Apple iMac M3 review: An ideal family computer

Since it is just 4.5kg in weight, it can be a good choice for the living room, bedroom or even kids’ room. Overall, this factor makes it a perfect family computer.

The Apple iMac pricing in India ranges from Rs 1,35,000 to Rs 2,85,000 which offers 2TB storage and 24GB of memory.

SUMMARY

In terms of design, the new iMac, has a sleek design and comes with lightweight accessories including a Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and trackpad
The new iMac model is available in seven colors including Blue, Green, Pink, Silver, Yellow, Orange and Purple
The M3 chip in the iMac offers features like dynamic cashing, hardware acceleration, ray tracing and so on for a good gaming experience

Apple launched a refreshed model of iMac with an all-new M3 chip in India recently. Some of the highlights of the new iMac include its 24-inch display, sleek design, support for Dolby Atmos and M3 chip that offers a surprisingly good gaming experience. I got my hands on the new iMac and here’s my detailed review:

In terms of the design, the new iMac, has a sleek design and comes with lightweight accessories including Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and trackpad. The new model is available in seven colors including Blue, Green, Pink, Silver, Yellow, Orange and Purple. The 24-inch display offers vivid colors, true tone technology, and 500 nits of peak brightness.

Since it is just 4.5kg in weight, it could be a good choice for living room, bedroom or even kids’ room. Overall, this factor makes it an ideal family computer. In my experience, the 1080p camera on the desktop also did a good job. It comes with six downward-facing speakers and two force-cancelling woofers that offer fairly decent audio. The new iMac also comes with Dolby Atmos Spatial audio support when using Apple TV or Apple Music.

While there are not many changes in terms of design, as compared to the 2021 model, this time around, the changes are on the inside. It is powered by an M3 chip that has given it a major boost in terms of performance as compared to 2021’s iMac with M1.

The new Magic Keyboard comes with Touch ID, which can be a game-changer. It can be used to switch profiles, authenticate purchases, and so on. Despite switching to a USB-C port for iPhones, this Magic keyboard still needs to be connected with a lightning cable. The trackpad is the real game changer for me, as it makes editing content, even in 4K resolution or Pro-res video quite an easy task.

Moving on to the performance side of things, as mentioned earlier, the new M3 chip is no joke. The M3 chip is the first such Apple silicon to be based on 3nm technology, which is mind-boggling in terms of how much stuff they packed into that tiny real estate of a chipset.

There’s several variants of the new iMac which can be customised down to the minutest of specs. In fact, the exorbitantly priced highest-spec version offers 2TB of storage and 24GB of memory which is a bit of overkill for a family computer.

Given the technical prowess of the M3, you can get the maximum bang for your buck with the base model, which is a lot cheaper, and gets the job done as a family computer. It still runs on an M3 chip, the only problem is that with 256 GB storage or a lower storage variant option, you will be yearning for more space, so maybe choose a larger storage option or shell out a fixed sum each month on an iCloud subscription.

The M3 chip is scary fast. The previous iMac came with an M1 chip, which makes the latest model a major upgrade. If you're going to be making spreadsheets for your boss on Excel, it will be 30 per cent faster than the M1 chip. If you're talking about using your browser, maybe Safari, it will be 30 per cent faster. If you're talking about using Photoshop or video editing tools, it'll be twice as fast in terms of editing and rendering.

Until now, Apple is not perceived as a company known for gaming, but in the past couple of years, they have made announcements that seem to be pointing in a different direction altogether. The M3 chip in the iMac offers features like dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and so on. Overall, these sort of specs on a computer can give some consoles a run for their money.

Verdict

In conclusion, the iMac 2023 is an ideal family computer with a powerful M3 chip, stunning display, and diverse configuration options. The iMac pricing in India ranges from Rs 1,35,000 to Rs 2,85,000 which offers 2TB storage and 24GB of memory. But why the discrepancy, you might ask?

The base model comes with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU and 8GB of unified memory along with 256GB storage. If you want it mostly for browsing and can work on the cloud all the time, maybe you can get away with it and save a fair bit. Additionally, this variant just comes with the Magic Keyboard, hence, you will have to buy other accessories separately.

The mid-spec variant, which costs Rs 1,75,000, comes with 8 core CPU, a 10-core GPU, 8GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. It also comes with a good display, gigabit ethernet, and a magic keyboard with Touch ID.

So, all in all, if you pick the right variant with the right amount of storage and bump up the RAM- you will have an ideal family computer, which you can drag from the bedroom to the kitchen or keep in the hall for the family to use. It helps that Apple is making a big push with gaming and one can only hope they build on their game library with the right titles. After having tested out Lies of P and Resident Evil on the iMac, I think we can expect some major gaming focused announcements from the Cupertino-based tech giant in 2024.