On Monday October 28th 2024, Apple announced the M4 iMac, the first with this most advanced chip. An M4 iPad Pro exists and was released to the general public on May 7th, 2024, being the only other device with an M4 chip at the time. The physical dimensions and design are all the same, but with refreshed similar colors, following a similar trend to the iMac G3. Doesn’t that silver one look like an Aluminum Cinema Display?

For $1299, you get 4x 4.4Ghz clocked performance cores, 4x 2.85 GHz efficiency cores, faster LPDDR5X-7500 3750MHz SDRAM, memory bandwidth is bumped to 120 GB/s over the M3’s 100GB/s, and the base configuration comes with 16GB, standard. You no longer need to spend additional money for RAM, and as-is, the M4 iMac is shaping up to be a cost-saving powerhouse. The M4 chip was announced May 15th 2024, is the second generation 3nm chip from Apple by TMSC, and follows the ARMv9 CPU ISA. This is the very first Apple Silicon Mac to receive an updated RAM speed/spec, has nearly 2x the amount of transistors as the original M1, and GPU nearly twice as powerful. On paper, it’s a compelling buy for both Intel users and even some who want more “oomph” outta their M1.

Apple Intelligence

macOS Sequoia and later supports Apple intelligence on any Mac with Apple Silicon. This feature is also available on any iPad with an M-chip, as well as iOS devices running 18 and later with an A17 Pro chip or better (iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, or all iPhone 16 models+). While device capability has increased over the years, it’s theorized by some that older devices don’t have enough RAM to properly run Apple Intelligence.

Refreshed Colors

While the exterior and physical build are nearly identical to the M1/M3 iMac, the exterior colors are different. All color options are now available at all price points, and remain in a two-tone scheme.

• Options: Silver, Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green

Speakers / Mics

There are six speakers in total, and two pairs force-cancelling sub-woofers. Each pair of subwoofers have a high-performance tweeter, and this is managed within an 11mm case. Apple touts this creates “deep, rich bass without unwanted vibrations”. Apple also touts a studio-quality 3-mic array designed to reduce feedback. Beamfoamig technology is also used to help ignore background noise. The focus is to make someone heard in an audio/video/FaceTime call, and channel out the background noise. There is support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos.

Center Stage 12MP Camera

An updated, 12 MegaPixel Center Stage camera is used in the M4 iMac, with an advanced image signal processor, and computational video. This new-to-Mac camera will automatically adjust the frame while you move around in the field of view during a FaceTime call. There is also a feature called Desk View, which provides a top-down view of your desk space from the Center Stage Camera, within a FaceTime Call.

Details

• Announced 2024.10.28
• Model Identifier: Mac16,2 (8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU)
  • Model Number: A3247 (EMC 8531)
  • Order Number: MWUF3LL/A – Blue
    • MWUE3LL/A – Green
    • MWUG3LL/A – Pink
    • MWUC3LL/A – Silver
• Model Identifier: Mac16,3 (10-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU)
  • Model Number: A3137 (EMC 8532)
  • Order Number: MWV13LL/A (Blue, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWV63LL/A (Purple, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWV43LL/A (Pink, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWV83LL/A (Orange, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWUW3LL/A (Yellow, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWUY3LL/A (Green, 16GB, 256GB SSD)
    • MWUU3LL/A (Silver, 16GB, 256GB SSD)

Mac OS

• Requires macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later

Core System

• M4 8-Core ($1299): 8 Cores, 4x 4.4 GHz “M4” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache
  • 4x 2.85 GHz “M4” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• M4 10-Core CPU ($1499): 10 Cores, 4x 4.4 GHz “M4” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache
  • 6x 2.85 GHz “M4” energy efficient cores: 768K L1i, 320k L1d, 24MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• 16-Core Neural Engine
• 16/24 GB 3750 MHz LPDDR5-7500 SDRAM
  • 120 GB/s Memory Bandwidth
  • 32GB option available only on $1499 option
  • 24GB RAM default with $1899 option

Video

• Integrated Apple M4 with 8/10-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
• 23.5″ 4480 x 2520 (218ppi) Retina display, 500 nits, P3 Wide Color, True Tone
  • Support for 1 Billion colors
  • Simultaneous support for internal display + two 6K 60 Hz Displays, or one 8K 120Hz display simultaneously
  • Configurable with Nano-texture glass
  • Support for Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing
• Thunderbolt 4 “digital video output” native displayport output over USB-C.
  • All other connections including TB requires adapters.

Drives

• Drive Bus: 256GB PCIe SSD, 2x 128GB NANDs in Parallel
• Configurable to: 512GB (+$200), 1 TB (+$400) on the base model
  • On the $1499+ model only: 2 TB

Expansion

• 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Two USB-C style Thunderbolt 4 Ports
  • Support for: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
  • Two extra USB-C style USB 3.0 ports (Up to 10 Gb/s) on $1499 option
• Ethernet Optional ($30)
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Included Peripherals

• iMac
• Power Cord (Power cord with Gigabit Ethernet optional)
• Magic Keyboard
  • Touch ID Keyboard Optional, but included on $1499+ models
• Magic Mouse
• Magic Trackpad Optional

Physical

• Size: 18.1 x 21.5 x 5.8 in/46.1 x 54.7 x 14.7 cm
• Weight: 9.83 lb./4.46 kg
• Power supply: 143W Brick