New iMac beauty also a beast
When last I spoke of plans to replace my 2012 Mac mini with a new desktop, I indicated in a column that my next Apple computer would likely not have Intel inside.
That was before the unveiling of a new 27inch iMac that, yes, is powered by a 10th generation Comet Lake Intel chip. Suddenly, the resolve to wait patiently for a version that used the upcoming Apple Silicon processors, similar to those found in iPhones and iPads, melted away.
Reader, I was smitten. But rest assured, this was not a case of poor impulse control or falling for a pretty face.
While the promised capabilities of Apple’s ARM-based chips are appealing, I had decided that it may be a while before they’re available for a desktop. Analysts and prognosticators predict the first Apple Silicon Macs this year are expected to be notebooks, likely a MacBook Air and/or MacBook Pro. It isn’t clear how long it will be until there’s a desktop with the new chips, and even then they’d be Version 1.0, which are bound to have some rough edges, as well as uncertainty that all the apps upon which I rely will work as they
should.
So when this musclebound iMac appeared in early August, it became the obvious choice. I ordered the mid-tier model, with a 6-core Intel Core i5 processor running at 3.3 Ghz. I bumped the base 8 gigabytes of memory to 16, and increased the storage from a 512-gigabyte Solid State Drive to a full terabyte. (Apple is no longer offering its hybrid SSD/HDD Fusion Drive on the 27-inch model.) Throw in a Magic Trackpad 2 instead of a mouse and a full-sized Magic Keyboard, and the whole thing came close to $2,500. My wife assured me this served as my birthday present (maybe for several birthdays to come).
The display. The iMac’s glossy, 5K Retina display is flat-out spectacular, and its readability is excellent. I’m running it at the default setting, which is 2560x1440, and even that is a tremendous improvement over the 1920-by-1080 resolution I was using before. Going into full 5K mode (5120-by-2880) makes it very hard to read text, but for photo editing, it’s useful. It also has True Tone, which adjusts the colors on the screen based on ambient lighting, a feature that’s been on Apple’s iOS devices for a while. One upgrade I did not make: the anti-glare, nano-texture glass on systems that Apple sent to many reviewers. It costs $500 more, and requires a special cloth for cleaning it.
Performance. I was happy with the speed of my Mac mini, which had a 4core Core i7 processor. But this 2020 iMac is a screamer. I ran some benchmarks and they’re impressive enough, but one practical way I can judge its friskiness is how quickly it suspends and restores the Windows and macOS virtual machines I work with in Parallels Desktop for Mac. In two seconds they are ready to use. While I have not tried gaming, the Radeon Pro 5300 graphics chip with 4GB of memory holds promise for decent play. (Those who are more serious about gaming will want to look at the top-tier model, which has a more powerful video card with double the memory.)
Camera. Normally, I’d not pay much attention to the camera built into an Apple laptop or desktop. For years, they’ve had a disappointing 720p resolution. But with the sudden need for folks to look their best in virtual Zoom meetings, Apple’s made a welcome improvement. The camera in the top bezel is now full HD, 1080p, with what Apple describes as “studio quality” microphones. The resulting image is much better, as is the sound, helped out by excellent speakers built into the iMac’s thin case.
Connectivity. Here’s where the 2020 iMac disappoints a bit. Even though 2019’s iPhone 11 line supports WiFi 6, the latest flavor of WiFi, this updated Mac desktop only has a WiFi 5 adapter — as do all currently available Macs. On top of that, there are only two USB-C/Thunderbolt connections, but four older USB-A ports; I’d rather see that configuration reversed. There’s a Gigabit Ethernet port, but you can configure the iMac with a 10-Gigabit Ethernet connection instead.
This is my second iMac — I had a 24inch one, the first aluminum model — from 2007 to 2015. I loved that one, and now I remember why. This is a wonderful machine, and despite small shortcomings, I’ve no regrets about taking the plunge.
I’m also not worried about this system, possibly being the last Intel iMac, becoming obsolete faster than usual. Apple has promised to support its Intel computers “for years to come.” While that’s vague, the company has historically provided operating system support for a very long time — my Mac mini had eight full years, for example. I expect this beautiful beast to last that long, as well.