4 RAM and can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM. For storage, it’s got a 1TB hard drive and can be customized with a 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB/512GB/1TB of SSD.

The larger 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display also comes with faster CPU performance courtesy of new Intel 9th-gen processors. The new 27-inch iMac now comes standard with six-cores and can be configured with eight-cores, which can “turbo boost” up to a 5GHz clock speed. CPU performance is up to 2.4x faster compared to the previous model.

Apple’s also equipped the larger iMac with AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics, which offer “up to 50 percent” faster graphics performance. 

These processor and graphics improvements will benefit creatives the most according to Apple. In a press briefing, Apple highlighted several examples for which this extra power could be used for,. For instance, users can expect to see up to 50 percent improved performance working with Photoshop projects, or the ability to create up to two times the amount of virtual instruments in Logic, or view up to 16 simultaneous multi-cam streams compared to the previous seven in Final Cut Pro X.

RAM configuration is the same as the smaller iMac: 8GB of 2,666MHz DDR4 RAM, configurable up to 32GB. Storage is also identical to the previous generation 27-inch iMac: 1TB Fusion Drive standard with configurations of up to 1TB of SSD or 2TB of SSD depending on the specific model.

The new iMacs start at $1,299 for the 4K 21-inch model and $1,799 for the 5K 27-inch version, which is the same pricing as the previous generation iMacs. Both are available from Apple immediately.

I know what most people are thinking: “Cool performance update, but where’s the redesign because it’s been seven years.” Apple doesn’t have an answer to that and honestly, it shouldn’t bug you. The iMac looks no less modern or iconic in 2019 than it did when the current design debuted in 2012. Thinner bezels may matter on phone — a device you put in your pocket — but they aren’t of as much importance on a desktop computer that sits on a table, in an office, a living room, or bedroom, and is rarely transported.

Really, we want to find out what the performance gap is between the new iMacs and the entry-level iMac Pro. Can you get away with a regular 5K iMac without spending $5,000 or more on the iMac Pro? We’ll hopefully have some answers when we get these bad boys in for a full review.