Apple offers three versions of its new 24-inch iMa and they have very different feature sets. Here’s our guide to help you buy the one you need.
Apple’s new M1 iMac is finally on sale and we totally understand that you want to buy one. It’s easily Apple’s coolest desktops in years, but choosing which one to buy is about more than just picking your favorite color. So follow our guide and spend your money wisely. Update 5/21: The 24-inch iMac is now shipping at Apple.com and Amazon. Before we start getting into the differences, let’s take a look at the features that are the same on all three models of the 24-inch iMac. That’s a lot of computer no matter which model you buy. But there are key differences between the $1,299, $1,499, and $1,699 iMac models. Apple All of the iMac models have the same all-in-one design, measuring 21.5 x 18.1 x 5.8 inches and weighing about 10 pounds, which is quite impressive for such a powerful desktop PC. But the color options are different, with the higher configurations getting a few extra options. Our pick: If you absolutely, positively must have an orange iMac, you absolutely, positively must spend the extra cash. (We’ll admit it does look fabulous.) All three models have an 8-core M1 CPU, but the graphics processor (GPU) is different in the $1,299 iMac 24”. The $1,299 iMac 24” has one fewer GPU core than the other two models. To get an idea of how the 7-core and 8-core GPU compare, let’s take a look at benchmarks from the MacBook Air review by Macworld U.K. They tested both the $999 MacBook Air with a 7-core GPU and the $1,249 MacBook Air 8-core GPU. Here’s how the Geekbench test results compare. OpenCL and Metal are frameworks that are used to render graphics. These tests show how fast each GPU can perform. The 8-core GPU shows a 10 percent increase over the 7-core GPU in Geekbench’s OpenCL test. With Metal, the improvement is 8 percent. Keep in mind that these are benchmark tests designed to stress out and make heavy demands of the GPU, so while you may notice a slight difference if you’re playing an action-packed video game, when it comes to everyday use—web browsing, email, editing your photos, etc.— you won’t notice the difference at all. Our pick: You’re getting a great chip and solid graphics performance no matter which model you buy, so the GPU shouldn’t be the overwhelming factor when deciding which 24-inch iMac to buy.
