Apple has just announced a new iMac. It has the company’s fastest chip ever and looks slightly different, thanks to updated colors. Oh, and those accessories that connected by Lightning until now? They’re now USB-C connectors. Despite all the upgrades, the price hasn’t gone up. Here’s everything that’s been announced.
The most recent iMac update came last October with the arrival of the M3 processor, signaling a big update from the previous iMac with M1 chip. As you know, the M-series chips are Apple’s own silicon, which brought much faster performance than the Intel chips that preceded them.
Today, Monday, Oct. 28, Apple announced a new iMac. It has a 24-inch display, like last year’s (though there is the option of a nanotexture display). And it comes with the M4 processor launched earlier this year on the iPad Pro.
The iMac is an all-round family desktop computer, so the uptick to M4 will deliver much faster performance, especially compared to the M1 chip.
But it’s the other details that are just as interesting. First, there are the colors. The blue, green pink, orange, yellow, silver and purple shades sound like last year’s but I’m told by Apple that they’re different colors. The front colors are pastel, the rear of the iMac has punchier colors. Which means it’s the person at the next desk who might spot the difference, for instance.
Then there’s a very handy upgrade: the mouse, keyboard and trackpad are all wireless, but now connect via USB-C instead of Lightning. Almost all your gadgets now use the one connector, though recharging times and battery life are unchanged, I believe.
Apple says the entry-level of RAM on the iMac has been doubled from 8GB to 16GB, and the front-facing camera, called the Center Stage camera, has been improved. That camera now has a Desk View option so you can show other people on the call what’s on your desk. It used to be a 1080p camera and now it has 12-megapixel resolution.
Plus, if you choose the model with four ports, all four are now Thunderbolt USB-4 ports instead of two Thunderbolt USB-4 and two USB-3.
All for the same price as before, that is, from $1,299.
The new iMacs are available to pre-order now, and go on sale on Friday, Nov. 9.
