The iMac update in 2020 was long overdue and those waiting for a new iMac model had neglected it. Given that the traditional iMac user – at least the traditional 27in iMac user – tends to work in the creative sector, the fact is that the iMacs were still using 8th generation processors and look underpowered compared to the MacBook Pro (and other PCs) did not provide much evidence that Apple cares about the creative community as much as it claims.
The neglect could perhaps be explained by the popularity of laptops, but creators who rely on a decent desktop for their work hope that Apple will update the iMac soon. Especially those who do not want to spend £ 2,399 / $ 2,399 to get a Mac with a discrete graphics card – that’s the price of the 16in MacBook Pro – the only other Mac that offers this option.
Has Apple done enough with these new iMacs to accommodate this demanding group? In this article, we will walk you through what’s new in the 2020 iMac, the new features offered by the 27in models, and what has not changed yet …
We will discuss here predominantly about the changes to the 27in iMac, but there are some notable differences to the 21.5in iMac that we will also refer to.
There are still calls for Apple to return to the drawing board for a complete redesign of the iMac. iMac fans are hoping for a larger screen made possible by a reduction in edge size and a more ergonomic design. If you’re interested in finding out more about the iMac with new look – which will ship with the Apple Silicon processor, read on.
Price
For those looking for a powerful machine, the 27in iMac offers pretty good value for money compared to the 16in MacBook Pro. The 27in iMac is priced between £ / $ 1,799 and £ / $ 2,299, while the 16in MacBook Pro costs between £ / $ 2,399 and £ / $ 2,799. Unfortunately, this year’s models are a bit less of a good deal if you’re in the UK.
Prices have been increased by £ 50 per machine in the UK. They now start at £ 1,799 / $ 1,799 (was previously £ 1,749), £ 1,999 / $ 1,999 (was £ 1,949), and £ 2,299 / $ 2,299 (was $ 2,249). This change was expected – a similar price increase happened with the MacBook Pro back in 2016 – the big surprise was really that it took Apple so long to adjust the price.
You can already buy the new iMac from Apple here, however we expect other resellers to launch it in the coming weeks, and if they do, you will see the best deals in our iMac deals.
Screen
You might think that nothing has changed in terms of the screen, and that you are almost right. It is still a 27in Retina 5K display with 5,120-by-2,880 resolution and support for one billion colors.
It still offers 500 nits of brightness and a wide color P3. However, it now offers True Tone, which is what has been a feature of every other Mac with a display, along with iPads and iPhones for a while.
True Tone adjusts the color temperature and brightness of your screen to match the ambient light around you. The result is less eye protection and a more natural appearance for the content you are viewing.
If you are the type of Mac user who often works in a dark room, this can be an advantage. However, designers may be wary of switching to True Tone, assuming it may mean that the colors they work with are not true. Our advice would be to customize each color with True Tone out, but use it if you want to get a lot of work done without straining your eyes. This question may be why Apple has taken so long to add the feature to the iMac.
There is another change to the screen, but it will cost you. The iMac display is now configured with nanotextured glass – for an extra £ 500 / $ 500. This style of glass has a moderate appearance and should produce less gloss. The nano-textured glass is also an option for the Pro Display XDR (£ 999 / $ 1000 in that case).
Processor
The processor has changed. The 27in iMac now sports Intel’s 10th generation 6-core, 8-core and, as a build-to-order option, 10-core chips. The biggest changes are at the top of the range mode, which now gets a 3.8 GHz 3-core Intel Core i7, where it used to be an 8-core iz processor.
Here’s how the old and new Processors compare:
|
Be |
Now |
|
3.0GHz 6-core, 8th generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz) |
3.1 GHz 6-core 10th generation Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz |
|
3.1 GHz 6-core, 8th generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.3 GHz) |
3.3 GHz 6-core 10th generation Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 4.8 GHz |
|
3.7 GHz 6-core, 9th generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6 GHz) |
3.8 GHz 8-core 10th generation Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 5.0 GHz |
|
BTO: 3.6 GHz 8-core, 9th generation Intel Core i9 (Turbo Boost up to 5.0 GHz) |
BTO: 3.6 GHz 10-core 10th generation Intel Core i9, Turbo Boost up to 5.0 GHz (+ £ / $ 400) |
The processor in the 21.5in iMac has not changed at all – even the entry-level model still has a 7th generation chip. This suggests to us that a major processor update is coming to the smaller iMacs. We expect to see Apple Silicon processors in the 21.5in iMac in the first half of 2021.
The big question is when will Apple Silicon use the Intel processors in the 27in iMac. There will probably be some concerns among creative pros that Apple is unable to match Intel’s expertise at the workstation level. We have examined the question of what the switch from Intel to Silicon will mean [here]. It might not be as bad if you’re scared.
However, with the Silicon Switch on the horizon, another question arises – should you buy an Intel Mac now?
