Apple has announced its M1 iMac line-up with a stunning new design, 7 vibrant colors, and a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display. It also features an improved 1080p FaceTime camera, studio-quality mics, and a six-speaker camera system. It is accompanied by a new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad accessories which are color-matched to the iMac color, with the keyboard gaining support for Touch ID.
M1 iMac features powerful powerful performance, beautiful display, and unique design
The new M1 chip brings 85 percent faster performance, 2x faster GPU, and 3x faster machine learning to the M1 iMac, compared to its Intel predecessor. The chip features 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, and a 16-core Apple Neural Engine. Apple claims that the graphics in M1 iMac are 50% faster than the most powerful discrete graphics in 21.5-inch Intel iMacs, which was the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 with 4GB of HBM2 memory.
Apple has also improved the display on the M1 iMac by moving from the older 21.5-inch to 24-inch screen size. It is a 4.5K Retina Display with 11.3 million pixels and thinner bezels. It is an LED-backlist display with 500 nits brightness, and Ture Tone, and Wide color P3 support. The display is not dramatically different than the iMacs that have been released before, but the resolution bump is a welcome upgrade.
M1 iMac’s most striking feature is its design. It has a brand new design language inspired by the Pro Display XDR, and the all-in-one computer is just 11.4 mm thin. It is available in 7 vivid colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver, which is a throwback to the first time iMac was announced back in the 90s, which was also in multiple colors. Apple has also changed the power adapter in the new iMac, and it attaches magnetically to the back of the M1 iMac.
Apple has also added improvements to the camera, mics, and speakers in M1 iMac. The FaceTime HD camera now has 1008p resolution and uses the Neural Engine to enhance image quality by adjusting exposure and color balance in real-time. A studio-quality three mic array with directional beamforming ensures that surrounding sounds are ignored and the voice of the speaker is clearly heard. Apple has also improved the sound system in M1 iMac to include six speakers – two pairs of force-canceling woofers, and two tweeters. They work in tandem to provide spatial audio with Dolby Atmos content and allow for a movie theatre-like experience. Considering that Apple’s portable iPad and MacBook speakers are no slouch in the audio department, the new iMac speakers have to be amazing.
M1 iMac also gains support for Touch ID, which is a first for any iMac, thanks to the new Magic Keyboard which is available in the same 7 colors as the computer. There are three models of the Magic Keyboard available: Magic Keyboard, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad. Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad have also been updated to match the new colors.
In terms of connectivity, Apple has included support for 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports (USB-C), and 1Gbps Ethernet, which is available as a port on the power adapter. The base 7-core GPU model only has two USB-C ports, while the 8-core GPU model has 4 USB-C ports.
The new M1 iMac will be available for order starting Friday, April 30, and will start shipping to customers in the second half of May. Here are the prices for the new models, with 8GB memory and 256GB storage:
- M1 iMac with 7-core GPU: $1,299 ($1,249 for education)
- Features two USB-C ports (two Thunderbolt ports)
- Magic Keyboard without Touch ID
- Available only in Blue, Green, Pink, and Silver colors
- M1 iMac with 8-core GPU: $1,499 ($1,399 for education)
- Features four USB-C ports (two Thunderbolt ports)
- Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
- Available in all seven colors
Note: The new M1 iMac models are only available in 24-inch display size, and Apple will continue to sell the Intel 27-inch model.
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