Apple iMac (M3, 2023) release date, price, features and specs

Apple’s first all-in-one desktop to include Apple silicon, the M1 iMac, was released in 2021, and since then, rumours swirled about what the next iteration would be like. Finally, the M3 iMac is here and the majority of the rumours have turned out to be pretty much on the money.

Here’s all you need to know about the iMac (M3, 2023) including what it offers, how it differs from its predecessor and when and where you will be able to buy it.

Apple iMac M3 price and availability

The new iMac was announced as part of Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ event on the 30th October, 2023. The key announcement was the introduction of three new chips; the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. These are the first 3nm Apple chips outside of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the first 3nm chips to ever appear in a personal computer. The iMac (M3, 2023) is available to pre-order now, and will be available from 7 November so there’s not too long to wait.

The entry-level M1 iMac launched in 2021 costing $1299/£1399. The new 2023 iMac is available at exactly the same price point, which we are pleasantly surprised to see. In a world of ever-increasing prices, it’s great to see some things stay the same. If you want to fully max out the specs, you can get the four port 2023 iMac with an M3 chip sporting 8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, a 2TB SSD, 24GB of unified memory, a Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and numeric keypad for an eyewatering $2858. If that’s your thing.

Apple iMac 2023 hardware

Apple

The 24-inch iMac that was released in 2021 uses the M1 system-on-a-chip, so you might expect that any update would move to the M2 processor. Despite M2 chips appearing in products such as the 2022 MacBook Air however, the 2023 iMac has skipped the M2 chip and is powered by the brand new M3 chip.

The new M3 chip has the same CPU count as the M1 chip in the 2021 iMac, with an 8-core CPU. The GPU core count is a little higher, however, with an 8-core GPU in the base model, and a 10-core GPU in the four-port iMac. The chip is built using a 3nm design process that makes the chip more power efficient and is able to cram in 25 billion transistors. Apple says that the performance cores in the M3 chip are up to 30 per cent faster than the M1 chip, and the efficiency cores are up to 50 per cent faster. All of which combine to make the M3 iMac up to twice as fast as the M1 iMac. Apple states that apps like Safari and Excel will run up to 30 per cent faster, with editing apps such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro running up to twice as fast.

Apple

The M3 SoC also has some additional upgrades, including Dynamic Caching which makes better use of the GPU cores, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing. This allows the M3 iMac to perform rendering 2.5 times faster than the M1 iMac, making games load faster and giving up to 50 per cent faster frame rates.

The storage options for the 2023 iMac haven’t changed, with the base model coming with a 256GB SSD, alongside the option to upgrade to 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB. One notable difference is that there’s now an option to upgrade the unified memory even higher than before. The 2021 iMac comes with 8GB and the option to upgrade to 16GB; the 2023 iMac has 8GB, 16GB, and 24GB options.

The majority of the rest of the hardware is the same, with two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, and two additional USB 3 ports on the four-port model. There’s an upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E however, which is less prone to congestion than the Wi-Fi 6 found in the 2021 iMac, so it should be able to offer a faster connection.

Apple iMac 2023 design

Apple

If you were hoping for a stunning new design for the next iMac, then you’re likely to be disappointed. The exterior of the 2023 iMac is exactly the same as the 2021 iMac, with the same 24-inch screen size, same overall design, and even the same colour options of green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.

Even the dimensions are the same, with the upgraded internals not having had any impact on the thickness of the iMac, which was already impressively thin. The only physical difference is that the new iMac is a touch lighter, at 4.43kg compared to the 4.46kg of the 2021 iMac.

Apple iMac 2023 screen size

Apple

There have been some rumours that there might be a 27-inch iMac or 32-inch iMac on the cards, and the fact that the 2021 iMac was listed as the iMac 24-inch on Apple’s website convinced some people that a larger iMac is on the way. If that is the case, it won’t be coming any time soon; the new 2023 iMac has the exact same 24-inch screen used in the 2021 iMac.

It’s a 4.5K Retina display with a 4480 x 2520 resolution and 500nits brightness, exactly the same as on the previous model.

Apple

Apple iMac 24-inch (M3, 2023)