Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: An upgrade of minor significance

All-in-one computers like the Apple iMac don’t seem to be as popular as they once were; even Apple doesn’t seem to have much confidence in the genre. Despite calls from all quarters, it continues to resist the call to reissue the 27in iMac – and there isn’t too much in the way of new features, from a hardware perspective, at least.

What you do get, as usual, are a few new colours – essential, since one of the only reasons to buy an iMac is because it looks nice – as well as an upgrade to the M4 chipset and support for Apple Intelligence, courtesy of that chip’s 16-core Neural Engine.

The big problem for this latest iMac is that the Mac mini, launched at the very same event, represents much better value for money. Pair Apple’s brilliant mini PC with a good quality monitor and you’re looking at getting a heck of a lot more for an awful lot less.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: What you need to know

What you’ve read so far encapsulates all the core information you need to know about the new iMac. Physically, it’s encased in all the same body as before – a mostly aluminium shell housing all the same electronics as you get in a Mac mini M4 – plus a 24in display with a mini LED backlight and an IPS panel, built-in speakers and a 1080p webcam up top.

As with the 2021 model, 2024’s iMac is available in seven different shades – green, blue, pink, yellow, orange, silver and purple. Plus, it comes packaged with a colour-matched wireless Magic Keyboard and Mouse combo, a chunky 143W rat-and-tail power brick to power everything and colour-matched charging cables for said peripherals.

As I’ve said already, the only real upgrade is the M4 chip inside the new iMac. Here, you get the choice of an eight- or ten-core CPU, which is accompanied by an eight- or ten-core GPU, a base 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. This can be upgraded up to a maximum 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

There is one other neat new feature worth highlighting – that’s the ability to add Apple’s matte Nano-texture finish to the screen at the point of purchase – handy if you plan on placing your iMac somewhere where there are a lot of bright lights.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Price and competition

Configuration tested: Apple M4 chipset (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 24GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, 24in IPS Retina display with Nano-texture matte finish. Price when reviewed: £2,299

Prices for the 2024 iMac start at £1,299, which is only £50 more expensive than the M1 iMac was at launch back in 2021. If you want the ten-core M4 chip, as tested for this review, prices start at £1,499.

From there, the cost rises steadily, but it’s fairly easy to understand the pricing structure. Upping the RAM from 16GB to 24GB costs an extra £200, as does moving to 32GB. Upgrading to a 512GB SSD is another £200, to 1TB a further £200 and to 2TB an extra £400 on top of that.

Simple enough, you might think, but Apple does like to confuse us with its upgrade options and here there are a few gotchas to be aware of as you’re ordering. First up, you can’t upgrade to 32GB of RAM unless you also make the move to a 512GB SSD, adding a total of £600 to the base price.

You can’t add the Nano-texture anti-glare screen upgrade unless you’re also upgrading to a ten-core M4 chip, meaning prices for that model start at a minimum of £1,699. And also watch out when you get to the keyboard choice – if you want the keyboard with a number pad, as pictured here, it’s going to cost you £30 extra.

That all seems a little mean to me, especially since you can pick up an M4 Mac mini, a larger 27in display, a MUCH nicer keyboard and mouse, plus a decent webcam for under £1,200.

And that’s where the principal competition to the iMac comes from. Even if you can’t abide the sight of anything but a screen on your desk, the tiny Mac mini is stupidly easy to hide away and only needs to connect to your monitor with a single slender USB-C cable. In my opinion, this makes the iMac somewhat redundant for most people’s purposes.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Design

There may not be anything new about the design of this iMac, but that’s okay because I struggle to think of any way to improve on it. Actually, that’s not strictly true. I’d prefer it if you could adjust the screen height vertically; it would be lovely if the power supply was built into the unit instead of dangling on its braided cable; and it would be great if you could upgrade the storage and RAM yourself.

However, there is no denying the sheer beauty of the iMac’s design. It looks simply stunning – I love the pale green I was sent for this review and the other colours look equally fetching in their pastel, anodised metallic finishes.

The screen and all the electronics are built into a chassis that measures a finger-width 11mm thick. The stand is a sculptural masterpiece, too, and even the power cable barrel socket catches the eye. It’s magnetic and clips into the socket with a satisfying snick.

You could say that the rather large chin below the screen makes the whole thing look lopsided and that the white bezel running around the screen could be slimmer. You could rightly ask for a greater diversity of ports, too, but you’d be splitting the thinnest of hairs here. There’s no denying that this iMac is a lovely-looking thing and two or four Thunderbolt 4 ports (depending on whether you buy the eight- or ten-core model) is perfectly respectable.

