To the surprise of many viewing Apple’s iPad mini event today, Apple introduced a radically redesigned new iMac lineup. The new iMacs are incredibly thin, and thanks to a new screen laminating process, the colors and light reflection are said to be significantly improved as well.
Here’s what the few people who have actually had a chance to see and touch one had to say!
SlashGear
Apple is very keen to talk up the high-tech manufacturing magic it had to muster in order to make the new iMacs quite so slim, but it’s the end-result that really grabs the attention. The crisp lines are reminiscent of the edges of the Retina MacBook Pro line, with bunched vents running under the chin of the desktop, and bevels in the stand that echo what we’ve seen Appel doing in its high-end notebook range.
What’s changed is the way the screens are layered together, and even without Retina that’s impressive. Optical lamination, just as we’ve seen used on the iPhone 5, brings the LCD IPS and cover glass together into a single pane, for what Apple says is 75-percent less reflection. To our eyes, though, it’s the colors and detail that really stand out.
The Verge
Although Apple isn’t calling this panel a “Retina Display,” the techniques and appearance of this panel are pretty close to Retina-level: the laminated front glass and anti-glare treatments make images look like they’re lying right on top of the screen, and the same scaling options you get on a Retina MacBook Pro are present in system preferences. (The highest available resolution on the 27-inch model is 2560 x 1440.) Overall it looks stunning — the first real reason to replace an iMac in years.
Engadget
Look out, world — Apple just unleashed its latest iMac, and we agree that it might just be the biggest leap in the platform since we left Bondi Blue. It’s hard to overstate just how phenomenal this machine looks in the flesh. It’s also unbelievably thin — we’d be impressed if it were simply a new Cinema Display, but the fact that a computer is in there really takes it over the top. At $1,299, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a sexier all-in-one (assuming you don’t need an inbuilt optical drive, of course).
Click the source links for more details on each impression, or to see the gallery of images available at each site.
You can check out all of our editorial coverage surrounding Apple’s keynote by visiting our ‘iPad Mini Event‘ tag!
