Introduction
When Apple introduced Retina displays on the iPhone 4 and iPad 3, those sharp screens made older models feel instantly outdated. Launched in late 2014, the first Mac with Retina 5K display had a similar effect. Featuring a display stuffed full of pixels, combined with powerful internals and the same sleek aluminium design that all-in-one PC makers still struggle to match, it rolled beauty and brawn into one attention demanding package.
Fast forward a year and, apart from the Philips 5K LCD monitor, which costs £1,050 (around US$1,514, or AUS$2,055), the iMac with Retina 5K display is still the only option out there if you're looking for a 5K monitor. With the world still getting used to the delights of 4K, it could be a while before more 5K panels hit the market.
Instead of resting on its laurels, Apple scrapped its non-Retina 27-inch iMac models (it still offers a non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac) and introduced three new 5K Retina iMacs sporting Intel's sixth-generation Skylake processors, upgraded AMD graphics and displays that boast a wider, multimedia-friendly DCI P3 colour gamut.
Design and ports
The new 5K iMac remains unchanged in the design department, and its size and weight are identical to before. The iMac's slim aluminium enclosure remains as impressive as the day Apple redesigned the line-up 2012, its sloping curved back panel, which stores the computer's components, lending it the illusion that it's slimmer than it actualy is.
The iMac remains an impressive feat of engineering that stands out even on the most mundane of desks, btut there's still room for improvement. Apple could slim down bezel black bezel surrounding the display, for example, to bring it in line with recent design trends. Monitors such as the Dell UltraSharp U3415W feature bezels that span mere milimetres, and the 5K iMac's are thick in comparison.
Another issue with the iMac's design is a lack of height adjustability. If you prefer to work with the display at eye level, the only option is to physically lift the machine onto a pile or books or a box, which can be a nerve-wracking experience considering its cost.
As has long been the norm for iMacs, ports are placed around the back on the left-hand side. Their placement makes it easy to feed cables through the cable tidy hole in the stand. However, this comes at the expense of it being slightly awkward to connect or disconnect cables without standing up and peering around the back. On balance, it's still preferable to having wires awkwardly sticking out of the sides of the machine.
Display
The 5K iMac's 27-inch IPS display featues brilliant viewing angles and is once again the star of the show. It's incredibly bright to the point of where I had to set the brightness down a notch or two in a dark room, and colours appear bold and vibrant with deep blacks. Tested with our ColorMunki i1DisplayPro, brightness was measured at an impressive 441 cd/m^2.
Elsewhere, it's business as usual - and that's no bad thing. A pixel-resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 means you can leave it on the default scaling (200%) and still have the same amount of desktop real-estate as you would on a 2,560 x 1,440 pixel-resolution monitor. The advantage is that icons, menus and high-resolution images are displayed with an astonishing level of detail. Even the El Capitan mountain range depicted in OS X 10.11's default wallpaper set takes on a new level of sharpness.
But biggest story when it comes to the new iMac's display is that this year's model is capable of displaying 99% of the DCI P3 colour space, according to Apple. That's because it uses new red-green phosphor LEDs that can display a wider variation of green and red colours than before. DCI P3 is used by many professional DSLR cameras and video cameras, meaning that any images shot using the RAW setting pack in more colour and appear true-to-life.
The difference is subtle but noticeable, and goes down as one more reason to plump for an iMac if you're a professional (or even hobbyist) image or video editor who's striving for greater colour accuracy.
On the flip side, Target Display Mode, which lets you connect and use consoles and other devices, is sadly still missing from the iMac, so you won't be able to use its gorgeous display as a monitor any time soon - and that's a huge shame. Perhaps a new Apple Cinema Display supporting DCI P3 is on the horizon.
Specifications and performance
Apple's new entry-level 27-inch iMac now starts at £1,449 (US$1,799 / AUS$1,699), which is £100 (around US$151, or AUS$205) less than before. That fetches you a 3.2GHz (Turbo Boost to 3.6GHz) quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, a 1TB Fusion Drive (a combination of HDD and SSD) and AMD Radeon R9 M380 graphics. Add another £100 for the mid-range config with a 1TB Fusion Drive (which spliced together an SSD and HDD) and AMD Radeon R9 M390 graphics.
For £1,849 (US$2,299, or AUS$3,599), the top-end spec ups the CPU's maximum clock speed to 3.9GHz, doubles the size of the Fusion Drive to 2TB and includes an AMD Radeon R9 M395 for graphics. It's also the configuration that we take a look at in this review.
Specifications
- Processor: 3.3Ghz Intel Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)
- Operating System: OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite
- Memory: 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3
- Display: 27-inch (diagonal) Retina IPS display (5,120 x 2,880)
- Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB of DDR5 memory
- Dimensions: 51.6cm x 65cm x 20.3cm (H x W x D)
- Weight: 9.54kg (21 pounds)
The specifications on offer certainly suggest a capable machine with plenty of grunt, but the lack of an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM in the high-end configuration is disappointing. Upgrading to an Intel Quad-Core i7 processor with a maximum clock speed of 4.2GHz sets you back another £200 (US$250 / AUS$400), in addition to another £160 (US$200 / AUS$320) to double the default 8GB of RAM, bringing the total to a hefty £2,209 (US$2,749 / AUS$4,319).
