Apple iMac Retina 5K 27-inch M390 (Late 2015) Retina Review

Accessories

As with the previous generation, the Apple iMac is shipped with a keyboard and a mouse – now updated to new versions. You also get a Lightning cable to recharge the input devices at a USB port. You can also get the Magic Trackpad 2 instead of the Magic Mouse 2, but this will cost an additional 60 Euros (~$65). With the exception of a few brochures, there are no other noteworthy accessories.

Maintenance

Once again, the maintainability of the new model is limited. Only the memory can be accessed easily via the hatch at the back. You will have to remove the glued display to reach the other components, but professionals should perform this procedure. Our colleagues from ifixit demonstrate the complicated process.

Warranty

As it is usual for Apple you only get a one-year manufacturer's warranty, but it is possible to purchase an optional AppleCare Protection Plan for up to three years. This additional warranty includes an enhanced technical support, hardware protection as well as software support. This option is priced at 180 Euros (~$196).

At a first glance, the 5K display looks very similar to the old model, but there are differences in the details. 

The large screen still has a resolution of 5120x 2880 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 217 PPI. Apple’s own operating system is perfectly optimized for the resolution, but this is not the case for Windows 10 via Bootcamp. The manufacturer uses a red-colored anti-reflection coating to reduce reflections. Apple uses a glossy panel to ensure brilliant colors. The average brightness of 424 cd/m² can also compensate for some annoying reflections. The brightness sensor can adjust the luminance gently and it works very well. A brightness distribution of 95% is also very good, but we can see some backlight bleeding in the corners on a dark background. Our comparison pictures show that the predecessor did not have this issue. A closer look at the corners of the display reveals a small gap between the panel and the case.

The viewing angle is close to 180 degrees, which is why you can easily use the iMac for movie or TV show evenings. Several people can look at the display without any color or brightness deviations. The maximum luminance and the contrast will drop significantly when the angle exceeds 45 degrees. It drops from 440 to 240 nits (473:1) when you look from the side and even to 115 nits (426:1) when you look from below. The color accuracy on the other hand is still good and drops from 2.8 to 5 and 4, respectively (side and below) in the ColorChecker test.

Apple’s iMac is an all-rounder and an All-in-One system, so it should be able to cover many scenarios. Thanks to a powerful quad-core CPU and a dedicated GPU, this is clearly achieved. However, there are some restrictions when you want to play games. The integrated AMD Radeon R9 M390 graphics card is an upper mainstream GPU. Modern games can usually be played smoothly in medium or high settings as long as you limit the resolution to Full HD. You should probably install Windows for this purpose, which is a better solution for gaming.

Our configuration leaves a good overall impression. The handling is very smooth, particularly in Apple’s own OS El Capitan, but we can also notice a negative development. The Fusion Drive now has less SSD storage, which is why you cannot cache as many applications and files. This is clearly noticeable under Windows, which only uses the HDD. We have already criticized this in the review of the previous  model. The review unit manages a decent score in PCMark 8, but cannot keep up with the powerful configuration of the predecessor.

Our review unit uses a 1 TB Fusion Drive, which consists of a 1 TB HDD in combination with a 24 GB SSD. For comparison: The first generation of the 27-inch Retina iMac was equipped with a 128 GB SSD besides the hard drive. Unfortunately, this fast SSD cache is only available in Apple’s own operating system. The performance of the SSD fluctuated significantly in the BlackMagic Disc test and only the best results were on par with the predecessor.

We use Windows and CrystalDiskMark to determine the HDD performance. Read and write transfer rates of around 130 MB/s indicate that Apple uses a decent hard drive. The comparison model manages around 100 MB/s.

The results are much higher in mac OS X, where we can determine read speeds close to 800 MB/s. The old model managed around 650 MB/s. The SSD storage is now smaller so the results are fluctuating and we can sometimes only measure 250 MB/s. The sequential write speeds are between 230 MB/s and 280 MB/s, while the last iMac version managed around 310 MB/s.

The review unit is not only quiet while idling, but the fan is also deactivated in more demanding applications like 3DMark 11. The fan will only spin at 1700 rpm when you play “Tomb Raider”, for example, and we could not even provoke the maximum speed of the fan under maximum load. We only reached up to 2500 rpm with our stress test tools, and it required an additional tool to reach the maximum level of 2700 rpm. The fan noise is pretty dull and not annoying.

However, you can always hear the hard drive. The quiet murmur is much quieter compared to an external HDD, but still perceptible compared to an SSD based Mac. It is not annoying though.

Once again, the second iteration of Apple's Retina 5 K all-rounder leaves a very good impression. The manufacturer has produced a device with high quality chassis and an elegant design. The new input devices impress us and finally have rechargeable batteries. However, the eye-catcher is still the high-resolution display. We can only praise the brilliant colors and the wide color gamut.

Inside the system is a combination of desktop and notebook components, which ensure a decent system performance. Unfortunately, Apple has reduced the internal SSD storage of the Fusion Drive from 128 GB to 24 GB. The performance of the processor is at a decent level and the graphics card is also sufficient for modern games, but the utilization of the old chip affects the good impression slightly. If you want to use the iMac primarily for gaming, you will be better off with less-expensive and faster systems.

There is no criticism for the heat and noise development. The fan is usually deactivated during common tasks.

There is hardly any reason why you should upgrade from the older 5K Retina iMac. CPU and GPU performance are similar, and the wider color space coverage is only important for a small group of users.

Apple's iMac 5K Retina is a good product, but the price is high.

The entry-level version starts at 2100 Euros (~$2286) and you can easily pay more than 4000 Euros (~$4353) depending on the configuration. Our review version is priced at 2299 Euros (~$2502); students can currently get it for 2150.60 Euros (~$2341).