Stop us if you’ve heard this one before — Apple has a new line of colorful iMacs, and they’re probably going to change computing forever.
A month ago, Apple continued the inexorable extermination of Intel on the Mac. The latest Apple Silicon Mac is an update to the iMac lineup, but instead of reusing the enclosure from the previous processor architecture as it has done in the past, this time Apple has gone all out to rethink how the iMac looks and feels in its new 24-inch model.
While previous iMac range updates primarily dealt with the internal side of things, the 24-inch iMac is a considerably different beast altogether. Apple has taken the time to perform what is arguably the most significant overhaul to its consumer-focused Mac lineup in years.
Apple M1 24-inch iMac Specifications
| 24-inch iMac (2021, 2 ports) | 24-inch iMac (2021, 4 ports) | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 8-core M1, 16-core Neural Engine | 8-core M1, 16-core Neural Engine |
| Graphics | 7-core M1 GPU | 8-core M1 GPU |
| RAM | 8GB unified memory, Configurable up to 16GB | 8GB unified memory, Configurable up to 16G |
| Internal storage | 256GB SSD Configurable up to 1TB SSD | 256GB SSD Configurable up to 2TB SSD |
| Display | 4,480 x 2,520 Retina 4.5K display Wide color (P3) True Tone 500 nits | 4,480 x 2,520 Retina 4.5K display Wide color (P3) True Tone 500 nits |
| Connectivity | 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 Configurable Gigabit Ethernet 2x USB 4/Thunderbolt 3 3.5mm headphone jack | 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 Gigabit Ethernet 2x USB 4/Thunderbolt 3 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Camera and Audio | 1080p FaceTime Camera with M1 ISP Studio Quality, three-mic array with directional beamforming Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers | 1080p FaceTime Camera with M1 ISP Studio Quality, three-mic array with directional beamforming Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers |
| Video output | One 6K display at 60Hz | One 6K display at 60Hz |
| Special features | Hey Siri support Magic Keyboard with Touch ID compatible | Hey Siri support Magic Keyboard with Touch ID supplied |
| Price | Starts at $1,299 | Starts at $1,499 |
Like with the PowerPC to Intel shift before it, Apple’s underlying influx of Apple Silicon gadget dispatches exclusively centered around ensuring an effectively unmistakable item was offered utilizing the fresh out of the box new innovation. There was a more noteworthy need to guarantee everything worked, so staying it into proven modern plans like the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and the Mac little appeared well and good.
While we’ve realized that a 24-inch iMac was coming for quite a while, in all honesty, we’re shocked that Apple didn’t take a similar course it took during the PowerPC to Intel shift with Apple Silicon iMacs. We were anticipating that the company should tear out the Intel-based internal parts of the current 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, slap Apple Silicon in there, and tap out.
However, Apple didn’t.
From the start, you could confuse it’s anything but a monster iPad Pro, forever joined to a stand. That slight, uniform thickness across the whole gadget, the thin bezels, the round corners, and the characterized edges unquestionably have a greater amount of an iPad Pro tasteful than an iMac.
There are, obviously, some pivotal components that solidly situates it’s anything but an iMac by plan. Beside the undeniable iMac-style plan, it likewise holds the standard jaw, where the whole PC lives, however this time without the typical Apple logo on the front.
Then, at that point there are the entirety of the more perceptible changes, for example, the scope of tones accessible beholding back to not the primary iMac discharge, but rather the extremely next revive, over 20 years prior.
Rather than a silver and dark shading plan that the iMac has kept up since it’s anything but an aluminum case, clients can pick between Blue, Green, Pink, and Silver variations for one model, and with additional alternatives for Yellow, Orange, and Purple on the other form.
Apple has chosen to go with a 24-inch screen 4.5K as opposed to adhering to the 21.5-inch and 27-inch presentations of its prior models at 4K and 5K, individually. Joined with the more slender top and side bezels, this gives the model a size that is not that a lot greater than the past 21.5-inch iMac, yet with a significantly bigger screen.
Apple Silicon iMac – other considerations
The display is both new and familiar. Its resolution joins its size in being between its predecessors at 4.5K, or 4,480 by 2,520 pixels, which will give a comfortable amount of virtual desk space to use.
Then again, Apple hasn’t taken the same leap as it did with the iPad Pro in adding mini LED back-lighting. It retains the same 500 nits of brightness, Wide color (P3), and the True Tone that the Intel 27-inch iMac had.
Above the display is the FaceTime HD camera. This isn’t the same one as on the last Intel iMac from 2020.
The new camera presents a bigger sensor, with better low-light qualities. It likewise exploits the M1’s picture signal processor.
That picture signal processor adds computational video preparing, including commotion decrease, face identification, programmed openness, and surprisingly neighborhood tone planning. The picture it’s anything but a stamped venture up based on what you’re utilized to on an iMac.
You additionally have a variety of three studio-quality mouthpieces with a high sign to-clamor proportion and directional beamforming. This is coordinated by a six-speaker framework with power dropping woofers and backing for spatial sound for Dolby Atmos content.
This is fine and sounds incredible, however, the beamforming is not a viable alternative for genuine more extensive sound system division. In such a manner, it won’t supplant your beneficiary, Sonos arrangement, or HomePod exhibits except if you’re in a little space.
Enormous changes, all around
The main Apple Silicon M1 Mac is quick, yet it doesn’t possess a similar market fragment an iMac Pro, and not even an incredible same market as the 27-inch iMac 5K. Macintosh strayed from its anything but a piece with the 24-inch iMac, which appears as though an entryway for iOS and iPadOS people to go to the Mac, more than it appears to engage the devoted that overhaul at regular intervals or something like that.
This Mac was never expected to be a very good quality workstation. All things being equal, the new iMac is the paragon of apparatus registering, with all that involves. It’s un-upgradeable, which will not make any difference to almost everybody in the objective market, and it comes in slight speed changes between the best quality and least end models, which, once more, will not make any difference to most.
Furthermore, as with iOS gadgets, Apple stays the expert of the up-sell. That $1299 iMac is alluring all alone in a vacuum. However, when you begin adding things like the Touch ID console and outer Ethernet, you should choose the center model and gain the two capacities, alongside an extra GPU center, and four USB-C ports, regardless of whether the two extra ports are 10Gbit and not Thunderbolt.
Pros
- New thinner and colorful design
- Powerful M1 chip
- Headphone jack is easier to reach
- Touch ID on Magic Keyboard
Cons
- Limited port count, especially at $1299
- Optional Ethernet moved to the power brick
- Still has a chin
- Not upgradable
Rating
The different models fall in different ratings. While both machines are solid, the $1299 price feels intended to match the pricing of the original iMac which is good, but the omissions to make that price are worth the price-hike to the next model.
That $1299 model gets a 4 out of 5. We recommend the next tier up at least, which begins at $1499. For future-proofing, get 16GB of RAM.
We give the $1499 and up tiers of iMac a 4.5 out of 5. And, we’re excited to see what develops from the rumors of a larger iMac later down the road with Apple Silicon
