Today, Apple announced a new generation of 24-inch iMac. Anyone who had hoped for a lot of innovation will be disappointed, the update is limited. The most important adjustment is the M4 chip and USB-C support for the included accessories.
The design is the same as the first generation that was unveiled in the spring of 2021. The M3 chip was added last year, but that was it. This small new update ensures that the 24-inch iMac is up to date again and complies with European legislation.
Unchanged design
The inspiration in Cupertino apparently ran out, because the 24-inch iMac retains exactly the same design as the first generation from 2021, but the colors have been updated and, above all, lighter. The new iMac is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver. The iMac comes with a keyboard, mouse and/or trackpad in matching colors.
The iMac has a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, wide color reproduction (P3), more than a billion colors and a brightness of 500 nits. A 1080p FaceTime camera and studio-quality microphones let you make high-quality video calls on your iMac. Thanks to a six-speaker system and spatial audio support when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos, you can enjoy cinema-quality audio.
iMac with M4 processor
The 24-inch iMac 3rd generation is equipped with an M4 chip as standard. This has been given a nice boost and is equipped with an 8-core CPU and GPU as standard, but is expandable to 10-core.
- up to 10-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores
- up to 10-core GPU
- Ray tracing with hardware acceleration
- 16-core Neural Engine
- 120 GB/s memory bandwidth
- Up to 32 GB memory (standard 16 GB)
- Media engine: H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW with hardware acceleration
- ProRes encoding and decoding engine
- choice of up to 2 TB of storage
Standard 16 GB memory
Finally, Apple also believes that a computer nowadays deserves 16 GB of memory as standard. Until recently, the American company maintained that 8 GB is sufficient, but in 2024 this is really not enough. From now on, all new iMacs will be equipped with 16 GB of RAM as standard.
Accessories with USB-C
It’s not really a surprise: the iMac accessories are now equipped with USB-C. The included Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse and/or Magic Trackpad have a universal connection for charging or for connecting the accessory directly to the Mac.
As a result, Apple complies with European legislation that requires manufacturers to provide all new rechargeable products with USB-C by the end of 2024.
In addition, customers can now also purchase a separate Magic Keybord, Magic Mouse and/or Magic Trackpad with USB-C in the Apple Store.
Differences between models
Just like with the previous generation, there is now a difference between the models. For example, the entry-level model only has two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, only WiFi and a Magic Keyboard without Touch ID. Subsequent models feature two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, two USB 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet (in power adapter) and a Magic Keyboard of Touch ID. The colors yellow, orange and purple are also exclusive to the more expensive models.
Other improvements
- Configurable with: Nano-textured glass
- 12MP Center Stage Camera with Desk View support
- Record video in 1080p HD
- Support for 2 external displays
Availability 24-inch iMac 3rd generation
The new 24-inch iMac can be ordered from today with a starting price of € 1519 (was € 1619), the first deliveries will take place on November 8. The entry-level model has an M4 chip with 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, 12 GB of RAM and standard 256 GB.
If you want an iMac with Touch ID and 4 ports and Gigabit Ethernet, you pay € 1769 (was € 1849) and you get a version with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, 16 GB of RAM and standard 256 GB. The iMac can be expanded with up to 10-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, up to 32 GB of RAM and up to 2 TB of SSD storage.
You will soon be able to buy the new 24-inch iMac with M4 chip MediaMarkt, Coolblue, Amazon or Bol.com.