At its Spring Forward event in April, Apple announced it the release of a new 24-inch iMac. The new iMac has been totally redesigned and features an M1 chip raising its performance to the highest level.
Let’s take a deep dive into Apple’s new M1 iMac.
A Summary of the New M1 iMac
In case you just want to get the key information about the new iMac quickly, we’ll start with a short summary. Then, we’ll jump into a detailed overview.
Apple has completely redesigned the new iMac, making it 50 percent more compact, with a 4.5K retina display, and 4 USB-C ports.
Inside the new iMac is Apple’s M1 chip. This chip makes the machine 50 percent quieter, it makes the CPU 85 percent faster, and it makes the GPU twice as fast. In short, this impressive processing power massively boosts the iMac’s performance.
Apple finally put a new camera inside a Mac. There’s a new 1080p HD camera on the iMac, which is ideal for video calls. This pairs with a three-microphone system and a six-speaker setup, both of which Apple claims are the best ever seen in a Mac as well.
You can also grab the new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID as an accessory. The keyboard, mouse, and trackpad have also all been re-released in the matching colors for the iMac.
New iMac Design and Colors
The most obvious design change to the new iMac is the color. There are now seven colors you can get the device in: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.
It’s a great look, paying homage to the colorfulness of the original iMac. The design also brings forward the sleek color options we saw on the iPhone 12.
Apple’s M1 chip inside the new iMac makes the computer 50 percent more compact than previous models. Not only does this make the iMac look a lot more modern, but when combined with the thinner borders, it also gives the new iMac a smaller footprint.
On the back of the iMac you’ll find a new hinge, similar to the hinge on the Pro Display XDR. This allows you to tilt the display while you’re using the device, to improve visibility and comfort while sat looking at the screen.
You’ll also find an updated, thread-woven power cable, in matching colors to the iMac, of course. It attaches magnetically too, just like the original MagSafe cable in earlier MacBooks.
There are four USB-C ports on the new iMac; two of these are Thunderbolt ports. With Thunderbolt, you can transfer data quicker and use higher-resolution displays. A headphone jack sits on the side of the iMac.
This refreshingly modern design ticks all the boxes for many people’s requested iMac features. But Apple did decide to leave the rather big chin at the bottom of the screen.
An iMac With M1
Apple brought the M1 chip to the new iMac. M1 MacBooks can perform tasks up to 50 percent faster than their Intel chip predecessors, which is incredibly impressive. So it stands to reason the iMac will perform similarly well.
The M1 chip combines multiple components—including the CPU, GPU, RAM, Neural Engine, and more—into one compact unit. It has a lot more processing power than the previous Intel chips, so you’ll get much better performance.
With the M1 chip inside the new iMac, Apple promises some high-end specs. Apple claims the CPU runs 85 percent faster, the GPU works twice as fast, and the Neural Engine performs three times faster.
Another benefit of the M1 chip is that it allowed Apple to replace the thermal cooling system on the iMac with two small fans. The new iMac runs more efficiently with the M1 chip, and so don’t heat up as much.
Apple promises that the fans on the new iMac won’t go above 10 decibels most of the time, making them about 50 percent quieter.
We can see some major performance improvements with the M1 chip inside the iMac. When paired with macOS Big Sur, the new iMac isn’t going to let you down.
The New 4.5K iMac Display
The new iMac boasts a 24-inch, 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels. As we mentioned, the display has thinner borders, so you get a much better experience when using the iMac.
Apple claims that there are over a billion colors on this display, which almost matches the color performance of the Pro Display XDR (Apple’s top-of-the-range display).
There’s also an anti-glare coating on the glass to stop sunlight and reflections causing problems. And the display has 500nits of brightness, making it impressively bright. You’ll never struggle to see it, that’s for sure.
As with most Apple displays, the new iMac’s display also features True Tone technology. This automatically adjusts the color temperature of the display based on your environment to ease eye strain.
An Improved Microphone and Camera…Finally
On the new iMac, you’ll find a new 1080p camera for video calls. Apple tells us that this is the best ever camera in a Mac. This camera has a larger sensor, so that will help with light capture and exposure.
The camera also takes advantage of the M1’s image processing power and the Neural Engine, so there’s powerful software boosting the performance as well. Apple has done this before, as the iPhone uses software processing to improve image quality with Deep Fusion.
Apple added a three-microphone system to the iMac. With this system, Apple promises studio-quality sound. The microphones have been specifically positioned to avoid picking up any sound from the iMac itself. You’ll also find directional processing on the mics, to help minimize background noise.
For most people, the microphone probably isn’t a big selling point. Especially as you mainly use it in FaceTime calls. But an update to the camera on any Mac, especially the iMac, was long overdue, so it is very welcome.
Better Speakers on the iMac
The speakers on the new iMac have been taken to the next level. In fact, Apple claims that these speakers are the best ever heard from a Mac.
In the M1 iMac’s speaker system, Apple put two pairs of subwoofers side by side with the aim to maximize bass response. Each pair of subwoofers is balanced with a tweeter to handle the higher frequencies.
When added up, you get a six-speaker sound system with excellent range. This should add up to a premium listening experience.
When listening to compatible content on the new iMac, users can also experience Spatial Audio, as we’ve heard on Apple’s AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Spatial Audio was designed to give the effect of surround sound, taking advantage of Dolby Atmos to do so.
Redesigned iMac Accessories
Of course, you couldn’t grab yourself a new iMac without also grabbing some updated accessories to go with it. The biggest change to the iMac lineup would be the new colors added to the keyboard, trackpad, and mouse.
The Magic Keyboard was refreshed in matching color variants for the new iMac. For the first time, Apple included Touch ID on the keyboard allowing your iMac to securely read your fingerprint to unlock the device, enter passwords, or authorize payments. And this private data gets securely transferred in an encrypted channel to the iMac since the Magic Keyboard is wireless.
The Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad have also been re-released in the new, matching colors. There aren’t any hardware changes in either of these accessories; Apple just modified them to match the new iMac colors.
You can now get a perfectly color-coordinated setup, if that tickles your fancy.
Is This the iMac We Wanted?
For years, Apple fans have been asking for an update to the iMac series. The design had stayed the same for years and the computer had been outperformed by other Macs in benchmarking tests.
The body might still have quite a sizeable chin, the iMac has a more modern design now and has been fully upgraded to the highest performance specifications. With an M1 iMac, there’s not much you can’t do.
Image credits: Apple