Apple’s Spring Loaded event for 2021 has just ended this morning (Malaysia time), and it is packed. We expected a new iMac all-in-one Mac for your desk. We did not expect the iMac to look quite so good though.
To start with, Apple opens the new iMac launch with seven different colours. Technically, there are six new different colours and one good ol’ silver colour. What really stuck us though was how thin the iMac looks.
They say that the iMac is now only 11.5mm thick. This is achievable thanks to the redesigned motherboard and cooling hardware for the Apple iMac. The redesign is also mostly thanks to the integrated chip that is the Apple M1 silicon. That is the same M1 chip you will find on the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac, and now the new iPad Pro too.
The new powerful integrated chip allows the motherboard to be one-third its previous design. It also allows much smaller cooling fans. Both of those combined, not only allows the iMac to be thinner than ever. It also allows the iMac to be more efficient and even quieter than before in terms of actual noise and space.
Of course, you can opt to make it loud with its colour seven colour options. But it can also be loud by playing music or watching movies and other types of video contents. The iMac now has six speakers instead of four for an even more powerful audio experience. Apple says that the six speakers should really enhance the Dolby Atmos experience from the 24-incher all-in-one desktop.
The six speakers is placed below the 24-inch display that blasts 4.5K Retina resolution with P3 wide colour gamut at up to 500 nits in brightness. That also means that you can really enjoy movies on the display at 4K HDR even, so this can really be your all-in-one entertainment machine too. Of course, 4.5K can also benefit your workflow, especially when you work with a lot of video and photographs. But it also helps you look at your friends or colleagues clearly when you make video calls.
In terms of video calls, Apple has also included the best-in-class Full HD video camera. To be fair, you hardly get a Full HD webcam on any modern PC still, so having a higher resolution with better image quality does really help especially in the majority of work-from-home situations currently. That is not all though. Apple has tuned its mic to focus on the voices that are directly in front of it instead of picking up sounds from other parts of the room so that your video conference can go on nicely without the interference of the other things happening at your environment.
Of course, minimalist designs have to come with minimalist accessories. That is also why the Apple iMac comes with an innovative single power connector that is attached magnetically to the back of the device. That also means you do not have to feel around of the pins and hope to be lucky when you slot in your cable. To ensure that it lasts and looks as good as the iMac, it is a woven cable that runs down the back of the iMac to a square power adapter you can put on the floor or hide behind your desk. The power adapter also has an ethernet port for you to connect the iMac to the internet via LAN cable instead of via WiFi for a more stable networking.
Other updated accessories include two new Magic Keyboard that comes in colour matching aluminium shells, colour matching Magic Mouse, and colour matching Magic Trackpad. While the Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse has not changed much, the new keyboards are a little different though; at least for one of the variants you can get.
You can now opt for a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. This is the first time we see a fingerprint sensor implemented on a desktop PC, and wirelessly for that matter. You can choose between a Touch ID Magic Keyboard with or without the numeric keypad.
The new 2021 24-inch iMac will be available 30th April onward in selected markets. It comes in two GPU options with multiple storage options starting from a 7-core GPU + 256GB combination at a starting price of US$ 1,299 (MYR 5,599*). The other one is an 8-core GPU + 256GB combination at US$ 1,499 (MYR 6,499*). For Malaysia, the spec tops out at 8-core GPU + 512GB combination at MYR 7,249*. For more information, you can head over to Apple’s website.
*Official Malaysia pricing as per Apple Malaysia
