Summary
Apple is updating the iMac with M6 chips. The new iMac generation was introduced today, giving Apple’s all-in-one desktop computer a performance boost via the same chipset Apple launched with the Mac Mini in August. Prices start from 1,499, and the design otherwise appears largely unchanged. The update was announced ahead of Apple’s [“Pro and Tell” event](/tech/1018169/what-to-expect-apple-pro-and-tell-event-touchscreen-macbook-pro) that’s scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Apple refreshes the iMac with M6 chips The all-in-one desktop computer has been updated with a more powerful chip. The all-in-one desktop computer has been updated with a more powerful chip.   This refresh comes two years after Apple gave the iMac an [overhaul with M4 chips](/2024/10/28/24273124/apple-imac-m4-chip-announced-price-release-date), meaning we’re skipping the M5 series entirely on this hardware. That should make this upgrade more meaningful. The [M6](/tech/984118/apple-m6-m5-ultra-chip-mac-mini-studio) is Apple’s first 2nm chip and includes a dual 16-core Neural Engine that can boost performance when running on-device AI tasks. According to Apple’s press release, the M6-powered iMac “delivers up to 5x faster on-device AI performance” compared to the M4 model. The M6 configurations start from a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU for 1,499, which is the same price as the 8-core CPU-equipped M4 iMac. There’s also a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU starting at 50, despite this being a free switch on the previous iMac. Ethernet has been upgraded from 1 gigabit to 2.5 gigabit, but thats now a $30 premium upgrade compared to sticking with a Wi-Fi only configuration. Apple also won’t let you configure the M6 iMac with a Magic Keyboard that has Touch ID but not a numeric keypad — despite showing an image of that on the new iMac announcement page. If you were hoping for some new color options then, hard luck. Apple is offering the exact same color variants as it did with the M4, to the point where it’s just reused some of the marketing imagery and updated them to display more up-to-date content. The M6 chip provides a nice performance boost, but otherwise this is a small spec bump for Apple’s colorful all-in-one. Most Popular
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