Slim iMacs Now Available With A Built-In VESA Mount Adapter

Apple has started offering its new slim 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac with a built-in VESA Mount Adapter as a $40 "upgrade" option for customers who would prefer to mount their iMac on a compatible VESA wall or desk mount (sold separately of course) which can including various articulating arms that open up a more convenient viewing experience such as height and depth adjustments without taking up valuable desk space. Unfortunately, if you'd like to revert back you won't be able to as Apple does not include the original pedestal stand with a VESA Mount Adapter equipped iMac. Unlike previous iMacs and external Apple displays, you cannot purchase a standard slim iMac and fit a VESA Mount Adapter by yourself.

While you're paying a $40 premium over a standard iMac for a simple VESA mount adapter and nothing more, Apple is offering a few different VESA-compatible mounting options that range from $140 to $180. Alternatively you could purchase VESA mounts from places like Amazon which offer a broader variety at less expensive prices.

Elevate Your iMac Or Thunderbolt Display With The Apogee Monitor Stand

Companies like Twelve South have built their entire business on accessories for Apple products. Powerslide Labs looks to do the same with their first product, The Apogee Monitor Stand. Built entirely out of aluminum, it has the look and finish of a something Apple would build themselves. It is designed to elevate your iMac or Monitor to allow for an ergonomic viewing angle. On the bottom of each of the legs are “grippy feet” to allow the stand to stay in place and keep from scratching your table. It comes with a built in cable management system to keep your desk looking clean and neat. Optionally, you can also order one with 3 built in USB 3.0 ports that is located on one of the front legs. The Apogee Monitor Stand is currently raising funds on Kickstarter and you can pledge $69 to get yours when it becomes available.

Kuvva, Your Personal Wallpaper Carousel

Never worry about having to search for wallpaper with Kuvva, a Mac application that automatically updates your wallpaper. Photos are submitted by artists and are presented at the highest quality. You can browse through an artists other work on the Kuvva website and find out more information about them.The Mac application installs on the menu bar like so:

 

With the app, you can set it to show wallpaper for a featured artist or what is most popular. It also allows you to view the previous wallpaper and skip to the next one. If you decide to sign up for an account, you can set it to scroll through the wallpapers you like and tweet about the current artist. Lastly, you can set your preference for how often Kuvva changes through wallpaper with settings for hourly, 12 hours, daily, weekly, and manual. Kuvva also has an iPhone app that allows you to view and save wallpaper from the website. Find it on the app store for $1.99.

Apple Assembling The New iMac In The USA

As usual, iFixit has posted its incredibly detailed and in-depth teardown of Apple's new late 2012 iMac. Aside from all the guts and glory, it appears that Apple is now assembling the new 21.5-inch iMac in the USA as the little laser etched string of credit tells us. But why? We're not sure yet. What we do know is that this isn't the first time Apple has assembled iMacs and other products here in the USA, but those were typically assembled in the states due to being either made-to-order or refurbished units.

Apple's Redesigned iMacs Are Now Available

You've waited long enough, and as promised Apple's new redesigned iMacs are now available for purchase after their first debut in October alongside the iPad mini and a bevy of refreshed Apple products. You get grab the incredibly thin edged, powerful new iMacs in either a 21-inch model starting at $1,299 with a 2.7GHZ quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M with 512MB of memory; or the 27-inch model starting at $1,799 which packs a 2.9GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB. Apple's new Fusion Drive option will set you back an additional $250 for 1TB of storage, but it's only available to the $1,499 21-inch iMac and all the 27-inch models. 1TB of 5400RPM hard drive storage comes as standard on all models.

The Fusion Drive option features a combination of 128GB of solid stage storage and a 1TB mechanical 5400RPM hard drive for optimal SSD-like performance with the massive storage capacity of a regular hard drive. In this case a 1TB hard drive, or up to a 3TB premium.

The New 2012 iMac Continues Apple's Revolutionary Design

To be honest, we were well aware of a lot of today's exciting announcements and what was in store from the never-ending flow of rumors that has been flying around. What was fairly well kept within Apple was the brand new iMac. I personally consider this as the most exciting portion of Apple's event today considering the surprise of it all. Not only did the entire exterior design transform into the sexiest piece of aluminum I've ever seen on a computer, but the internal specs have been boosted significantly, and as Steve Jobs would have said, "and one more thing…" the Fusion Drive. 

The current iMacs look like The Incredible Hulk when you compare it with the new updated versions. This all-in-one desktop computer has everything from the display, processor, graphics card, memory, and a bunch more crammed into a 5-mm edged display. That's half a centimeter. Think about it. Shedding 40% of its volume, the new iMac is the lightest and thinnest all-in-one computer Apple has ever seen. 

Remember how the old screen would reflect and glare like a mirror, rendering any work with direct sunlight shining through impossible? That's about to change. Apple has reduced 75% of the screen's reflectivity to instead display what you would want to see on such a gorgeous screen -- vibrant and true colors. 

The iMac isn't joking around, so it'll start off with Intel's quad-core Ivy Bridge processors and NVIDIA's high end graphics cards for amazing overall performance. Memory wise, 8GB come standard across all iMacs. As for ports and connectors, you get four USB 3.0 connectors, two Thunderbolt ports, a  Gigabit ethernet port, a headphone jack, and a SDXC card slot. 

As you're soaking all of this up, let me hit you with one last thing. Fusion Drive. The introduction of both traditional hard drives combined with the speedy solid-state drives, you can now have both lightning fast performance as well as high capacity storage. 1TB hard drives are now standard for every iMac but if you need more, Apple provides up to 3TB of storage or up to 768GB of flash storage. 

The 21.5-inch iMac will begin at $1299 and will start reaching doorsteps in November while the 27-inch will start at $1799 and will arrive sometime in December. This gives you some time to recuperate from buying all the other devices Apple announced recently. How thoughtful of them.