Apple iMac 21.5in 3.06GHz
Refreshed for 2010. Apple’s stylish all-in-one PC remains available in 21.5in- and 27in-screen versions. ‘Ale reviewed the 27in version last issue, which offered enough performance in its configured-t0-order guise to see off most of the Windows competition in our Top 5 group test. The smaller version, reviewed here, comes with a far more affordable price tag of £999.
It’s the same PC in almost every respect, with a fabulous HD in-plane switching (IPS) screen that drips colour. But where the 27in panel had 2560×1440 resolution, equivalent to four 720 panels combined together, the baby Mac has ‘Only’ a full-HD 1920×1080 resolution.
A Bluetooth keyboard and an Apple Magic Mouse with a touch- sensitive top surface are included. The webcam and mic are effectively hidden in the screen bezel.
Around the back of the flawless aluminium frame are a row of connection ports. Four USB 2.0 ports are joined by high-speed FireWire 800 and gigabit ethernet. Like the 27in iMac, it has a Mini DisplayPort connection, but here it only provides video output to a second monitor and won’t double as an input to turn the screen into a laptop’s second display.
As the cheapest iMac in the line, it comes with the slowest graphics – an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with just 256MB video RAM. In our tests it still managed a nippy 78fps in ageing game Fear (‘Maximum’ settings), but newer games stretched it to its ceiling. Crysis at low settings was playable at 35Ips; up the detail to 1680 and ‘Very High’ and gameplay crawls at 10fps.
This ATI card doesn’t support DirectX 11.0 so we ran our Stalker: Call of Pripyat benchmark in 10.1 mode. where the iMac scored 45fps at 1280×720 and ‘Medium’, and a lowly 23fps at 1920×1080 and ‘Ultra’. A 4GB allocation of DDR3 RAM is included, expandable to a giddy 16GB. The Intel Core 13-540 is a dual-core processor, with Hyper Threading but no Turbo mode to lift its standard clock speed beyond 3.06GHz. Nevertheless, the 21.5in iMac Scored a very good 119 points in WorldBench 6.
Verdict
Formidable attention to detail in design and construction puts the iMac clear of any imitators, while overall performance is plenty fast, provided you don’t plan to try much gaming.
Specification
3.06GHz Intel Core 13-540; Mac OS X10.6 Snow Leopard: 4GB DDR3 RAM. 500GB SATA. 21.5in (1920×1080) glossy LED-backlit IPS screen; ATI Radeon HD 4670; 802.114410: gigabit ethernet. Bluetooth 2.1. 4 x USR 20:1 x Fireltire 800:1R receiver; SDISDXC slot; slot-load 8x DVD-± kW DL drive: webcam; iLife software: 451x528x189mm: 9 3kr, WorldBench 6 score: 119
Refreshed for 2010. Apple’s stylish all-in-one PC remains available in 21.5in- and 27in-screen versions. ‘Ale reviewed the 27in version last issue, which offered enough performance in its configured-t0-order guise to see off most of the Windows competition in our Top 5 group test. The smaller version, reviewed here, comes with a far more affordable price tag of £999.
It’s the same PC in almost every respect, with a fabulous HD in-plane switching (IPS) screen that drips colour. But where the 27in panel had 2560×1440 resolution, equivalent to four 720 panels combined together, the baby Mac has ‘Only’ a full-HD 1920×1080 resolution.
A Bluetooth keyboard and an Apple Magic Mouse with a touch- sensitive top surface are included. The webcam and mic are effectively hidden in the screen bezel.
Around the back of the flawless aluminium frame are a row of connection ports. Four USB 2.0 ports are joined by high-speed FireWire 800 and gigabit ethernet. Like the 27in iMac, it has a Mini DisplayPort connection, but here it only provides video output to a second monitor and won’t double as an input to turn the screen into a laptop’s second display.
As the cheapest iMac in the line, it comes with the slowest graphics – an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with just 256MB video RAM. In our tests it still managed a nippy 78fps in ageing game Fear (‘Maximum’ settings), but newer games stretched it to its ceiling. Crysis at low settings was playable at 35Ips; up the detail to 1680 and ‘Very High’ and gameplay crawls at 10fps.
This ATI card doesn’t support DirectX 11.0 so we ran our Stalker: Call of Pripyat benchmark in 10.1 mode. where the iMac scored 45fps at 1280×720 and ‘Medium’, and a lowly 23fps at 1920×1080 and ‘Ultra’. A 4GB allocation of DDR3 RAM is included, expandable to a giddy 16GB. The Intel Core 13-540 is a dual-core processor, with Hyper Threading but no Turbo mode to lift its standard clock speed beyond 3.06GHz. Nevertheless, the 21.5in iMac Scored a very good 119 points in WorldBench 6.
Verdict
Formidable attention to detail in design and construction puts the iMac clear of any imitators, while overall performance is plenty fast, provided you don’t plan to try much gaming.
Specification
3.06GHz Intel Core 13-540; Mac OS X10.6 Snow Leopard: 4GB DDR3 RAM. 500GB SATA. 21.5in (1920×1080) glossy LED-backlit IPS screen; ATI Radeon HD 4670; 802.114410: gigabit ethernet. Bluetooth 2.1. 4 x USR 20:1 x Fireltire 800:1R receiver; SDISDXC slot; slot-load 8x DVD-± kW DL drive: webcam; iLife software: 451x528x189mm: 9 3kr, WorldBench 6 score: 119
