Apple has popped an M4 chip in an iMac and you can pre-order now
Packed with power and Apple Intelligence (eventually)
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Is it just me, or does it feel like Apple is amping up its Mac updates? It was just over a year ago that Apple first launched its M3 processor, and now it's updating its iMac lineup with the M4 processor we saw with the arrival of the iPad Pro.
Even if the release schedule hasn't changed, there's a lot to like (and a few things to dislike) in this announcement.
The most superficial - yet ironically the most influential in the buying journey - is the selection of seven bold colours to choose from. You can grab the new M4 iMac in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, or the boring old silver, with a colour-matched Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
Apple talks a lot about how the M4 chip delivers performance improvements over the iMac with M1: 1.7x faster in Excel, 2x higher frame rates for games, 2.1x faster photo and video editing performance in Photoshop.
Like with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max this year, a lot of that extra performance is in place to help support Apple Intelligence. While Apple Intelligence officially launched today for devices running US English, Australian English devices have to wait until December.
But when it arrives, you'll be able to proofread and summarise text on the new iMac, create custom emoji and other features.
Other developments for the new M4 iMac include a 12MP Center Stage camera, with a three-microphone array with beam-forming and a six-speaker sound system inside for better video calling.
The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display has a nano-texture glass option, which can drastically reduce reflections and glare while maintaining image quality.
The new iMac supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, and offers fast user switching with the keyboard's TouchID button.
One of the more disappointing elements here is the fact that the base model only includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports. If you need more than that, you have to fork out for the more premium 10-core model.
Pricing and availability
The new M4 iMac models are available to pre-order now, with delivery beginning on Friday 8 November.
The base model features an 8-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory configurable up to 24GB, 256GB SSD configurable up to 1TB, two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad and is available for $1,999 RRP.
iMac with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU starts at RRP $2,399, and features 16GB of unified memory configurable up to 32GB, 256GB SSD configurable up to 2TB, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.
