Along with the MacBook Pros, Apple today has also launched its new M3-powered 24-inch iMac. The newly unveiled all-in-one (AIO) model is promised to deliver vast improvements in performance over its predecessors, especially those that still rely on the old Intel chip. At the same time, it also retains the same form factor and colourway options as the two-year-old M1 model.
Skipping a generation, the M3 is touted to offer up to 2x faster performance than the M1, allowing for an improved experience in handling heavy tasks such as editing high-resolution photos or multiple streams of 4K video, 3D rendering, or day-to-day multitasking. According to Apple, its new silicon features an 8-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, and supports up to 24GB of unified memory.
The next-generation GPU included on the new 24-inch iMac’s M3 chip now supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, enabling for more accurate lighting, reflections and shadows. The company says these enable for “extremely realistic” gaming experiences, as well as faster 3D design and creation. Along with a 16-core Neural Engine and the latest media engine, the next-gen AIO is also promised to deliver faster machine learning and video performance.
Other notable upgrades offered on the next-gen 24-inch iMac includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, support of up to 2TB of internal storage, as well as macOS Sonoma. The latter, as previewed by Apple prior to this, provides improved user experiences such as desktop widgets, robust video conferencing features, and the new Game Mode which prioritises graphics tasks to deliver consistently high frame rates and drastically reducing latency with wireless accessories.
And as mentioned earlier, the new AIO retains the same design as its predecessor; complete with the same 24-inch 4.5K Retina display which offers 11.3 million pixels, P3 wide colour gamut, over a billion colours, and 500 nits of brightness. Connectivity-wise, it features up to four USB-C connectors, including two Thunderbolt ports with support for displays at up to 6K resolution and Gigabit Ethernet standard on select models.
Additionally, the new iMac comes with a 1080p FaceTime camera, onboard studio-quality microphones, a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio support when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos. Like its M1 predecessor, it too is offered in seven vibrant colours: blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange and purple. However, keep in mind that the base configuration of the device is only available in the first four colourways.
On that note, the starting 24-inch M3 iMac which comes with an 8-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, a Magic Keyboard and a Magic Mouse is priced at RM6,299 retail and RM6,059 for education. Meanwhile, the higher spec model which features an 8-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, two additional USB 3 ports, a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Mouse and Gigabit Ethernet will cost RM7,299 retail and RM6,809 for education. The new AIO is still listed as “coming soon” for the Malaysian market at this time.
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