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00:31Alright, let's do this!
00:32Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap, and this is the new 24-inch Apple iMac.
00:37I'm all in on my purple theme today to match the iMac, but the question is, should you buy it? Is it a big upgrade?
00:44You'll also notice that the quality of this video is a little bit different, because I'm actually shooting all these talking head A-roll shots
00:50with the new built-in 1080p FaceTime camera, and also using the triple mic array that we get built-in.
00:57I've got this guy, my usual lavalier mic as a backup, but also if I switch between them, that might give you an idea of how the inbuilt mics compare.
01:05But yeah, let me know what you think of the video and audio quality in the comments, and let's dive into this review.
01:09Should you buy the new iMac?
01:12Okay, I'm not going to lie, there is something a little bit special about unboxing and setting up the new iMac.
01:18From the packaging, to the genuine surprise of just how thin and light this thing is when you pull it out, to the quite literal plug-and-play setup.
01:25You just connect the magnetic power adapter, turn on your Bluetooth keyboard, touchpad, and or mouse, and press the power button. That's it.
01:33Oh, and you can also now log in with the Touch ID button on your fancy new color-matched keyboard,
01:38which also lets you instantly switch users if your partner or your kids also have a login.
01:43So Apple actually sent me the whole shebang for this review. I've got all the peripherals, I've got one of the higher spec iMacs.
01:50It's this one with the 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, also upgraded 16 gigs of RAM and 512 storage.
01:57Plus I've got the Touch ID keyboard and both the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad.
02:01All in, we're looking at about two grand, although it does start from a slightly less eye-watering £1,250, which is about the same as the new MacBook Pro 13.
02:11So there's a lot new here. There's a lot to talk about.
02:13And actually, if I just shimmy across a little bit and leave room for the full spec list, let's get the specs out of the way first,
02:19to give you an idea of what we are getting with the new iMac.
02:22And also, if you guys do enjoy this video and my commitment to the purple theme of actually buying a mug from Anthropologie and also a purple shirt,
02:28then a like and a subscribe would be lovely.
02:31So there's a couple of things that strike me straight away.
02:34And firstly, let's talk about this design.
02:36And the big question is, why does it matter how thin it is?
02:40I mean, unless you're VESA mounting it, normally you do have it.
02:44So it's kind of like when you have an ultra-thin TV.
02:46I've actually got a wall-mounted TV currently, but normally it's on a TV stand.
02:50And even though you can get those super-thin OLEDs, you've still got a big, flat stand at the bottom to stop it from falling over.
02:57And that's kind of the same situation with the iMac.
02:59Yes, the actual computer itself is only 11.5mm thick, and it looks amazing.
03:04But why is that important?
03:06I mean, you've still got the stand, which sticks out further front and back,
03:09so you're not really saving any space.
03:11And this drive for ultra-thinness means we're still stuck with this big, colourful chin underneath,
03:17as that's where all the fans and the components are.
03:20If they'd just made this a couple of centimetres thicker, it could have been all hidden behind the screen,
03:24and we'd end up with something that looked more like the Surface Studio,
03:28instead of an iMac design from 15 years ago that's gone on a bit of a diet.
03:32Plus, maybe they could have squeezed in a bigger 27-inch screen into this form factor.
03:37Instead, if you do want a bigger screen, which personally I do,
03:40then you're currently stuck with the last-gen Intel-only iMacs.
03:44However, one thing I thought I really wouldn't like is this big, white bezel around the edge.
03:50And actually, in person, now it's here, next to the colourful chin,
03:54I quite like it.
03:56There's something about the white, with that splash of colour,
03:59and just how insanely thin and light this whole thing is,
04:02that makes it feel kind of fun and almost uplifting.
04:05It's definitely got some Gen Z vibes about it, but even as I get older and more cynical,
04:09I do quite like it.
04:11Having said that, there's still no rotation or height adjustment,
04:14the latter of which I really would like to have seen,
04:17but depending on your setup, you may have to stick something underneath it to prop it up.
04:20Around the back, we're getting a much darker colour,
04:23so as you can see, I've gone for the purple one here,
04:25and it's quite different to the front purple.
04:27And in terms of the connectivity, we're getting two of the latest Thunderbolt 4 ports,
04:31along with two USB 3s on this higher-end model,
04:34although as you can see, they're all Type-C,
04:36so you'll probably want to plug in an adapter or card reader like you would on a MacBook.
