New M4 iMacs mean Apple's 2-in-1 remains a serious contender for creative work

Apple's first M4-chipped Macs will be not MacBooks as had been widely expected but a new iMac. As well as a new chip, the updated 24-inch two-in-one sports new colours and the option of a nano-texture display to reduce reflections and glare.

Coming almost exactly a year after the release of the M3 iMac, the new computer also has a 12MP Centre Stage camera with Desk View, up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, and colour-matched accessories that now use USB-C instead of Lightning (see our roundup of Apple Black Friday deals if you're looking for bargains on older tech).

New M4 iMac: what's inside?

Apple says the M4 chip, which has so far only been used in this year's iPad Pros, makes the new iMac up to 1.7x faster for daily productivity and up to 2.1x faster for demanding photo and video editing using complex filters and effects in apps like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro when compared to iMac with M1 (yes, it's choosing to compare it agains the 2021 M1 models rather than last year's M3 models)

The new iMac will come with 16GB of memory as standard, configurable up to 32GB. The Cupertino tech giant continues to put a lot of emphasis on the AI prowess of the neural engine in M4. It reckons this makes the new iMac "the world’s best all-in-one for AI", which, of course, includes the new Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia 15.1. It also claims that the new iMac is up to 4.5x faster than "the most popular 24-inch all-in-one PC with the latest Intel Core 7 processor".

M4 iMac: design and colours

The new iMac comes in seven colours, adding fresh shades of green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and blue alongside silver. The backs feature bolder colours while the fronts stick with more subtle shades. And each colour option comes with a colour-matched Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse or optional Magic Trackpad, all of which now feature USB-C.

The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display is now available with a nano-texture glass option designed to reduce reflections and glare, allowing users to place their computer in "a sun-drenched living room or bright storefront". Meanwhile, the 12MP Centre Stage camera with support for Desk View aims to make video even more engaging. The three-microphone array with beamforming and and six-speaker sound remains present.

What stands out from the press release is that Apple intends the new iMac to be a device for everyone. The company highlights the improved performance and up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports *for content creation and design workflows (the ports can support up to two 6K displays) but also stresses that the new webcam makes it great for families and educators.

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M4 iMac price

The new M4 iMac starts at $1,299 / £1,299 for an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB memory configuration with a 256GB SSD and two Thunderbolt 4 ports (including Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad). The 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU configuration with four TB4 ports starts at $1,499 / £1,499.

Preorders are open now at apple.com/store for shipping from Friday, November 8.