Apple goes 5K as industry starts coming to terms with 4K displays

Move over, 4K. While the industry is still rolling out displays with at least 4,000 pixels on one side, Apple has gone 5K.

Source: Apple.

The company has unveiled the 27" iMac with Retina 5K display, featuring the world’s highest-resolution display — with 14.7 million pixels. At this resolution, text appears sharper, videos are more lifelike, and there are new levels of detail in photos, the company said.

“Thirty years after the first Mac changed the world, the new iMac with Retina 5K display running OS X Yosemite is the most insanely great Mac we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing. “With a breathtaking 14.7-million-pixel display, faster CPU and graphics, Fusion Drive, and Thunderbolt 2, it’s the most beautiful and powerful iMac ever.”

The iMac with Retina 5K display delivers a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880, four times more pixels than the standard 27" iMac and 67% more pixels than a 4K display. This means more details can be seen in high-resolution images. A precisely-manufactured oxide TFT-based panel works with an Apple-designed timing controller (TCON), with four times the bandwidth, to drive all 14.7 million pixels. iMac with Retina 5K display also uses highly efficient LEDs and organic passivation to improve image quality and reduce display power consumption by 30%. To improve the contrast ratio, iMac with Retina 5K display uses a new photo alignment process and a compensation film to deliver blacker blacks and more vibrant colours from any viewing angle. In addition, every iMac with Retina 5K display is calibrated using three spectro-radiometers to ensure accurate colour.

Every new Mac comes with the new OS X Yosemite operating system, with new Continuity features that make working across Mac and iOS devices more fluid. OS X Yosemite is also engineered to take full advantage of the iMac’s Retina 5K display.

iMac with Retina 5K display with a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and a 1TB Fusion Drive for a suggested retail price of US$2,499*. Customers can order iMac with Retina 5K display through the Apple Online Store.

*US pricing. Prices may vary across other countries.