**Unboxing and First Impressions of the 27-Inch iMac with M1**

I walked into this office, a bit skeptical about whether I could use the new iMacs from Apple. I mean, I've set up a few Macs before, but they're always a bit finicky for me. First things first, let's get the system setup over with. I'll just check in the WiFi and see if everything is working as it should. And, yeah, my MacBook Air doesn't have some feature that I complain about every time... Apple really needs to fix that.

Now that we've got our iMac up and running, let's take a closer look at its specs. This thing has a 3.6-gigahertz, 10-core Intel Core i9 processor, 16 gigs of DDR4 RAM, and an AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT graphics card. It also comes with one terabyte of storage. But what really stands out is the new feature that Apple added to this year's model: Bluetooth 5.0. I'm not sure if Apple has any other devices with this technology aside from their iPhones and iPads.

Now, let's take a look at some benchmarks to see how our iMac performs. We've got Intel Power Gadget here, which gives us an idea of the processor's speed. According to this, our iMac is running at about 3.6 gigahertz, which is slightly below that baseline. The temperature is currently at around 37 degrees. But when we start using more demanding software like Prime 95, things get a bit hotter – up to 160 Watts, in fact.

While it's not ideal, I'm glad to see that Apple has managed to keep the temperatures from getting out of control. However, I am still very concerned about the longevity of this machine, as it's brand new and hasn't had any cleaning done on it yet. The fans are pretty quiet, which is nice, but if we could get the temperatures down a bit lower – maybe even as low as 70 or 80 degrees – that would be perfect.

**Performance Review**

Let's take a closer look at how our iMac performs in real-world applications. According to some benchmarks, it actually scores pretty well compared to an external graphics card setup using a different GPU. The performance does come with a cost, though – the base price of this machine starts at $1,799, which is a significant amount of money.

To break down that price, you get a 6-core processor, 8 gigs of RAM, a 256-gigabyte SSD, and the Radeon Pro 5700 XT graphics card. The nano-textured glass adds an extra $500 to the bill. And if you want to go for the full high-end configuration with 16 gigs of RAM, 16 gigabytes of DDR4, and a Radeon Pro 5700 XT, that's another $1,000 on top of the already-expensive base price.

