Mac Creative > All Reviews > Hardware > 21.5- and 27in iMacs review (Late 2009)

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21.5- and 27in iMacs review (Late 2009)

Apple's all-in-one boasts new wide screens

Karen Haslam and Roman Loyola, Macworld.com

Manufacturer: Apple
Pros: Product: 21.5in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz (Nvidia GeForce 9400M) Pros: Impressive image quality from display at any angle; improved speaker system; new SD card slot. Product: 21.5in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz (ATI Radeon HD 4670) Pros: Impressive image quality from display and any angle; improved speaker system; new SD card slot. Product: 27in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz Pros: Impressive image quality from display and any angle; mini DisplayPort has video-in support; improved speaker system; new SD card slot.
Cons: Product: 21.5in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz (Nvidia GeForce 9400M) Cons: Glare and reflections from screen may frustrate some users; FireWire 400 peripherals require an adapter; Apple Remote not included. Product: 21.5in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz (ATI Radeon HD 4670) Cons: Glare and reflections from screen may frustrate some users; FireWire 400 peripherals require an adapter; Apple Remote not included. Product: 27in iMac Core 2 Duo/3.06GHz Cons: No significant performance increase over previous top-of-the-line model; Glare and reflections from screen may frustrate some users; FireWire 400 peripherals require an adapter; Apple Remote not included.
Price: £949, £1,199, £1,349
We rate this 4 out of 5.Star rating:

Go inside

All three of the new iMacs tested here use 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo processors with 3MB of shared Level 2 cache. The three new iMacs have the option to upgrade to a 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB of shared Level 2 cache for an extra £160. The previous iMacs used Core 2 Duo processors at 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, and 3.06GHz, but with 6MB of shared Level 2 cache.

The new iMacs come standard with 4GB of RAM, installed as a pair of 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SO-DIMMs. The new iMacs have four memory slots; Apple actually leaves two slots open so you can add more RAM without having to replace the stock memory – a nice touch. The iMac can support up to 16GB of RAM, but a 16GB upgrade option is available only with the 27in 3.06GHz model for £1,120. The other iMacs have an upgrade option of 8GB (an extra £160) installed as four 2GB SO-DIMMs. You can easily install RAM yourself through the RAM slots located at the bottom of the screen.

For graphics, the £949 21.5in iMac uses a Nvidia GeForce 9400M, which uses 256MB of memory that’s shared with the main memory. Both the £1,199 21.5in iMac and the £1,349 27in iMac use an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB of dedicated video memory. The 27in iMac is the only model in the line that has a graphics upgrade option, an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of memory £120).

All of the new iMacs have 7200 RPM hard drives. The £949 iMac has a 500GB drive, and interestingly, Apple does not offer upgrade options for more storage. The other two iMacs have 1TB drives, and you can opt for a 2TB drive instead for an additional £200. All of the iMacs have SuperDrives, and next to the SuperDrive slot is a new SD card slot that can read SD and SDHC memory cards that are used in digital cameras.

NEXT: Ports, video in, and more

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