According to Apple, the new desktops are available from today – with prices starting at £999 – and are “up to 70% faster” than their predecessors.
The claim is based on the inclusion of quad-core Intel Core i5 processors, with the option to upgrade to Core i7 processors clocked at up to 3.4GHz.
“These next-generation processors feature an integrated memory controller for an amazingly responsive experience and a powerful new media engine for high-performance video encoding and decoding,” Apple said in its announcement, adding that the iMacs also included a choice of AMD Radeon HD graphics processors.
Apple also bragged about the inclusion of the Thunderbolt connector - a rival to the industry-wide USB standard - saying “iMac is the first desktop computer on the market to include Thunderbolt I/O technology”. However, there is limited industry support for the new 10Gbits/sec interconnect at present.
The iMacs don't come cheaper, however, with a 27in version specified with a 3.1GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM and a 1TB hard drive weighing in at .
This article originally appeared at pcpro.co.uk
