Apple's new iMac gets the M6 chip, Wi-Fi 7 and a $1,499 starting price

The new iMac keeps the thin, colorful all-in-one design that Apple has used for years. The big change is the chip inside. 9to5Mac notes the iMac has the same 24-inch display and overall design as before, with upgraded internals.

Here is the short list:

• Chip: Apple's M6, with up to a 12-core CPU and up to a 12-core GPU.
• AI hardware: a Dual 16-core Neural Engine, the part of the chip built for AI work.
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
• Wired: optional 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet.
• Software: macOS 27, which includes Siri AI.

Apple's vice president of Hardware Engineering, Shelly Goldberg, called it "the world's best all-in-one" in the company's announcement.

A CPU is the main brain of a computer. A GPU handles graphics. Apple says the M6 iMac has up to a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, two more cores of each than before. 9to5Mac reports the previous iMac topped out at 10 cores for each.

Apple says the new GPU also has Neural Accelerators in each core. Those are small blocks that speed up AI math. Apple claims up to 2x faster graphics than the M4 iMac for jobs like photo editing.

TechRadar adds that the M6 is Apple's first 2nm chip, which means its parts are built at a tiny scale. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and a smaller number usually means a more efficient chip. TechRadar notes it already debuted in the Mac mini earlier this year.

Memory speed also goes up. 9to5Mac reports memory bandwidth, how fast data moves between the chip and its memory, is up to 170GB/s, from 120GB/s before. Apple also says storage is up to 2x faster, so big apps and projects open quickly.

Apple gave several comparisons. They are Apple's own numbers, and real results depend on the task.

• Against the M4 iMac: up to 2x faster graphics, up to 2x faster gaming with ray tracing, and up to 5x faster on-device AI.
• Against the M1 iMac: up to 3.3x faster graphics in Affinity photo editing and up to 12x faster on-device AI prompt processing in LM Studio.
• Against the most popular Intel iMac: up to 18x faster overall.

In real life If you still use a 2019 or 2020 Intel iMac for email, video calls and school work, this is the jump Apple is talking about. For you, the new iMac should feel like a much quicker computer.

Tom's Guide points out it has not tested the new iMac yet. It says it got a good idea from its review of the M6 Mac mini, where the chip "really shone."

On-device AI means the AI model runs on your own computer, not on a company's servers far away. Your files and questions stay on the machine, and it works without sending everything to the cloud.

Apple says the iMac is a good platform for this. An LLM, a large language model, is the kind of AI behind chatbots. Apple says the iMac can run LLMs locally and names apps such as LM Studio, Pixelmator Pro and Claude among the AI apps it supports.

Tom's Guide says people who want to run local AI models or local agents, programs that can take steps on your behalf, could see a big improvement over older machines.

The iMac ships with macOS 27, the next version of Apple's computer software. It includes the next generation of Apple Intelligence, Apple's name for its AI features.

Apple describes Siri AI as a new version of Siri that is "profoundly more capable, conversational, and personal." Here is what Apple says it can do on the iMac:

• Find things: search across messages, emails and photos.
• Take action: do tasks across apps.
• Answer questions: it is built into Spotlight, the Mac's search bar.
• Write with you: help with writing and editing in Mail and Messages, in your own style and tone.

Apple also says Visual Intelligence, which lets you ask Siri about what is on your screen, gets its own keyboard shortcut.

Connections get a clear upgrade. 9to5Mac reports the iMac moves from Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. It runs on Apple's N1 wireless chip.

The Ethernet port can now be 2.5 Gigabit. Ethernet is the wired network cable connection. Apple says that means up to 2.5x faster wired connections than the previous generation, which helps with large file transfers.

There are up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, which connect fast storage, docks and displays. Apple says you can attach up to two 6K external displays.

What stays the same: the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 500 nits of brightness, a 12MP Center Stage camera, a three-microphone array and a six-speaker sound system. Tom's Guide notes the screen is still LED-backlit, not OLED, and the 12-core models offer a nano-texture display option, a special matte finish.

The price is the same as the model it replaces.

Tom's Guide notes the starting price is higher than the $1,299 the M4 iMac launched at in 2024. It says Apple raised prices in June to $1,499, so the new model matches the current one. TechRadar lists the base price in the UK at £1,499 and in Australia at AU$2,399.

What's next: pre-orders open October 28, and 9to5Mac says they start at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time. The iMac ships on Friday, November 6. Tom's Guide says the same date applies to the new iPad mini.

The catch: this is a spec refresh. Tom's Guide says the design has not changed in a meaningful way since 2021, and it says a few extra touches would not have gone amiss.

It also points out that the new iPad mini gets an OLED screen, a display type where each pixel makes its own light. The iMac stays with its LED-backlit screen, which uses a light behind the panel. For many buyers that will not matter, since the display is already sharp at 4.5K.

Price is the other point. Tom's Guide says the higher cost "stings" next to the $1,299 launch price of the M4 iMac in 2024. It ties the June price rise to what it calls "RAMaggeddon", the squeeze on memory chip supply and prices.

9to5Mac says Apple is in the middle of a week of product launches. The new iPad mini with OLED came yesterday, and the iMac arrives today. Tom's Guide calls the series "Pro and Tell" announcements.

TechRadar reports Apple also refreshed its entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6, starting at $1,999, the same as its M5 predecessor. 9to5Mac adds that the iMac pre-orders open just minutes after a rumored MacBook Pro redesign, so more news may follow tomorrow. That part is a rumor, not an announcement.

• Using an Intel iMac: this is the biggest upgrade. Apple says up to 18x faster performance.
• Using an M4 iMac: the design and display are the same, so the gains are speed, AI and connections. You may be fine to wait.
• Want to run AI at home: the Dual 16-core Neural Engine and faster memory are aimed at you.
• Watch the options: 2.5Gb Ethernet is available as an option, not standard on every model.