What changes in the new iMac 2021?

It’s not just more colors and a slimmer design, there’s been a huge leap in performance. Check out everything that has improved in the new iMac 2021 over the past generation.

After a decade in which the iMac maintained its external design, Apple decided to revolutionize. The new iMac 2021 brings countless cutting-edge technologies in an innovative design.

What changes in the new iMac 2021?

That the iMac needed a new face, we all knew. With more than a decade maintaining the same appearance, except for a small weight loss, in addition to 7 different colors, with two tones each.

The available colors are blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange, and purple, and they will not be available in all versions. In the most basic model with 7-core GPU and standard keyboard “only” it will be available in blue, green, pink, and silver.

The evolution of the iMac from 1998 to the present day has been accelerated. Now, the current model reveals a very beautiful 11.5 mm thick screen. It houses at the bottom all the equipment components, from the motherboard to the M1 chip, through the six speakers, camera, and microphones.

This loudspeaker system is of high quality and features spatial sound, plus a set of studio-quality microphones for a rich multimedia experience and video calls

Thus, the back is completely flat, resembling an iPad Pro. Supported by a stand, this new iMac 2021 is an achievement of Apple’s engineering and design.

24 inch screen

The new iMac debuts with a 24-inch screen. To be more precise, they are 23.5 inches with a resolution of 4,480 x 2,520 pixels, and a total of 11.3 million pixels. In other words, the screen offers a 4.5K resolution, slightly higher than the previous 21.5-inch model.

In addition to True Tone technology, there are 500 nits of brightness and P3 color gamut, in addition to the significant reduction of three of the four frames around the screen. The size was kept at the bottom, but the apple logo disappeared. However, the logo is still on the back.

In the upper frame, Apple integrated a webcam with 1080p resolution, integrated with an artificial intelligence system that significantly improves the quality of the image. This AI system analyzes and enhances each pixel to adjust important aspects such as white balance.

As it could not be otherwise, Apple maintained its commitment to the environment from the first minute with the iMac 2021, a team that is made of recycled materials and dispenses with dangerous elements such as arsenic.

New iMac with Apple Silicon M1 chip

The Apple Silicon M1 chip has enough to break the usual restrictions of a conventional processor. Thanks to its new architecture, it is able to offer more power, more autonomy, and produce less heat on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M1.

However, on desktop computers, there are no such restrictions, such as battery drain. But in them, the heat dissipation takes on another dimension.

In the new iMac 2021, Apple used the same chip found in the most modern Macs and in the new iPad Pro. The agglutination and miniaturization of all components of this chip allowed a qualitative leap in design, while the performance is triggered and the heat is reduced.

Thus, Apple achieved the following improvements over the previous generation iMac model:

• CPU 85% more powerful than the previous generation.
• GPU up to twice as powerful.
• A series of machine learning applications up to three times greater.

With the jump to the Apple M1 SoC, all the main components of the new iMac 2021 were integrated into a single logic board, which greatly reduced the space required and the required cooling solution. Looking at the current and the previous models, we can see how big this jump was.

put USB

There is a small division in the ports between different models of the new iMac 2021. The base model includes two USB Type-C ports with support for Thunderbolt 3, and the step-up model adds two USB-C ports (these two without support for Thunderbolt), along with an Ethernet compatible power adapter.

Unlike recent iPhones, there is a headphone jack, but since the chassis is too thin to place it on the back, Apple has placed it on the left side of the display.

The iMac 2020 had two USB-C ports and four traditional USB Type-A ports, an Ethernet port and an SD card slot, so there are some connectivity allowances for the new slim model.

Apple probably expects it to be worth it, and that users have continued to switch to USB-C peripherals. The headphone connector on the older model was located at the rear, with the rest of the connections.

Touch ID

Touch ID comes to the iMac thanks to the new Magic Keyboard, which incorporates this function in one of its keys. This keyboard matches the color of the iMac, as well as the new Magic Mouse.

External power supply

The power supply is external, and apparently looks like a MacBook transformer, which not only saves space in the terminal body, but will allow for easier repairs of this element.

The possibility of having a version of this unit with ethernet cable, another method of saving space in the body of the computer that Apple took out of its sleeve, stands out.

Technical specifications of the new iMacs (2021)

As always, there are minor changes to the settings year after year for iMacs. Check below the technical specifications according to the topology of each iMac (2021):

21.5 ″ (2020) / 24 ″ iMac (2021) – Input configuration ($1,299.00)

• Processor: M1 with 8 cores
• Graphics chip: M1 with 7 cores
• Storage: 256GB with SSD slot
• RAM: 8GB
• Screen: Retina with 4.5K resolution
• Connections: Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
• Accessories: Magic Keyboard

21.5 ″ (2020) / 24 ″ iMac (2021) – Intermediate Configuration ($1,499.00)

• Processor: M1 with 8 cores
• Graphics chip: M1 with 8 cores
• Storage: 256GB with SSD slot
• RAM: 8GB
• Screen: Retina with 4.5K resolution
• Connections: Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, two USB 3 ports, and one-gigabit ethernet port
• Accessories: Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

21.5 ″ (2020) / 24 ″ iMac (2021) – Top of the line configuration ($1,699.00)

• Processor: M1 with 8 cores
• Graphics chip: M1 with 8 cores
• Storage: 512GB with SSD slot
• RAM: 8GB
• Screen: Retina with 4.5K resolution
• Connections: Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, two USB 3 ports, and one-gigabit ethernet port
• Accessories: Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

Price, launch, and availability of the iMac 2021

During the Spring Loaded event on 20 April 2021 Apple announced that from Friday 30 April it will be possible to pre-order the 24in iMac from Apple.