Apple iMac 27-inch (2020)
A formidable upgrade.
The design of the new iMac 27-inch remains pretty much unchanged from previous models, except that with the move to SSD storage, the device is slightly lighter. The only other noticeable difference in the design is that the Retina 5K display now comes with nano-texture glass – but that’s an optional extra.
Otherwise, the looks and dimensions of the new iMac are the same as previous models, and even the most ardent Apple fan will probably acknowledge that it’s due a bit of a refresh.
The current design has been around since 2012 (and that was a relatively minor tweak from the design used since 2009), and while it’s aged better than other PC designs from that period, it’s starting to look its age in some respects.
The bezels that surround the screen, for example, look particularly outdated these days, when rival all-in-one PCs are using ever more slim bezels that make them look modern and keep the overall size down.
Also, there’s no biometric login. We’re seeing an increasing number of laptops and desktops incorporate fingerprint, iris or face scanning for logging into the operating system. Apple’s iPhone and MacBook devices are market leaders in this respect with TouchID and FaceID – yet the new iMac comes with neither, which is a shame.
Also, as with last year, we have to point out that the Magic Mouse 2 that comes with the new iMac has the charging port on its underside. This is an annoying choice as it means you can’t use the mouse while it’s charging. Simply
moving the port would solve this.
The screen also now comes with True Tone technology. Also found in iPads, iPhones and MacBooks, True Tone adjusts the color temperature of the screen depending on the ambient light.
The biggest change to the iMac 27-inch (2020) is actually an optional one – the nano-texture glass. This material scatters light “at the nanometer level” in a bid to eliminate reflections and glare when used, even in direct sunlight. The iMac model we were sent actually came with the nanotexture and we were impressed with the results, with a noticeable lack of reflections no matter what type of lighting was used.
We used the new iMac in particularly sunny environments, and while other, more reflective screens suffered in these conditions, the iMac’s nanotexture screen was unaffected, having a matte-like quality to it. We were very impressed.
Performance
Apple sent us one of the most powerful configurations the iMac 27-inch (2020) comes in, with a nano-texture screen, a 3.6HZ 10-core 10th generation Intel Core i9 processor (with 5GHz turbo boost), 32GB RAM, an AMD Radeon Pro 5700XT GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 1TB SSD.
If you were to configure the same device from Apple, it would cost you $6,849 – a pretty hefty chunk of change. That means for the most part, the performance we got with the iMac 27-inch (2020) has been achieved with hardware not too many people will actually have – however, even the base configuration of the new iMac looks like it’ll perform very well on paper.
During our time with the new iMac 27-inch, we found that macOS Catalina boots and runs quickly, as you’d expect from a new Apple device, and that SSD with up to 3.4GB/s data transfer speeds is put to good use.
We ran multiple apps at once, with web browsers full of tabs open, and the iMac 27-inch (2020) didn’t miss a beat.
We tried out encoding a one hour 1080p MKV file to an MP4 using the H.264 encoder with surround sound, and the process took just 13 minutes and 33 seconds, which is certainly impressive.
This is easily one of the most powerful, and best performing, all-in-ones we’ve used, and if you need a PC that can handle complex tasks, like video transcoding, with ease, this is a great choice – though remember we were lucky enough to be using the most powerful version of the iMac.
The new iMacs also come with the Apple T2 Security Chip, which offers on-the-fly data encryption, and ensures that any software loaded during the boot process hasn’t been tampered with.
The FaceTime HD camera, which is now 1080p, has been put to good use while we used the iMac
27-inch (2020), with a seemingly never-ending series of meetings. Apple claims this new webcam doesn’t make sacrifices when it comes to low light performance just for the sake of extra pixels.
In fact, the T2 Security Chip will help improve image quality from the webcam, according to Apple, with an Image Signal Processor that controls tone mapping, exposure and face detection as well.
This all sounds good, and in our tests we found that the webcam delivered very good image quality. We’re used to 1080p webcams in other devices, so we weren’t quite as blown away as we should have been, but for anyone coming from a Mac with an older FaceTime camera, the difference should be noticeable.
There’s also a new studioquality microphone array which, in conjunction with the FaceTime HD webcam, will make sure you’re seen and heard in crystal clear quality in meetings and video calls.
We recorded a video using just the webcam and built-in microphones of the new iMac – and the results were very impressive, as usually we’d use an external microphone and webcam. While we’d probably still use those in the future, it’s clear that Apple has invested some time and effort into making the built-in webcam and microphones of the new iMac as good as possible, and it shows – you could happily use them even in content creation – and this means less clutter on your desk. The Apple iMac 27-inch (2020) offers some big improvements, specs wise, compared to its predecessor, and looks set to be Apple’s best all-in-one yet. The upgrades to the webcam and microphones are especially welcome for anyone working from home.