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Apple to release first of two new iMacs on FridayCUPERTINO, Nov 27, 2012 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Apple (AAPL) will release the smaller version of its new iMac desktop computer Friday, barely making its self-imposed deadline to get the all-in-one model to consumers. The tech giant announced Tuesday morning that the 21.5-inch iMac, which it announced last month in the same presentation in which the company presented the iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad, will reach stores on the last day of November. On launch day, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller said Apple's new iMac would begin shipping in November, with the larger model to arrive in December. The 27-inch version of the new, improved Apple desktop computer will be released next month, according to Apple's Tuesday announcement, though the company will begin taking online orders for the larger version. The 21.5-inch iMac has a starting price of $1,299, while the larger version starts at $1,799, with the cheapest versions arriving with 1 terabyte of storage space in the company's new Fusion Drive format, which offers flash and standard hard drives combined. The new iMacs offer widescreen monitors with the computing components nearly invisible, packaged in the back of the screen, which is 80 percent thinner than its predecessor at 5 mm thick, Schiller announced last month. The new iMacs do not offer Apple's Retina display technology, nor do they come equipped with an optical drive, though Schiller said at the Oct. 23 launch event that Apple would offer optical drives for purchase to pair with the iMacs "for those still stuck in the past." Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak. ___ (c)2012 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |