The M4 that Apple announced for the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models features a 9-core CPU and 10-core CPU. At the time, this was the base version that was followed by a slightly powerful version featuring a 10-core CPU. However, with the introduction of the latest iMac, the technology giant has unveiled a third and slower variant of the M4, one that features fewer CPU and GPU cores.
The new M4 iMac will be slower than the new iPad Pro models, but it ships with 16GB unified RAM as standard
If you visit the M4 iMac configuration page right now, you will notice that Apple is taking pre-orders for its latest ‘All In One.’ Where previous-generation iMac models shipped with a measly 8GB unified RAM, Apple has doubled that to 16GB while maintaining the same 256GB of onboard storage. What is even more impressive is the fact that the company is charging the same $1,299 for the base configuration, suggesting that it can bump up the RAM count without charging the ‘Apple Tax’ from customers.
The disappointing aspect of the M4 iMac is that it still ships with 256GB of SSD space, which will be insufficient for the majority of buyers, with some of the capacity utilized by the operating system. Fortunately, thanks to the inclusion of two Thunderbolt ports, users can upgrade to a high-capacity portable SSD like the 2TB version of the Samsung T7 and get more storage for a little extra money. However, this is just a ‘bandage’ solution, and it would have been better if Apple added 512GB of storage as standard.
After all, based on the leaked M4 MacBook Pro configurations, the company is introducing 16GB of unified RAM as standard, along with 512GB of storage, so why is the M4 iMac being left out? Also, the downgraded version of the M4 means that just like the A17 Pro found in the new iPad mini 7, Apple has resorted to chip-binning on the latest iMac, which only means slower multi-core and graphics performance.
It appears that to maintain the same $1,299 price as the previous models, Apple had to save on component costs by using a binned part, as it might not have been possible to offer a 9-core CPU or the 10-core CPU version of the M4 while also offering the 16GB RAM upgrade. In short, you are getting something with the latest hardware but also giving up something.
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