How the Completely Redesigned M1 iMac Fits Into Your Home

　New York-based YouTuber Yuka Oishi, who uses an iMac Pro as her main machine, thought about how the new 24-inch iMac would fit in her home.

Apple announced the newly designed "24-inch iMac" at the event "Spring Loaded." held on April 20th. For the first time in the iMac series, it has moved to Apple Silicon, and you can choose from seven colors: rainbow-like green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. In November 2020, the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini were introduced as models with the M1 chip, but at this spring event, the iMac and iPad Pro were added to the M1-equipped lineup.

The thickness of the 24-inch iMac display is 11.5mm. 4.5K Retina resolution with a single glass front. A lighter color than the back and a light gray bezel part are designed to blend in more easily with the environment. The M1's SoC architecture integrates the chips in the system and is more power efficient, allowing the fans to be smaller and to keep fan noise below 10db during normal operation. Like a big iPad, thanks to the new tabular display design, the overall volume of the iMac is less than half that of the old design.

　The Apple logo is gone on the front, but the logo on the back remains the same. The back is darker than the front, making it even more striking when viewed from behind. The power connector is a mechanism that uses magnets, so it can be easily connected, but it doesn't come off easily like the MagSafe used in previous MacBooks, so it needs some force to come off. It is A braided cable of the same color as the main unit is included, and the power adapter has a 1 Gbps Ethernet port.

　This iMac has a smaller footprint when installed, a wider choice of places to place it, and a Magic Keyboard with the same color as the iMac with Touch ID, making it possible to quickly switch between users. Sharing and using with multiple people has never been so convenient. It seems that multiple family members and cohabitants are envisioned for use cases where iMacs installed in shared areas such as living rooms are used by switching users when necessary.

　I tried using AR Quick look to see what would happen if I put a 24-inch iMac in the common area of ​​my house.

If you have an iMac in the kitchen, you can watch videos while cooking, and the new 1080p FaceTime HD camera is the highest quality Mac ever, so it might be nice to work in the kitchen while making a phone call. I can't. Computational video adjusts brightness and reduces noise in real time, so you can make video calls with clearer images. The microphone performance is also the best Mac ever, with a design to reduce howling from the speakers and beamforming to reduce noise and hear your voice clearly.

If you put it on the dining table, it will be easier to reply to emails and write texts. Not just for casual use cases, the M1 chip also boosts performance, delivering up to 85% faster CPU performance than all-generation 21.5-inch iMacs. Even if you edit videos with Final Cut Pro and play five 4K videos at the same time, there are no frame drops, so even if you can't go as far as professional grade, you can do a little heavy work such as photo and video editing and games without problems. is.

　If you put it next to the sofa, you can use it to watch Netflix like you would a TV, and it can also be used to do some research. Some of you may have regretted that the new design still has the chin, but that's where the speakers are. Equipped with a 6-speaker system, you can enjoy Dolby Atmos-compatible videos with spatial audio (although the method is different from AirPods Pro and AirPods Max).

The 24-inch iMac entry-level 7-core GPU model starts at 154,800 yen, and there is also an 8-core GPU model, with upgrade options for storage, memory, and more. Pre-orders will start on April 30th, and the release will be in the second half of May.

However, if I were to jump on the 24-inch iMac, it wouldn't be the successor to the iMac Pro that I currently use for my main creative work, so I would like to wait for the arrival of the Mac Pro with the M1.

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