M3 iMac: Everything you need to know about Apple’s all-in-one desktop
3 min read
Apple introduced a redesigned iMac with a new colorful design and M1 chip at its Spring Loaded event back in April 2021. It took more than two years to get its first update, which arrived in October 2023 with the M3 chip. Here’s everything you need to know about the new model.
24-inch M3 iMac: Release date
Apple launched the M3 iMac at its “Scary Fast” Mac event on October 30, more than 30 months after the M1 model debuted. Assuming the same cadence, the next update might not arrive until 2026.
Apple might also have an even newer model to launch at that time. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has reported that a revival of the iMac Pro is in the works with a 30-inch display. He said this larger iMac won’t arrive for several years, so it’s possible that it will launch alongside the next revision of the 14-inch iMac.
24-inch M3 iMac: Price
As with the M1 model, the M3 iMacs start at $1,299/£1,399 (the U.K. price being an increase of £150 compared to the M1 launch price). From there, you can buy configurations starting at $1,499/£1,599 and $1,699/£1,799 with more storage and ports.
Foundry
24-inch M3 iMac: Design
When Apple introduced the new look iMac in 2021, it ramped up the all-in-one design with a collection of duo-color options and a larger 24-inch screen that was even thinner than before at 11.5mm (0.45 inches).
While there are features we’d like to see, such as a height-adjustable stand and a smaller chin, those aren’t going to arrive for a while. The new M3 iMac has the exact same design and colors as the M1 model. However, Apple launched a new Space Black color for the MacBook Pro that could make its way to the rumored large-screen iMac.
24-inch M3 iMac: Display
The 24-inch iMac has a 4.5K Retina display with 500 nits of brightness, antiâreflective coating, and True Tone. We’d love to see ProMotion to the iMac, but as more of a high-end feature, we’ll likely have to wait for the larger iMac or iMac Pro, if it ever materializes.
At some point, Apple may bump the screen size to 25 inches by slimming the bezels and adding a notch for the FaceTime camera as it has with the MacBooks, but now that the M3 model has launched, it’ll likely be at least two years before a new model arrives.
24-inch M3 iMac: Processor and specs
The M1 iMac offered an 8-core CPU, up to 8-core GPU, and up to 16GB RAM. Apple skipped the M2 and went straight to the M3, which has the following specs:
- 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
- 8-core GPU
- Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
- 16-core Neural Engine
- 100GB/s memory bandwidth
- 8GB/16GB/24GB RAM
That doesn’t look all that different from the M2, but Apple claims the M2 is about 15 percent faster and has much more powerful graphics. Additionally, it has a faster Neural Engine, a ProRes encode and decode engine and AV1 support.
The only specs that are new are Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 which Apple brought to its other M2 Macs earlier in the year.
24-inch M3 iMac: Camera
The M3 iMac includes the same 1080p FaceTime HD camera in the M1 model. We were hoping for newer features such as Center Stage and wide-angle, but that hasn’t made it to the iMac.
24-inch M3 iMac: Ports
The entry-level M3 iMac comes with two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack built into the side, while the higher-end models have two additional USB 3 ports. There’s also a Gigabit ethernet jack built into the power adapter on the higher-end models, which is included in the higher configurations and costs an extra $30 on the entry-level model. With such a thin frame, it’s unlikely the iMac will ever get HDMI or an SDXC card slot like on the MacBook Pros and Mac Studio.
