Apple today announced a new 24-inch iMac with the M6 chip for faster performance, an N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support, faster SSD speeds, and more.
The new iMac has the same design as the previous model with the M4 chip, and the color options remain the same: blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver. The all-in-one desktop computer still has a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with up to 500 nits brightness, and a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with Desk View support.
All models continue to have six speakers, three microphones, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and support for Apple Intelligence and Siri AI.
First introduced in the Mac mini in August, the M6 chip features the first-ever dual Neural Engine with two 16-core engines, up from one in previous chips. For graphics, the iMac now has Neural Accelerators in each GPU core for the first time. The M6 chip also has up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth, up from 120GB/s for the M4 chip.
Geekbench results for the M6 chip already surfaced for the Mac mini, so we know that the new higher-end iMac should offer up to around 40% faster CPU performance compared to the previous model with the M4 chip. Apple says the new model is up to 12× faster than the model with the M1 chip, and up to 18× faster than the final Intel-based iMac.
Apple also says the new iMac has up to 2× faster graphics and up to 5× faster on-device AI performance compared to the previous model.
In the U.S., pricing starts at $1,499 for a lower-end configuration powered by the M6 chip with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, a dual 16-core Neural Engine, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The equivalent previous model also started at $1,499 after receiving a price increase in June — it was originally $1,299.
A higher-end configuration for $1,699 bumps the M6 chip up to a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU and has four Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of two.
The maximum storage capacity available is 2TB, while RAM tops out at 32GB.
A power adapter with a faster 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port is a $30 upgrade option for the base model and comes standard on the higher-end model. The previous iMac’s power adapter has a Gigabit Ethernet port, aka 1 Gigabit.
With the Apple-designed N1 chip, the iMac now supports faster Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, up from Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for the previous model.
The jump from the M4 chip to the M6 chip results in the new iMac having up to twice as fast SSD read and write speeds, thanks to PCIe 5.0 support.
The new iMac will be available to pre-order starting Wednesday, October 28 at 10:10 a.m. Pacific Time, and it is set to launch on Friday, November 6.
Apple continues to include a Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID in the box with the iMac. The accessories did not receive any changes today. Also included: a 143W power adapter, a power cord, and a USB-C charging cable. If you upgrade to a nano?texture display, Apple includes a polishing cloth in the box as well.Related Roundup: iMacBuyer’s Guide: iMac (Coming Soon)Related Forum: iMacThis article, “Apple Announces New iMac With M6 Chip and More” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
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Author: Joe Rossignol