04:40And we do get a gigabit Ethernet port,
04:42but it's actually hidden back here on the power brick,
04:45which I think is a pretty nifty way of keeping the cable out of sight.
04:48However, the base iMac does miss out on the two USB 3s,
04:52and the Ethernet is an optional extra.
04:54Also, just a quick mention of the speakers in this thing,
04:57because they're ridiculously good.
04:59Normally, I use a pair of headphones, I'm kitted out with Apple's tech at the moment,
05:02but the six-speaker system combined with the, what do they call it,
05:06the force-cancelling woofers,
05:08which apparently are not anti-Jedi dogs from Star Wars,
05:11but it just gives a whole other level to the bass and the richness of the sound.
05:15Just have a listen to this.
05:27So far, so good then, but we haven't even got to the best bit,
05:30the M1 chip, the Apple Silicon which currently powers the latest MacBook Pro,
05:34MacBook Air, and also the Mac Mini,
05:36and this is the first time we're getting it in the iMac.
05:39Now, to tell you the truth, both my wife and I use MacBook Pro 13s
05:43as our sort of everyday laptops.
05:45I use the M1 powered version, she has the Intel version,
05:48and I tell you what, every single day,
05:50she complains about how the battery's almost dead,
05:53why when she has a billion Chrome tabs open it starts to get hot,
05:57and the fans were up, who'd have thought?
05:59But it's a totally different story with the M1 version,
06:02which is up to twice as fast,
06:04the battery lasts almost twice as long,
06:06and it's a lot cooler and quieter,
06:08because even though the Pro has a fan unlike the MacBook Air,
06:12I've never actually heard it,
06:13even when I'm exporting videos or gaming on this to some extent,
06:16so it's genuinely revolutionary stuff.
06:19So you can understand why we tech nerds
06:21are a bit more excited about Apple Silicon on the inside
06:24rather than the fancy colourful design on the outside,
06:27and we're getting essentially the exact same chip and performance
06:30as the MacBook Pro 13.
06:32Although I was curious since this 4.5K Retina iMac,
06:36which is technically the highest resolution M1 powered device you can get,
06:40which therefore has more pixels to push,
06:42would it be able to keep up?
06:44Well, the answer is yes, actually.
06:46It's absolutely the same performance as the MacBook Pro 13.
06:49Helpfully, I have identically specced machines.
06:52These have both got the 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU,
06:55and also 16GB of unified RAM,
06:57and I ran a whole bunch of tests on both,
07:00and they're pretty much neck and neck in terms of performance.
07:03In Geekbench and 3DMark,
07:05the difference is really within the margin of error,
07:07and they also both exported my 10-minute 4K Premiere Pro project
07:11in exactly 17 minutes and 14 seconds.
07:14So whether you go for the MacBook Pro or the iMac
07:17or even the Mac Mini,
07:19you're really getting the same performance.
07:21And while, of course, we're not going to get the same battery life
07:23and, to some extent, heat and cooling advantages
07:25that the M1 brings on the MacBooks,
07:28the speed and the efficiency of the chip
07:30makes this new iMac worth buying just by itself.
07:34Final Cut Pro just breezes through multiple 4K streams in a project.
07:38It'll even handle 8K.
07:40I do find I still have to use proxies
07:42to get a smooth timeline in Premiere Pro
07:44with my 10-bit 4K footage,
07:46but then again, I have to do the same thing
07:48on my top-of-the-line gaming PC as well.
07:51So obviously, you'll get the best experience
07:53with Apple's own suite of apps
07:55and also those that have been fully optimized for the M1,
07:58aka Universal Apps,
08:00like Chrome, Photoshop, Affinity Designer,
08:02and a whole bunch of Apple arcade games.
08:05You can always check whether your program's running
08:07Intel or Apple Silicon with the M1,
08:09but more and more programs are becoming Universal Apps
08:12as time goes on, and those that aren't
08:14still use Apple's Rosetta 2 emulation software,
08:17which translates between Intel and the Apple Silicon.
08:20Which, at first, is what we were all worried would be terrible,
08:23but actually, most emulated apps on M1
08:26still outperform their native Intel versions.
08:29So I've been using this for about a week now.
08:31I've been using these MacBook Pros with the M1
08:33since they launched late last year,
08:35and I'm genuinely yet to come across a proper roadblock
08:38where I can't use a program or app that I want to
08:40because of the Silicon.
