Apple unveils new, slimmer iMac: 21.5-inch and 27-inch models

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller is now live on stage at the company’s special media event in California, and he just showcased a refreshed, slimmer, and sleeker iMac.

“It is the most beautiful iMac we have ever made,” announced Schiller. “There’s an entire computer in there […] it’s hard to believe there is even a display in here.”

The new eighth model is beautifully thin, but it still touts the iconic iMac shape. Schiller further discussed the iMac’s striking 5mm edge, as well, noting Apple used a “friction stir welding” technique to create the new desktop that apparently boasts less reflection than older displays.

Schiller also mentioned a new “Fusion Drive” option that is a combination of storage and software. It provides a 128GB SDD and 1TB or 3TB HDD melded into a single volume for faster read-and-writes and better performance. Go to 9to5Mac’s full coverage of the Fusion Drive for more details.

More iMac specs:

• Two sizes: 21.5-inch and 27 inch
• Edge-to-edge glass—5mm thinner display, 80 percent thinner than previous generation, extends entire length, super strong and nearly seamless, LED-backlit display with IPS technology
• Removed 2mm air gap, lamintated display directly to glass, 45 percent thinner
• Anti-reflective coating, plasma deposition—apply coating down to nanometer thickness, 75 percent less reflection than previous generation
• FaceTime HD camera, dual mics, stereo sound system
• Sheds up to 8 lbs
• Audio: stereo speakers, dual microphones, and headphone port
• Connections: SDXC card slot, Four USB 3 ports, Two Thunderbolt ports, Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
• Wireless: 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking —IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible; Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
• OS X:  Mountain Lion

More specs for each model and images are below.

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• Apple live streaming today’s iPad mini event on the Apple TV
• Apple Store goes down ahead of today’s event

9to5Mac previously noted the new iMacs might see a delay, and Apple verified our suspicions on its’ online store by confirming the 21.5-inch would come in November and the 27-inch would come in December. The company’s iMac page also reflects the delay, as it now has a “coming soon” banner.

21.5-inch iMac:

• 21.5-inch iMac display: 21.5-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 1920-by-1080 resolution
• 21.5-inch iMac processor: 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz) with 6MB L3 cache or 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 6MB L3 cache
• 21.5-inch iMac storage: 1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive or 1 TB (5400-rpm) hard drive
• 21.5-inch iMac memory: 8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory
• 21.5-inch iMac graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory or NVIDIA GeForce  GT 650M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
• 21.5-inch starting at $1,299—coming in November

27-inch iMac:

• 21.5-inch iMac display: 27-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1440 resolution
• 27-inch iMac processor: 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 6MB L3 cache or 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 6MB L3 cache
• 27-inch iMac storage: 1TB (7200-rpm) hard drive
• 21.5-inch iMac memory: 8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory; four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots
• 27-inch iMac graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
• 27-inch starting at $1,799—coming in December.

Go to Apple’s website for more details.