Apple showed off its new iMac and Mac mini models along with a new technology called Fusion Drives at its October 23 Special Event.

 

iMac

The new iMac now is 5 mm thick and features edge-to-edge glass but also lacks an optical drive to allow for the think design.

With this update the iMac now has four USB 3 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, gigabit ethernet, headphone jack and a SDXC card slot.

The iMac comes in a 21.5-inch model starting at $1299, available in November and the 27-inch model starts at $1799, available in December.

 

Mac mini

Apple’s smallest desktop computer received a respectable upgrade this year in performance.

The Mac mini features a Intel Ivy Bridge processor like the MacBook Pros and the iMacs now.

It comes packed with four USB 3 ports, one Thunderbolt port, one FireWire 800 port, gigabit ethernet, HDMI out, headphone jack, audio in port, and a SDXC card slot.

The Mac mini is available today starting at $599.

 

Fusion Drive

Apple’s solution to the high costs of SSD storage is called the Fusion Drive, which is hybrid of a 128GB SSD storage in conjunction with a 1TB or 3TB traditional spinning hard drive.

It stores the Mac operating system on the SSD portion for fast boot times as well as intelligently moving applications that are most used by the user to the SSD portion for increased performance.

Some of you may remember the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid drive from a few years ago which is essentially the same thing except only features 8GB or SSD rather than a 128GB SSD. Apple has seemed to have expanded on that idea for the Fusion Drives to offer higher performance at a low cost.