News
News Categories

Apple's new 24-inch iMac features M1 chip and comes in 7 funky colours

By Kenny Yeo - on 1 May 2021, 9:26am

Apple's new 24-inch iMac features M1 chip and comes in 7 funky colours

Note: This article was first published on 21 Apr 2021.

The new 24-inch iMac comes in 7 colours! (Image source: Apple)

The rumours were right.

Apple has just announced a new 24-inch iMac that replaces the old 21.5-inch model. It has an all-new design and it’s available in seven colours. Blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange, and purple.

This new iMac is powered by Apple’s M1 chip and that has allowed its designers to dramatically shrink the volume of the device – by over 50%.

M1 is Apple’s first custom silicon and it’s already seeing action in the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini. We reviewed the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and it was incredible.

The new iMacs have an all-new design. (Image source: Apple)

The integrated nature of the chip means the logic board can be made a lot smaller. And because the chip is so power-efficient, just two small fans are required. As a result, this new iMac is just 11.5mm thick. That’s slimmer than two iPhones stacked together.

The design is elegant and looks more modern and dramatic. The slab sides calls to mind Apple's new iPhones and the iPad Pro. From the side, it looks like an iPad attached to a stand. The stand looks like it will only adjust for tilt and not height. Well, at least some things never change.

The logic board is so small. (Image source: Apple)

Crucially, it has noticeably thinner bezels at the top and sides. But there’s still a fairly big chin below, and that’s to accommodate the logic board and 6-speaker system. The speakers use two pairs of force-cancelling woofers (one on each side) and two tweeters (again, one on each side), and Apple says it’s the best speaker system that they’ve ever put in a Mac.

The 24-inch display is a 4.5K Retina display with a resolution of 4,480 x 2,520 pixels. Apple fits high-quality displays on all of its devices and it’s no different here. This display supports the P3 colour space, has a maximum brightness of 500 nits, and supports True Tone technology.

Above the display is an improved webcam, which is great news for readers whose days are spent flitting between Zoom meetings. It now has a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, which offers double the resolution. The larger sensor also captures more light and works with the image signal processor of the M1 chip to deliver better quality images even in challenging environments.

The 24-inch iMac has up to 4 USB-C ports – two of which supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4. (Image source: Apple)

As for connectivity, the new iMac supports Wi-Fi 6 and comes with up to four USB-C ports. Two of which supports Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4, while the other two supports USB 3.1 Gen 2. You can hook it up to a single external display at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, which means it’ll work with Apple’s Pro Display XDR.

It also uses a new power connector that attaches with magnets and comes with a colour-matched coven power cable. The power adapter can also be configured with an Ethernet port so that you can keep your desk free of clutter.

The new iMacs will come with colour-matched Magic Keyboards. (Image source: Apple)

And finally, the new iMacs will come with colour-matching accessories. Apple is releasing new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad. The new colours aside, the new Magic Keyboard is interesting because it now has an Emoji shortcut and built-in Touch ID for quick logins and using Apple Pay on websites. 

 


Availability and pricing

The new 24-inch M1 iMac will be available to order starting 30 April 2021 with general availability beginning in “the second half of May”.

There are two iMac variants and three off-the-shelf configurations.

Note that there are two main variants: one with 7 GPU cores and another with 8 GPU cores. Prices of the 7 GPU core model starts at S$1,849, while prices of the 8 GPU core model starts at S$2,149. Both models will come with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage as standard. 

It’s worth noting that certain colours – yellow, orange, and purple – are only available with the 8 GPU core model. Also, only the 8 GPU core model gets four USB-C ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.

If you are on a budget, it's worth considering the cheaper 7 GPU core variant as most reviewers of the M1 MacBook Air with 7 GPU cores said that it isn't much slower than the full-fat 8 GPU core model.

For more demanding users, you can customise your iMac with up to 16GB of memory and up to 2TB of SSD storage.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.