{"id":32206,"date":"2021-04-20T15:59:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=32206"},"modified":"2024-10-01T14:29:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T18:29:16","slug":"imac-24-inch-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/20\/imac-24-inch-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"iMac 24-inch 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/newsroom\/2021\/04\/imac-features-all-new-design-in-vibrant-colors-m1-chip-and-45k-retina-display\/\">Apple<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2021\/04\/20\/apple-announces-redesigned-imac\/\">MacRumors<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=26878329\">Hacker<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=26877806\">News<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/newsroom\/2021\/04\/imac-features-all-new-design-in-vibrant-colors-m1-chip-and-45k-retina-display\/\"><p>Apple today introduced an all-new iMac featuring a much more compact and remarkably thin design, enabled by the M1 chip. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/imac\/\">new iMac<\/a> offers powerful performance in a design that&rsquo;s just 11.5 millimeters thin, with a striking side profile that practically disappears. Available in an array of vibrant colors to match a user&rsquo;s personal style and brighten any space, iMac features a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness, and over a billion colors, delivering a brilliant and vivid viewing experience.<\/p><p>The new iMac also includes a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, studio-quality mics, and a six-speaker sound system &mdash; the best camera and audio ever in a Mac. Also, Touch ID comes to iMac for the first time[&#8230;]<\/p><p>[&#8230;]<\/p><p>To complete the simplified design, iMac comes with a new power connector that attaches magnetically and a beautifully woven 2-meter-long color-matched cable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That would be even more useful on a notebook computer&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;d like to see it in person, but I&rsquo;m a bit skeptical of the white bezel. Everything else sounds pretty great, and there&rsquo;s no longer a premium for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/buy-mac\/imac-vesa\">VESA models<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the specifications are limited compared with the previous model:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Display is 24 inches (4.5K, 2,240&#xD7;1,260) vs. 27 inches (5K, 2,560&#xD7;1,440).<\/li>\n<li>RAM only goes to 16 GB.<\/li>\n<li>0 or 2 USB ports instead of 4.<\/li>\n<li>No USB-A.<\/li>\n<li>No SD card slot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, presumably there will be a new iMac Pro sometime in the next year or so. Perhaps it will have a faster processor than the other M1 Macs. Ideally, for those of us with DTK coupons, this will be out before the end of the year, along with a 16-inch MacBook Pro and an external display.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2021\/04\/20\/new-m1-imac-accessories\/\">Mitchel Broussard<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2021\/04\/20\/new-m1-imac-accessories\/\"><p>Alongside the brand new M1 iMac, Apple today revealed a collection of accessories for the desktop computer. The biggest product is a new version of the Magic Keyboard that includes support for Touch ID, providing quick access to macOS and even allowing users to switch profiles with the touch of their finger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Alas, it has the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/praeclarum\/status\/1384561632815190021\">bad arrow key layout<\/a>, even though Apple already fixed this on its notebooks. I&rsquo;m not sure whether it&rsquo;s still <a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/07\/the-magic-keyboard-with-numeric-keypad-is-apparently-bendy\/\">bendy<\/a> or suffers from the <a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/15\/continued-mac-bluetooth-problems\/\">Bluetooth problems<\/a> that forced me back to a wired keyboard.<\/p>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/08\/goodbye-imac-pro\/\">Goodbye, iMac Pro<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/04\/apple-wants-developer-transition-kits-back\/\">Apple Wants Developer Transition Kits Back<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/04\/imac-2020\/\">iMac 2020<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/10\/one-more-thing-apple-silicon-macs\/\">One More Thing: Apple Silicon Macs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Update (2021-04-20): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScooterComputer\/status\/1384585420651077634\">Scott<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScooterComputer\/status\/1384585420651077634\">\n<p>The ONE thing that I didn&rsquo;t see, am not seeing, that I wanted, NEEDED to see with new iMacs is the ability to use the iMac as an external display over Type C.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JPEGuin\/status\/1384571267752288264\">Shihab<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JPEGuin\/status\/1384571267752288264\">\n<p>Hot take: The iMac didn&rsquo;t need to be thinner. The bezels (AND CHIN) needed to be reduced.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2021-04-22\">Update (2021-04-22): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MKBHD\/status\/1384578916350836736\">Marques Brownlee<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MKBHD\/status\/1384578916350836736\">\n<p>Fun fact: This new iMac is so thin (11.5mm) that it can&rsquo;t fit a headphone jack on the back (typically 14mm deep) so they HAD to put it on the side.