Apple Just Upgraded Its iMacs, a Little

Apple says these improvements should offer up to a 65 percent CPU performance increase over last year's refreshed 27-inch iMacs.On the graphics front, you'll get options within AMD's Radeon Pro 5000 series, with the 5300 XT and 5500 XT being offered with 8 gigabytes of VRAM in the standard configurations, but you can also shell out for a 5700 XT with 16 gigabytes of VRAM for up to 55 percent faster GPU performance.Those bumps in CPU and GPU performance will be complemented by a complete move to DDR4 solid state drives for all models. But it also has an image-signal processor that helps with face recognition—not for Face ID, mind you—but for tone-mapping and exposure control to improve the webcam quality.Similarly, the audio controller in the T2 chip improves the speakers in the new iMac. The speaker's hardware hasn't changed, but Apple says the controller helps add better balance on everything you listen to, adding higher fidelity and deeper bass at lower volumes.What is new are the three "studio-quality" microphones, two on the chin and one on the back of the chassis, and they're the same as the ones Apple introduced on the 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2019. Since the iMac now has a 10-core i9 upgrade option, Apple is also bumping the base model of the iMac Pro to offer the same processor, and this version is also available to order today.There have been several rumors of a new iMac with a design refresh and ARM-based chips, but this isn't it.