Apple refreshed the 24-inch iMac in October 2023 with the M3 chip. Although an update was long overdue, the refreshed 24-inch iMac looks identical to its predecessor. So, does the M3 chip alone justify purchasing it over the M1 iMac?
The M3 Chip Makes the 24-Inch iMac Twice as Fast
Although Apple introduced three variants of the M3 chip (M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max), the 24-inch iMac is equipped with the same base M3 chip as the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple claims the M3 iMac is up to two times faster than its predecessor with the M1 chip and 2.5x faster than the 27-inch Intel iMac. What’s more impressive is that the M3 chip can deliver M1’s CPU and GPU performance while consuming roughly half the power.
The company states that the M3 chip is the first desktop chip to be built on a 3nm technology and features 25 billion transistors, which is up 9 billion from the M1 chip! The M3 chip features an 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, with support for up to 24GB of unified memory. On the other hand, the M1 chip in the 2021 iMac came with an 8-core CPU and up to an 8-core GPU.
Similar to the A17 Pro chip inthe iPhone 15 Pro Max, the M3 also features hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, and its graphical performance is up to 65% faster than its predecessor. The chip also has a new feature called Dynamic Caching, which is essentially a more efficient way to allocate memory for your GPU.
When it comes to rendering, Apple says the M3 chip in the 24-inch iMac is 2.5x faster than the M1 chip in the 2021 model. Gamers can expect up to 50 percent more FPS, but if you don’t play games and use your iMac mainly for web browsing, you’ll definitely notice Safari’s 30 percent performance boost. Productivity apps like Microsoft Excel also benefit from this upgrade, running up to 30 percent faster.
If you create content on your 24-inch iMac with apps like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, you can expect up to twice the performance compared to the previous 2021 model. The M3 chip allows for editing and playback of up to 12 streams of 4K video content.
You get all these performance gains for the same starting price of $1,299. But do note that you get a binned chip with 8 GPU cores. So, if you’d like to get Apple’s advertised numbers for the M3 chip,we recommend stepping up to the higher-end iMac configurationthat costs $1,499. You get the unbinned chip, two additional USB ports, and support for Gigabit Ethernet.
What Does the M3 iMac Offer Besides the M3 Chip?
In addition to the M3 chip, the 2023 iMac also features Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. In comparison, the M1 iMac had Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. The M3 iMac retains the same design and physical appearance as its predecessor. In fact, even the dimensions of both machines remain identical!
The 24-inch M3 iMac also features the same seven vibrant color options as the outgoing model. Similarly, the 24-inch 4.5K display, 1080p FaceTime camera, six-speaker sound system, and port selection also remain unchanged.
Since Apple removed the Lightning cable from all its devices this year and switched to USB-C, it’s a bummer that the M3 iMac’s accessories still need to be charged with a Lightning cable. In short, the M3 iMac is identical to the M3 iMac in almost every aspect, other than a few internal hardware changes.
The M3 iMac Is a Slight Disappointment
Unfortunately, you’d struggle to tell the two models apart if they were placed in the same room. If you still own an intel-based iMac and didn’t upgrade to the M1 iMac, the M3 iMac is definitely worth the investment.
However, if you already own an M1 iMac, it’s hard to recommend the 2023 model unless you use your machine for demanding tasks and you think you could benefit from the performance gains of the M3 chip.
