Apple’s daily hardware drops continued today with a refresh to the iMac. The new iMac upgrades from an M4 to an M6 chip, with the base model starting at $1,499 and available in blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver. There are two M6 configurations. The first has a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, and the second has a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, with the option of a nano-texture display. Memory starts at 16GB with a 24GB option for the 10-core iMac and an additional 32GB option for the 12-core model. All memory options feature 170GB/s bandwidth. Storage starts at 256GB and can be configured as high as 2TB on the 12-core model.
The new iMac also includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and two or four Thunderbolt 4 ports depending on the model you choose. There is also an option for 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet on the 12-core iMac, up from 1 Gigabit on the M4 iMac. As in the past, the Magic Keyboard is color-matched with the iMac
The display, which measures 23.5 inches diagonally, has a resolution of 4.5K with 500 nits of brightness and P3 wide color support. You can also connect up to two external 6K displays to the M6 iMac.
The new iMac also includes a 12MP Center Stage camera that supports Desk View for simulated top-down video, a pair of force-cancelling woofers, and two tweeters. Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos audio are supported and a three-microphone array is built into the iMac, too.
According to Apple, the new iMac is 18x faster than Apple’s most popular Intel-based iMac, which is not surprising given how long it’s been since the introduction of Apple silicon. That said, I’m sure that a lot of households and businesses are still running those aging Intel iMacs and would benefit greatly from this update.
Apple also says that the graphics performance is 3.3x better than an M1 iMac and 2x better than the most recent M4 model. On-device AI prompt processing in LM Studio is also 12x faster than the M1 iMac and 5x faster than the M4 model.
The M6 has already proven to be a very capable addition to Apple silicon and will undoubtedly make this the best iMac yet. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants an elegant, space-saving Mac and doesn’t need the horsepower of Apple’s pro line of Macs.
The M6 iMac is available for preorder starting tomorrow with deliveries beginning November 6.