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/512pixels.net\/2021\/04\/the-chin\/\">Stephen Hackett<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/512pixels.net\/2021\/04\/the-chin\/\"><p>The machine&rsquo;s tiny logic board, two small fans and the improved speakers are all housed in that chin, with the 24-inch display sitting <em>above<\/em> these internals, not <em>in front<\/em> of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sixcolors.com\/post\/2021\/04\/notes-on-the-m1-imac\/\">Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/sixcolors.com\/post\/2021\/04\/notes-on-the-m1-imac\/\">\n<p>That power brick also cleverly includes an Ethernet jack, so that&rsquo;s one fewer cable that needs to snake across your desk and attach to the back of your iMac. I love the idea, and hope Apple explores a bit more functionality in this brick in the future. If I could plug a couple of USB devices into a hidden power brick instead of having to route them up to the back of my iMac on my desk, I&rsquo;d love it.<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;d also like Apple to consider making some sort of extension cable or offering a version of the cable in longer lengths; two meters <em>seems<\/em> like a long distance, but it won&rsquo;t reach the floor if my adjustable sit-stand desk is in its standing configuration.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>But my bigger disappointment with the iMac stand is that its height is not adjustable. These gorgeous iMacs are going to go out in the world, and then people are going to have to stick old ratty dictionaries and encyclopedias under them in order to get them up to the right height.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2021\/04\/21\/touch-id-magic-keyboard-m1-ipad-pro\/\">Joe Rossignol<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2021\/04\/21\/touch-id-magic-keyboard-m1-ipad-pro\/\">\n<p>While the Touch ID sensor on the new Magic Keyboard is compatible with all M1 Macs, including the new iMac and last fall&rsquo;s 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, MacRumors has confirmed with Apple that the Touch ID sensor will not function with the new iPad Pro, even though it also has an M1 chip.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mrmacintosh.com\/the-new-2021-24-m1-imac-everything-you-need-to-know\/\">Mr. Macintosh<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mrmacintosh.com\/the-new-2021-24-m1-imac-everything-you-need-to-know\/\">\n<p>I know you have questions, and I&rsquo;m here to answer them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2021-05-03\">Update (2021-05-03): <a href=\"http:\/\/morrick.me\/archives\/9313\">Riccardo Mori<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/morrick.me\/archives\/9313\"><p>That&rsquo;s why these three iMac tiers feel so contrived to me. It&rsquo;s not an additive configuration model, where you start with a decent base machine (the <em>good<\/em> tier) and you add meaningful features to it to create the <em>better<\/em> tier machine, and then you add some more perks to end up offering the <em>best<\/em> tier machine. With the new iMac you have a subtractive configuration model: you start by what is essentially a <em>reasonable<\/em> configuration by 2021 standards &mdash; the most expensive $1,699 iMac &mdash; and then <em>remove<\/em> functionalities from it to offer two more lower tiers which do cost less, yes, but also leave you with a machine with the bare minimum of ports, performance, memory and storage &mdash; and neither of these latter features are upgradable down the road.<\/p><p>I realise that computers are de facto household appliances by now, but this trend towards devices with immutable innards once you pick a configuration at the time of purchase still feels annoying and ridiculous to me. Computers aren&rsquo;t devices you replace every year. Your needs may change over time. If there&rsquo;s something you constantly need more of as time goes by is storage space. Internal drives should <em>always<\/em> be upgradable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/04\/spring_loaded_thoughts_and_observations\">John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/04\/spring_loaded_thoughts_and_observations\">\n<p>These new iMacs are just 11.5mm thick. How thin is that? Apple Watch Series 6 is 10.7mm thick. These new iMacs are less than 1mm thicker than a goddamned Apple Watch.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Making these new iMacs super thin is <em>cool<\/em>. It&rsquo;s a statement. From the side they look like big 24-inch iPads. If you don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s cool and that <em>cool<\/em> is something Apple should aspire to in its design and engineering, I have no idea why you&rsquo;re reading anything I write.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2021-05-18\">Update (2021-05-18): <a href=\"https:\/\/sixcolors.com\/post\/2021\/05\/24-inch-m1-imac-review\/\">Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/sixcolors.com\/post\/2021\/05\/24-inch-m1-imac-review\/\">\n<p>When the iMac began to slim down in the middle of the last decade, there was a lot of criticism about Apple having misplaced priorities. After all, the arguments went, it doesn&rsquo;t matter how heavy or thick an iMac is if you&rsquo;re just setting it down once and then staring at the screen the rest of the time.<\/p>\n<p>There&rsquo;s some truth in that, but it&rsquo;s wrong to discount the importance of a thin, light adjustable iMac.