08:41Although, what I would suggest is paying a little bit extra up front
08:44and getting the 16-gig of RAM model
08:46because you can't change it afterwards.
08:48It's unified onto the chip,
08:50and a couple of times when I was testing the MacBook Air
08:52with 8 gigabytes, I did hit a memory limit warning.
08:55So considering you're probably going to use this new iMac
08:58for the best part of five years or more,
09:00definitely pay the extra 200 pounds now
09:02and get 16 gigs of RAM.
09:03It'll make it a lot more future-proof.
09:05And sadly, this lack of upgradability
09:07is a downside of the M1 design
09:09that's not often talked about.
09:11Also, gaming still kind of sucks, to be blunt.
09:14Serious gaming, that is.
09:15I mean, the Apple Arcade is fun and games run flawlessly,
09:18but we still have a limited library of traditional games on Mac,
09:21and performance is a bit iffy.
09:23At full HD with medium settings in Shadow of the Tomb Raider,
09:27I averaged just 25 frames per second.
09:29Metro Exodus, same settings, 39 FPS.
09:32Not great, not terrible.
09:34Not great, not terrible.
09:36Although I would definitely recommend
09:38connecting a PlayStation or Xbox controller
09:40if you are going to play some games.
09:42So for me, it's the M1 chip on the inside
09:45that makes this worth the upgrade.
09:47But it's not just that.
09:48It's the M1 paired with the latest Big Sur software,
09:51which makes this a lot more interesting.
09:53Because you can actually run some iPhone and iPad apps,
09:56although the selection is pretty limited
09:58and I haven't really found this to be particularly useful so far.
10:01But as Apple's desktop and mobile worlds continue to merge,
10:05particularly with the new iPad Pros also packing an M1 chip,
10:08this iMac will be a lot more future-proof than an Intel one.
10:12Plus, of course, we have all the usual Apple ecosystem benefits,
10:15from your FaceTimes to your AirDrops,
10:17Handoff, iCloud, synced messages.
10:19None of those are unique to this new iMac,
10:22but if you are an iPhone or iPad user already,
10:25then they are good reasons to use one of these as your desktop computer.
10:28It's funny because when I first started this review,
10:31I thought this would be pretty straightforward.
10:33We've got a new design, a bunch of fancy colours and the M1 chip.
10:36But when you start to unpack that
10:38and then you also add in Touch ID keyboard,
10:41a much better webcam, great speakers and upgraded ports,
10:45in reality, this is actually a very significant upgrade.
10:49But I do have a couple of issues.
10:51For example, all the peripherals still charge via Lightning,
10:54not USB-C, although they do bundle a USB-C to Lightning connector cable in the box,
10:59so I'll let them off, but it just seems a bit old-fashioned.
11:02Also, Magic Mouse 2, even though they've gone to the trouble of matching the colour,
11:06still has this ridiculous charging design.
11:09Also, I think as impressively thin as it is,
11:12I just don't really care.
11:13Make it a bit thicker, stick the fans and components behind it,
11:16just get rid of this.
11:18And also, unlike a lot of all-in-ones,
11:20we're still not getting a touchscreen.
11:22So in some ways, an M1 iPad Pro might be a better option for some artists and designers,
11:27although that is still limited to iPadOS apps.
11:31And speaking of weird transitions,
11:34the 27-inch iMac feels a little bit left out.
11:37It's not been refreshed yet and it's still powered by last-gen Intel chips,
11:41although it is a lot more configurable
11:43and for professionals that need, you know, 128GB of RAM
11:47and have much deeper pockets,
11:49this is still going to be a better option for now.
11:51But I would expect an updated 27-inch or iMac Pro
11:55with a faster M1Z or M2 chip coming soon.
11:58But for the vast majority of people,
12:00even though this new iMac kind of feels like an old design with a fresh lick of paint,
12:04it is that new M1 chip with that big Sur software
12:07and a few of the nice extras that does make this,
12:09I think, genuinely worth upgrading to.
12:11But what do you reckon?
12:12Are you tempted to buy this?
12:13Or maybe wait for the 27-inch or the MacBook Pro 16?
12:16Let me know in the comments below.
12:18And also, let me know how the audio and the microphone quality has been throughout this video.
12:22Thank you so much for watching, guys.
12:24If you want to see more of me, then hit that like and subscribe button
12:26and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chap.