New Apple iMac and MacBook Pro Retina

Hot on the tail on our previous post about the new Apple iPad Mini and iPad 4, it’s time to provide another user friendly page giving an overview of the new Apple iMac and MacBook Pro.

iMac;

Apple iMac

The biggest change is how slim the new iMac’s are, only 5mm at it’s thinnest point, which is 80% thinner than the model being superceeded. Quite an achievement, but not at the loss of performance, with only the internal optical drive being sacrificed.

Key Points

RAM – 8GB
Hard Drive – 1TB

27″ (2,560 x 1,440 Pixels)
2.9 GHz, Quad Core Intel i5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M – £1,499
3.2 GHz, Quad Core Intel i5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 675MX – £1,699
Available – December

21.5″ (1,920 x 1,080 Pixels)
2.7 GHz, Quad Core Intel i5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 640M – £1,099
2.9 GHz, Quad Core Intel i5 with Nvidia GeForce GTX 650M – £1,249
Available – November

Optional Extras
Optical Drive
Fusion Drive

The fusion drive actually sounds like quite a clever option. Basically, it’s a hybrid between a traditional HDD and a Flash / SSD drive. The OS is installed on the SSD section along with a few key programs, as it’s faster and the data is stored on the HDD, as it’s not as time critical. But, it also apparently learns what programs and frequently used items are often accessed and move things around so the machine works as quickly as possible. Sounds quite nifty to us.

Also worth keeping in mind, the RAM, CPU’s and HDD’s / SSD’s will be upgradable when ordering at additional cost, with the Intel i7 being on the shopping list.

MacBook Pro Retina;

Apple MacBook Pro

To accompany the regular 13″ MacBook, there’s now a 13″ MacBook Pro Retina.

Key Points

Screen – 2,560 x 1,600 Retina Display (227 ppi)
Dimensions – 1.9 x 31.4 x 21.9 cm
Weight – 1.62 kg
RAM – 8GB
CPU – Starts from 2.5 GHz Intel i5
Storage – SSD Starting from 128MB
Battery – 7 Hours Web Browsing
Price – Starts from £1,449 with 2.5 GHz Intel i5, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM
Available – Now

So that’s our summary on the releases of the new Apple products. We’ve got to be honest, once again, Apple have created some stunning looking devices, but they certainly come at a price. Is the premium worth it against the competitors / non Apple devices? The jury is out…

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