Apple brings iMac line up to date

Apple has indeed updated its iMac line, as anticipated, beefing up the line's speeds'n'feeds and adding support for the new SDXC memory card format.

The new models sport a selection of Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors and come with 4GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 as standard.

And Apple has dropped Nvidia graphics in favour of a range of AMD ATI Radeons: the 4670 with 256MB of GDDR 3 video memory, the 5670 with 512MB GDDR 3 or the 5750 with 1GB of dedicated Ram.

The GPUs drive a choice of 21.5in, 1920 x 1080 or 27in, 2560 x 1440 IPS LCD glossy display.

There's no USB 3.0 port, but the machines have four USB 2.0 connectors, a 7W output Firewire 800 port and an SDXC card slot. There's a Mini DisplayPort too.

The iMacs have built in 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet. You can spec them up with 500GB to 2TB of 7200rpm hard drive storage, or a 256GB SSD. They have 8x multi-format DVD writers as standard.

The 21.5in model starts at £999, the 27in iMac at £1399.

The Macs come bundled with a Magic Mouse, but Apple is pitching its new Magic Trackpad as their ideal accessory. ®