Apple iMac M6 Review: Faster, More Expensive And Deeply In Need Of A Refresh - Engadget
By Google News Technology ·
Most buyers would be better off with a Mac mini and a bigger external display.
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With its new iPhone Duo and MacBook Pro touchscreen models, Apple is finally embracing change and shaking up its product mix. Unfortunately the new iMac M6 all-in-one — once one of Apple's most revolutionary products — has not been a beneficiary of that new ethos.
It is faster than ever thanks to the new M6 chip and updated memory. But the design, which hasn't changed since the 2021 iMac M1, is getting stale. The 24-inch display's small size is more of an issue than ever, considering that 27- and 32-inch monitors are now the norm. It's still a solid computer for consumers or business users, but at a $1,499 starting price ($200 more than before), there are better options — including other Macs.
I tested the iMac M6 in a pretty, pale blue color, with the higher-end 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU (with a dual 16-core neural engine) and 16GB of memory. After recently reviewing a Mac Studio M5 Ultra with 256GB of RAM, I was curious to try a Mac model configured with the least amount of memory possible.
Apple didn't release a new iMac last year, so the biggest change from the 2024 model is an upgrade from the M4 to the M6 processor. The new chip adds two extra cores to both the base and high-end models, with the latter offering up to a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU instead of 10 cores for both as before. Apple says that memory bandwidth is higher as well at 170GB/s max, compared to the previous 120GB/s. The new model also comes with Apple's latest N1 wireless chip, so it now supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, compared to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on the iMac M4.
Otherwise, the new iMac is the same old iMac. It still comes with a 24-inch 4.5K…
Originally published by Google News Technology
