**Color Coordination: A New Era for Macs**
Apple has taken a significant step forward in its design philosophy with the introduction of color-coordinated keyboards and desktop wallpapers that match the chosen color of the Mac. This innovative approach extends to other aspects of the system, including the box it comes in, which features an image that matches the user's chosen color. The company's vision is to create a cohesive experience across all its products, ensuring that every Mac looks and feels like a part of a larger family.
The new 24-inch M1 iMac is the first product to showcase this bold design direction. While it may not be the most powerful machine in Apple's lineup, it serves as an excellent test case for these new color-coordinated designs. The iMac is designed to appeal to users who don't need a high-end desktop but still want a large screen experience. Its compact size and lightweight design make it ideal for home offices or living rooms where multiple people need access to a big machine.
The 24-inch iMac's target audience includes individuals who prefer an all-in-one computer setup, which is less common in modern homes with laptops dominating the workspace. Apple envisions this product as a family-friendly computer that can accommodate different profiles and user needs. With its large screen and comfortable design, it offers an excellent solution for families or small businesses looking to centralize their computing experience.
**Performance and Cooling**
When it comes to performance, the M1 chip delivers impressive results across various applications. As expected, minor variations in the M1 chip found in different systems mean that some configurations have a seven-core GPU, while others boast an eight-core GPU. These differences are largely due to the need for better cooling systems in larger machines like the iMac Pro. The addition of extra fans in higher-end models ensures improved thermal management and sustained performance.
For those who order the higher-end iMacs, this means reduced risk of overheating issues that can occur with fanless designs like the MacBook Air. This is particularly important for users working on demanding tasks or handling large files, as excessive heat can lead to decreased performance and system instability.
**The 24-inch iMac: A Versatile Companion**
Apple has envisioned a range of scenarios where the 24-inch iMac can prove itself useful. One potential application is in the kitchen, where a large screen and good camera make it ideal for watching recipes or following along with online cooking classes. The iMac's touchscreen capabilities would be beneficial here, although some users might find a separate touch display more convenient.
In other settings, such as professional video editing or photo editing, the 24-inch iMac may not be sufficient due to its limited RAM and storage capacity (16 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage on standard models). However, for most home users, it offers an excellent balance between performance, size, and price.
The future prospects for the 24-inch iMac include potential updates in terms of specs, such as increased RAM or storage options. Some speculate that this machine might eventually replace the MacBook Pro lineup or even become a desktop equivalent to the Mac Pro. While this is speculative, one thing is certain: Apple's innovative approach to design has opened doors for color-coordinated products across its product line.
**Testing and Expectations**
Those who have tested various M1 systems so far have reported positive results. Testing will continue as more M1 devices enter the market, including the upcoming iPad Pro. Currently, users can expect improved performance and sustained system temperatures due to better cooling systems in larger machines.
One notable aspect of the 24-inch iMac is its position as a "test case" for Apple's new design direction. This means that future color-coordinated products will likely build upon this innovative approach, making it easier for users to identify which Macs suit their needs and preferences. The prospect of purple or green MacBook Airs and Pro models has sparked excitement among enthusiasts, who eagerly await the possibility of more colorful options.