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Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Keyboard, mouse and webcam

When it comes to the keyboard and mouse, Apple has once again resisted the urge to make design changes. Both are exactly as they were before, even the ridiculous USB-C charging jack on the underside of the mouse.

The keyboard is available with or without a number pad, and comes complete with a Touch ID fingerprint reader above the backspace key and an array of neat, square keys arrayed across its slim body. It’s spacious and well laid out, but I’m not a big fan of how shallow and lightweight the key action feels.

The mouse, despite its name, is anything but magic. It’s a nice flourish that the curved glass top is touch sensitive, allowing you to swipe across its surface to scroll, switch desktops and bring up Mission Control, but its low-slung body is far from the most comfortable of designs. If I had to use this all day for work, I think I’d probably end up with RSI in my wrist and fingers.

The webcam, however, has been upgraded for this generation. Video footage is still captured in 1080p resolution but the sensor behind this is a larger, higher-resolution 12-megapixel unit and compatible with Centre Stage, which means it can track you and keep you centred in the frame as you move around in front of your computer. Image quality is good, too, with well-judged exposures and video that’s generally free of noise and mush.

Those extra pixels also enable the new Deskview feature, which adds the ability in Facetime video calls to take a downwards look down at your desk. This way you can show a product or document, without having to hold it in front of your face.

This is a neat idea. In particular, I like that I can use it to present the desk view and the regular front-facing view simultaneously. However, it isn’t very well implemented elsewhere. If you want to avoid the camera capturing a view of your lap, you have to push the iMac way back on the desk, and because it requires a fairly aggressive crop of the sensor, the images it shows are noisy and low on detail.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Display and audio

One area where I do wish Apple had improved the iMac is the display. What you get here is perfectly competent, of course – it’s sharp at 2,520 x 4,480, bright, and colour-accurate. It’s capable of delivering the P3 colour space (measured at 95.9%) and comes pre-calibrated with a selection of colour profiles you can select from, too, including AdobeRGB, Display P3 DCI-P3 and sRGB.

I measured peak brightness at 524cd/m², a contrast ratio of 1,134:1, and colour accuracy compared to the sRGB standard at an average Delta E of 0.69, which is as good as it gets. The Nano-texture finish is extremely effective at banishing reflections, without negatively impacting perceived contrast, although it is a £200 extra.

Overall, you’re not going to be disappointed with the way this display presents images and video. I can’t help hankering after an OLED panel, but at Apple’s prices, that’s an upgrade that would probably bankrupt most people.

The iMac’s six-speaker audio system is likewise impressive, especially for such a slim machine. There’s plenty of volume here, and enough body and low-end that you won’t feel the need to have your headphones connected all day. It’s no match for a proper set of over-ear cans or discrete speakers but it doesn’t need to be.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Performance

It won’t surprise you to discover that the performance of the M4 iMac is impressive. The one I’m testing for this review is the model with ten CPU cores and ten GPU cores. This is backed up by 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

I can’t compare like-for-like with the Mac mini M4, alas, because the M4 Mac mini I tested was the 12-core version and it came with double the RAM. However, you can see from the Geekbench results that the single-core results are similar. This is not a machine that struggles with everyday tasks.

What’s disappointing is that it’s clear to see that it’s possible to get much better performance from the Mac mini with the 12-core M4. Indeed, the one I reviewed delivers nearly double the multi-threaded and GPU performance of the 10-core iMac, which is quite the step up.

The SSD performance is perfectly respectable, delivering just shy of 3GB/sec for reads and writes (2,867MB/sec and 2,970MB/sec respectively), but again it can’t match the performance levels of the M4 Mac mini I tested, which came with a 2TB SSD.

Apple iMac (M4, 2024) review: Verdict

While the M4 is a nippy processor, it’s clear that Apple doesn’t intend the iMac to be a workhorse machine. Hell, it’s not even as quick as the (much) cheaper base M4 Mac mini.

Yes, of course you can edit 4K video on it if you want – it will barely skip a beat – and yes, it’s a very responsive machine in most day-to-day tasks. But this isn’t a computer for creating the next Marvel mega movie. It’s a slim, stylish, achingly attractive all-in-one that will look wonderful on the reception desk at a high-end fashion brand, or adorning the study of a billionaire’s minimalist London penthouse.

For a more practical choice, and one that’s very nearly as elegant, you’re better off buying a Mac mini and pairing it with a bigger screen and more competent peripherals. You’ll get better performance all round, and save yourself some cash in the process, too.