Apple’s screen is also still worth noting, and if we’re fair, the primary reason people will be drawn to this computer.
It’s not enough to want a desktop these days, but the big screen — that big screen with a 5120×2880 resolution — is the main thing drawing your eyes over to this all-in-one.
Desktop computers aren’t doing tremendously well in the real world, either. You can’t find many, but the few you can find generally sit at either 21, 23, 24, and 27 inch sizes, with the occasional bigger unit, and some TVs with small computers attached to the back (these aren’t the same, but are sometimes offered up as solutions).
In this area, Apple has generally produced a market-leading solid competitor, with few manufacturers offering a metal-bodied high-spec’d machine, at least not at the level the Apple iMac is.
Even if they do, none have been updated to include a screen beyond Full HD, and that’s where Apple is now, and was when the company released the 5K iMac in late 2014.
Last year, 4K was a pretty big deal, as it is this year with more televisions being released to support the Ultra HD technology. But Apple aims to go beyond them, and has included a custom-built 5K panel, boasting more resolution, strong colours, and the ability to show a full 4K image on the one monitor and still have room left over, something 4K displays can’t do.
This makes the 5K screen great for 4K video editors, because they don’t need to run the 4K preview window at a smaller size, and can see things the way they’re meant to: at 100 percent.
But beyond the use for those in the video world, the 5K screen also brings Apple’s flair for excellent hardware to the fore, with detail that makes images pop off the screen in a way few other computers can do, a faster custom timing controller made to keep the visuals great, and some spectroradiometric technology that keeps colour calibrated.
Creatives will likely see the most use from that last one, but knowing that your colour is always solid and always excellent means you never have to worry about seeing photos or videos that way they shouldn’t be, and this is one display that will always, always have your attention.
There’s also that design, and Apple hasn’t changed anything, leaving the ultra-thin aluminium unibody intact, and pretty much keeping everything the way we know it.
That means the SD card slot’s still questionable placement is there, found on the back when it’s kind of an awkward location that can be a little bit of a pain to get at if you constantly want to plug in camera cards and get images out. We still think the side would be better, even the side on the bottom of the right edge, but Apple seems content with leaving it on the back, and that is totally its prerogative.
Despite this little niggle, Apple’s design is hard to fault, providing an excellent body, metal build, and a sense of minimalism that few hardware makers can compete with.
We’re not even sure we know of any, actually.
Conclusion
Desktops are sadly becoming a thing of the past, as more people embrace laptops and let these get plugged into monitors as and when you need something that sits on the desk.
With this change in computer types, it’s still nice to see something modern and solid made for the desk, because these are becoming rarer. Despite this rarity in form-factor, Apple is still producing solid efforts, and the latest iMac 27 inch is no different, showing that Apple still has the edge in desktop design.
While the price drop from Apple on this one seems a little artificial — you’re losing a Fusion drive in this price drop and getting a standard hard drive, as well as a slight change in graphics, making that cut in price less about being generous and more about changing hardware — that change in price does make the 27 inch iMac without Retina less of a thing anyone would want.
Indeed, there is now a good $300 price difference between the older 27 inch iMac without Retina and the 27 inch iMac with Retina, and that last one — the one this review is focused on — has better specs in general, with newer processing and graphics technology.
With that sort of cheddar dividing up the iMac 27s, it makes the older model there to only provide a cheaper option, and while it’s still a great desktop, we’d easily pick the Retina over it, which we suspect this price drop has been designed to push people over to.
And that’s fine, because with the spec improvement, the excellent build, the simple design that fits well in any environment, and that screen — oh that screen — Apple’s 27 inch iMac with Retina is still one of the best desktop machines you can own, outclassing pretty much every all-in-one you’re likely to see.
It’s even better than the last iMac, just marginally so.
Highly recommended.
