Apple announced the new M1 iMac at its Special Event in April. The new machine is a major design overhaul over the previous generation which featured the same design for over ten years. The company had ignored the iMac for many years, as it struggled to deliver proper upgrades to its Mac hardware.
The in-house silicon made by Apple offers major performance improvements over the chips made by Intel. Apple is designing the new M-series chips for its Mac computer based on the same architecture as that of the chips used in the iPhone and the iPad – ARM instruction set.
A throwback to the good old days
The new iMac features a radically different design compared to the previous generation models. It is available in a variety of colours – a throwback to the original iMac from the Steve Jobs era. It also features a two-tone colour scheme – the chosen color on the back and the chin whereas the colors are painted white.
The major striking difference of the new iMac compared to the previous generation – on the exterior – has to be the thinness. For the new iMac, Apple has gone with a completely flat design – measuring just 11.5mm in thickness. The previous generation iMac were also super thin but only at the edges, the middle portion of the machines were bulged out.
On the front, the iMac features a 24” 4.5K Retina Display – it’s available in only this screen size and this screen resolution. The most talked about aspect of the new iMac has to be the chin beneath the screen – it’s huge. While some people appear to actually appreciate the chin as it brings a two tone color design, most think only a screen with thin bezels would have been better (via Twitter).
The new iMac is now available for pre-order from the Apple Store and various third-party stores. It starts at $1,299 (USD).
