Apple just unveiled its highest-end All-In-One (AIO) PC ever, introducing the new 27-inch iMac with a whopping Retina 5K resolution of 5120 x 2880 pixels.
The company had to go the great lengths to develop this 27-inch Retina 5K iMac, but the result is definitely impressive.
"Creating such a stunningly thin design took equally stunning feats of technological innovation. We meticulously designed and engineered everything about iMac from the inside out. The result is an advanced, elegant all-in-one computer that's as much a work of art as it is state of the art," boasts the product page. "To create an experience this immersive, we pushed every limit, considered every detail, and advanced iMac in astonishing ways."
Apple had to develop new components to make its 27-inch Retina 5K iMac happen, creating a new Timing Controller (TCON) that tells each pixel what to do and when to do it. In other words, this supercharged TCON drives all 14.7 million pixels, while also boasting four times the bandwidth. The panel, meanwhile, has 23 layers, but is just 1.4 mm thin and requires 30 percent less power.
Under the hood, the new Retina 5K iMac comes with a 3.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB Fusion Drive for the base model, but customers will be able to customize the device to better suit their needs.
As Apple points out, for the first time ever the iMac can be configured with a 4GHz Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds of up to 4.4 GHz. At the same time, while the new iMac already packs AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics, it can be configured with better R9 M295X graphics for up to 3.5 teraflops of computing power.
The new 27-inch Retina 5K iMac can also be configured with up to 32GB of memory, a 3TB Fusion Drive, or up to 1TB PCle-based flash storage. Moreover, the new iMac also comes with two Thunderbolt 2 ports that deliver 20Gbps each, i.e. twice the bandwidth of the previous generation.
"Thirty years after the first Mac changed the world, the new iMac with Retina 5K display running OS X Yosemite is the most insanely great Mac we have ever made," Philip Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, touted in the press release. "With a breathtaking 14.7 million pixel display, faster CPU and graphics, Fusion Drive, and Thunderbolt 2, it's the most beautiful and powerful iMac ever."
In terms of pricing and availability, the new 27-inch Retina 5K iMac starts at $2,499 for the base model and will be immediately available for purchase.
