Apple has updated the processors on the iMac and MacBook and added Thunderbolt 3, and added a Retina 4K display to the 21.5″ iMac. Displays are boosted in brightness to 500 cd/m²
The iMac gets new Intel Kaby Lake processors up to 4.2 GHz (4.5GHz with TurboBoost) with more memory supported and faster storage. Thunderbolt 3 boosts external storage and video and graphics get a big boost using Radeon Pro 500 graphics with up to 8GB of VRAM. The 21.5″ model is claimed to be three times faster in graphics.
There is a new iMac Pro that has a 27″ 5K display and processors up to 18 core Xeon and the new Radeon Pro Vega GPU with high bandwidth memory, delivering up to 11 Teraflops. Up to 4TB of storage and up to 128GB of memory. The iMac Pro will ship in December for $4999.
The new Apple iMac Pro will support multiple external displays
The 12″ MacBook gets the newer processors up to 3.6GHz (with turbo boost) and weighing 2 lbs. Thickness is 13.1mm and the display resolution is 2304 x 1440 (16:10) and Apple said that the aperture ratio of the new IPS LCD displays is better. Apple has not quoted the colour performance.
There are 13″ and 15″ versions of the MacBook Pro with new processors and the 15″ version has had discrete graphics added. There are versions of the 13″ Pro with and without the OLED touchbar and with two or four Thunderbolt 3 Usb-Type C ports (with support of up to dual external 4K displays as well as the internal display). Brightness of the displays is 500 cd/m² and colour is DCI-P3.
The MacBook Air has new processors.
Analyst Comment
Apple also announced the HomePod, a competitor for the Amazon Echo and the Google Home to exploit its Siri voice assistant. It has an upward-firing woofer and seven beam-steering tweeters and a six microphone array. It will cost $349 when it ships – in December in the US, the UK and Australia. (BR)
