In April 2021, Apple reintroduced the iMac not merely as a faster machine, but as a reimagined object — one that trades the familiar aluminum monolith for a slender, colorful presence that asks what a home computer can feel like when the chip inside finally matches the design ambitions outside. Powered by the M1, a processor efficient enough to eliminate the thermal bulk that once defined the form, the 24-inch iMac arrives as both a product and a philosophical statement: that personal computing need not be austere to be serious. Starting at $1,299 and shipping in May 2021, it marks a threshold
Apple's Redesigned M1 iMac Arrives in Seven Colors Starting at $1,299
Slimmed down to 11.5 millimeters, finally without the hump
Mark
So Apple just released a completely redesigned iMac. What's actually different here beyond the colors?
Mimi
The M1 chip is the foundation of everything. It's so efficient and generates so little heat that Apple could slim the entire machine down to 11.5 millimeters thick. That's the real story—the design follows the engineering.
Luke
But they also made some controversial choices. No HDMI, no SD card slots. They're saying it's a design decision, not a hardware limitation, but that still means users need adapters.
Mimi
True. And the Ethernet situation is odd—it's built into the power brick instead of on the machine itself. That's a pretty significant departure from what people expect.
Mark
What about the colors? Are those just cosmetic, or do they signal something about where Apple is heading?
Mimi
I think they signal a shift in how Apple sees the desktop. For years, the iMac was this sleek aluminum object. Now it's saying your computer can be part of your space, not just a tool. Seven colors is a lot.
Luke
Though only the $1,499 model gets all seven. The base $1,299 machine is limited to four colors. That's worth noting—you're paying for color choice as much as GPU performance.
Mark
When does it actually ship?
Mimi
Orders started April 30, 2021, with machines arriving in the second half of May. But the bigger question is what comes next. The 27-inch iMac wasn't mentioned at all.
Luke
Right. That's the real story underneath this one. Apple's clearly planning a broader M1 rollout across the desktop line, but they're not saying when or what it will look like.
Mark
So this is the opening move, not the whole picture.
Mimi
Exactly. This is Apple showing what's possible with M1 on the desktop. The 27-inch and the iMac Pro are coming, but on Apple's timeline.
Il Polso
- Apple's iMac had grown visually stagnant for years, and the pressure to prove that M1 could transform not just performance but industrial design had never been higher.
- The new machine disrupts expectations on nearly every front — a chassis just 11.5mm thin, seven color options, and Ethernet relocated to the power adapter rather than the machine itself.
- Port removals — no HDMI, no SD card, no standard USB-A — have already drawn criticism, a deliberate subtraction that prioritizes aesthetic coherence over universal compatibility.
- Apple is navigating the tension between accessibility and aspiration by tiering the color options, locking the full seven-color palette behind the $1,499 model.
- The machine is landing as a confident opening move, with the absent 27-inch iMac signaling that this redesign logic is still unfolding across Apple's entire desktop line.
In April 2021, Apple reintroduced the iMac not merely as a faster machine, but as a reimagined object — one that trades the familiar aluminum monolith for a slender, colorful presence that asks what a home computer can feel like when the chip inside finally matches the design ambitions outside. Powered by the M1, a processor efficient enough to eliminate the thermal bulk that once defined the form, the 24-inch iMac arrives as both a product and a philosophical statement: that personal computing need not be austere to be serious. Starting at $1,299 and shipping in May 2021, it marks a threshold moment in Apple's transition away from Intel and toward a desktop future it is now free to shape entirely on its own terms.
Apple's first M1-powered all-in-one desktop arrived in April 2021 as something the iMac had never quite been before: colorful, almost startlingly thin, and free of the thermal hump that had shaped its silhouette for years. At 11.5 millimeters thick, the new 24-inch machine is less a successor to the old aluminum slab than a repudiation of it — made possible by an M1 chip cool and quiet enough to need only two small fans.
The base model starts at $1,299 with 8GB of unified memory, a 256GB SSD, and a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display. Stepping up to $1,499 adds a GPU core and, more visibly, unlocks the full seven-color palette — green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. The entry configuration is limited to four of those options. Both models include four USB-C ports with Thunderbolt support, while Ethernet connectivity lives in the power adapter rather than the machine itself, a deliberate design choice that also removed HDMI, SD card, and standard USB-A ports entirely.
