If you were hoping for a radical iMac redesign, Apple’s latest all-in-one desktop isn’t going to make your jaw drop. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to tell the new iMac with M6 apart from its predecessor. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, why mess with a design that still looks fantastic? Instead, Apple has focused on what goes on behind that gorgeous 24-inch display, giving its colorful desktop a serious performance boost and a generous helping of AI.
And by AI, we mean the new, smarter Siri that promises to do a lot more than set timers and tell you what the weather is like. The new iMac arrives with macOS 27 Golden Gate, bringing Siri AI and a host of Apple Intelligence features into the mix.
Under the hood, the new M6 chip packs up to a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, both gaining two additional cores over the previous generation. The GPU also features Neural Accelerators in every core, helping deliver up to twice the graphics performance and up to five times faster on-device AI performance compared to the M4 iMac. And if you’re still hanging on to an Intel-based iMac, Apple claims the new machine can be up to 18 times faster. That’s one heck of a reason to consider retirement.
The AI improvements aren’t just about having a smarter Siri, either. The M6’s Dual 16-core Neural Engine and up to 170 GB/s of memory bandwidth mean the iMac can handle demanding AI workloads, including running large language models locally. So, whether you’re editing photos, cutting videos, or experimenting with AI, there’s plenty of horsepower hiding behind that impossibly thin display.
Connectivity gets some love, too. There’s Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, optional 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, and up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports. Apple has also doubled SSD read and write speeds compared to the previous generation. If the built-in display isn’t enough, you can hook up two additional 6K monitors. That’s an awful lot of screen real estate for a machine that already has a pretty generous one.
Speaking of which, the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display remains, complete with 500 nits of brightness and support for over a billion colors. The 12 MP Center Stage camera, six-speaker sound system, and studio-quality three-microphone array are also back. And, of course, the iMac is still available in seven cheerful colors: blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver. Even the keyboard and mouse get matching outfits.
The new iMac with M6 is available for pre-order starting October 28, with general availability beginning November 6. Prices start at US$1,499 for the 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU model, while the more powerful 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU version starts at US$1,699.
Images: Apple.
