As announced in recent days, the “Mac Week”in which Apple will present its latest computer innovations to the world, begins with one of the Cupertino company’s flagships, the historic all-in-one desktop iMac. In addition to the M4 chip, which will guarantee greater computing power, inside the thin monitor there will also be a new high-resolution video camera, high-tech protective glass and Thunderbolt 4 ports which will make the transfer of large files faster. So let’s see what to expect from the new model iMacalready bookable on the official Apple Italy website and which will go on sale starting from November 8th.
M4, twice as fast
The Apple desktop is among the most loved products in the world, both as a family computer and as a work tool, which explains why the American company has decided to make it not only more powerful but also more suitable for modern work environments. John Ternus, SVP for hardware, says he is certain that “with the M4 chip, Apple Intelligencebeautiful new colors that brighten up the environment, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera and a new optional nano-texture glass for the display, iMac ushers in a new era”. Exaggerations aside, the introduction of the M4 chip and the extension of the unified memory from 8 to 16 gigabytes will guarantee a marked increase in performance compared to the first model equipped with Apple Silicon, approximately 1.7 times faster. The increase in power is even more marked on the GPU side, where the M4 is 2.1 times more powerful than the old M1, still very popular among Apple enthusiasts.
Already from the press release we begin to understand how Apple is also trying to woo gaming enthusiasts, a category that has so far preferred to avoid Macs but it is more likely that the iMac will be more appreciated by those who work in photo and video editing, where the difference compared to all-in-one Windows systems is very noticeable. The increase in power of the Neural Engine is necessary to power the advanced functions promised by Apple Intelligenceavailable for the moment only on macOS Sequoia 15.1 in American English starting next December. The promises are the same as always: automatically summarizing and correcting texts, voice commands with the new Siri, generating images or emojis in a few seconds. Given the suspicions of many users, particular attention is guaranteed to the user’s privacy, guaranteed free of charge even in ChatGptgiven that a large part of the processing activities will be carried out within the device.
High tech glass and camera
Since Apple users are very design-conscious, the new iMac it is available in seven particularly bright colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver, colors that will also be coordinated with those of the peripherals, which have also been updated for the new model. Whoever purchases the new all-in-one will also have a renewed Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse or Trackpad finally equipped with a USB-C port. The most interesting innovation, however, concerns one of the most appreciated features of theiMacthe 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, which for the first time will be available with high-tech glass. As reported by Apple, the option nano-texture It will significantly reduce reflections, ensuring superior image quality even in high-brightness environments, which are usually very complicated for normal monitors.
Those who often work from home, however, will particularly appreciate the new integrated video camera, which is a clear step forward compared to what is available as standard on a computer. The new one Center Stage it has a 12 megapixel sensor and is equipped with a function called “Desk Panoramic” which will help make your video calls more dynamic and interesting. In addition to keeping the subject in the center of the scene while they are moving, this function uses the wide angle to show both the user’s face and a view of the desk in front of them from above. The framing may not be ideal but it will still be useful for those who do distance learning: add the three microphones combined with noise reduction and the six-speaker audio system and the endless Zoom meetings could be more digestible. Professional users, then, will appreciate the fact that the four USB-C ports available on the new ones iMac support Thunderbolt 4 and guarantee high transfer speeds. Those who use external SSDs or work with multiple monitors will be able to make the most of these high-speed ports, in addition to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Prices and the latest on Apple Intelligence
The new iMac M4 it is already available for pre-order on Apple’s official website in 28 countries and territories but deliveries will begin starting from Friday 8 November, when they will also be available in Apple Stores and, in general, in physical or online retailers. At the moment, two versions are available on the official store, the basic one, the price of which starts from 1,529 euros and the one with a more powerful version of the processor, which costs €1,779. The basic version has a M4 chips with 8 cores and a GPU with 8 cores, 16 gigabytes of memory and a 256 megabyte SSD, while the most powerful version has an M4 with 10 cores, a 10 core GPU and the same amount of RAM and storage. We will therefore have to wait even longer before seeing a version of the iMac equipped with the M4 Pro chips, which will therefore probably be reserved only for the new iMac Mini and the new MacBook Pro.
For students or workers in the education sector the prices drop to 1,469 and 1,659 euros: it will still be possible to increase memory and storage in the configuration on the site, as well as including the glass option nano-texture. Although the current status of Apple Intelligence within the European Union is still in doubt, from the press release there is some more information: with macOS Sequoia 15.1, European Mac users will only be able to access the AI in the American English version.
Starting from April, advanced features will begin to be available on iPhone and iPad within the EU while it is not yet certain which languages will be supported starting from April. Italian is part of the list of languages that will be available during 2025 but it is not certain that it is part of the first group.