Guardian reviews new 5K iMac

Just don’t use one, don’t even look at one, unless you can afford it, as once you see it the sheer crispness will ruin everything else.

There’s a rather glowing review of the latest iMac with the 5K screen. The above line is from the verdict. Read the review at the Guardian.

So what is a 5K screen? The new 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display has four times as many pixels as the standard 27-inch iMac display. So you experience unbelievable detail.

The new iMac has a 5K screen, exactly double the resolution of the non-5K 27in iMac, with 5120 x 2880 pixels. That is seven times the number of pixels on screen compared to a 1080p full HD television screen. But those are just numbers, what it really means is that the screen is super crisp; as sharp as a modern smartphone screen.

The iMac automatically detects the type of content on screen and displays it at the correct resolution. Photos and video is played at native resolution. For text, however, four pixels are displayed for everyone one defined by the site. The text remains the same size on screen but is pin sharp. This is the same system Apple has been using on its iPhones, iPads and retina MacBook Pros for years.

Arguably the 5K screen is designed for editing 4K video and 8-megapixel images at full size while still having tools, timelines and scrubbers on-screen at the same time. For everything else, it’s about how crystal clear the screen looks and what that does to the computing experience.

Specifications

• Screen: 27in IPS 5K retina display (5120×2880)
• Processor: 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 (up to 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7)
• Memory: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (up to 32GB)
• Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M290X with 2GB of GDDR5 (up to R9 M295X)
• Storage: 1TB fusion drive (3TB fusion or up to 1TB SSD available)
• Operating system: OS X 10.10 Yosemite
• Ports: 4x USB3, 2x Thunderbolt 2, Gigabit ethernet, SDXC card reader, headphone port
• Wireless: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
• Camera: FacetimeHD
• Size: 51.6 x 65 x 20.3cm
• Weight: 9.54kg

Software

Each and every new iMac come complete with MAC OS X – now Yosemite and the iLife and iWork range of apps: This now includes Pages, Numbers and Keynote as well as Exchange ready email client, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and TimeMachine. These apps alone reduce you need to spend additional money of Microsoft Office. You can still read and write MS Word and ME Excel files in Pages and Numbers.

Price

• 3.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
• Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
• 8GB (two 4GB) memory
• 1TB Fusion Drive¹
• AMD Radeon R9 M290X with 2GB video memory

UK Price £1,999 including VAT and delivery

Verdict

The 27in iMac with 5K retina display is the first desktop computer that has induced awe in on-lookers. Everyone who has set eyes on the screen has been bowled over by it, and it is very impressive.

The sheer clarity of the text and images – you can put nose to screen and still not see the pixels – makes it a joy to use every day.

Specifications, processors, memory and storage all change very quickly, but the 5K screen is likely to be the best display you’ll see for some time.

If you can afford £2,000 for such a Mac the retina iMac is the one to buy.

Just don’t use one, don’t even look at one, unless you can afford it, as once you see it the sheer crispness will ruin everything else.