iMac M3 vs iMac M1: These are the differences

Two years after introducing the first model, Apple has finally revamped the iMac with Apple silicon. The 24-inch model introduced by the company in 2021 has now been updated with the M3 chip, which offers higher performance and better features. but, Is there anything new unprocessed?

The truth is that both groups share many similarities. Both 2021 and 2023 models, for example They have the exact same design. Therefore, Apple kept this metal body, which is characterized by its thinness, as it is only 1.15 cm thick. It also maintains the front fascia with a shiny frame at the bottom, in addition to the seven colors that the company introduced two years ago.

In terms of display, the iMac with the M3 chip is also identical to its predecessor. So we find a 24-inch Retina LCD panel that includes a resolution of 4480 x 2520 (equivalent to 4.5K), in addition to a brightness of 500 nits. The FaceTime camera and video calls remain at 1080p and include the same speaker system with spatial audio.

The new M3 chip is the main difference between the new iMac

Where we’re starting to see differences is in performance and connectivity, which is partial Thanks to the new processor. The 2023 iMac includes the M3 chip the company announced alongside the M3 Pro and M3 Max coming to the new MacBook Pro, and this, according to Apple, delivers up to 2 times better performance than an iMac with the M1.

The M3 chip, in particular, maintains the 8-core CPU, however Includes a GPU with 8 or up to 10 cores, while the M1 chip’s GPU has 7 or 8 cores. It also comes with up to 24GB of RAM compared to the previous model’s maximum configurable capacity of 16GB, and includes a bandwidth of up to 100GB/s compared to 66.7GB/s for the 2021 version.

The new M3 chip in this iMac It also allows the team to integrate new features, such as support for ProRes and ProRes RAW, ProRes encoding and decoding engine, and AV1 decoding. However, it maintains the maximum capacity of 2TB in the case of the four-port model, as well as the 16-core Neural Engine.

In terms of connectivity, the 24-inch iMac now has Bluetooth 5.3 Instead of Bluetooth 5.0, as well WiFi 6E Compared to Wi-Fi 6 for the 2021 model.

This is how the iMac M3 prices look compared to the model with the M1

The price of the new iMac with M3 has increased slightly compared to the iMac with M1. The base model, for example, now costs €170 more, going up to €1,619 in its configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD. These are the starting prices for the most popular configurations.

• M3 with octa-core CPU, octa-core GPU, 8GB unified memory and 256GB SSD: 1619 euros.
• M3 with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified memory and 256GB SSD: 1849 euros.
• M3 with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified memory and 512GB SSD: 2079 euros.

• M1 with 7-core GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD: 1449 euros.
• M1 with 8-core GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD: 1669 euros.
• M1 with 8-core GPU, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD: 1899 euros.