Apple introduces M4 iMac with revamped colors, nano-texture display option
Begun, the week of Mac announcements has. Apple on Monday unveiled revamped iMac models, powered by its new M4 processors, in a series of bold new tints.
The iMac’s design remains largely the same as its predecessor, with a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, although Apple has now added a nano-texture option, à la the Studio Display and the new iPad Pro, for some models.1 There’s also now a 12MP Center Stage capable webcam, replacing the previous 1080p option. Apple also notes that this version supports the Desk View feature that allows it to show the user’s desk in addition to their face.
While the colors remain the same—blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and silver—Apple has tweaked the backs of the computer with more vibrant versions of most of the colors.
The M4 iMac comes in a handful of configurations: a $1299 base 8-core CPU/8-core CPU model with 16GB of RAM (double the previous 8GB, and expandable to 24GB) and a 256GB SSD (configurable up to 2TB), along with two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The previous model offered only two Thunderbolt 3 ports along with two USB 3 ports. This model supports a single external 6K external display at 60Hz in addition to the built-in display. Gigabit Ethernet is available as a $30 configuration option.
The higher end $1499 model features a 10-core CPU/10-core GPU processor and adds the ability to go up to 32GB of RAM as well as an additional two Thunderbolt 4 ports and Gigabit Ethernet standard. There are also $1699 and $1899 configurations as well; the former upgrades to 512GB of storage, while the latter includes both that and 24GB of RAM. Any of these configurations offer the nano-texture display for an additional $200, and can drive up to two 6K external displays at 60Hz or a single 8K external display at 60Hz. (Apple’s iMac website originally said 120Hz, but that was an error that the company has corrected.)
VESA mount versions of all models are available at the same price.
Along with the new iMacs, Apple has at long last updated its input peripherals with USB-C support, offering color-matched versions of the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad. They remain otherwise unchanged, including the lack of an inverted-T arrow key layout and the Magic Mouse’s underside charging port. It’s also worth noting that the $1299 base model includes a Magic Keyboard without Touch ID standard.
The new iMac models are available for pre-order today and will be on sale as of November 8.
- However, those two products use different techniques to achieve that finish and it’s unclear as of this writing which the iMac is using. ↩
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]
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