I wouldn't recommend this machine to anyone, but I would encourage you to check out our full review over at LTT for more information. If you'd like to see more videos like this one, be sure to subscribe here and over there.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- So you may know thatI use a Mac at home,not a desktop mind you alaptop, I've got a MacBook.Which until recently reallyhasn't had any competitionfrom Apple as far asa decent MacBook goes,but that's not why we're here today.Today, we're looking at this,the brand new 27 inch iMac.This is still Intelbase, which is gonna puta few people off.I know I'm not entirely sureif I would buy one right now.You know, maybe it'llgrow on me, who knows?The box is basically unchangedfrom the past 10 years.It's got this kind oftrapezoidal design herewith a nice little handle,the box already been openedup by our warehouse staff.We are going to reviewthis on Linus Tech Tips.So without further ado, let's pop it open.(soft music)Yeah, it's not too much fanfare.Okay, so we've got these a littleand then I'll kind of like wheel chocks.In this one actually isthe nice flush sittingApple branded power cable.And in this one, wegot our accessories boxinside of which we have magicmouse and a magic keyboard.And not much else, there is a little,this is a cleaning cloth.Let's see here, yeah nice,actually really nicemicrofiber cleaning cloth.Single charging cable forboth the magic keyboardand the magic mouse,which of course still goesinto the bottom, one day maybethey'll do wireless charging.That'd be nice.And there probably aresome stickers in hereif Apple is a creatureof habit and sure enough,here they are.So that's the accessories, let's move onto the main event here.Got this nice fabric key, I'm not surewhat this is to be honest,it doesn't feel like paperit's like cotton maybe.It helps prevent any kind of scuffsor other damage duringshipping, which is nice to see.And we also have this,well, it would have beena lot tighter but Iactually took it off earliercause I wanted to see what was underneath.And I think you will too.When we had our Pro Display XDR review,we ended up not optingfor the nano-texture glassbecause that would havedelayed it by quite a lot.But in this case, forthe first time an iMacis getting that treatmentand it wouldn't have delayedour shipment based on theother specs that we had.So why not, right?Good a time as any to take a look at it.There we go, yeah, look at that.It's kind of a weird mixbetween glossy and mattecause like from this angleI can see reflectionsbut if I, yeah, likefrom this angle I cannot.- I have a reflectionbut its got like matte film.- Yeah, except it's not a matte film,it's actually laser etched into the glass.So it's at a nano level,I'm not entirely surewhat Apple means by that,but basically you cannot seethe individual little markings,which I think is actually a better effectjust because you don'tget that sparkle so much.At least I don't think you will,plan to turn it on to find out.Round back though, we'vegot the usual suspects.We've got headphone jack,so it's not a very courageousproduct, I'm sorry.SD card slot, four USBI believe 3.1 ports,two Thunderbolt ports,10 gigabit Ethernet Port.This is upgraded to the 10 gigabit model,just get a nice 10 Gigabit Ethernetand yeah, you're pretty much cool.Even if you just use WiFi for internetand 10 gig for your NET,it's still a lot betterthan the alternatives.And this here is the final peel.One thing I've always liked about the iMaccause they have theseremovable Ram Bay covers.So you don't have totake anything else apart,You just press a little button in thereand this panel just pops right off.And underneath, we can see that we have,I think that's four slotswith two sticks installed.So that's really it for the outside.Again like the box,hasn't really been changedsince I don't know, 2011.Let's get it plugged in and fired up.But first our sponsor,the Kove Commuter to Bluetooth speaker.It's a water resistant portable speakerwith seven hours of batterylife and up to 30 feet of range.The star of the show features its abilityto split into two separate speakers.And when combined theycreate a 360 degree sound,but when separated, each speaker createsa left and right stereo sound.Use code SC64, 64% off the KoveCommuter at the link below.One thing Apple does reallywell is the fact thatyou just really only need one cableand it just fits flushright in here like this.That's nothing new, butI still think it's deep.The magic mouse one had an indicatorwhenever you turned iton, this didn't have it.How unfortunate, magic keyboard is on,also doesn't have an LED, justthe little green bit here.I guess that saves battery.Hey, okay, I raise the bomb.- To use Englishas the main language,press the Return key.- Cool, thank you for a matte finish,like there's no fringing or anything.Like it's a little bitof a frosted effect,but it's not that distracting.I usually find like a heavymatte to be really distracting,so like I kinda actuallypreferred the glossy.One weird thing thoughis that the webcam cutoutobviously doesn't have the nano texture.So it just kinda like sticksout like a sore thumb up here.- Press the Escape key.- I thought I'd had myfill with that Cortana,but apparently not.I mean, it's an assistive thing.So like if you can't see very well,if you have vision issues,then having the talk back is good.It's just really annoyingwhen you're just tryingto set up the computer.Touch a sign in here, a bit of WiFi there,verifying GarageBand,come on Apple, who cares?I mean, I'm setting the system up.True tone, yeah.Can't really turn it offfrom here, I don't know why.I'm just like, hey look atthis feature that we have.It's something wecomplain about every time,but it's still annoying thatthey haven't fixed that.Let's put a more vibrant wallpaper on hereand see how the screen looks.Yeah, that's pretty good, Idon't use iMacs too often,so I'm not entirely up tospeed on how bright they get.I feel like the MacBooksget a little bit brighter,I am off access though.So I've got a couple oflittle benchmarks download,first let's take a lookat the system itself.This is the Retina 5K 27inch 2020, we knew that.We've got a 3.6 gigahertz,10-Core Intel Core i9,that's the Core i9, 10, nine, 10, I think.16 gigabytes of 2667 megahertz DDR4.And the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 gig,one terabyte of storage.One of the new features ofthe 27 inch for this yearis the addition of Bluetooth 5.0.I don't think Apple has any 5.0 devicesaside from the iPhone, maybe the iPad.Alright, let's throwup Intel power gadget.Yep, 3.6 looks to be about the frequencythat it would be a baselineat, currently below that.Temperature is 37 degrees,I think it's like 21or 22 in here right now.Okay, Power Drum went way up above,was like 150 almost, 145ish, yeah, 155 actually.Temperatures at 85.9, 86.9, 88,oh, temperature is at 96.Apple please, you are doing so well,98 who runs over that'swhat Apple's banking on.The CPU is just not gonna haveto get that hot for very long.Yeah, I don't like it,alright, let's hit itwith a more sustained loadand see what the temperatures look like.I don't expect that it'sgonna be very happy.Prime 95 can't be openedbecause Apple cannot check itfor malicious software,who cares, let me do it.Alright, we're at 160 Watts, okay?I dropped out of hyper-turboand now it's just double-turbo 145 Watts.Fan is not at maximumspeed hovering around 97and 98 degrees right now.Oh no, it just dropped down 94, 93, huh?Maybe Apple's learnedsomething, still not perfect,but I'll take that over cooking it.So that's better thanI expected it would be,but at the same time,I'm still very concernedabout the longevity of this machinecause this is a brand new machineand it hasn't suckedany dust into its fans.You're not getting anykind of cleaning solutionin there without takingthe whole thing apart.Hopefully Arm fixes this problem,Arm is a much more efficient architecture.But if they can get thiskind of performance level ishin like I don't know, 70 or 80 degrees.That could market it asthe quietest Mac ever,like the fans are running rightnow and you can hear them.At 70 or 80 degrees, thefans wouldn't have itrunning like this.Finally, I wanna see howthis Radeon Pro 5700 XTworks in the iMac's enclosure.Just throw key punch out at this kindalike the Mac benchmark.Okay, so a 16 inch MacBookPro actually got a scorethat is a fair bit lower than ourswith an external 3700 XT.So I would call that pretty good.And this performance does come at a cost,a pretty significant one.This thing starts at1799 U.S. and that's witha six core processorwith eight gigs of Ram,a 256 gigabyte SSD and a Radeon Pro 5,300.This configuration with the nano texturedglass is $500, the 10 core processoris another $400.16 gig of DDR for that's another $200,Radeon Pro 5,700 XT with16 gigs of Ram another $500and another $200 for the one terabyte SSDand another a $100 forthe 10 gig Ethernet,brings us to a brand totalof 4,199 U.S. dollars.I can't recommend that,but I can recommendyou check out the full review on LTT.So get subscribed overthere and subscribe hereif you'd like to see more videoslike this one on short circuit.\n"