Some two years ago, we had the pleasure of contemplating the first laptop with a Retina display. Since then, Apple with enviable regularity has updated its line of laptops with similar displays, and, finally, the turn came to the candy bar. Apple is investing heavily in efforts to create an image of a tool for creative people for its products. On this image works and excellent verified design, and high quality materials, and assembly, and price. Naturally, Apple monoblocks have always been positioned as a solution for professionals in the field of photography, video, graphic design, and others who require high performance combined with a certain touch of caste favorites. Well, let's leave the last on the conscience of Apple's marketers (who, admittedly, do not eat their bread for good reason, given the dynamics of monoblock sales), and try to impartially evaluate the new device - the world's first all-in-one monoblock with 5K resolution.

Specifications

• Processor: 4-core Intel Core i5 3.5 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.9 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz (two strips of 4 GB each)
• Disk Memory: 1 TB, Fusion Drive
• Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M290X, 2 GB DDR5
• Screen: 27 ", 51202880, IPS, glossy
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, FaceTime HD
• Connections: 4xUSB 3.0, RJ-45, 2xThunderbolt 2, 3.5 mm, SD slot, MiniDisplay Port
• Sound: stereo speakers
• Dimensions: 516 x 650 mm
• Weight: 9.54 kg

')

Design

For two years now, since 2012, the design of iMac candy bars has not changed. Apple not without reason believes that it is useless, so far no one has been able to compare with the iMac in terms of its reasonableness and attractiveness of appearance. Even people for whom the word "design" is abusive, iMac like. And not least because of the asceticism of the lines and the almost complete absence of all kinds of wires.











According to Apple, their candy bar is the thinnest in the world. But this is nothing more than slyness, the overall thickness is quite substantial, and up to 5 mm the monoblock becomes thinner only at the edges.







Durable, despite its external lightness, the aluminum stand reliably ensures the stability of the monoblock. Alas, the height of the device cannot be adjusted in height, you can only change the angle of inclination.







The body is made of solid aluminum. Despite its solid size, the monoblock is still relatively light, so if you wish, you can transfer it quite comfortably to different rooms.

Display

Monoblock comes in two versions - with a display of 21 and 27 inches. However, only the older model has a resolution of 5K. Even if we ignore the term “the world's first 5K monoblock”, then iMac is still a very rare representative of devices with such a high display resolution - 5120 x 2880. Previously, the pixel density was 106 ppi, now it jumped to 218 ppi, which is comparable with the same rate of Samsung Galaxy S II.







The viewing experience is superb. The increase in resolution did not affect the size of the objects on the screen, their physical size remained the same. But the clarity and smoothness of the image is very pleasing to the eye.















According to Apple, the new display is 30% more energy efficient than the previous one. Although previously no problems with cooling were noticed.







Since the display of the new iMac is the main pride, we conducted detailed testing of image parameters.



As before, the IPS matrix is ​​applied here. Apple didn’t begin to somehow modernize the matrix manufacturing technology itself or change the factory settings, but simply took the path of increasing the resolution.



I must say that the twofold increase in pixel density looks very impressive in theory and when looking at the focus. But the user usually sits at a distance of half a meter or more, and therefore, subjectively, the increase in density does not so much affect the image quality.



It is quite another thing to increase the resolution. Due to this, much more information is placed on the screen, you can open entirely, without scaling, digital photos, display all the necessary tools.



Display brightness reaches 450 cd / m2, it is quite enough to work in bright sunlight. Under normal lighting, half the brightness is enough. The contrast ratio is 1200: 1, this is a very high figure, almost the peak of the capabilities of the IPS technology itself. An anti-reflective coating also plays to improve image quality and perception comfort.







The average gamma is 2.34. This is a good indicator for a contrast display, the shadows are well worked out. However, the picture is generally slightly darker than with a reference scale of 2.2.







The average color temperature almost coincides with the standard D65 (6500 K).







By default, the display is configured almost perfectly in terms of color balance; no additional calibration is required. The average error Delta E on the gray scale is 0.58, the maximum - 0.83.







The display does not cover the Adobe RGB, DCI P3 and Rec color space. 2020. The color coverage in this case almost corresponds to sRGB, for professionals this is a drawback, although for ordinary users it is even a plus.







Intermediate gradations also almost coincide with reference values.







When checking on 24 ColorChecker templates, the following results were obtained: the average error Delta E is 1.29, the maximum one is 1.84. In terms of the standard sRGB / Rec. 709, the color rendition is perfect.

Performance

The youngest configuration was presented for testing:

• Intel Core i5 processor with a frequency of 3.5 GHz (Turbo Boost mode is supported, in which the frequency rises to 3.9 GHz).
• 8 GB RAM (two DDR3 strips, 1600 MHz frequency). Can be increased to 32 GB.

As storage is used a bunch of SSD and HDD, called Fusion Drive. For the user, they look like a single space. The operating system and frequently used applications are stored on the SSD, and all other data on the HDD. In the sample we are considering, the total capacity of the Fusion Drive bundle was 1 TB, and the version with 3 TB is also commercially available. It is also possible to purchase iMac only with SDD-drives with a capacity of 256, 512 GB or 1 TB.











The video card used is ATI Radeon R9 290MX with 2 GB of memory. It is possible to purchase a configuration with the Radeon M295X with 4 GB of memory. But keep in mind that there is no way to upgrade the iMac yourself, users can only change the memory bar.







Even in the minimum configuration, a monoblock without any brakes was processing “heavy” videos of tens of gigabytes in Final Cut Pro. Any operations with photos in Lightroom were also easy. We were interested in how the performance changed with the iMac of 2012 sample (Intel Core i7, 8 GB, GeForce 675MX, Fusion Drive). Final Cut processing took about 11 minutes for the old model and 1 minute 14 seconds for the new model. Apparently, some optimization mechanisms are used in this application, since in the Compressor application both devices worked with almost the same performance: 16.47 and 16.17 in favor of the new iMac.







If you are processing 4K-video, then the whole frame is displayed on the display of this all-in-one, without scaling. Actually, the same can often be said about photos. The huge resolution now allows you not to connect a second display.

Benchmark Geekbench 3 Results

iMac 2012, Core i7, 8 GB RAM, Fusion Drive , NVIDIA GeForce GTX 657MX:







iMac 2012, Core i7, 16 GB RAM, HDD , NVIDIA GeForce GTX 657MX:







iMac 5K-screen, Core i5, 8 GB RAM, R9 M290X:

Connectors and connection

All connectors are located on the back of the device:

• 4 x USB 3.0
• 2 x Thunderbolt 2.0
• Rj-45
• 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and microphone
• SD slot

Unfortunately, the location of connectors can not be called convenient, especially when connecting devices frequently.

Our opinion

This is a complete solution that does not require assembly or complex configuration. Superb image quality, Apple’s traditional build quality, very high performance. True, from the upgrade is available only the opportunity to increase the RAM, but even in the minimum configuration there were no problems when performing heavy tasks.



If you do not need a 5K display, then you can purchase a version with a “normal” resolution, saving a lot of money: the cost of a 5K monoblock at the moment, depending on the configuration, ranges from 125 to 200 thousand rubles, against about 108 thousand. Expensive, but when compared with competitors, the individual monitors with a similar resolution cost about 2-3 thousand dollars, excluding the system unit.



As mentioned above, professionals are likely to prefer other devices, coated with other color ranges. This monoblock is interesting primarily for its versatility. And, of course, the title of "first with ultra-clear screen."