Apple 27-inch iMac review

Apple’s new 2020 version of the 27-inch iMac looks exactly like it has for eight years now. The updates are all on the inside, adding improvements that bring it up to the specs you’d expect in a 2020 computer, with 10th Gen Intel processors and SSDs standard instead of spinning disk drives. It starts at $1,799 for the base Core i5 model, but of course you can price it out much higher. One very expensive option is 500 dollars nano finish on the glass, which Apple says is a big improvement over traditional matte displays. (For $500, it had better be.)

FOR

• Improved internals
• Same price as last year’s model
• Can be configured to be very powerful
• Improved webcam is great

AGAINST

• Design is getting old
• Just two Thunderbolt ports
• Design with huge bezels is stale

Two-minute review

The iMac 27-inch (2020) is Apple’s latest entry in its iconic lineup of all-in-ones, bringing a number of impressive upgrades that will particularly appeal to people working from home — which due to the Covid-19 pandemic is a growing number of us.

We’d been expecting a new iMac in 2020, and Apple has delivered, especially when it comes to offering a boost in specifications, with the new all-in-one now coming with the latest 10th generation Intel Comet Lake processors, speedy solid state drives (SSDs) across the board, powerful AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards and bags of RAM.

For home workers, there’s also a new 1080p FaceTime HD webcam and studio-quality microphones, which make a big improvement to video calls, which are now an essential part of home working.

Those two new features certainly got a workout during our time with the iMac 27-inch (2020), as we had multiple video meetings — and the results were very positive.

The GPU also gets an upgrade, with the new AMD Radeon Pro 5000 graphics cards that come with the device offering a big step up from the Radeon Pro Vega 48 GPUs in the previous iMac, and Apple promises up to 55% faster graphics performance.

Performance

Apple sent us one of the most powerful configurations the iMac 27-inch (2020) comes in, with an nano-texture screen, a 3.6 GHZ 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 1TB of SSD storage.

If you were to configure the same device from Apple, it would cost you $4,499/£4,499/AU$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.

Next, to give the AMD Radeon Pro 5700XT a workout, we encoded a 2.5-minute, effects-laden DaVinci Resolve project to a 720p, H.264-format video file, and the new iMac completed it in an impressive six minutes and 53 seconds, handily beating the iMac 2019, with a Vega 48 GPU, which took nine minutes and 19 seconds to complete the same task. If you’re doing a lot of video encoding, the improved specs of the new iMac are going to save you a lot of time — which means you’re able to complete more projects and that can even have a positive impact on your finances. For professionals, then, the higher spec iMac 27-inch (2020) could be seen as an excellent investment.

Design

As we mentioned earlier, 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 Touch ID 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 is essentially the same as last year’s model, so you get a 27-inch Retina 5K display with a 5,120 x 2,880 resolution, along with a brightness of 500 nits and support for the wide color P3 gamut. This makes it an excellent machine for photo and video editors — and that 5K resolution means you can edit 4K footage without it taking up the entire screen.

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 idea is that this will offer more vibrant colors, while reducing eye strain. We’ve not been terribly sold on True Tone in the past when using MacBooks; while it can make images look nicer in some conditions, it usually ends up making the screen colors a little too warm. If you’re a creative professional who requires color accuracy, you’ll want to turn this option off.

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 nano-texture and we were impressed with the results, with a noticeable lack of reflections not matter what type of lighting was used.

THE IMAC’S IMPROVED WEBCAM

The webcam isn’t just better because it has more pixels; it’s also better because Apple is finally applying some modern image processing to the video stream. The iMac has a T2 chip, which is used to control lots of the components in the Mac. Apple is using it to process certain elements of this webcam’s image. It is able to do tone mapping, exposure control, and face detection.

CONCLUSION

With the impending switch to Apple silicon, there are some definite things that users who are interested in this Mac will need to consider. For instance, this is likely the last iMac to feature Boot Camp support for dual booting Windows. If that’s something that’s important for your day-to-day workflow, then you’ll have to take this change into consideration.

And what about the ability to upgrade your own RAM? Although it’s yet to be seen, it’s hard to imagine Apple allowing using the ability to upgrade RAM on a machine with an Apple-designed CPU.

Also to be considered is initial app compatibility. Sure, applications like Final Cut Pro X will be supported on day one, but will all of the applications that you use be there initially? Not to mention the potential stability and bug issues stemming from a brand new machine with a brand-new architecture.

With all of that being said, if a brand-new iMac design drops with markedly faster performance within the next year, you might seriously regret having purchased the 2020 version. It’s akin to buying a new car in the last year of its design, and watching a new version roll out of the plant with all new bells and whistles just a few months later.

My take is that if you’re in serious need of a new computer and the iMac suits your needs, then go ahead and upgrade. It’s a downright fantastic machine that has been improved in many ways with the 2020 swan song revision. As I’ve showcased in this review, even the base model at $1,800 is a great value and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.