Apple just updated the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, but some of its desktops are getting love as well. The Retina 5K iMac, formerly available for $2,499, has gotten a $200 price cut. For $2,299, you get a 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) quad-core Core i5 CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 1TB Fusion Drive, and an AMD Radeon R9 M290X GPU. Faster CPUs and GPUs and larger non-Fusion SSDs are all still available as upgrade options; the only difference from the model that was introduced last fall is the price drop.
Joining the $2,299 Retina iMac is a new $1,999 model with lower specs. It includes a non-upgradeable 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) quad-core Core i5 CPU, a non-upgradeable AMD R9 M290 GPU (not the M290X), 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. Though it's nice to be able to get the Retina iMac's fantastic screen at a lower price, it's unfortunate that this model doesn't include a Fusion Drive by default—it's a $200 upgrade option, which would make it just $100 cheaper than the high-end model. It's 2015, and SSDs make such a difference to general system performance that it's hard to recommend a $2,000 computer without one.
Apple tells us that neither of the new Mac launches today include Intel's quad-core Broadwell processors, which are slated to launch mid-year. These iMacs don't use Intel's integrated Iris Pro GPUs and Broadwell doesn't provide a big CPU performance boost over Haswell, so it's arguably not as big a loss here as it is in the MacBook Pros.
The $1,999 iMac is available to ship within one business day. The $2,299 model is available for shipping and in-store pickup today.
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