Apple’s new iMac is now available for pre-order in Australia, and it comes with an M4 chip and the hotly anticipated Apple Intelligence.
The iMac is available in new colours, and the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display offers a new nano-texture glass option.
When comparing the M4 with the M1, Apple claims the new iMac is up to 1.7x faster for “daily productivity”, and up to 2.1x faster for “demanding workflows like photo editing and gaming.” It says this boost in smoothness will become evident on forthcoming titles such as Civilization VII, due in February 2025.
The first set of Apple Intelligence features include writing tools for rewriting, proofreading and summarising text in Mail, Notes, Pages and third-party apps.
In Photos, the Memories feature will enable users to create personal movies by typing a description. More features will roll out in December, including support for Australian English.
It has a new 12MP Center Stage with Desk View, up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, and colour-matched accessories that include USB-C.
“With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence and the powerful performance of Apple silicon, the new iMac changes the game once again,” said John Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.
The new iMac – which Apple boasts is the “world’s best all-in-one for AI” desktop – comes standard with 16GB of faster unified memory, and can be configured up to 32GB.
The gear comes in seven colours – green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver.
“The back of iMac features bold colours designed to stand out, while the front expresses subtle shades of the new palette so users can focus on doing their best work,” Apple says.
Every iMac comes with a colour-matched Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse or optional Magic Trackpad, all of which now have a USB-C port.
Apple says the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display on iMac is its highest-rated feature, and that the nano-texture glass option “drastically reduces reflections and glare … users can place iMac in even more spaces, such as a sun-drenched living room or bright storefront”.
A new 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View “keeps everyone perfectly centred on a video call”, while Desk View employs the wide-angle lens to simultaneously show the user and a top-down view of their desk, “which is useful for educators presenting a lesson to students, or creators showing off their latest DIY project”.
There is a three-microphone array with beamforming and a six-speaker sound system.
All four USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 4 for fast data transfers, and Apple says users can connect accessories including external storage, docks and up to two 6K external displays. iMac also supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
The new iMac can be pre-ordered from today, starting at A$1,999 (16GB), with availability from Friday November 8.
