Apple’s new iMac: new CPU, graphics, Wi-Fi, and drives — and up to 32GB of RAM

Apple updated America’s favorite kitchen desktop PC today, feature-bumping its iconic iMac while keeping the price the same.

Hope you didn’t buy one yesterday.

The newest iMac now can have quad-core Intel Core i7 processors at up to 3.5 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M graphics with up to 4 GB of video memory. In addition, Apple put the latest 802.11 ac Wi-Fi in the slim all-in-one machines, as well as Apple’s latest Fusion Drive technology that combines the capacity of a hard disk with the speed of flash drives. Fusion Drives are available for the iMac in configurations up to three terabytes.

“iMac continues to be the example that proves how beautiful, fast, and fun a desktop computer can be,” Apple SVP of marketing Philip Schiller said in a statement. “Inside its ultra-thin aluminum enclosure, the new iMac has the latest Intel processors, faster graphics, next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi and faster PCIe flash storage.”

While Apple has been very successful with iMac sales — and indeed it’s the model that saved the company — desktop PC sales in general are down and have been down for five quarters in a row. Apple has not been immune to that slowdown, even as it has benefited from the en masse move to tablets, phablets, and smartphones. Still, for most homes, at least one desktop PC is standard.

The new iMac comes standard, Apple says, with 8 GB of RAM — astounding for those of us who had machines with 256 MB, once upon a time on the prairie. And you can configure your iMac — yes, your iMac — with up to 32 GB of memory.

Even in the mid-grade configurations, Apple says the new iMacs feature up to 40 percent faster performance on video.

The entry-level 21.5-inch iMac comes with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 for $1,299, while the 27-inch iMac has a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 755M graphics at $1,799.

In addition, Apple says, the new iMac meets “stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieve[s] an EPEAT Gold rating.” Its LED displays are mercury-free and arsenic-free, the computer is PVC-free and contains no brominated flame retardants, is highly recyclable, and uses “material-efficient packaging designs.”