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>I should mention that the screen itself is &ldquo;color matched&rdquo; to the iMac, in a way: Apple has supplied background images for each iMac that match its color, and even the General pane of System Preferences is set by default to use an accent color that matches the iMac itself.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Just above the iMac&rsquo;s screen is its camera, and while Apple is probably right when it says it&rsquo;s the best camera ever in a Mac, this is faint praise.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Center Stage is a feature that actually makes more sense on the iMac than a light, mobile device like the iPad&mdash;and yet it&rsquo;s missing in action. It&rsquo;s a disappointing case of Apple&rsquo;s different platforms being out of sync, and the iMac looks worse because of it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/review\/m1-imac\/\">Joe Rossignol<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macstories.net\/news\/m1-imac-review-roundup\/\">John Voorhees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2021-05-19\">Update (2021-05-19): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rydermackay\/status\/1394775581363998727\">Ryder Mackay<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rydermackay\/status\/1394775581363998727\">\n<p>Spoilers:<\/p>\n<pre>defaults write -g NSColorSimulateHardwareAccent -bool YES\ndefaults write -g NSColorSimulatedHardwareEnclosureNumber -int n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/05\/the_24_inch_m1_imac\">John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/05\/the_24_inch_m1_imac\">\n<p>I know a lot of people are concerned that the white bezel surrounding the display will be distracting. In practice, I found that it just disappears.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The new Touch ID keyboard is good. If you like the feel of Apple&rsquo;s recent keyboards, you should like this one too. I got the smaller one, without the numeric keypad. My only layout gripe: I wish Apple would have gone back to the inverted-T arrow key layout that they brought back to the new MacBooks.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>My question is, why go with Touch ID on the keyboard instead of Face ID on the iMac itself?<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The FaceTime HD camera looks really good.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s risky to use a device for a week and declare that it&rsquo;s an iconic design that will stand the test of time for years to come, but I&rsquo;ll do it. The 24-inch M1 iMac is an iconic design that will stand the test of time for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2021-06-02\">Update (2021-06-02): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SnazzyQ\/status\/1399744933376888836\">Quinn Nelson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SnazzyQ\/status\/1399744933376888836\">\n<p>The new iMac&rsquo;s stand articulates even less than the previous iMac. I can forgive tilt, but zero height adjustability in 2021 is unacceptable and encourages poor posture, neck craning, and RSI-resulting behavior for anyone too short or tall. Ergonomics should not be a pro feature.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"imac-24-inch-2021-update-2024-10-01\">Update (2024-10-01): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2024\/10\/01\/m1-imac-horizontal-lines-issue\/\">Joe Rossignol<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2024\/10\/01\/m1-imac-horizontal-lines-issue\/\">\n<p>Over the past year and a half or so, some owners of the 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip have encountered horizontal lines abruptly appearing on the computer's screen. There are complaints about this issue across the <a href=\"https:\/\/discussions.apple.com\/thread\/255220596\">Apple Support Community<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/forums.macrumors.com\/threads\/imac-m1-2021-display-issue.2423630\/\">MacRumors Forums<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/applehelp\/comments\/17oopbw\/imac_2021_suddenly_show_horizontal_lines\/\">Reddit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifixit.com\/Answers\/View\/805617\/Horizontal+lines+over+iMac+24+screen\">iFixit Answers<\/a>, and several other websites, but it is unclear how many customers are affected in total, or what the underlying cause of the problem is.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple (MacRumors, Hacker News): Apple today introduced an all-new iMac featuring a much more compact and remarkably thin design, enabled by the M1 chip. The new iMac offers powerful performance in a design that&rsquo;s just 11.5 millimeters thin, with a striking side profile that practically disappears. Available in an array of vibrant colors to match [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-04-20T19:59:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e984367-83a9-4978-a44d-f9f478cf6b24","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-10-01T18:29:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APphDZ4OpSXikTfn0eM9rJA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1750,2307,2014,152,649,2038,1297,423,30,1891,365,573],"class_list":["post-32206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-apple-event","tag-apple-hardware-announcement","tag-apple-m1","tag-camera","tag-esoteric-preferences","tag-fast-user-switching","tag-imac","tag-keyboard","tag-mac","tag-macos-11-0","tag-magsafe","tag-touch-id"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32206"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45174,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32206\/revisions\/45174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}