Apple rebooted the iMac line with a splash of color and its M1 chip
Considering how bright and vibrant Apple's invites were, it doesn't come as a shock that the company announced its lineup of colorful iMacs during its 'Spring Loaded' event on Tuesday.
The new hardware comes in yellow, orange, blue, purple, pink, silver, and green, and, yes it takes us way back to the old school iMac G3 — but with a newly elevated design.
The front of the new iMac is covered with a single sheet of glass while the back is more saturated in color. It also has a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with slimmer bezels, True Tone technology, and 500 nits of brightness.
Apple's added a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, studio-quality, three-microphone array, and a six-speaker sound system that includes two woofers and a high-performance tweeter. According to Apple, it "produces a massive sound stage with strong, articulate bass and crystal-clear mids and highs."
Under the hood is Apple's in-house M1 chip that was first announced last year. And thanks to that chip, the new iMac is more compact and quieter than previous models. Compared to the standard 21.5-inch iMac, it now delivers 85 percent faster CPU performance and 50 percent faster GPU performance.
Each model comes with two Thunderbolt ports (with support for up to a 6K display), but the 8-core iMac also packs two additional USB-C ports and a 1Gbps Ethernet port built into the power adapter.
To accompany the new iMac, Apple is releasing a variety of new accessories, such as a Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad — all of which are available in the same colors as the new iMac.
There's also three new versions of the Magic Keyboard, all of which include Do Not Disturb, Spotlight, and Dictation keys. In addition to the standard version (which features a Lock button), there's also one with a Touch ID button — allowing you to use your fingerprint to unlock your iMac, buy things with Apple Pay, and also switch between user accounts. The third version comes with a numerical keypad on the right side.
The 7-core GPU model starts at $1,299 and comes in green, blue, silver, and pink. Meanwhile, the 8-core GPU iMac model starts at $1,499 and will be available in all seven colors.
Apple's new iMac will be available for pre-order starting April 30. It'll officially hit shelves in the second half of May.
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