Retina iMacs are ‘incredibly likely’ to appear at next Apple event

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New 27-inch Retina iMacs will usher in a new age of Ultra HD displays.
New 27-inch Retina iMacs will usher in a new age of Ultra HD displays.

The iMac is Apple’s only machine that hasn’t gone Retina, but a new report claims the wait is almost over for the desktop beast — Apple is “incredibly likely” to announce its new Retina iMac next month.

“A source familiar with Apple’s plans tells me that Apple is indeed planning to launch a Retina iMac at their next press event, however the 27″ Model will be the only model that gets this feature. The source says the new 27″ iMac will use a 5120 x 2880 panel as leaked in the OSX Yosemite code a few months ago.”

The rumor mill has long asserted that Apple is ready to launch the first Retina iMac. The 5,120-by-2,880 resolution mentioned in the new report from Jack March matches up with previous supply chain leaks and would be double the current resolution of the 27-inch iMac. The report also claims the design of the iMac won’t change at all, and that the machines won’t get reversible USB Type-C yet.

Basically, all that would be new is the display and the processor.

The iMac will supposedly stick with Intel’s Haswell processors for now, using the new Intel i7-4790k configuration with a base clock speed of 4.0GHz rather than the new Broadwell CPUs, which will “likely be added in an update next year.” Intel’s already stated that the more powerful and energy-efficient Broadwell processors won’t be available in wide supply until 2015.

March’s report also claims AMD graphics will be used on the new iMacs instead of the Nvidia GPUs in the current lineup. A second report from 9to5Mac adds that the new machines will also pick up improved Wi-Fi antennas.

Apple is rumored to have an event planned for October 21, at which the company is expected to unveil a new iPad Air and a new Mac mini to go with the Retina iMac update.

Source: Jack March

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