Summer 2010 iMac: Same Great Appearance, yet Faster on the Inside

Earlier this summer (July 2010), Apple introduced its latest and new generation of personal home computers in its iMac line of desktops. Now available through a variety of retail channels - just in time for back-to-school shopping, the newest siblings in the iMac family can be found in two main configurations. Although not significantly different from the models introduced last fall by physical appearance, the new iMac makes for great space saving, and productive computing.

This year's new iMacs, known as the iMac Summer 2010 family of home computers, are all-in-one systems. This means the computer is physically contained inside one convenient space saving device: including the CPU, memory, and any internal storage devices, and the flat screen monitor. The only external components would be the keyboard and a pointing device.

Looking at the Summer 2010 iMacs will make it apparent that there are two base models to choose from, each of which can be identified by screen size - 21.5", and 27". Within these two differing sizes are a small variety of configurations available for purchase. Similar to the models offered last year, the new iMacs offer external high gloss aluminum and glass casings, and Ports have remained the same on all iMac models with the exception of the SD card slot now supports higher-capacity SDXC cards (up to 2 Terabyte (TB). Internally, however, there have been a number of noteworthy improvements.

Significant for the new line of systems is the inclusion of Intel i-series of CPUs, which have replaced the Core Duo family of Intel processors. The lower end configured systems are running Core i3 CPUs with upgradability to i5 CPUs, while higher end options support both the Core i5 and Core i7 configurations. As these CPUs replace Intel's previous generation of chips - the newer architecture, with the combined hyper threading feature offer a much welcomed and significant boost in application performance.In conjunction to an upgraded CPU, Apple also included an update to more modern 1,333MHz DDR3 RAM as opposed to 1,066MHz RAM found on the older models. Faster RAM with a faster CPU equals faster performance.

If the CPU and memory were to be upgraded, it would only make sense to address video as well. The most basic model iMac for example includes a 256MB ATI Radeon HD 4670 instead of an integrated video solution. Now with discreet graphics processing cpabilities, the CPU can concentrate on processing data and leave graphics work to a GPU.

Sources/Resources:

Apple iMac Summer 2010
CNET Reviews: Apple iMac summer 2010 (Intel Core i3 3.06GHz, 21.5 in)