- This is an iMac, unlike any iMac we've ever seen before.
(gentle music)
When we reviewed the MacBook Pro
and the MacBook Air earlier this year,
we were astonished.
They were the first machines powered
by Apple's M1 chip and they were faster,
longer lasting and just better
than any MacBooks we'd ever used before.
So, our biggest question coming
out of that review process was,
"What's next?"
When is Apple going to put this groundbreaking chip
in every product they make?
Well, that day is here.
The M1 is now in the MacBook Pro,
the MacBook Air, the Mac Mini,
and even the iPad Pro.
And today we're finally seeing it
in it's first ever all-in-one desktop form factor,
the new 24-inch iMac.
Configurations start at $1299
for eight gigabytes of memory
and 256 gigabytes of storage.
This review unit here has 16 gigs of memory
and 512 gigs of storage for $1899.
You may pay more depending on the accessories you want.
Those may sound like high prices
but this iMac is really for people
who want to buy an iMac,
set it down, and not think about computers again
for the next five to 10 years.
The most exciting difference is that
it comes in seven colors.
Blue, green, pink, orange, purple
and yellow, as well as boring gray.
Though, you can only get four at the base price.
So, I'm going to be a bit of a grinch about this.
As snazzy as these colors are,
I do think most of them would look odd
and out of place in many home and office settings
unless you have a pretty specific color scheme
but I do like that these fun colors exist
because if you're in the small group of people
who really want a yellow computer,
there aren't too many other options for you.
The new iMac is also sleeker
and thinner than its predecessors.
Even though it has a 24-inch screen,
it's actually pretty close in size
to the 21.5-inch iMac from 2019.
But its volume has been reduced by over 50%.
Apple was able to squeeze in more screen
without increasing the chassis size too much
by shrinking the bezels around the sides.
So, this device is 11.5 millimeters thick
or just under half an inch.
That's startlingly thin for a desktop monitor,
let alone a whole computer.
It's basically a really big tablet on a stance.
Mine is a touch screen, of course.
The reason apple was able to make the iMac so tiny
comes down to the M1 chip.
The fact that the M1 chip runs so well,
while consuming so little power,
means Apple didn't need to pack
a super elaborate cooling system into the device.
Instead, there are just two small fans inside
and they were so silent during my daily workflow
that I didn't even know they were there
but make no mistake,
these small fans are all the M1 needs.
On some thin devices,
you'll see performance decrease
if you're running an intense load
for long periods of time
but we ran Cinebench R23
three times in a row
and the scores didn't decrease at all.
In fact, they actually went up
by a few points between the first and last runs
and I could only barely hear the fans spinning
during this 30 minute process.
We ran a number of other intense tasks as well,
including Geekbench and PugetBench for Premiere Pro.
So, it's difficult to label these results
as good or bad because the iMac doesn't have
a ton of direct competition outside of Apple
and we generally don't review desktop CPU's
here at The Verge.
The useful thing these results tell us
are that this iMac is a significant step up
from the performance of the most recent 21.5 inch iMac
and it's going to be a huge upgrade
over anything older than that.
The scores we got were very similar
to what we saw from the M1 MacBook Pro.
Basically, the iMac is a 13-inch MacBook Pro,
in desktop form.
We also ran the iMac through a
real-world 4K video export in Premiere Pro.
The iMac completed that faster
than the MacBooks did,
and it blows Windows laptops,
with integrated graphics, out of the water.
This isn't a computer that's necessarily
designed to specialize in this stuff
and it's running Premiere Pro through an emulation layer.
So, that's pretty impressive.
But the 27-inch iMac is a better choice
if you'll be doing long form video work
in 4K, or 8K,
or anything that's super graphics heavy.
Again, rule of thumb,
if a 13 inch MacBook Pro
isn't powerful enough for you,
this won't be either.
But if you're just buying the iMac
for everyday family stuff
like emailing, Netflixing, slacking,
that sort of thing,
I can't imagine you'll run into any performance issues.
I was able to use my test unit for all kinds of daily tasks
from email, to YouTube, to amateur photo and video work.
I was able to hop around between
over 25 Chrome tabs with Cinebench looping
in the background with no stutter or slowdown whatsoever.
And if you're worried that your favorite apps
might not be compatible with the M1 processor,
don't be.
Intel based apps run just fine
thanks to Apple's emulation layer called Rosetta 2.
I literally had no idea Rosetta 2 was there.
