Verdict

Pros

• Awesome design and build quality
• Very cool and quiet
• Plays games decently
• Convenience
• Great screen

Cons

• Mediocre webcam
• Default colour settings not great
• Price

What is the Apple iMac 27-inch (2013)?

Apple’s iMac range needs little introduction. The first iMac was the beginning of a new era for Apple and it remains one of its most iconic products. These days it comes in 21.5-inch and 27-inch versions, and it’s the 2013 iMac update of the latter we’re looking at today. The 27-inch versions are really for power users. Prices start at £1,599 and rise exponentially depending on the options. After last year’s breathtaking new design, however, the 2013 update deals with the insides only, with new Intel Haswell processors, updated graphics and faster flash memory being the key upgrades.

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Apple iMac 27-inch (2013): Video Review
Get a quick snapshot of our comprehensive review with our video review:

Apple iMac 27-inch (2013): Design & Features

We won’t dwell too much on the design because: one, it hasn’t changed; and two, it speaks for itself. The slim body, flawless aluminium finish and effortlessly smooth hinge talk both to its beauty and its quality. The most controversial issue is the lack of any optical drive, but this is 2013 and we’ve got quite used to this now. Any holdouts may want to stick with what they’ve got, or buy an external drive if needed.

Elsewhere the features are typical of Apple, minimal but just enough for the great majority of people. There are four USB ports, two Thunderbolt ports (which double as mini-Display Port outputs), an SD card slot, Gigabit Ethernet and a single combination audio in/out jack. Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi round-up the connectivity such as it is, the latter being a small upgrade on the Apple iMac 27-inch (2012) model.
7-inch iMac (2013) displaying its own product image on screen.”7-inch iMac (2013) displaying its own product image on screen.”7-inch iMac (2013) displaying its own product image on screen.” width=”300″ height=”200″ class=”align size-medium wp-image-259473″>

The ‘consumer’ focus brings us to the caveat, which is that default colour profile crushes blacks a little too much for our liking in favour of producing a ‘contrasty’ appearance. This means you lose details in dark scenes of HD video, the kind of details we want to see. Some will prefer this look, perhaps, but if you’d rather see all the detail available there’s a simple fix: just select the Adobe RGB (1998) profile in the ‘Color’ control menu. It restores the detail and still maintains decent black levels.

Finally, while the glass front means this isn’t a true professional class screen, reflections aren’t anything like as bad as you’d expect. This is largely down to changes introduced last year, namely an improved coating and tighter air gap, but the result is impressive. The excellent peak brightness helps here, too, and means we didn’t have serious problems in a brightly lit office environment.