The refreshed iMac looks great and has some great updates, but there is one big problem with it. Worse, this is something Apple has not sorted out for years.
Apple has just refreshed the iMac, bringing a huge number of welcome changes to its svelte all-in-one desktop, most of which are focused on the 27-inch model. But amid all the good news about faster processors, extra RAM, and improved speakers, there was one thing I could not help but notice: Apple still has a storage problem. The base model of the 27-inch iMac is stuck on a 256GB SSD. You can kit it out with 128GB of RAM, nano-texture glass, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, but you absolutely cannot get any more than 256GB of storage on this model. With pricing starting at $1,799, that feels downright ludicrous. That is not the only thing that concerned me with Apple’s latest update. The 21.5-inch iMac got a small boost as well, and every version of the smaller iMac now comes with an SSD as standard. While that is great news — particularly as the previous version still offered a crummy HDD in every model by default — Apple still cannot bring itself to ditch the Fusion Drive from the 21.5-inch iMac. This drive combines a large HDD with a small SSD, but it is woefully out of date in 2020.