The iMac has long been overdue for a redesign, and what a redesign did we get. For the first time since the translucent iMac G3 was discontinued in the early 2000s, we have colorful iMacs again. Behold!
I’m a Windows guy, but I’ve got to admit, those are gorgeous. That blue! The greenish teal! The purple! I mean, when’s the last time you had a purple computer?
And to keep the pretty colors from being too distracting, Apple made the shades of color lighter in the front and base, but more vibrant in the back. Your Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse are color-matched as well.
In another design touch, Apple created a magnetic power cord, which is nice for those who frequently unplug their iMacs, I guess. More interesting is the fact the Ethernet port is in the power adapter, so you don’t have to clutter your desk with another cable should you want to have a hardwired internet connection.
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I’m going to bet Apple will sell a bazillion of these by virtue of the colors alone, but of course the company is promising a myriad of improvements all around, not the least of which is the addition of the M1 processor. Let’s get those specs out of the way:
- 24-inch 4.5K Retina Display with thin bezels
- P3 wide color gamut
- 500 nits of brightness
- 7 or 8-core CPU
- 8-core GPU
- 16-Core Apple Neural Engine
- 8GB of RAM (really now?)
- 256 or 512 GB SSD
- 1080P Facetime HD camera using AI for better image quality
- Triple beamforming microphones
- Two pairs of force-canceling woofers and dual tweeters.
- Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
- Two Thunderbolt ports
- Two additional USB-C ports on the top configurations
- 1Gbps Ethernet (embedded in the power adapter)
- Wifi 6
- Touch ID on the top configurations Magic Keyboard
In all, Apple says the new iMac offers “up to 85% faster CPU performance” and “2x faster GPU performance for certain apps like Affinito Photo and Photoshop” than “standard models of the 21.5-inch iMac.”
On the whole, Apple claims the GPU is 50% faster than the most powerful configuration of the old 21.5-inch iMac (an AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20). It can edit five streams of 4K footage or one stream of 8K footage without dropping a frame in Final Cut Pro.
The company also claims the iMacs new speakers make for the best audio experience on an iMac yet, while the AI-enhanced Facetime HD camera and beamforming microphones should lead to your mug looking pretty during those never-ending Zoom calls.
The new iMac starts at $1,299 for the 7-core configuration and $1,499 for the 8-core model. Preorders begin April 30th with availability beginning in “the second half of May.”
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