M1 iMac vs. M4 iMac: What’s the big difference?

Featuring the powerful M4 chip and the incredible capabilities of Apple Intelligence — all in its impossibly thin, all-in-one design — iMac is available in a parade of playful new colors.

Apple introduced the 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip back in April 2021 with an all-new model of the venerable all-in-one desktop Mac. Three and a half years later, the third iteration, powered by Apple’s state-of-the-art M4 has arrived. How do they compare?

Malcolm Owen for AppleInsider:

The M4 24-inch iMac [design] has barely changed since its introduction. There are some extremely minor alterations in its lifetime so far, but most of the specifications are the same across the board.

For a start, there’s the overall design, which is still 18.1 inches tall and 21.5 inches wide, as well as 5.8-inches deep at the base. Apple certainly decided that keeping what effectively looks like an iPad on a stand as the main aesthetic without needing to alter it at all.

The screen of the 24-inch iMac is practically the same across both versions. It’s a 23.5-inch 4.5K Retina display, with a resolution of 4,480 by 2,520 pixels and a pixel density of 218 pixels per inch.

There’s also no change when it comes to the 500 nits of brightness, Wide color (P3) support, and True Tone. Indeed, in the M4, it’s effectively the same display that you would get for the M1 model. The difference applies to the four-port M4 model, as there’s the new option to configure it with Nano-texture glass.

Apple says the M4 chip makes the iMac 1.7 times faster than the M1, when it comes to the CPU. The GPU is also claimed to be 2.1 times faster, capable of double the frame rate in games.

MacDailyNews Take: The big difference, as expected, turns out to be performance and M1 iMac users will definitely notice it if they choose to upgrade to the new M4 iMac.

MacDailyNews Note: Much more, including a full side-by-side specs comparison, in the full article here.

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