Apple just wrapped up its literally “Scary Fast” pre-Halloween event, and although it was scary short, it was definitely scary good. Cheesy jokes aside, the Cupertino-based company did meet some expectations of announcing its latest silicon, and fans are definitely in for a treat in the coming weeks. Apple has expanded its processors to cover not one, not even two, but three tiers of performance with the M3 family of chips. Of course, these bring with them all sorts of advanced technologies, improved performance, and better efficiency across the board, but their real power lies in how they empower users from all walks of life to do more on their Apple computers without sacrificing other things. The 24-inch iMac with new M3 chip, for example, might not be thinner than its predecessors, but it boasts of scary powerful performance while still keeping its scary slim profile.
Designer: Apple
It’s almost too easy to brush off the Apple M3 as just an upgrade from the M2, but anyone familiar with Apple knows that it never does “just an upgrade.” The M3 family represents a huge milestone for Apple’s self-made processors, showing off how far it has come since it debuted the first Apple Silicon three years ago. Yes, there is more of everything, but the highlight is what the Apple M3 enables as far as applications and user experiences go. The next-gen GPU, for example, is now able to support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, while the new Neural engine works 60% faster while still keeping data on the device to protect your privacy. What all these translate to is better performance for games, music creation, video editing, and more.
With all that power, you might presume that the M3 is reserved for Apple’s “Pro” machines, but Apple dropped a sweet treat for fans of its more stylish computers as well. The new M3 silicon is also making its way to the 24-inch iMac, finally giving Apple’s super-thin all-in-one computer the upgrade it deserves. An upgrade that delivers 2x more power than its predecessor without an increase in bulk. Better yet, it leaves Apple’s aging Intel-based iMacs in the dust, leaving fewer reasons for buyers not to jump on the Apple Silicon train.
Powered by an M3 chip with an 8-core CPU and up to 10-core GPU, the new M3 iMac boasts double the performance of the older M1 model (there was no M2 iMac). At its event, however, Apple was really driving home how its chips outperform their Intel equivalents, specifically with a 4x increase in performance compared to the 21.5-inch Intel iMac and a 2.5x upgrade versus the 27-inch Intel model. In short, you’re getting desktop-grade performance in a thin and elegant computer that’s no bigger than a thin monitor. All that new power is, of course, put at the service of the user, giving them more options and more capabilities to do the work they need to accomplish or just lose themselves in fantasy worlds of games.
Games, for example, load faster and have higher frame rates thanks to features like Dynamic Caching. It can handle 4K video streams without breaking a sweat either, which means more productivity for creators. And with a gorgeous 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, all these images come out crisp and vibrant, making the creation process more enjoyable. Of course, that also means that surfing the Web or watching videos are smooth and pleasurable, keeping you glued to your screen, from a safe distance, of course.
The new M3 iMacs bring pro-level capabilities without losing the colorful and playful character that has defined the modern iMac. It still has a striking 11.5mm-thin body that’s available in seven hues to match your style. Best of all, these new iMacs not only use 100% recycled aluminum for the stands but also 100% recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards. Together with the energy efficiency that comes from the M3 silicon itself, these make these beautiful computers the most sustainable iMacs yet. The 24-inch iMac with new M3 is now available for order starting at $1,299 and will be available starting next week.