FRAME
We were surprised that Apple kept the standard 8GB RAM iMacs ship with the same as before. The mid-range 13in and 16in MacBook Pro are now shipped with 16GB of RAM (16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X in the 13in and 16GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory in 16in to be exact). When it comes to RAM, absolutely nothing has changed. The new iMacs still ship with 8GB (two 4GB) of 2666MHz DDR4 memory in four SO-DIMM slots. The good news is that these are still accessible to users.
The memory is configured up to 16GB, 32GB, 64GB as before (except for the entry-level model which used to offer only 16GB and 32GB upgrade options and now has full range). New to the full range is a 128GB option (for £ 2,600 / $ 2,600) – made possible by 10th generation processors.
Why did Apple not make 16GB RAM standard? It’s an upgrade of £ 200 / $ 200 for the standard models, so maybe Apple decided to keep the prices down. Or maybe Apple is holding back a RAM boost for when it releases the Apple Silicon iMac next year.
Of course, we recommend increasing your RAM up to 16GB or more before you buy.
Storage
The Fusion Drive options that were once standard across the board are now a thing of the past (hooray!) Where 27in iMacs were used to ship with 1TB Fusion Drives, as a 2TB option on the flagship, you will now find 256GB SSD at the entry level, then 512GB SSD (configurable to 1TB or 2TB) and 512GB on the flagship model with 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB options (for an additional £ 2,400 / $ 2,400).
You might think that replacing a 1TB option with just 256GB or even 512GB would be a negative, but we think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. We expect to see some real improvements in performance based on flash storage that can be accessed more quickly. If you think you need more storage and do not want to be lucky enough to get a remote drive or iCloud storage.
We discuss why hard disks here should be a thing of the past.
Speaking of which, the only real change to the 21.5in iMac is the standardization of the SSD. The options of 1TB hard disk and Fusion drive are now gone, replaced by 256GB SSDs over the full range. This is good news for the reasons we mentioned above. We expect that the rent for SSDs will also result in good speed increases for these Macs, despite the fact that there are no processor changes.
The graphics
Graphics have been updated, but surprisingly two of the new models ship with the same Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory. The graphics used to be a comparison point between the entry-level and mid-range 27in model, but now the extra £ / $ 200 gets you double the storage and a faster processor.
The flagship model offers Radeon Pro 5500 XT with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The latter is also configurable for Radeon Pro 5700 with 8GB GDDR6 memory as well as the Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB GDDR6 memory. Once you have selected these updates, you can run two 6K monitors.
These new GPUs have a new RDNA architecture, support GDDR6 memory and are manufactured using the 7nm process.
Previously, the graphics options were Radeon Pro 570X with 4GB GDDR5 memory, Radeon Pro 575X with 4GB GDDR5 memory and Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB GDDR5 memory. The top model was configured with a Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB HBM2 memory.
FaceTime, Audio and Hey Siri
The FaceTime camera warrants a mention, as it is something we mainly found from Macs during the Coronavirus pandemic. The quality of FaceTime cameras is very poor and it has been noticed – and sometimes reduced – now that we are all regular video callers.
So it’s great news that the 27in models are now finally offering a 1080p FaceTime HD camera. They previously presented a FaceTime HD camera). Hopefully this should make a difference to how we look at conversations, then again, maybe you would rather have a grainy image.
The new 27in iMacs now offer a studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming (words from Apple). Until we test the new machine, we will not comment on what this means, but we assume that the audio quality will be better thanks to this.
Hey Siri is another new feature for the iMac. Supported by the recording of the T2 chip (meaning there is one Apple processor in the iMac.)
Apple’s T2 chip is already used in the iMac Pro, Mac mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, where it includes the System Management Controller, image signal processor, audio controller, and SSD controller, as well as Touch ID data keep safe and offer encryption and secure boot features. It was a surprise not to see the T2 chip in the 2019 iMac honestly.
Ports, Wireless and Bluetooth
The back of the iMac, where the ports are housed, does not look different, but it is. The biggest change is that the USB A ports are now USB 3, which of course are compatible with the older standard, but faster. The SDXC card slot now supports the new UHS-II standard for faster speeds (and it’s great news that it still is!) There are still two Thunderbold 3 ports. Ethernet is now configured for 10Gb Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet
Wi-Fi is still 802.11ac (802.11a / b / g / n compatible). No craving for the upcoming 802.11ax.
Bluetooth is now 5.0, up from 4.2.
Design & Dimensions
Physically, the iMac hasn’t changed – at least on the outside. The design is exactly the same as it has been for the past decades. The dimensions have not changed either, but the new iMac is lighter – no doubt due to the removal of the hard drive. It now weighs 19.7lb / 8.92kg instead of 20.8lb / 9.42kg. Not that you will probably wear it much.
The only change is that Apple now includes a polishing cloth in the box. That your new iMac might stay shiny longer.
Judgment
This is a worthy update for the iMac, but it should be after so long. However, Apple will have to do much more to win the creative pros in the run-up to the switch to Apple Silcon – or it could lose the risk of its traditional brand.
For more advice on which Mac to buy, read: Best Mac Buying Guide.
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