The iMac with M6 keeps the 24-inch design and 4.5K display of the iMac with M4 and changes the chip, the wireless hardware, the Ethernet port and the price. It starts at $1,499, which is $200 above the $1,299 the iMac with M4 cost at launch.
Apple announced the iMac with M6 on Tuesday, October 27, with pre-orders opening on Wednesday, October 28 and deliveries starting on Friday, November 6. The iMac with M4 reached $1,499 in June, when Apple raised prices across the Mac lineup, so the new model starts where the old one ended up.
The iMac with M6 Costs $200 More Than the iMac with M4 Did at Launch
The iMac with M6 starts at $1,499 with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU. The 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU model costs $1,699, and education pricing is $1,449 and $1,599. The base iMac with M4 launched at $1,299.
The iMac with M6 comes as a 10-core and a 12-core model, with no 8-core version. The 8-core iMac with M4 carried the $1,299 price, so $1,499 is the cheapest iMac with M6 you can order. Apple Upgrade leases the $1,499 model from $28.99 a month for 36 months, before taxes and any trade-in credit.
The 12-Core iMac with M6 Has Four Thunderbolt 4 Ports and the 10-Core Model Has Two
On the iMac with M4, the four-port model with the 10-core chip had Thunderbolt 4 on every port and came with a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. On the iMac with M6, the 12-core model has four Thunderbolt 4 ports and ships with Touch ID as standard. The 10-core model has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and can be configured with the Touch ID and numeric keypad keyboard.
The 12-core model includes 2.5Gb Ethernet, up from the Gigabit Ethernet on the iMac with M4, and the 10-core model adds it for $30. Only the 12-core model offers nano-texture glass, and it supports two external 6K displays against one on the 10-core model. Wi-Fi moves from Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth from 5.3 to Bluetooth 6 on both models.
| Spec | iMac with M6 | iMac with M4 |
|---|---|---|
| US starting price | $1,499 (10-core), $1,699 (12-core) | $1,299 at launch, $1,499 since June |
| CPU and GPU | 10-core and 10-core, or 12-core and 12-core | 8-core and 8-core, or 10-core and 10-core |
| Neural Engine | Dual 16-core | 16-core |
| Memory bandwidth | Up to 170GB/s | 120GB/s |
| Wi-Fi and Bluetooth | Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 | Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Ethernet | 2.5Gb, included on the 12-core model and a $30 option on the 10-core model | Gigabit |
| Thunderbolt 4 ports | Four on the 12-core model, two on the 10-core model | Two or four, depending on the model |
| Touch ID keyboard as standard | 12-core model | 10-core model |
| External displays | Two 6K on the 12-core model, one display on the 10-core model | One 6K, or two 6K or one 8K on the four-port model |
| Display | 24-inch 4.5K Retina, 500 nits | 24-inch 4.5K Retina, 500 nits |
| Camera | 12MP Center Stage | 12MP Center Stage |
| Colors | Seven | Seven |
Everything else carries over, including the seven colors, the display, the camera and the six-speaker sound system.
The iMac with M6 Is Up to 5x Faster Than the iMac with M4 in AI Work
Apple ran its tests against a 10-core iMac with M4 with 32GB of memory and a 2TB SSD. Microsoft Excel runs up to 1.5x faster, Affinity photo editing graphics up to 2x faster and gaming with ray tracing up to 2x higher. LM Studio prompt processing, which measures on-device AI, is up to 5x faster.
The M6 chip also lifts memory bandwidth from 120GB/s to up to 170GB/s, and SSD read and write speeds are up to 2x faster. The gains over older iMac models are larger, with up to 18x faster performance than the most popular Intel iMac and up to 2.5x in Excel and 12x in LM Studio prompt processing over the iMac with M1.
