The 27-inch 2020 iMac adds glamour to your home office

A big 27-inch Apple iMac might just be the workhorse you need in this era of working from home during the pandemic.

Apple 27-inch iMac 2020 desktop computer

A big-screened Apple iMac might be the workhorse you need in this era of working from home. You mightn’t have spent up big on a computer rig before the pandemic. But you might now.

I am case in point. My home PC system is like a dog’s breakfast. It has three screens of varying quality by three manufacturers – Dell, Samsung and BenQ. They are different shapes, heights, ages and resolutions, they were acquired at different times.

Cables run everywhere to a PC that sits underneath the desk. I have to keep wiping off layers of dust. It‘s hard to say how old this PC is, because I upgrade parts sporadically. The hard drives and SSDs are from one year, the motherboard from another, and the graphics card from yet another.

Over many years, all parts have changed, and even the case is different.

This cheap cobbled-together rig did the job well pre-pandemic. Now that I‘m full bore writing at home, it’s time to rethink. Do I want to remain a three-screen jockey with this old system, or switch to an all-in-one like the 27-inch iMac?

While the big 27-inch screen isn’t the same as three separate monitors, it’s imposing and can show several applications simultaneously without you feeling drowned in desktop clutter.

I used to think going for a 27-inch iMac instead of the compact 21-inch model was an indulgence, now it’s a practical choice.

The other benefit of a big all-in-one like the iMac is obvious – it’s one device that you can set-up in an instant and move at will. There‘s no cable clutter with everything integrated. My desk space doesn’t look like a mad professor’s laboratory. It’s a minimalist design, in fact, the same design as other recent iMacs. Nothing much has changed there.

Apple 27-inch iMac 2020 desktop computer

With an all-in-one, you are locked into whatever Apple offers though. Once you’ve bought this, you can’t change anything except, notably, the RAM which you can spec-up using less costly, third party RAM modules via the hatch door at rear.

You can’t change the array of port options at the rear, apart from adding adaptors. There’s 4 USB-A and 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, Ethernet, a UHS-II (read very fast) SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphones port at the back.

Having the ports at the back keeps peripherals and cables out of sight. The creativity space directly in front of you remains less cluttered.

However I question why just 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports with 40Gbps transfer rates, given the world has quickly adopted USB-C and faster Thunderbolt, and given some users of this iMac into video editing might need more fast connections. The larger MacBook Pros have four Thunderbolt ports.

I would have suggested the other way around – 2 USB-A and 4 USB-C.

This year’s refresh of the 27-inch iMac is notable for a few reasons. It’s the first to use just solid state drives, without a hard drive or hybrid drive set-up. It is the first iMac outside the iMac Pro to use Apple’s T2 security chip. And it’s among the last to sport an Intel processor.

Soon, new MacBooks and iMacs will come with Apple’s home-baked silicon chips. At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple revealed that these chips will run iPhone and iPad apps – on a Mac. Suddenly Macs support millions more applications.

Apple already uses its own chips for iPhones and iPads, so extending this to Macs seems a natural move.

The new era Macs with Apple silicon also will support virtualisation technology, so it will be easier for them to run other operating system apps such as Linux apps.

Apple 27-inch iMac 2020 desktop computer

The downside is that Apple silicon will not run some standard Intel programs without them being converted, so you will need to upgrade some of your third-party software. Apple is making it easy for developers to recompile applications for Apple silicon. Some packages like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro have already been converted.

However, if you have faithful, old third-party software you bought a few years back, you might have to purchase it anew. If that’s your concern, this year’s 27-inch iMac turns out to be a safe option. Apple importantly has promised ongoing support for these models.

However, the 2020 iMac isn’t about old components. You get 10th generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors with turbo boost speeds to between 4.5GHz and 5.0GHz, and you optionally go to Core i9.

You get a 256GB or 512GB solid state drive, separate Radeon Pro 5300 or Pro 5500XT discrete graphics, and a 5120x2880 Retina 5K display with Apple True Tone. The light colour matches ambient light which in particular means less glare and a softer look at night.

The addition of the T2 security chip not only provides encrypted storage and security features such as secure boot, it also includes an image signal processor and audio controller.

Music sounds absolutely lovely. Treble sounds delightful and the vocal tones are rich.

The standard configurations for the 27-inch iMac 2020 cost $2799 (Core i5), and $3099 and $3549 (Core i7). As usual, you can pay more for optional extras such as 128GB memory or an eight terabyte solid state drive. You can opt for up to an Intel Core i9 processor with 5.0GHz Turbo boost. I recommend that if you need extra RAM, you can take advantage of the hatch and install your own to save some money.

Apple 27-inch iMac 2020 desktop computer

If this model doesn’t offer enough power for you, you could instead opt for the even higher-specced iMac Pro, buy you’ll pay double for the privilege – $7299 in Australia.

Apple has a curious new option, “nano-texture glass”, where, in Apple’s words, nano structures are etched into the glass for low reflectivity. That’s a step beyond the regular anti-reflective coating and helps ensure the colour accuracy of what you view. That degree of colour accuracy is mandatory for some professionals.

I’m not blown away by the 1080p selfie camera at front. Sure a full HD camera is an improvement on what came before and the T2 security chip can recognise faces and improve image quality. However this new era of Zooming to friends, family and colleagues means the resolution and quality of selfie cameras is more important than ever before.

Performance is very good. Apple claims a 65 per cent boost in CPU performance and 6x faster graphics in high-end models.

I ran benchmarks on my review unit to see. Mine has a Core i7-10700K model at 3.80GHz with Radeon Pro 5500 XT graphics and 8GB of memory. It costs $3549.

Cinebench R15 returned 1963 cb for CPU performance and 120.57 frames per second for graphic performance.

Overall this big 27-inch iMac is a very tempting buy if its specs and selection of ports meets your requirements, provided you don’t want to hang out for Apple silicon.