The color extends beyond the chassis: the chin below the display, the stand, and even the bundled accessories — Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and TrackPad — arrive in coordinated hues. The keyboard now includes a Touch ID sensor where the Eject key once lived, though that feature works only with the 2021 iMac.
Apple also upgraded the camera to 1080p with computational image processing, added a three-microphone beamforming array, and built a six-speaker Dolby Atmos system into the slim enclosure. Orders opened April 30, with shipping beginning in late May.
The 27-inch iMac went unmentioned at the announcement — a conspicuous absence that, read alongside Apple's accelerating M1 rollout, suggests the redesign is far from finished. The 24-inch machine stands for now as Apple's clearest declaration of what its desktop future intends to be: quieter, thinner, and considerably more alive with color.
Apple's redesigned iMac arrived in April 2021 as the company's first all-in-one desktop to run on its own M1 chip—and it came in seven colors. The 24-inch machine represents a dramatic departure from the aluminum monolith that had defined the iMac for years. At 11.5 millimeters thick, it's drastically slimmer than its predecessors, with a larger display than the previous 21.5-inch model and a design that finally ditches the distinctive hump that once housed heat-generating components. The M1 chip, small and efficient enough to cool with just two quiet fans, made that transformation possible.
The base configuration starts at $1,299 and comes equipped with an 8-core M1 processor, 8GB of unified memory, a 256GB solid-state drive, and a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with the same anti-reflective coating found on Apple's Pro Display XDR. For $200 more, the $1,499 model adds a GPU core—seven cores in the base version, eight in the step-up—unlocking access to all seven color options. The entry-level machine is limited to green, pink, blue, and silver. Both configurations feature four USB-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt for connecting external monitors up to 6K resolution or powering other devices. Apple made a notable design choice with networking: rather than include a traditional Ethernet jack on the machine itself, the company built LAN connectivity into the power adapter, letting users plug their cable into the brick instead.
The color palette—green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver—marks perhaps the most visible break from Apple's recent design language. The anodized aluminum chassis comes in these hues, while the distinctive "chin" below the display, a nod to iMac history, also appears in matching color. The stand received a redesign too, adopting an L-shaped profile that meets the display roughly two-thirds of the way down the back, allowing angle adjustment but not height adjustment. Users who prefer wall mounting can order the machine with a built-in VESA mount adapter.
Apple also upgraded the camera and audio systems. The new iMac includes a 1080p FaceTime HD camera enhanced with Apple's image processing, paired with a three-microphone array that uses beamforming to isolate the speaker's voice and reduce background noise. Inside, a six-speaker system delivers Dolby Atmos sound, with two woofers and one tweeter per side. The machine ships with matching accessories available in color-coordinated versions: three new Magic Keyboard variants, including one with a Touch ID sensor built into the top-right corner where the Eject key once lived, plus matching Magic Mouse and Magic TrackPad options.
Orders opened on April 30, 2021, with availability beginning in the second half of May. The Touch ID keyboard works only when connected to a 2021 M1 iMac; plugging it into an older Intel-based iMac disables that feature, though the keyboard functions normally otherwise. Apple made deliberate cuts to the port selection, removing HDMI and SD card slots along with standard USB 2.0 connections—a design decision rather than a hardware limitation, since the M1 Mac mini includes those ports.
The 27-inch iMac, one of Apple's most popular products, received no mention during the announcement, but the company's move toward M1 across its desktop line suggests a similar redesign is coming. The discontinued iMac Pro could also return with a slimmer profile and professional-grade specifications, though whether it would adopt the same colorful aesthetic remains an open question. For now, the 24-inch iMac stands as Apple's statement about what its desktop future looks like: thinner, faster, quieter, and far more colorful than anything that came before.
Citazioni salienti
The new iMac appears to use anodized aluminum in its slim design, and it comes in yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, green and silver.— Apple's product specifications
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su Tom's Guide ↗
Technology