Apple iMac M4

It should be no secret that I particularly feel that Apple's Mac line-up is very finely tuned these days, and has been for a while. Since the transition to Apple Sillicon, Apple has found a sweet spot where it offers pretty high performance in a minimalist package, and while this approach doesn't quite work for the workstation format (which is probably why there isn't an actual new Mac Pro yet), the computers that have come out of it are well-designed, functional and innovative, too - if you ask me.

The latest iMac format looks just as crisp as it did when Apple unveiled it a number of years ago now. Sure, PC Master Race elitists with their giant matte black BeQuiet enclosures and Corsair RGB fans were quick to frown on a desktop computer with a white screen border, but as Linus Tech Tips channel Mac Address said back then, this is meant to be a friendly, accessible centre in the living room or modest office where small tasks flow seamlessly into homework, a single Photoshop retouch or a little Apple Arcade-based gaming. In other words, it's designed to be a simple computer, and I've felt since the beginning that the current iMac design hits the mark more than ever before. This is the most "friendly" computer I've ever used.

That's not to say it's perfect, and before we continue with the rose-tinted words, it's worth stating that despite improvements here and there, there are still some kinks left for Apple to iron out. Yes, the new Magic keyboard and mouse combo uses USB-C, but the mouse in particular is still neither ergonomic nor precise enough, and charging it still requires you to use the port at the bottom, which means you can't use it while charging - brilliant. Furthermore, I think this 24-inch screen is just on the small side for multitasking. You could easily argue that it's not the real purpose of the computer, but I often encounter situations where just three inches more would have been optimal.

But other than that, this extremely slim computer, which is so thin it can barely accommodate the USB-C Thunderbolt ports on the back because the connector itself is almost too long, still features the best speakers in this segment thanks to innovative use of limited space, the new Centre Stage 12 megapixel webcam with so-called "Desktop View" is downright brilliant and it's just so... well, pretty.

The screen is still cool. It's a 24-inch 4480x2520 Retina display that easily achieves over 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage. No, it doesn't climb above 500 NITS peak, which is a bit disappointing nowadays - family computer or not. But other than that, the high resolution, True Tone and colour depth make for a display that can really do it all. However, it's clear that the next iMac should be able to deliver something similar to ProMotion in 120Hz and higher brightness. The new nanotech texture panel is optional and looks great, but it's not a key improvement.

And then of course there's the M4 chip. It's the same M4 chip you'll find in many other new Apple devices, so up to 32GB of unified RAM, 2TB of SSD space, and a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU with a 120GB/s bandwidth. You also get a 16-core Neural Engine, as well as Apple's Media Engine that hardware-accelerates ProRes, H.264 and other codecs that can help professionals squeeze more horsepower out of the machine. These features are for professionals only, but they are included in all editions of the iMac 2024, and they certainly apply if you suddenly need to use the family computer for a creative task of some kind. Let's pretend you're upgrading from a 2021 M1-equipped iMac, what do you actually get? Instead, you get four rear Thunderbolt 4 ports with a bandwidth of 40Gbps, WIFI 6E instead of WIFI 6, Bluetooth 5.3 instead of Bluetooth 5, and much higher benchmark scores.

In Cinebench R23 we saw 42% higher scores in single-core compared to an M1, and 60% on multi-core, and in Geekbench 6 it's 65% and 75% respectively again. Of course, as always, it depends on whether your specific workflow supports Apple Silicon, but even if the Apple Intelligence features are none of your business, and most of them aren't even live yet, this is a general uplift that most people will notice, especially after a few years of use.

The point is that this iMac is the same as when we last talked about it; a one-of-a-kind computer with plenty of horsepower under the hood that still fits in every room, for every family and for almost every daily task. It's about time Apple gave us a bigger display, the option to upgrade to Pro chips and a few more options, but this iMac will still go down in history as one of the friendliest computers ever.