Apple chucks in a decent set of peripherals whichever configuration you go for. Its redesigned Magic Keyboard features shallow (but not too shallow) keys and is now rechargable, as is the new Magic Mouse and redesigned Magic Trackpad, which lets you use OS X 10.11 El Capitan's swipe gestures.
Performance and benchmarks
Though not miles ahead, the iMac's Skylake processor is faster than the Haswell chip in the 2014 5K iMac, which also featured an Intel Core i5 processor with a maximum clock speed of 3.9GHz.
The Quad-Core Core i5 Skylake chip in this year's iMac came out just 3.8% faster in Xbench's CPU test and 10% faster in Cinebench's Multi Core test.
Benchmarks
- Xbench: Overall: 646; CPU: 406.33
- Cinebench R15 Single Core: 164cb; Multi Core: 596cb; Open GL: 94.47 fps
- Unigine Heaven 4.0 Medium quality (2,560 x 1x440): Score: 757
- Unigine Heaven 4.0: Ultra quality (2,560 x 1,440): Score: 483
- NovaBench: Score 1030; Graphics: 192
- Batman: Arkham City (High, 5,120 x 2,880: Minimum: 15fps; Maximum: 34fps; Average: 24.5fps
- Batman: Arkham City (High, 2,560 x 1,440): Minimum: 36fps; Maximum: 98fps; Average: 67fps
- Tomb Raider (5,120 x 2,880): Minimum: 18fps; Maximum: 32fps; Average: 32fps
- Tomb Raider (2,560 x 1,440): Minimum: 51fps; Maximum: 82fps; Average: 66.5fps
Skylake represents only a modest boost in terms of processing power over Haswell, which is backed up by the numbers above, so it's not worth upgrading from last year's 5K iMac on that basis alone. Skylake does offer the benefit of supporting faster LPDDR4 memory, but Apple has once again gone with LPDDR3, meaning you'd have to add to the cost by splashing out on faster RAM for its associated benefits. Up to 64GB can be installed on Apple's machine.
The iMac felt plenty powerful under every day use, capable of handling multiple browsers running 20+ tabs each, playing YouTube video and running more than 15 apps simultaneously. One of its biggest benefits over 4K (and lower resolution monitors) is that the iMac's 5K resolution lets you edit 4K video in Final Cut Pro with the timeline in full view at 100%, which causes no slowdown on the iMac.
Gaming, on the other hand, remains a mixed bag. The new AMD Radeon R9 M395 was found to be just under 10% faster than the 2014 5K iMac's Radeon R9 M390 in Novabench's graphics test. The difference will bag you a few frames or mode, depending on the game's reliance on the GPU, but the limiting 2GB of video memory in AMD's mobile graphics chip is too low to produce smooth frame rates when running titles at the iMac's native 5,120 x 2,880 pixel resolution. Lowering the res down to 2,560 x 1,440 finds the sweet spot between performance and graphical quality.
Verdict
Apple's latest 5K iMac makes subtle refinements that keeps its nose ahead of the (admittedly scant) competition. Its display is improved, it's faster and now comes with peripherals that won't force you buying batteries year-in-year-out. (Or rechargable ones, at the very least.) It's a slicker machine, for sure, but it's disappointing that the top-end option stops short at a Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM.
We liked
Crisp, bold and beautiful are just three words that could be used to describe the 5K iMac's IPS display. It's more attractive to look at (and useful, if you work with media) too thanks to DCI P3 colour support, which marks a subtle but noticable improvement over non-P3 supporting displays.
Whether using the expansive space on the desktop, streaming YouTube video in glorious 5K or playing (lesser demanding) games at full resolution, all those pixels make a huge difference to the experience, all while being easier on the eyes. The iMac still sports a big chin, but it's worth putting up with for the impressive, albeit bass-light sounds that come out of the speakers.
While its processor's performance isn't miles ahead of the Haswell chip in the 2014 4K iMac, Apple's latest all-in-one is fast and responsive under daily use, capable of handling whatever was thrown at it.
We disliked
What, no Target Display Mode? Again? We're still waiting for Apple to let us plug consoles and other machines into our iMac, and unfortunately that day is yet to come.
It would be churlish to say that the new iMac is unattractive, as it's clearly not, but it wouldn't hurt for the display's bezels to be made thinner.
Our biggest gripe is that you'll have to shell out extra to bump up the configuration to a Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, which is likely what you'll be aiming for if you're spending this much money on a 5K iMac.
Final verdict
The 27-inch iMac remains a product of beauty, one that's now more practical too. Featuring an excellent display, a sleek design, capable speakers and rechargable accessories, Apple has given you fewer reasons to wait for more 5K displays to enter the fray.
In the Windows camp, the only option worth checking out is the Asus Zen AiO 4K Touchscreen, which mimics the 5K iMac's design down to a tee. Unlike te top-end iMac (before bumping up the config), it comes with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics card as default for a more palatable X1,499. Of course, the Asus machine doesn't feature a 5K display. But then again, apart from the Philips 5K, what does? Nothing, that's what.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1m78Knu
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