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Review: Apple's M6 iMac is pricey, but it's still a good choice for a clean desk
Apple’s M6 keeps the iMac current without shaking things up much.
The Apple Silicon iMac got its fourth refresh this month.
Every other Apple Silicon Mac has found a way to move forward over the last half-decade—we’ve gotten a more Pro design for the MacBook Pro, a mini-er design for the Mac mini, and a Mac Studio that has finally made Apple admit it doesn’t want to make the Mac Pro anymore.
But the Apple Silicon iMac has always been more interested in looking backward. It’s the thin, screen-on-a-stand iMac design by way of the original Bondi Blue G3 iMac. It’s a clean and pretty desktop computer, one I see all the time in small offices and on TV shows that depict small offices. We’re long past the days when it was Apple’s primary workstation computer.
So I wanted to write about this new iMac from the perspective of that entry-level iMac buyer, who chooses the iMac because it’s simple and then uses it until it breaks. What does a new iMac get you if you’re stepping up from the M1 model or comparing it against an older refurbished M4 model? Without any real external updates, what makes this iMac iteration interesting?
If you haven’t used an Apple Silicon-era iMac before, here’s a brief primer.
The new iMac is much thinner than the older aluminum Intel models. Its front is mostly one big 24-inch screen, surrounded on all sides by a relatively thick white bezel (I still wish black were at least an option, but Apple apparently doesn’t agree).
White bezel aside, it’s by far Apple’s most colorful computer. The iMacs ship with color-matched fronts, backs, stands, keyboards, mice, trackpads, and cables. Apple has tweaked the color offerings and changed the tints of each specific color a few times over the years, but the M6 iMac uses the same six color tints (plus silver) that the M4 iMac did.
The basic $1,499 iMac is essentially a MacBook Air in terms of ports—it has two Thunderbolt ports on the back and a headphone jack on the left side. Choosing this model also locks you into a lesser version of the Apple M6 with 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores instead of 12 of each, a maximum of 24GB of RAM, a minimum of 256GB of storage, and a maximum of 1TB. Its default keyboard doesn’t have Touch ID support, and the only way to get it is to buy the version with the built-in number pad, an $80 upsell.
The $1,699 version is the one to get if you still intend to use the iMac as a workstation. It includes the full-speed version of the M6 with all its CPU and GPU cores intact (though there are performance caveats here we’ll talk about later), plus options for 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. This version also includes four Thunderbolt ports on the back for connecting additional accessories. Both available keyboards on this version have Touch ID.