Even though Apple is hosting an event next week, the company is announcing updates to its hardware this week. Yesterday, the company announced new iPads and today, they are updating the iMacs.

Starting today, you can buy both the 21.5 and 27in iMacs with 8th gen Intel CPUs with the smaller device offering four and six core options with the larger device letting you jump all the way up to an eight-core option if you don’t mind spending a bit more.

In addition to the new CPU options, both iMacs now offer Radeon Pro Vega graphics as well. The 21.5in iMac starts at $1299 which gets you an 3.6GHz 8th-generation Intel i3 processor, 8 GB RAM, a 1 TB hard drive, and Radeon Pro 555X graphics whereas the 27in starts at $1799 for a 3GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel i5 processor, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB Fusion Drive, and a Radeon Pro 570X GPU.

Apple is still offering its Fusion drives for lower-speced iMacs but you can swap it out with up to 2TB SSD if you want to avoid the older-style hardware for a significant premium.

Oddly, Apple is not including its new T2 security chip. This is likely because the company chose to keep the older Fusion drives in the iMacs which are not compatible with the security feature. Seeing as the company made a big deal about its T2 security chips on its laptops, it’s a bit surprising that they aren’t trying to bring that same functionality to its desktops.

With all of the legacy hardware out of the way, Apple is clearing the deck for its event next week so that its new services don’t get overshadowed by the updated hardware.

Tagged with Apple, Mac