Apple has released a new, low-end model of iMac

As rumored last week, Apple has today released a new model of iMac. These machines are considerably cheaper than their predecessors, priced at $1099. Previously, the cheapest iMac SKU was priced at $1299. The cheaper iMac features a 1.4 GHz dual-core i5 CPU, which represents a significant worsening in performance over the previous base model of iMac, which featured a processor clocked at 2.7 GHz. The CPU does Turbo Boost up to 2.7 GHz however, which does make up some of the difference. Aside from the CPU, the hard drive has also been cut to 500 GB. The new model also features a lower-end integrated graphics chip. All other iMac models continue to use either Iris Pro integrated graphics or dedicated Nvidia cards. Otherwise, the internals of the new machine are unchanged.

With Apple’s online store down Wednesday morning, the company appears set to debut new iMac desktops, with one last-minute leak revealing alleged specifications of a new low-end 21.5-inch model, sporting a slower and more affordable dual-core 1.4-gigahertz processor. The alleged details come from a picture that appears to show the specifications printed on an iMac box intended for sale in France, revealed on Wednesday by Macplus. The details also show the same resolution 1,920-by-1,080-pixel LED display, 8 gigabytes of RAM, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 5,400rpm hard disk drive. The technical readout also reveals that the new iMac will apparently feature a 1.4-gigahertz Intel Core i5 processor with 3 megabytes of L3 cache and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. Given the details on the new chip, it is likely the dual-core Intel Core i5-4260U, which launched in the second quarter of 2014 and offers Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.7 gigahertz. In comparison, the company’s previous low-end model boasted a much beefier 2.7-gigahertz Intel Core i5 with 4 megabytes of cache, featuring Turbo Boost up to 3.2 gigahertz.