Apple 27-inch Imac, late 2010 edition

Product Apple 27-inch Imac, late 2010 edition
Website http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/specs.html
System Specifications 27-inch display (2560 x 1440), 2.8GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700, 256GB SSD
Price £2,249 including VAT (as reviewed)

HOT ON THE HEELS of Apple's Imac refresh earlier this year, this latest 27-inch Imac is part of slightly less radical update. Unlike the previous refresh, there's no sweeping change to the physical design of the all-in-one Imac. Instead, this 27-inch model sees an improved set of specifications, as does the updated 21.5-inch model.

The most noticeable change is the switch to Intel's Core processor line-up across the board, with the Imacs now powered by the Core i3, i5 or i7 CPUs. All models also get discrete ATI graphics cards for improved 3D performance, while memory gets a boost to 1333MHz. Apple's new Magic Trackpad will cost you extra, though, and if you're feeling particularly wealthy there's also an SSD option.

Apple supplied us with a 27-inch Imac with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics card. This isn't quite the top-of-the-range Imac, but it isn't far off. The only other upgrade options are a 2.95GHz Core i7 chip for an additional £160, along with more memory and storage for varying amounts. Adding a 256GB SSD costs an extra £480, but Apple also offers the option to fit this alongside the hard drive rather than instead of it, albeit it for an extra £600. That's the arrangement of the Imac we reviewed, and it brings the total price to a not-inconsiderable £2,249 including VAT.

That said, the 27-inch Imac does at least look like a costly computer, and its enormous display is a sight to behold. As with the old model, the frameless glass screen is LED-backlit and uses in-plane switching (IPS) technology to reduce the amount of scattered light. Horizontal and vertical viewing angles are very wide as a result, and there's also very little off-centre colour shift. It's just the job for impromptu group proofing sessions around a designer's desk.

Apple made Mac OS X much more multicore aware with the launch of last year's Snow Leopard and Hyper-Threading is also supported in all but one of the Intel Core chips used in the new iMac line-up (the 2.8GHz i5 used in this model, unfortunately). So, even though the Xbench synthetic Mac OS benchmark isn't particularly geared to multicore testing, it still measured a distinct performance benefit over last year's 3.06GHz dual-core model and turned in a result that was 38 per cent higher.

However, that benchmark was run using the Imac's 7,200rpm hard drive, and our review Imac had a 256GB SSD as its primary drive. This brings many less tangible speed improvements, from shorter boot times to snappier application launches, but it also makes a big objective difference to overall performance.

In fact, when run using the SSD rather than the hard drive with Xbench, the benchmark result was 83 per cent higher than last year's hard drive-based Imac. The SSD was around 20 per cent faster than the hard drive in this Imac for sequential data access, but an astounding 600 per cent faster at random access.

General performance gains aside, another immediate practical benefit of this is that 4GB of RAM suddenly becomes much more viable for demanding Mac users, since the performance penalty usually associated with excessive swap file use is dramatically reduced.

Ultimately, we'd need to perform further in-depth testing to determine whether or not the £600 256GB SSD is a more cost-effective option than an £800 16GB RAM upgrade, but it's certainly something to consider.

In Short
The SSD-equipped price is not to be sniffed at, but the performance of the 27-inch Imac in this quad-core configuration is extremely impressive. It's also a more compact, yet just-as-capable, option as the entry-level Mac Pro, and cheaper too if you factor in the cost of the forthcoming 27-inch LED Cinema Display. µ

The Good
Blistering SSD performance, SSD can now be fitted alongside hard drive, bright and vibrant IPS screen.

The Bad
Magic Trackpad costs extra.

The Ugly
Very expensive storage and memory upgrades.

Bartender's Score
7/10