all-in-one desktop computer designed and built by Apple Inc. with M3 chip

Apple gave the iMac a fresh new look in April 2021, the first major iMac redesign in a long, long time. While the new Apple Silicon iMacs are a multicolored throwback to the PowerPC era, they still retain an aluminum body with a glass screen, with a starkly different appearance. The new look changes the glass border to a white color, the aluminum and peripherals are offered in two color tones, and is far thinner than its predecessors. The main difference in the M3 iMac versus the M1 iMac, is the chip in and of itself. The entirety of the physical rest of the machine and options are all the same as the previous generation.

At entry level, there’s 4 choices of color: Silver/Green/Blue/Pink, no ethernet, an 8-core GPU, and Two USB-C style thunderbolt 3 ports. Ethernet is a $30 option, like the previous M1 iMac. By default, a color-matching mouse and keyboard are included with the iMac, and Touch ID is a $50 option. Touch ID is included standard on the $1499 model, as well as Ethernet. The new M3 iMac features updated 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E, updated Bluetooth 5.3, Thunderbolt 3 with USB 4/3.1 Gen 2 support, a 16-core neural engine, and a 10-core GPU as an option. Getting an 8-core 3nm CPU, 8-core GPU, with a 4.5K screen complete with peripherals is a pretty solid deal for $1299.

The M3 chip introduces Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing. It is a technique used in computer graphics to create highly realistic lighting and shadows by simulating the way light interacts with objects in a scene. Unlike traditional rasterization, which processes polygons and textures to render images, ray tracing follows the path of rays of light as they travel through a scene. The idea is to create realistic shadows, detailed reflections, and make gaming more life-like without as much of a performance hit.

Specs (via Low End Mac)

• Cpu: 8 Cores, 4x 4.05 GHz “M3” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache 4x 2.75 GHz “M3” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• Order Number: MQRC3LL/A (8-GPU) MQRQ3LL/A* (10-GPU)
• Weight: 9.83 lb./4.46 kg
• Model Identifier: Mac15,4 (8-core GPU) Mac15,5 (10-core GPU)
• Model: A2874 (EMC 8207) 8-core GPU A2873 (EMC 8206) 10-core GPU
• Drive Bus: 256GB PCIe SSD ~2.8 GB/s, 2x 128GB NANDs in Parallel
• Configurable To: 512GB (+$200) , 1 TB (+$400) on the base model On the $1499/1699 model only: 2 TB (+$800)
• Support For: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
• Size: 18.1 x 21.5 x 5.8 in/46.1 x 54.7 x 14.7 cm
• Power Supply: 143W Brick
• (+$200): , 1 TB
• (+$400): on the base model