The New M4 iMac Aims to Be Apple’s Best Value for Photographers

Oct 28, 2024

Jeremy Gray

A lineup of colorful desktop computers with thin profiles, viewed from the side and back. Each computer has a different vibrant color: green, yellow, pink, purple, blue, and gray. Their screens display various graphics and websites.

Apple’s refreshed iMac lineup features the new M4 Apple Silicon, supercharging the popular all-in-one desktop computer series.

The new Apple iMac, featuring the powerful M4 chip Apple first introduced earlier this year in its redesigned iPad Pro tablets, sports the same ultra-thin design of its predecessor while introducing numerous improvements to usability and performance.

A stylish desktop computer displaying a strategy video game with a hexagonal grid map. The screen shows various terrain types, cities, and water bodies. The computer has a sleek, modern design with a light green base.

With the move to M4, a first for the Mac lineup, the refreshed iMac family is up to 1.7 times faster for daily productivity tasks and up to 2.1 times faster for high-end workflows like photo and video editing than the original M1-powered iMac. Apple specifically cites performance improvements when applying complex filters and effects inside apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro, two powerhouse editors used by many content creators.

A computer monitor displaying a colorful abstract digital artwork featuring various geometric shapes, spheres, and textures in bright tones. The screen shows graphic design software with editing tools and layers visible on the side.

With the move to M4, which includes a more powerful Neural Engine, the iMac runs Apple Intelligence. Apple calls its new desktop the “world’s best all-in-one for AI,” largely thanks to the upgrade to M4.

Apple Intelligence, available in macOS Sequoia 15.1, brings systemwide AI tools like rewriting, proofreading, scheduling, and more. Apple Intelligence also underpins a new Siri experience, which Apple says is significantly smarter and more helpful. Other features, including ChatGPT integration and text-to-image tools, will arrive in the coming months.

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The performance gains will be less noticeable compared to the M3-powered iMac launched last year, but there are other improvements besides performance.

The new iMac’s 24-inch 4.5K Retina display now comes with a nano-texture glass option, a first for this iMac series and mirroring Apple’s nano-texture addition to the iPad Pro earlier this year. Apple says the nano-texture glass option on the iMac dramatically reduces reflections and glares while maintaining excellent image quality.

Another change to the front of the computer is a new 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with Desk View. The last iMac had a 12-megapixel camera, too, but the move to one that supports Desk View enables users to show off their latest do-it-yourself projects and share better presentations.

As for ports — a power user’s best friend — the iMac now features four Thunderbolt 4-compatible USB-C ports, allowing users to connect additional accessories like fast external storage, docks, and up to two 6K external displays. Wireless connectivity is also improved, as the new computer supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

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Since the first iMac computer in the 1990s, the iMac family has been known for its colorful designs. The M4 iMac comes in seven vibrant colors, including new shades of green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and blue. For those who want something more subdued, the silver colorway remains available. Each iMac comes with a color-matched Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and a color-matched Magic Mouse or optional Magic Trackpad, which now features UBS-C for charging instead of the outdated Lightning port.

A close-up of a green keyboard and a white, sleek computer mouse on a light green background. The keyboard features standard keys and function buttons, and the mouse has an ergonomic, minimalistic design.

“iMac is beloved by millions of users, from families at home to entrepreneurs hard at work. With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence and the powerful performance of Apple silicon, the new iMac changes the game once again,” says John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With M4 and Apple Intelligence, gorgeous new colors that pop in any space, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, and a new nano-texture glass display option, it’s a whole new era for iMac.”

Pricing and Availability

The new iMac with M4 is available to order now starting at $1,299 and will begin shipping to customers and arrive at retailers on November 8. The base model features an M4 with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory (up from 8GB on the base M3 iMac), and a 256GB SSD.

Customers can upgrade the memory up to 32GB and the storage up to 2TB depending on their M4 chip selection, which is also available in a 10-core CPU and GPU flavor. A fully-kitted M4 iMac is $2,699, and the nano-texture glass upgrade is an additional $200. The nano-texture glass display option is only available on 10-core iMac machines, so the base model only comes with the standard glossy display.

Complete purchasing options and details are available on the Apple Store.

Image credits: Apple