Apple’s latest iMac is a great choice for those keen on bringing in a new family computer into their home, and now, you can save a bit of money on the more powerful model. Amazon has the 8-core, 24-inch iMac for $50 cheaper than usual, making the final price $1,450 for the blue and silver models. These machines have Apple’s new M1 chipset, 8-core CPUs and GPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage — that internals should serve all family members well, from kids completing homework assignments to adults online shopping or finishing some work at home.
The iMac impresses in many ways, but overall we were surprised by how much power Apple managed to fit into such a thin and light machine. The M1 chipset helps with this of course, as it makes the iMac feel just as zippy as Apple’s laptops outfitted with the new processor. We also appreciate how small things, like waking from sleep, happen almost instantly on machines running M1. Performance was solid overall and the iMac didn’t even break a sweat doing things like playing Apple Arcade games.
We also appreciate the updated design of the new iMac — it’s thinner than ever and light enough to easily move from place to place in your home if you’re into that sort of thing. The 4.5K Retina Display is lovely and can get pretty bright, while the 1080p webcam makes for much clearer FaceTime calls and the six-speaker system fills a room with distortion-free sound easily.
While most of the attention tends to fall on Apple’s laptops, the iMac is not one to overlook — especially if you like having one machine in your home that can be used by everyone. The biggest issues we had with the new iMac were its port selection — only USB-C for now (but at least you get four of them on the 8-core model) — and the Magic Keyboard and Mouse are not the most comfortable accessories you could get. But even with those shortcomings, the new iMac is a solid machine that most desktop lovers will appreciate.
