14 DAY TRIAL // Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced that Apple has selected its graphics solutions for the new line of iMac and Mac Pro desktop computers introduced last month. Powered by an ATI Radeon card for “outstanding power and performance,” Apple’s new-configuration iMacs are already available for purchase, while the new Mac Pro towers are launching later this month.
“Apple buyers demand the best, and AMD’s award-winning ATI Radeon graphics enable exceptional visual experiences for iMac users,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice- president and general manager, GPU division, AMD. “AMD has conducted extensive testing and research to create superior graphics products for the iMac. This research is designed to dramatically enhance the Mac-user experience so that Apple users can enjoy responsive performance and play the newest games.”
According to AMD, it high-performance HD 5770 graphics card features 1GB of GDDR5 memory developed in-house. The card enables what AMD calls “blistering fast Mac Pro graphics technology.” The solution is said to be ideal for motion graphics, 3D modeling, rendering, or animation. Taking graphically intensive computing to the next level is the even more powerful ATI Radeon HD 5870 series.
The hardware vendor adds that “ATI Radeon graphics solutions offer feature rich graphics performance enabling an immersive, life-like gaming experience while playing HD content with incredible visual fidelity.” It then proceeds to list the graphics solutions implemented in each iMac model as follows:
- ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics are available in the new 27” iMac. - ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics are available in the new 22” and 27” iMac. - ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics are available in the new 22” iMac
Apple updated its all-in-one iMac line on July 27, when the company confirmed the addition of the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and powerful new graphics. Starting at $1,199, the new iMac line is touted as the fastest ever with dual-core processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz, quad-core speeds up to 2.93 GHz and discrete graphics thanks to ATI’s HD 5750 solution.
On the same day, Apple unveiled a new Mac Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation. The Mac Pro will ship with the standard ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory when it launches later this month. Customers will also have the option to configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.