Abstract:
Apple officially released a new generation of 24-inch iMac on October 27. The new machine is equipped with a new M6 chip and introduces an N1 chip that supports Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. It also improves SSD storage performance and further enhances overall performance while maintaining the original appearance design.
The new iMac continues the design language of the previous generation M4 version and continues to be available in seven colors: blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange and silver. The device is equipped with a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, while retaining a 12-megapixel camera that supports Center Stage character centering and Desk View desktop view functions.
Apple had previously introduced the M6 chip for the first time in the Mac mini released in August this year. One of the biggest changes in the chip is the first use of a dual neural network engine design, consisting of two 16-core Neural Engines, whereas previous Apple chips were only equipped with a single neural network engine. In terms of graphics processing, M6 adds Neural Accelerators to each GPU core for the first time. In addition, the unified memory bandwidth of M6 reaches up to 170GB/s, which is higher than the 120GB/s of the M4 chip.
In the US market, the new iMac starts at $1,499. The basic configuration is equipped with an M6 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU and dual 16-core Neural Engine. It is equipped with 16GB of unified memory, 256GB of storage space and two Thunderbolt 4 interfaces. Apple pointed out that the corresponding previous-generation model was also priced at US$1,499 after a price adjustment in June this year, while the initial launch price was US$1,299.
The high-end version priced at $1,699 is upgraded to a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, and is equipped with four Thunderbolt 4 interfaces instead of the two interfaces of the basic version.
In terms of storage and memory, the new iMac can be equipped with up to 2TB solid-state drive and 32GB unified memory.
In terms of network connection, the new machine uses Apple’s self-developed N1 chip and supports Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, which is a further upgrade compared to the Wi‑Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 supported by the previous generation.
The basic model can be upgraded with a power adapter equipped with a 2.5Gb Ethernet interface for an additional $30, and the high-end version provides this configuration by default. In comparison, the power adapter that came with the previous generation iMac only provided a 1Gb Ethernet interface.
Thanks to its support for the PCIe 5.0 standard, the new iMac's SSD read and write speed can be increased up to twice as much as the M4 version, further enhancing system response speed and file transfer performance.
Apple said that the new iMac will begin accepting pre-orders on October 28 and is scheduled to be officially released on November 6.
In terms of random accessories, Apple continues to provide Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID function for iMac. Both accessories have not been updated this time.
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