As it was already much anticipated, Apple has introduced the redesigned iMac featuring Apple’s very own M1 silicon chip in its “Spring loaded” event on April 20th. The company itself touted its new iMac lineup as “You have never seen a computer like this before.”
This is Apple’s first iMac powered by Apple’s in-house designed M1 silicon chip. Apple had already used the M1 chip for its MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook mini released at the “One More Thing” event in November 2020.
The early moment when Apple tweaked its design policy regarding the color and display of Macs was in 1998 and 2002, respectively. The iMac G3 was offered in five different colors. While the iMac G4 was unveiled with a thin-flat panel display, unlike its erstwhile predecessors. Let’s take a look at what Apple, after over a decade, has now revamped the design and color palettes of its brand new iMac.
Design & display of Apple’s new iMac
The 11.5 mm thinner iMac has a 24-inch and 4.5K Retina display. The rear of the display is plain flat, and there lies a signature iMac chin at the bottom. Apple claims that it has reduced the volume of the iMac to 50 percent. The iMac is available in seven vibrant colors, blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange, and purple, for its new iMac.
Apple didn’t think upon discarding the headphone jack from the new iMacs. Due to its all-new design & thinner bezel, Apple has had to relocate the headphone jack and bring it onto the side of the iMac, unlike its predecessors, where it was at the back of the display. And it’s more accessible and user-friendly. Thanks, Apple!
Ethernet will be delivered through the same cable after connected to the power brick. On the rear, the entry-level model features two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. While the high ended iMacs feature an additional two USB-C ports but without the support of Thunderbolt.
What will the M1 chip deliver?
Apple has also brought its True Tone tech in the screen for automatically adjusting the color temperature. The new iMac has a FaceTime camera of 1080p resolution with a larger image sensor. These sensors will work together with the M1 chip to handle noise reduction, exposure settings, and white balance. The M1’s Neural Engine will complement the camera to improve the user’s video quality. There is also a studio-quality array of three microphones and spatial audio support. There are these three beam-forming microphones, as well as two bass units and a small tweeter in the larger speaker set-up.
Despite having the thinner frame and upgraded technology, the new iMacs still aim to manage their heat metric and frame temperature. The credit goes to Apple’s own native M1 silicon chip. Instead of the previous bulky thermal system, the new lineup features two small cooling fans. Similar to the old MagSafe cable, it also has a magnetic power cable that will attach to the back.
Moreover, with the iMacs, Apple has also brought the keyboard, mouse, and trackpad in the same color scheme. There is a touchID button on the keyboard for instant logging in. The base model features 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, while users can upgrade it to 16GB RAM and 2TB storage.
Price & orders
As far as the pricing is concerned, the new iMac of seven-core GPU is starting from $1,299 with some reserved colors, i.e., green, pink, blue, and silver. While the eight-core GPU is priced at $1,499 in colors of green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver as well. These iMacs will be available from the second half of May, and orders will be starting from April 30th.
