In addition to the M4 iMac's new colors, USB-C peripherals, and an improved 12MP FaceTime camera, Apple is also increasing the boot RAM from 8GB to 16GB. There are no other drastic performance differences compared to last year's model, but the additional power and storage are a welcome boost when dealing with the AI-powered Apple Intelligence features arriving this week as part of macOS Sequoia 15.1.
These features will also be available on older M-series Macs and should be usable on devices with less memory. However, Apple seems to be creating an ideal basis for its future AI plans with the 2024 Macs. We haven't tested the new iMac (yet), but if you consider yourself an early adopter, there are plenty of pre-order options to consider.
The iMac comes with a Magic Keyboard and a choice of a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad (the latter costs $50 extra), all of which now have USB-C ports. It will be available on November 8th, but you can pre-order it now from Apple in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver. The base model starts at $1,299.
The entry-level version offers a pair of Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports as well as an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU. It also offers 16GB of RAM, but you can upgrade to 24GB for $200 more. The iMac also comes with 256GB of storage as standard, but $200 more gets you 512GB of storage, while $400 more gets you 1TB of storage. For another $200, you can add nanostructured glass, which helps diffuse light and minimize screen glare.
The higher-end models, on the other hand, are available from Apple starting at $1,499 and feature four Thunderbolt 4 ports, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. If you pay an extra $200, you can upgrade to either 24GB of RAM or 512GB of storage. If you need even more storage, you can purchase 1TB or 2TB for an additional cost of $400 or $800, respectively. Apple also lets you upgrade to 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for an additional $400.