iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017) vs iMac 27 (Late 2014)

iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017) $1,099
iMac 27 (Late 2014) $1,999
Base Price (MSRP)
$1,099
Base Price (MSRP)
$1,999
CPU
Core i5-7360U
CPU
Core i5-4590
GPU
Iris Plus 640 1000MHz
GPU
Radeon R9 M290
Memory
8GB
Memory
8GB
Storage
128GB
Storage
128GB
Display
21.5" LCD IPS 1920×1080
Display
27" LCD IPS 5120×2880

GB6 Single-Core

  • Same Performance vs iMac 27 (Late 2014)
  • Same Performance vs iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017)
iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017) - GB6S 1,150
x1.01
iMac 27 (Late 2014) - GB6S 1,140
x1

GB6 Multi-Core

  • 26% slower vs iMac 27 (Late 2014)
  • 35% faster vs iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017)
iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017) - GB6M 2,350
x1
iMac 27 (Late 2014) - GB6M 3,165
x1.35

FP32

  • 62% slower vs iMac 27 (Late 2014)
  • 2.6x faster vs iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017)
iMac 21.5 (Mid 2017) - 768 GFLOPS FP32
x1
iMac 27 (Late 2014) - 2 TFLOPS FP32
x2.6
CPU Image
Core i5-7360U
2 Cores
4 Threads
2.3GHz Clock
CPU Image
Core i5-4590
4 Cores
4 Threads
3.3GHz Clock
Core i5-7360U vs Core i5-4590 Full Specs Comparison
GPU Image
Iris Plus 640 1000MHz
384 Shaders
1000MHz
Shared Memory
GPU Image
Radeon R9 M290
1024 Shaders
975MHz
4GB GDDR5
174.7GB/s Bandwidth
10 FPS 1080p
8%
768 GFLOPS FP32
2%
N/A
0%
2 TFLOPS FP32
4%
Iris Plus 640 1000MHz vs Radeon R9 M290 Full Specs Comparison
8GB
DDR4-2133
8GB
DDR3-1600
24 Tabs
5%
24 Tabs
5%
128GB
Proprietary Apple 12+16 Pin
PCIe 3.0 x4
Up to 1.4GB/s
128GB
Proprietary Apple 12+16 Pin
PCIe 2.0 x2
Up to 600MB/s
186 min 4K Video
5%
186 min 4K Video
5%
21.5"
LCD IPS
27"
LCD IPS
21.5"
27"
Area
197.5 in² (1274.3 cm²)
16:9 Aspect Ratio
Area
311.5 in² (2009.7 cm²)
16:9 Aspect Ratio
Brightness
350 Nits
Brightness
400 Nits
Refresh Rate
60Hz
Refresh Rate
60Hz
Resolution
1920×1080
2.1 Million Pixels
102 PPI
Resolution
5120×2880
14.7 Million Pixels
218 PPI
1920×1080
5120×2880
LED Backlight
1,000:1 Contrast
LED Backlight
1,000:1 Contrast
Viewing Angles
178° Horizontal
178° Vertical
Viewing Angles
178° Horizontal
178° Vertical
Colour Depth
8-bit
Colour Depth
8-bit
Coverage
100% sRGB
Coverage
100% sRGB
Coating
Glossy Anti-Reflective
Fully Laminated
Coating
Glossy Anti-Reflective
Fully Laminated
1920×1080
5120×2880
720p
720p
Magic Keyboard
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Mouse
No Biometrics
No Biometrics
2
2
2
2
No Cellular
No Cellular
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
2 Stream
Up to 867Mbps
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
3 Stream
Up to 1300Mbps
Bluetooth 4.2
Bluetooth 4.0
200 Series U+
Z87
Data
4x USB 3.0 (5Gbps)
-
2x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps)
Data
4x USB 3.0 (5Gbps)
2x Thunderbolt 2 (20Gbps)
-
Network
1x Ethernet (1Gbps)
Network
1x Ethernet (1Gbps)
Audio
1x Audio Jack
Audio
1x Audio Jack
Card
1x SDXC Card UHS-II
Card
1x SDXC Card
185W
310W
macOS 10.12 Sierra
Windows
OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Windows
Windows 10 (Latest)
macOS 11 Big Sur (Latest)
Windows 10 (Latest)
Build Material
Aluminum
Build Material
Aluminum
Height
450 mm (17.7 in)
Width
528 mm (20.8 in)
Depth
175 mm (6.9 in)
Volume
41.63 L
Height
516 mm (20.3 in)
Width
650 mm (25.6 in)
Depth
203 mm (8 in)
Volume
68.13 L
Weight
5.67 kg (12.5 lb)
Weight
9.525 kg (21 lb)
CPU
Upgradable
CPU
Upgradable
GPU
Not Upgradable
GPU
Not Upgradable
Memory
Upgradable
Memory
Upgradable
Storage
Upgradable
Storage
Upgradable
Wi-Fi
Upgradable
Wi-Fi
Not Upgradable
Motherboard
Not Upgradable
Motherboard
Not Upgradable
Power Supply
Not Upgradable
Power Supply
Not Upgradable
Storage Slots
1x 2.5" Bay
-
-
Memory Slots
2x SO-DIMM
Memory Slots
4x SO-DIMM
A1418
EMC 3068
iMac18,1
A1419
EMC 2806
iMac15,1
Change Comparison