Apple released its M4 processor earlier this year, but oddly enough it debuted on an iPad Pro instead of a Mac. This gap has now been filled with the announcement of the new iMac M4. The new chip will also land on the MacBook Pro as well as the Mac mini, the presentations of which are also expected this week.
The M4 processor increases the number of cores compared to the previous generation M3 and promises better AI performance with a new neural engine. The M4 chip has three or four performance cores and six efficiency cores, two more than the M3. The number of GPU cores remains the same at 10.
The iMac M4 starts at €1,499
The M4's Neural Engine also has the same 16 cores as the M3, but is capable of 38 trillion operations per second (TOPS), which is more than double the M3's 18 TOPS. The capabilities of the Neural Engine will become increasingly important as Apple continues to roll out Apple Intelligence features to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
The base iMac M4 with 8 CPU cores starts at €1,499. It is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver. The iMac M4 with 10-core CPU starts at €1,749.
photo credit: Apple
In addition to the new M4 processor, the iMac is now equipped with at least 16 GB of RAM, presumably to help the machine process Apple Intelligence's various AI tasks locally. The maximum memory allocation increases from 24 GB to 32 GB.
Optional anti-reflective nano-textured glass
The screen has the same 4.5K resolution (4,480 x 2,520 pixels), but Apple now offers an anti-glare nano-textured glass option for $230.
The webcam gets an increased resolution to 12 megapixels and introduces a feature Apple calls Desk View aimed at presentations that displays a top-down view of the workspace while keeping your face on the screen.
Apple has also improved the iMac's connectivity with four USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports for the high-end models and two for the base version.
For the wireless connection, the iMac M4 remained on the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 duo.
Wait until next year
The new iMac M4 is available for pre-order now and will ship starting Friday, November 8. However, not all Mac desktops will get the M4 treatment this week. Apart from the Mac mini, which is scheduled to be updated this week, Apple is not expected to integrate the M4 chip into its Mac Studio and Mac Pro ranges before 2025.