Lab Tested: 2012 Build-to-order iMacs equipped with Fusion Drives, CPU upgrades
Five weeks after they were announced, the new iMac has made its way to market. Apple started shipping the 21.5 inch iMac on Friday, as well as began taking orders for the new 27-inch models.
Macworld Lab has two new iMacs, build-to-order systems with the fastest optional processors and equipped with the new Fusion Drive. While we wait for our standard configuration models to arrive, letÆs look at the performance—the very fast performance—of these maxed-out iMacs.
Inside the new BTO iMacs
The new iMacs come in four standard configurations, all with updated processors and graphics, and all with 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM and 1TB hard drives. The 21.5-inch models ship with either a 2.7GHz quad-core Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT640M graphics with 512MB of dedicated memory for $1299, or a 2.9GHz version of the same Core i5 CPU and Nvidia GeForce GT650M graphics with 512MB of dedicated RAM for $1499. The low-end standard configuration 27-inch iMac now comes with the same 2.9GHz Ivy Bridge quad-core Intel Core i5 processor as the high-end 21.5-inch iMac, but with Nvidia GeForce GT660M graphics with 512MB RAM for $1799. The higher-end 27-inch model uses a faster 3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB of dedicated memory for $1999.
The BTO models we tested have Core i7 processors: a 3.1GHz quad-core version in the 21.5-inch model, and a 3.4GHz version in the 27-inch model. Both processor upgrades are available as $200 options. The 21.5-inch iMac had 16GB of RAM, a $200 upgrade, while our 27-inch model had the stock 8GB of memory. The 21.5-inch iMac had the stock Nvidia GeForce GT650M graphics with 512MB of dedicated RAM, but the 27-inch had the optional Nvidia GeForce GTX 680MX with a whopping 2GB of memory (a $150 upgrade).
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