WWDC 2017 | Apple introduces new iMac AIOs, including the powerful iMac Pro

With each WWDC, Apple unveils new software and new devices. This year is no different. The Cupertino giant announced a new line of iMacs, including one that it’s saying is the “most powerful Mac ever.”

The new iMacs will all feature updated CPUs based on Intel’s Kaby Lake platform. These new processors will bring faster performance, better power efficiency, and support for 10-bit HEVC decoding. The screens have also been improved to benefit from the 10-bit decode and have had their brightness bumped by 43%, allowing them to hit a maximum of 500 nits (cd/m2). In addition to the new screens and CPUs, the smaller 21.5-inch iMac will be able to support up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, while its bigger 27-inch brother will support up to 64 GB of RAM. Apple’s Fusion Drive (which is essentially an SSHD hybrid drive) will also come standard on the highest-end 21.5-inch iMac and all 27-inch iMacs. Both models will sport two Thunderbolt 3 ports and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 integrated into the CPU.

Discrete graphics have gotten a boost as well and have even made their way to the smaller 21.5-inch iMac for the first time. The little brother can support either an AMD Radeon RX 555 or RX 560 GPU with up to 4 GB of VRAM, while the larger 27-inch model can be configured with an RX 570, RX 575, or RX 580 GPU. Note that these discrete options are only available in the 4K 21.5-inch iMac and the 5K 27-inch iMac.

The star of the show was no doubt the new iMac Pro. The All-in-One looks to be an absolute beast of a machine: packing up to an 18-core Intel Xeon processor, 128 GB of ECC RAM, and Radeon Vega graphics, the iMac Pro will definitely be the most powerful All-in-One that Apple has ever made. Now word on if the AiO can support multiple GPUs, but since the specs of the Vega GPU to be used that were listed (16 GB of VRAM, 11 TFlops single-precision compute) match what we know of an upcoming single card solution, it’s likely the iMac will only have one graphics card, albeit a very powerful one.

Pricing for the 21-inch iMac starts at $1,099, while the 4K 21-inch iMac starts at $1,299. The 27-inch iMac (with 5K screen) starts at $1,799. All of these models are available now. The iMac Pro will start at $4,999 and will be available in December.

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