As Apple continues to refine its design philosophy, one thing is clear: color coordination is here to stay. With a range of products now available in coordinated colors, users can look forward to a cohesive experience across their Mac lineup. The 24-inch iMac serves as an excellent starting point for this journey, offering a unique blend of performance, convenience, and style that has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with our computers.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyes the new 24-inch imac comes in a variety of cool crazy colors but the most important visual thing is actually what you're seeing right here now i'm going to explain what i mean by that this is a video shot directly with the camera built into the new imac it's a 1080p camera a full hd camera a lot of other macs including the predecessor to this model the 21.5 inch imac and the macbook and the macbook pro they all have pretty low-ish and 720p cameras no one's really been happy with them for many years but even uh fancier laptop cameras have not been that good either we've all discovered that during the covet era when we're doing a lot of zoom meetings so only a handful of laptops actually have 1080 cameras now we have this 24 inch model we have last year's 27 inch imac which also moved up to a 1080p camera and man i could really tell the difference what apple says about this model is that the hardware is upgraded from what's in that 27-inch intel imac from last year and also the new m1 platform gives it more headroom to have image software processing going on behind the scenes so that your image looks even better it has a lot to do with uh lighting and color correction and as you can see here i'm in a fairly challenging lighting situation i'm very heavily backlit i'm in kind of a dim area right now and yet i think the image quality is pretty darn good but what good does that do you what do you get to look at well you get to look at all these crazy new colors this is not something we've seen apple do on computers for a while iphones have been available in colors for a long time now and yes some of the macbooks you can get in silver or gray or kind of a gold that looks like a mix between silver and gray but they were not really bold vibrant colors this is very clearly a throwback to that old imac g3 from the 90s where it had a big crt display and it kind of dressed that up a bit with these semi-transparent candy colored shells it's really a great moment in home computer design and i'm very excited to see something i could come back because it's still pretty rare to find really cool colors on a desktop or a laptop or a chromebook so with that the design of this system is entirely different the imac design has stood for many many years really goes back to at least 2012 for the current version and there you've got a big screen it bows out in the back that's where kind of all the computer parts are and is a big hefty foot that it stands on and the screen rotates up and down on that and frankly the 27 shymack weighed like 20 pounds the 21 inch imac weighed like 12 pounds so this new guy weighs 9 pounds and it was amazingly easy to just pick up unplug it carry to another room plug it in somewhere i moved around my house a bunch actually especially you might want to do that if you're going to do wet meetings from the living room or from your home office or you're down or the kitchen at least it's easier to carry a 9 pound big screen around than a 12 pound or 20 pound one now i went with the orange color it's got a bit of a creamsicly like feeling to it it's paler in the front and deeper in the back that's true of all of the new imac colors they have a little bit of a more washed out version in the front and they have a more vibrant version in the back that flows through the foot the foot is now very squared off before it was more trapezoidal and it also follows you through to other parts of the system you get a matching keyboard and you get a matching mouse or touchpad or both if you order both and the keyboard has a color running you know right through it white keys on the colored background the touchpad and the mouse they've got some colored accents on the bottom and sides less obvious but still a nice color matched look now there's a couple of things to watch out for with the keyboards if you order the base price 24 inch imac the 12.99 version you will get a keyboard that does not have the touch id fingerprint sensor built in and that has become so useful on so many devices especially now that they've added it to macbooks where you just put your finger right on the on the fingerprint reader and and it unlocks your system uh super useful and it's really been annoying on an imac frankly to type in my password every time i want to do something that's number one you don't get that you have to spend i think an extra fifty dollars to get that upgrade you could trade up to the 1499 imac or one of the higher end models and you'll get the fingerprint reader built right in you can also spend a little bit more on top of that and get one with a fingerprint reader and a number pad the other thing to watch out for is you can only get the keyboards in the color that you choose your mac you can't mix a a green mac and a blue keyboard or anything like that everything is color matched and that actually extends to the desktop wallpaper that comes with the system and the box it comes in the image on the box is your color of imac and even the handle on top of the box is your color of imac at some point in the future maybe apple will let you buy different colored keyboards or buy the touch id keyboard if you don't already have it do a little mix and match or just get them and use them with another system they are not allowing that yet i do have reason to feel slightly hopeful however because the really cool dark gray imac keyboard that came with the imac pro that was not available separately at first and then later it was when it comes to performance i pretty much knew what to expect in the new 24 inch m1 imac because this is essentially the same computer in a lot of ways as the m1 macbook air as the m1 13 inch macbook pro and as the mac mini there were some minor minor differences in in the m1 that some