I couldn't see a performance difference
between translated apps and apps that were running natively.
A big feature of the M1 chip is
that it allows you to run iOS
and iPadOS apps natively on the iMac.
Now, if you've ever read a Chromebook review of mine
you'll know that I generally find the utility
of phone apps on computers to be limited.
It can be confusing to figure out
whether you use app or browser versions of things.
Sometimes the sizing is weird.
Some things just straight up don't work.
But on a system that's meant to be shared among a family,
I can see the appeal a little bit more.
If your kids are used to using iPads for school,
or they have an iPhone,
it could be helpful for them
to have the same apps available
on the computer at home for continuity and familiarity sake.
The assortment of apps available
is still disappointing though.
A lot of the stuff I actually use every day.
So, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat,
still isn't available on the Mac app store.
What I could get was mostly games,
many of which are designed for a touch interface,
and aren't all that fun to play
with a mouse or a track pad
and they're not really optimized
for a screen of this size.
So, we've got our new design
and we've got a new chip.
Here's what else is different from the 21.5inch iMac.
The 2021 iMac has a better camera,
a better speaker system,
a bigger and better screen,
and more microphones.
It also has touch ID in the keyboard
which you can use to sign in and out of the device,
approve purchases,
and swap between user profiles.
And Apple got rid of ports, like,
most of them.
The base model has just two Thunderbolt USB-4 ports
as well as a headphone jack
on the left edge of the screen.
More expensive models have an additional two USB-3 ports
and an ethernet port in the power brick
which you can also put in the base model power brick
for an extra 30 bucks.
Basically, this iMac isn't a good choice
if you hate dongles and docks.
The upgrades to this IMac's display
are more than just its size.
The new iMac has a higher resolution
4.5K retina display,
which also has Apples true tone technology
that automatically adjusts colors and intensity
based on the light around you.
The screen looks great for article reading
and video watching.
It's a noticeable upgrade from the 4K retina display
on the previous model.
That said, it is a step down from the 27-inch iMac,
which has a 5K display.
So, that is a better choice for professional work.
The off-angle viewing isn't very accurate
which does not matter to me
as someone who doesn't do much color work
but it is certainly a problem for many people's workflows.
You also can't get the 27-inch models
fancy nano texture coating on this iMac.
What is a big part of my work is video conferencing
and this iMac is great for that.
Not only is the 1080p webcam higher resolution
than the 720p webcam in the previous iMac
but it also has a larger
and more efficient sensor for low-light performance,
as well as the advanced image signal processor
that comes with the M1.
It really pays off.
In low light,
my face looks pretty processed
but I am still visible.
It certainly loads better than
any MacBook webcam that Apple has ever made,
including this one on the MacBook Pro.
Another boon for video callers
is that the audio is superb.
So, this iMac has a six speaker sound system
with two pairs of force canceling woofers
and high performance tweeters.
- There are a lot more caveats than I anticipated.
So, let's go through them.
- Apple says it's the best speaker system
we've ever seen in a Mac
and honestly, I believe it.
The audio I heard was easily on par
with a good external speaker,
bass is great,
and the percussion sounds like it's surrounding you.
The key to understanding the 2021 iMac is
understanding what it's not.
So, it's not a replacement for the 27 inch iMac.
That is, it's not a professional workstation.
We haven't yet seen the M1 chip
in one of these high powered machines.
We're still waiting on an arm version
of the 16-inch MacBook pro.
If you're one of the people who's been waiting
for a smaller refreshed iMac,
whether for home or work use,
your time has come.
This is the iMac for you.
It significantly outperformed it's Intel predecessor
and you're also looking at a better screen
and better specs across the board
at the cost of some convenient ports.
Now, if you're someone who has
a bunch of monitors and mice lying around,
you will get similar performance
out of the significantly cheaper Mac mini
but the iMac comes with everything in one
and that's valuable to a lot of people.
So, this ultimately wasn't a
super difficult device to review
because it's exactly what it's trying to be.
It doesn't exceed expectations
or change the category entirely.
It just nails the essentials.
Between the MacBook Air,
the Mac mini,
and now the new iMac,
Apple's arm computers have really nailed a consumer market.
The real question now is,
when will we see Apple's silicon in a professional machine?
So, my personal favorite iMac color
is definitely the purple one
but I've heard a lot of people on Tik ToK
talking about the yellow iMac.
So, which IMac color is your favorite
and is there anywhere in your house
that would actually look good?