Apple continues its week full of exciting announcements, and as expected, the company has officially unveiled the new update to the 24-inch iMac, powered by the all-new M6 chip. Some might look at the device from the outside and think nothing has changed, and they would be absolutely right in terms of appearance; but under this slim, vibrant chassis lies a true beast whose capabilities have been completely reimagined to raise the bar for desktop performance to unprecedented levels.
2nm Architecture: A revolution in data processing and artificial intelligence
The major upgrade in this generation centers around the M6 chip, manufactured using 2nm technology. It is the first of its kind from Apple to adopt this advanced architecture to deliver exceptional energy efficiency and raw processing power. The processor comes with up to 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, alongside a dual neural engine featuring 32 cores divided equally, with a memory bandwidth of up to 170 GB/s.
These numbers translate into stunning real-world performance; Apple confirmed that the device delivers twice the graphics speed compared to the M4 generation, which is clearly evident in gaming and complex photo editing, in addition to doubling the speed of AI processing tasks and running large language models directly on the device. If we compare this little beast to the first-generation iMac equipped with the M1 chip in 2021, the M6 offers 2.5 times the speed in spreadsheet processing, 3.3 times in graphics, and a leap of up to 12 times in AI task processing.
Differences between models: Two ports or four?
Apple continues its usual policy of dividing the device into two categories based on the number of Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports on the back. The base category comes with two ports and a slightly toned-down version of the M6 chip featuring 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, while retaining the dual neural engine. This category comes with a maximum unified memory of 24GB and internal storage up to 1TB; it also lacks the wired Ethernet port by default, which is available as an optional upgrade for an additional cost.
As for the higher-end model with four ports, it gets the full version of the chip with 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, with upgrade options up to 32GB of unified memory and up to 2TB of storage, in addition to a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port as a standard feature. The good news for everyone is that both models now support the ultra-fast Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity standard and Bluetooth 6 technology, thanks to being equipped with Apple’s new N1 wireless chip.
Iconic design, pricing, and availability
In terms of appearance, Apple follows the principle of “if it works well, there’s no need to change it.” There have been no changes to the external design or dimensions, and even the color lineup remains identical to previous generations, including blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and silver. The device also retains the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with an optional nano-texture glass for reduced reflections, and the excellent 12MP Center Stage camera.
The price of the iMac with the M6 chip starts at $1,499 for the two-port model, while the more powerful four-port model starts at $1,699. Apple is opening pre-orders for the device immediately, with shipping and official in-store availability starting Friday, November 6.
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