of these systems use some of them have a seven core gpu some they have an eight core gpu and some of the systems have more fans in them for better cooling so the chip can run hotter for sustained periods of time and you can get better performance that way but again testing now four m1 systems and it'll be five uh if we get to test the m1 powered ipad pro i'm not seeing a ton of daylight in the results now again in the imac if you order one of the higher end models you get the 8 core gpu version and i believe you get an extra fan inside that will help with cooling and this is a bigger system uh so so you shouldn't have some of the cooling issues and thermal issues that you have with something like the macbook air which is currently fanless and can obviously get very hot under sustained workloads so who is the 24-inch imac supposed to be for apple has a lot of interesting ideas about where you might use a 24-inch imac a lot of people don't have all-in-one desktops at home they just use laptops everywhere and you know the home office makes sense and the living room makes sense and all in one computer like the imac makes for a better family computer especially you put different people's profiles on it and everyone can sort of use a big machine in a central location that's less useful now that everyone is doing remote schooling and remote work and kind of needs their own machine but you know still nice to have a big screen everybody can use uh one idea apple pitched was using this as a kitchen computer maybe you'd be watching some recipes or following along while you make something in the kitchen or doing an online cooking class i could see that because i've done that through a macbook and i'd much rather have a big screen with a better camera for that there's nothing particularly special about the imac that makes it kitchen resistant in terms of moisture or dust it's built to the same standards as other imacs and other macbooks are and frankly a lot of people would probably find a touch screen more useful to use in a kitchen but that said the imac is really light easy to just pick up and carry into another room so i went and put in the kitchen and played around with it a bit and you know what if i had space in my kitchen i could see that if you are a high-end video editor special effects person even high-end photo editing this may not be the imac for you you top out at 16 gigs of ram you top out at two terabytes of storage on these regular m1 macs i'm able to run uh you know premiere and davinci resolve i can do some editing with with 4k clips i can even preview in 4k most of the time if i don't have you know a lot of effects running uh but if you're a real video pro you're probably waiting for the 27-inch imac version of this with an m1 just to see how high up the specs go how much ram you can add how much hard drive space what other extras they have or maybe even eventually the mac pro desktop which i would presume will get that m1 treatment someday as well but obviously the 24-inch imac is never going to be the best-selling product in apple's computer lineup this really feels like a test case for these new colors and i'm sure everyone is going to want to see them move on to other mac products i know i would love to get a purple macbook air or a green macbook pro because once we've opened that colorful pandora's box there's really no going backyes the new 24-inch imac comes in a variety of cool crazy colors but the most important visual thing is actually what you're seeing right here now i'm going to explain what i mean by that this is a video shot directly with the camera built into the new imac it's a 1080p camera a full hd camera a lot of other macs including the predecessor to this model the 21.5 inch imac and the macbook and the macbook pro they all have pretty low-ish and 720p cameras no one's really been happy with them for many years but even uh fancier laptop cameras have not been that good either we've all discovered that during the covet era when we're doing a lot of zoom meetings so only a handful of laptops actually have 1080 cameras now we have this 24 inch model we have last year's 27 inch imac which also moved up to a 1080p camera and man i could really tell the difference what apple says about this model is that the hardware is upgraded from what's in that 27-inch intel imac from last year and also the new m1 platform gives it more headroom to have image software processing going on behind the scenes so that your image looks even better it has a lot to do with uh lighting and color correction and as you can see here i'm in a fairly challenging lighting situation i'm very heavily backlit i'm in kind of a dim area right now and yet i think the image quality is pretty darn good but what good does that do you what do you get to look at well you get to look at all these crazy new colors this is not something we've seen apple do on computers for a while iphones have been available in colors for a long time now and yes some of the macbooks you can get in silver or gray or kind of a gold that looks like a mix between silver and gray but they were not really bold vibrant colors this is very clearly a throwback to that old imac g3 from the 90s where it had a big crt display and it kind of dressed that up a bit with these semi-transparent candy colored shells it's really a great moment in home computer design and i'm very excited to see something i could come back because it's still pretty rare to find really cool colors on a desktop or a laptop or a chromebook so with that the design of this system is entirely different the imac design has stood for many many years really goes back to at least 2012 for the current version and there you've got a big screen it bows out in the back that's where kind of all the computer parts are and is a big hefty foot that it stands on and the screen rotates up and down on that and frankly the 27 shymack weighed like 20 pounds the 21 inch imac weighed like 12 pounds so this new guy weighs 9 pounds and it was amazingly easy to just pick up unplug it carry to another room plug it in somewhere i moved around my house a bunch actually especially you might want to do that if you're going to do wet meetings from the living room or from your home office