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24" M1 iMac 1 Month Later Review!

12:17 video

The long-awaited refresh of Apple’s most popular desktop Mac arrived a month ago, with a new design, new internals and a couple of new features, but fewer ports. Skillshare sponsored this video. The previous iMac design dated back to 2012.

Design

The new iMac is mind-blowingly thin: with the computer built in (display, CPU, memory, fans, speakers, camera and microphones), it’s just 11.5 mm thick, barely thicker than an iPhone 12 Pro in a silicone case. With the stand, the whole thing is under 10 pounds, which makes it easy to move and fit anywhere, even built-in nooks, but it can tip if you bump it, and if you trip on the new magnetic power cord, the iMac will probably follow. It doesn’t feel as stable as previous iMacs. (In the box, the iMac is upside down, a totally different unboxing experience.)

The back has two or four ports (depending on the model), a magnetic power connection and a headphone jack on the side. The camera sits in a white bezel, with speaker and fan grills at the bottom.

Colors

When announced, I said some harsh things about the colors and design. After a month, I’d recommend the silver model. The back of the orange iMac is striking (next to the green, I drool a little), but in nearly every case the back faces a wall, and what you actually see is a slightly orange, coppery stand and an even paler color below the display. It’s not a color that works for me. Any colored iMac will stand out in whatever environment you put it in and may not match your room later. Silver goes with everything and will stand up better.

White bezels

Many creators (me included) disliked the white bezels because of their effect on white balance during color work. I prefer black bezels, but in my use over the last month I haven’t had problems verifying colors or brightness.

Display

Great, with the quality you expect from Apple: 4.5K resolution at 24 inches, the same 218 ppi as the 4K iMac, the 27-inch iMac and even the 32-inch Pro Display XDR. It’s bright (up to 500 nits), color accurate (P3 wide color) and has True Tone. The only thing it lacks versus the 2020 27-inch iMac is HDR. I prefer 27 or 32 inches, but this can definitely get the job done, and your brain adapts.

Speakers, mics and camera

  • Speakers: a six-speaker array with force-canceling woofers and a tweeter on each side. They sound good for the size, with clear separation between low and high end, though the woofers won’t shake your house. The 27-inch iMac gets louder and punchier, but I think the 24-inch is clearer.
  • Mics: I do lots of work audio calls, pacing around my office, and since I started using this iMac, no one has told me they couldn’t hear me or that I was unclear or echoing. Previous Macs, iPhones and iPads often got negative feedback as speakerphones.
  • Camera: a 1080p camera with the M1’s new image signal processor: probably the best FaceTime camera experience I’ve had on a computer, finally on par with the iPad and iPhone, brighter and sharper with better color and less grain.

Models and price

  • Base ($1,299): 8-core M1 with a 7-core GPU, 8 GB of memory, 256 GB of storage and two Thunderbolt ports.
  • Mid-tier ($1,499): an 8-core GPU, two additional USB-C ports, an Ethernet port on the power adapter and Touch ID on the keyboard.

Performance

Similar to the other M1 machines, with a slight graphics difference from the extra GPU core. I used the mid-tier for a month and it’s fantastic: the single-core performance makes everything (opening apps and pages, scrubbing timelines) fast and fluid, even on the base model. The only issue is an occasional stutter or beach ball when editing a large video with many apps open, probably related to memory.

Ports

I share the concern about Apple removing ports: most people still have USB-A accessories and now need a dongle for a flash drive or card reader. Ethernet on the power adapter in the upgraded model feels forced, with the Mac mini still having ports. The solution I like fits any model: a CalDigit dock, which brings back USB-A, extra USB-C, card readers, Ethernet and more with one cord, and can even add a second display. For more than 256 GB, use an external drive (a Thunderbolt drive for the fastest storage, like the four I tested in a previous video). Thunderbolt isn’t quite as fast on M1 as on Intel, but it’s fast enough.

Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

The best thing about the upgraded model (or adding the keyboard to the base) is Touch ID: quick unlock, login, Apple Pay and system-wide authentication, matching your iMac’s color. Apple Watch unlock is unreliable by comparison, but Touch ID is extremely fast and accurate. If I go back to my 27-inch iMac, I’ll instantly miss it.

Verdict

After a month, I’m really impressed: a nifty design that seems impossible, optional colors, a new keyboard with Touch ID and fantastic power for a regular computer user. It isn’t the pro iMac some hoped for, but it’s a great start and a good indication of what’s coming. Do you like the new iMacs, or were you expecting something different?

Skillshare’s spot recommended MKBHD’s YouTube Success class, which breaks down how he creates a video from idea and script to editing and growing a channel, including microphone and lighting placement and a better script. The first 1,000 people using the link get a free trial of Skillshare Premium.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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