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Best iMac for Photoshop
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Apple has released what may be the best iMac for Photoshop with a recent update to their line of iMac computers. This is good news if you are looking to get an iMac for Photoshop or any of the Creative Cloud apps.
The new iMacs include models with both 21.5 inch and 27 inch screens, and the displays are a significant factor that make these great iMacs for Photoshop. New 2.15 inch iMacs are available with 4K resolution, with is 4,096 pixels by 2,304 pixels across the device. This high resolution on other Apple devices is labeled a Retina display, and this name is carrying over to the iMacs. At this resolution, these 21.5 inch iMacs have four times the resolution as standard HD video, such as what is displayed on an HD television. If that resolution quality isn’t high enough, then consider a step up to the new 27 inch iMac, which has a 5K display. This is a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 pixels.
The high resolution itself is great for editing digital images, but another part of what makes these new iMacs great for Photoshop is that they have a much wider color range than the earlier iMacs or the lower resolution iMacs. The high-resolution iMacs, those with 4K and 5K displays, can display a 25% wider range of colors than the standard resolution iMacs. This allows for more accurate color retouching of images and better color fidelity in working with images in Photoshop.
Intel Iris Pro 6200 and Photoshop Creative Cloud
The 21.5-inch iMac uses the Intel Iris Pro 6200 graphics chipset. Previously it was common place to find dedicated graphics processors from different vendors inside high-end Mac systems. Yet the Intel Iris Pro 6200 has worked well with Photoshop. American Graphics Institute uses it in our labs and classrooms where we teach Photoshop classes, and iMacs equipped with the Intel Iris Pro graphics proved to be prompt, stable, and responsive when working with Photoshop and other Creative Cloud apps.
While it likely won’t impact any work in Photoshop, Apple has also updated the design of the mouse, keyboard, and trackpad. These now include rechargeable batteries and the keyboard has a smaller footprint but the key sizes have remained the same, while the trackpad has increased in size. The new iMacs range in price from $1,099 to $1,799 with the higher resolution 4K iMac starting at $1,499.
About the author
Jennifer Smith is a user experience designer, educator and author based in Boston. She has worked in the field of user experience design for more than 15 years.She has designed websites, ecommerce sites, apps, and embedded systems. Jennifer designs solutions for mobile, desktop, and iOT devices.
Jennifer delivers UX training and UX consulting for large Fortune 100 companies, small start-ups, and independent software vendors.She has served as a Designer in Residence at Microsoft, assisting third-party app developers to improve their design solutions and create successful user experiences. She has been hired by Adobe and Microsoft to deliver training workshops to their staff, and has traveled to Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and across the U.S. to deliver courses and assist on UX design projects. She has extensive knowledge of modern UX Design, and worked closely with major tech companies to create educational material and deliver UX workshops to key partners globally. Jennifer works with a wide range of prototyping tools including XD, Sketch, Balsamiq, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Blend for Visual Studio. She also works extensively in the fields of presentation design and visual design.
Jennifer is also an expert on Photoshop, digital image editing, and photo manipulation. Having written 10 books on Photoshop, and having consulted and provided training to major media companies and businesses around the globe.
Jennifer is the author of more than 20 books on design tools and processes, including Adobe Creative Cloud for Dummies, Adobe Creative Cloud Digital Classroom, and Photoshop Digital Classroom. She has been awarded a Microsoft MVP three times for her work with user experience design in creating apps for touch, desktop, and mobile devices. Jennifer holds the CPUX-F certification from the User Experience Qualification Board and assists others in attaining this designation in leading a UX certification course at American Graphics Institute. She is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Human Factors in Information Design.