Apple on Monday unveiled the new iMac. The design of the iMac hasn’t changed, but the company has upgraded the chip, added more unified memory, updated the colors, and changed the input devices to USB-C.
At the heart of the new iMac is an M4 chip, which was introduced this past spring in the iPad Pro and replaces the M3 that was introduced in the iMac a year ago. Apple has increased the base standard configuration of unified memory from 8GB to 16GB. Another change is that in the $1,499, $1,699, and $1,899 (which is new) models, Apple now includes four Thunderbolt 4 ports; the M3 model at the same prices came with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-C ports. The $1,299 model still includes two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. Here are the specifications for the standard configurations of the M4 iMac:
- $1,299/£1,299: 8-core M4 chip (four performance cores, four efficiency cores), 8-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, Magic Keyboard
- $1,499/£1,499: 10-core M4 chip (four performance cores, six efficiency cores), 8-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 256GB SSD, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, gigabit ethernet, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
- $1,699/£1,699: 10-core M4 chip (four performance cores, six efficiency cores), 8-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, gigabit ethernet, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
- $1,899/£1,899: 10-core M4 chip (four performance cores, six efficiency cores), 8-core GPU, 24GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, gigabit ethernet, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Apple
Apple offers the M4 iMac in blue, green, orange, pink, purple, silver, and yellow, and all colors are available on all models; previously, the M1 and M3 iMacs offered expanded color choices for the $1,499 and $1,699 models. The M4 iMacs include a color-matching Magic Keyboard and the choice of a Magic Mouse or a Magic Trackpad ($50 extra). As expected, the Magic devices now come with USB-C ports instead of Lightning but otherwise, they’re the same as before.
Apple ditched the 1080p FaceTime camera in the previous iMac and upgraded it to a 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View. The camera also supports 1080p HD video recording.
A new option for the M4 iMac is a nano-texture glass for the display, which offers a matte-like finish instead of the standard glossy glass. The nano-texture glass is a $200 option. The display is the same 24-inch, 4.5K retina display with 500 nits of brightness and support for the P3 color gamut and True Tone.
The M4 iMac is available for pre-order with shipments starting on November 8.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.