or you're down or the kitchen at least it's easier to carry a 9 pound big screen around than a 12 pound or 20 pound one now i went with the orange color it's got a bit of a creamsicly like feeling to it it's paler in the front and deeper in the back that's true of all of the new imac colors they have a little bit of a more washed out version in the front and they have a more vibrant version in the back that flows through the foot the foot is now very squared off before it was more trapezoidal and it also follows you through to other parts of the system you get a matching keyboard and you get a matching mouse or touchpad or both if you order both and the keyboard has a color running you know right through it white keys on the colored background the touchpad and the mouse they've got some colored accents on the bottom and sides less obvious but still a nice color matched look now there's a couple of things to watch out for with the keyboards if you order the base price 24 inch imac the 12.99 version you will get a keyboard that does not have the touch id fingerprint sensor built in and that has become so useful on so many devices especially now that they've added it to macbooks where you just put your finger right on the on the fingerprint reader and and it unlocks your system uh super useful and it's really been annoying on an imac frankly to type in my password every time i want to do something that's number one you don't get that you have to spend i think an extra fifty dollars to get that upgrade you could trade up to the 1499 imac or one of the higher end models and you'll get the fingerprint reader built right in you can also spend a little bit more on top of that and get one with a fingerprint reader and a number pad the other thing to watch out for is you can only get the keyboards in the color that you choose your mac you can't mix a a green mac and a blue keyboard or anything like that everything is color matched and that actually extends to the desktop wallpaper that comes with the system and the box it comes in the image on the box is your color of imac and even the handle on top of the box is your color of imac at some point in the future maybe apple will let you buy different colored keyboards or buy the touch id keyboard if you don't already have it do a little mix and match or just get them and use them with another system they are not allowing that yet i do have reason to feel slightly hopeful however because the really cool dark gray imac keyboard that came with the imac pro that was not available separately at first and then later it was when it comes to performance i pretty much knew what to expect in the new 24 inch m1 imac because this is essentially the same computer in a lot of ways as the m1 macbook air as the m1 13 inch macbook pro and as the mac mini there were some minor minor differences in in the m1 that some of these systems use some of them have a seven core gpu some they have an eight core gpu and some of the systems have more fans in them for better cooling so the chip can run hotter for sustained periods of time and you can get better performance that way but again testing now four m1 systems and it'll be five uh if we get to test the m1 powered ipad pro i'm not seeing a ton of daylight in the results now again in the imac if you order one of the higher end models you get the 8 core gpu version and i believe you get an extra fan inside that will help with cooling and this is a bigger system uh so so you shouldn't have some of the cooling issues and thermal issues that you have with something like the macbook air which is currently fanless and can obviously get very hot under sustained workloads so who is the 24-inch imac supposed to be for apple has a lot of interesting ideas about where you might use a 24-inch imac a lot of people don't have all-in-one desktops at home they just use laptops everywhere and you know the home office makes sense and the living room makes sense and all in one computer like the imac makes for a better family computer especially you put different people's profiles on it and everyone can sort of use a big machine in a central location that's less useful now that everyone is doing remote schooling and remote work and kind of needs their own machine but you know still nice to have a big screen everybody can use uh one idea apple pitched was using this as a kitchen computer maybe you'd be watching some recipes or following along while you make something in the kitchen or doing an online cooking class i could see that because i've done that through a macbook and i'd much rather have a big screen with a better camera for that there's nothing particularly special about the imac that makes it kitchen resistant in terms of moisture or dust it's built to the same standards as other imacs and other macbooks are and frankly a lot of people would probably find a touch screen more useful to use in a kitchen but that said the imac is really light easy to just pick up and carry into another room so i went and put in the kitchen and played around with it a bit and you know what if i had space in my kitchen i could see that if you are a high-end video editor special effects person even high-end photo editing this may not be the imac for you you top out at 16 gigs of ram you top out at two terabytes of storage on these regular m1 macs i'm able to run uh you know premiere and davinci resolve i can do some editing with with 4k clips i can even preview in 4k most of the time if i don't have you know a lot of effects running uh but if you're a real video pro you're probably waiting for the 27-inch imac version of this with an m1 just to see how high up the specs go how much ram you can add how much hard drive space what other extras they have or maybe even eventually the mac pro desktop which i would presume will get that m1 treatment someday as well but obviously the 24-inch imac is never going to be the best-selling product in apple's computer lineup this really feels like a test case for these new colors and i'm sure everyone is going to want to see them move on to other mac products i know i would love to get a purple macbook air or a green macbook pro because once we've opened that colorful pandora's box there's really no going back\n"
