Apple today refreshed its iMac lineup up, adding a 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina display, as well as upgrading the flagship 27-inchers and introducing a new keyboard, mouse, and trackpad.

But what about those new 27-inch iMacs with the ridiculously awesome 5K displays?

The new iMacs feature more powerful processors, better graphics processors, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and some new storage options. Here’s a closer look:

Inside the New 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display

The 27-inch iMac has an astounding 5120 x 2880 resolution that packs in 14.7 million pixels, which is 7 times more pixels than in a standard 1920 x 1080 HD display.

The new Retina 5K display also uses a new wider P3-based color gamut that delivers more colors so that images are more vivid and realistic than before.

As for the processors, the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display now comes with sixth-generation Intel Core processors and AMD graphics. All three 27-inch models start with a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, but the two upper end models can be custom configured with 4.0GHz Intel Core i7 processors.

The two Thunderbolt 2 ports can pump 20Gbps in data transfer speed for external drives.

The storage options are where the new iMacs get really interesting — or irritating, depending on your perspective. The $1,799 base model 27-inch iMac with Retina display comes with a relatively slow 1TB 7200-rpm hard drive — the kind with magnetic disks that spin. At the next two price options, you get a 1TB or 2TB Fusion Drive, with 24GB-up-to-128GB of super-fast flash-based storage that learns which files and apps you tend to use more frequently, then loads them onto the faster flash portion of the drive.

Fortunately, all of the options include the ability to custom configure your iMac with larger hard drives, faster Fusion Drives, or 256GB-to-1TB of flash storage (which is pretty damn expensive for regular humans).

5K iMac Graphics

The updated 27-inch iMacs with Retina 5K displays are using AMD graphics, starting with the Radeon R9 M380 graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, AMD Radeon R9 M390 with 2GB of memory, or the AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB of memory, which can also be custom configured to deliver a bit more processing power.

To go with the faster new iMac lineup, Apple also updated its keyboard, trackpad, and mouse.

magic keyboard mouse trackpad

The new Magic Keyboard uses a slightly smaller form factor that nevertheless uses slightly larger keys while also using an improved scissor mechanism for better strokes on miss hits.

The Magic Trackpad 2 includes Apple Force Touch, which brings you Multi-Touch gestures that new MacBook owners already get to use.

The Magic Mouse 2 ditches the AA batteries in favor of a built-in battery.

All three peripherals now charge their internal batteries through a USB-to-Lighting cable.

The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display starts at $1,799, then ramps up to $1,999, and $2,299 before arching higher with custom configurations.

About the author

Chris Maxcer

Twitter Website

I've been writing about the tech industry since the birth of the email newsletter, and I still remember the clacking Mac keyboards from high school -- Apple's seed-planting strategy at work. I'm a big fan of elegant gear and great tech, but there's something to be said for turning it all off -- or most of it -- to go outside. Online I like to call out cool stuff on Wicked Cool Bite and blog with my buddies at Man Makes Fire. To catch me, take a "firstnamelastname" guess at the url of this site.