For this review, we looked at the 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo 27″ iMac model, as we felt it has the most universal appeal to those looking to buy an iMac.

3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

2560 x 1440

4GB RAM

1TB hard drive

8x SuperDrive

ATI Radeon 4670 with 256MB

$1,699

Apple iMac 27 Review - In The Box

Aside from the iMac itself, the new machines come packed with an Apple Wireless Keyboard and a new Magic Mouse . The wireless keyboard is the same as what Apple has been offering for some time now, though the new new keyboard now requires only two batteries, instead of the three required in the old one. How green.

Apple iMac 27 Review – Screen

This is by far the largest screen that Apple has put on one of its machines, and we love it. The highest resolution it can handle is 2560 x 1440, and the aspect ratio change shows that Apple is aware that people are using these machines more and more as devices to watch HD movies, and not just for your standard computing purposes.

Apple iMac 27 Review – Ports

The 2009 model also got a slight port rearrangement and a couple of port replacements compared to the 2007 model that we compared it to (but it should be noted that the iMac revision from March of 2009 had the same collection of ports as the current 27″ iMac does).

Apple iMac 27 Review – Performance

Regular use of the 27″ iMac is about what one might expect from a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo machine. At this point in consumer-level machines, speed bumps make less of a difference in day-to-day life, although the stock 4GB of RAM is a nice starting point, as is the 7200rpm hard drive.

One odd bump that several of us at Ars noticed in our stock 27″ iMac configurations (which came with Mac OS X 10.6.1) was that Flash videos seemed jerky to the point of being borderline unwatchable. From personal experience, it was akin to watching YouTube videos on a first-generation MacBook Air—not something you want to do if you can avoid it. Flash isn’t exactly known for being snappy on the Mac in general, but this was a strange development given the hardware in the 2009 iMac. Running a software update to 10.6.2 and the latest version of Safari fixed the problem

Apple iMac 27 Review – Conclusion

If you liked the previous iMac, you’ll like the new iMac—especially the 27″ version. The single largest improvement is by far the screen, both in its size and its LED backlighting, which gives you tons of space for work and play on a crisp-looking display. And if you’ve dreamed up some scenario in which you need both an all-in-one computer and an external display for use with a notebook on the same desk, then this is practically your dream machine.

The good:

• Bigger screen on a desktop is almost always better

• LED backlighting means it can go brighter and dimmer than iMac predecessors

• Performance is good, about what you would expect for this configuration

The bad:

• Mini DisplayPort-in can only take input from other devices with DisplayPort-out

• Yep, the display is still painfully glossy

The ugly:

• Not very upgradeable aside from RAM