Apple Upgrades iMac Line with All Retina Displays

Apple updated the iMac lineup on Tuesday with a 4K Retina display for the 21.5-inch model, and 5K Retina displays for all 27-inch models. Today's updates do away with non-Retina displays across all iMacs, leaving the MacBook Air and Thunderbolt Display as the notable outsiders in Apple's high resolution display lineup.

Apple goes Retina for all iMacsApple goes Retina for all iMacs

The 4K 21.5-inch Retina Display sports 9.4 million pixels at 4096 x 2304 resolution, and the 5K 27-inch version packs in 14.7 million pixels. Apple says both offer a wider color gamut, too.

All iMacs now include dual Thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, an SDXC card slot, three-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, FaceTime HD camera, built-in stereo speakers, dual microphones, and a headphone port. OS X El Capitan is pre-installed, and they ship with Apple's new rechargeable Magic Keyboard 2 and Magic Mouse 2.

The 21.5-inch iMac includes a fifth-generation Intel Core processor with Intel Iros Pro graphics, and a 1TB 5400 RPM hard drive. The 27-inch models ship with sixth-generation Intel Core processors (Skylake) and AMD Radeon R9 graphics, and a 1 TB 7200 RPM hard drive.

Apple is also offering new Fusion Drive options with a 1 TB drive paired with 24 GB flash memory, and 2 TB and 3 TB drives with 128 GB flash memory. A 1 TB flash drive is available as a build-tro-order option, too.

The 21.5-inch iMac is priced at US$1,099 with a 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor and standard display, $1,299 with a 2.8 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and standard display, and $1,499 with a 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and Retina display. All three include 8 GB RAM upgradable to 16 GB as a build-to-order option.

The 27-inch iMac is priced at $1,799 with a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel i5 processor and 1 TB hard drive, $1,999 with the same processor and a 1 TB Fusion Drive, and $2,299 with a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and 2 TB Fusion Drive. All models ship with 8 GB RAM that's user upgradable to 16 GB.

Apple's new 21.5-inch and 27-inch Retina iMacs are available online and in the company's retail stores today.