The M3 iMac makes Apple’s gorgeous all-in-one much more powerful

Apple completely reimagined the iMac back in 2021, introducing a slim, compact 24-inch design that can fit in just about any workspace — not to mention a gorgeous set of color options and super-speedy performance. It’s hard to improve on that formula, which is why Apple pretty much kept its popular all-in-one computer the same for 2023. Well, aside from tripling down on the “speedy” part, that is.

Packing the company’s zippy new Apple M3 chip, the latest 24-inch iMac is one of the fastest Macs you can get for the money, chewing through everyday multitasking, light creative work and — gasp — some actual PC-grade gaming. But while it retains everything great about the previous-gen model, it also has the same notable flaws.

Wondering if this enticing all-in-one deserves a spot at your desk? Here’s what I think after using it as my main computer for the better part of a week.

What we liked about it

Same stunning design and dependable accessories

The latest 24-inch iMac looks identical to the one we tested in 2021, which is to say it’s the most attractive, compact all-in-one desktop I’ve ever gotten my hands on. This thing is smaller and lighter than the Sony Inzone monitor I use at my desk, and somehow houses one of the fastest computers Apple’s ever made inside of it. I normally have to clear out my entire workspace to make room for a new desktop, but setting up the iMac was as simple as plopping it on the smaller portion of my L-shaped desk. And whenever I needed to work in a different room, the iMac’s roughly 10-pound frame was easy to lug around.

Apple’s vibrant desktop continues to be one of the few Macs that looks fun, with blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange and purple color options that harken back to the days of those chunky, translucent vintage iMacs that may have flooded your childhood classrooms. My blue review unit has been a great addition to my work area, providing a welcomed splash of color while still being understated enough to not look like a kids toy (because I certainly don’t have any of those at my desk).

As with the previous model, you get a color-matched keyboard, mouse and set of cables out of the box, which really tie the whole package together. Apple’s snappy Magic Keyboard remains a joy to type on, and the Magic Mouse continues to offer smooth touch scrolling and a satisfying click — but also the same baffling, bottom-facing Lightning port that renders it unusable while charging (and feels outdated now that Apple’s moved the iPhone to USB-C). You can pay $50 extra to swap in the Magic Trackpad (which I’m far more partial to), or tack on $130 for a mouse-and-trackpad combo.

The Magic Keyboard also has a few optional upgrades, including a Touch ID button for an extra $50 and a full numpad for an extra $80. I can’t imagine not having a Touch ID keyboard for instant logins at this point, so I’m a bit bummed that you have to pay extra for the privilege. Still, this computer gets you a quality set of accessories that make it easy to get right to work. And boy, can this thing work.

Seriously strong performance, thanks to M3

Despite being the size of a slim monitor, the latest 24-inch iMac is dollar for dollar one of the fastest Apple computers. Thanks to the zippy new M3 chip packed inside, Apple’s all-in-one was a delight to use for my usual work and social needs, which consist of bouncing between Outlook, Slack, Discord and an excessive number of Chrome tabs. Just for good measure, I fired up a bunch of additional apps on top of that — including Maps, Apple Music, Apple News, Steam and Apple TV+ (which was actively streaming video) — and didn’t notice a lick of slowdown as I seamlessly multitasked between them all.

That said, pretty much any modern Mac can pull off this balancing act. How does the 24-inch iMac hold up under serious pressure? And is it really any better than the previous model? According to our benchmarks, the answers are “very well” and an emphatic “yes.”

On the Geekbench 5 test, which gauges a system’s overall performance chops, the M3 iMac turned in scores that showed a significant leap over older iterations — and came surprisingly close to certain higher-end Macs. On the multi-core portion of the test (a good indicator of multitasking capabilities), Apple’s desktop showed a 32% improvement over the 2021 M1 iMac as well as the old Intel-powered 27-inch iMac, and performed about on par with the Dell XPS Desktop.

But single-core performance — which benefits basic everyday processes as well as certain gaming applications — is where the M3’s true muscle is unleashed. The new iMac’s single-core score is 26% better than that of the M1 iMac, a whopping 58% better than the Intel iMac and, somewhat shockingly, 8% better than that of the latest Mac Studio and its M2 Max chip. Keep in mind that the Studio starts at $1,999, doesn’t include a monitor or accessories and packs one of the most powerful processors of Apple’s previous-gen chips.

The new iMac isn’t beating this machine when it comes to intensive video editing or 3D rendering. But if you just want to knock out emails, keep up with your usual barrage of Slack messages and do some light creative stuff without ever having to worry about things slowing down, Apple’s new all-in-one is one of the fastest for the job.

It’s a surprisingly good gaming machine

I know, I know. “The Mac has no games.” It’s a sentiment that’s been shared for decades, and the major triple-A titles that have landed on Mac (like Resident Evil Village and The Medium) tend to be a few years old by the time they hit the App Store. But a steady uptick in modern releases — combined with the M3’s strong graphics chops — make the iMac a pretty solid little gaming machine, even if it won’t make anyone trash their PC rig anytime soon.

I had a fun time adventuring through the blood-soaked fantasy worlds of Baldur’s Gate 3, a wildly beloved role-playing title that landed on Mac just weeks after its PC launch. The game’s cinematic cutscenes and methodical combat sequences generally looked crisp and felt great, save for a few stutters and visual oddities I ran into during my playtime.

The demon-slaying action ran at what looked like somewhere between 30 and 60 frames per second (fps) at 1080p with the recommended Medium graphics settings (we consider anything 30 or higher to be playable), and stayed surprisingly steady when I kicked the visuals up to Ultra. However, once I bumped the visuals to 2560 x 1440 and beyond, things became noticeably choppy. Overall, I’d put the game’s M3 quality closer to what you might see on a PS4 or Xbox One and not the fancy new PS5 and Xbox Series X (or a gaming PC with a souped-up graphics card). It’s worth noting that the iMac got pretty warm during my Baldur’s Gate 3 session, but it stayed whisper quiet.

Our iMac gaming benchmarks very much echoed my real-world experience: very good for this type of device but not earth-shattering. On our Shadow of the Tomb Raider test (which loops scenes from the cinematic action game at 1080p with graphics maxed out), the 2023 iMac turned in a perfectly playable 34 fps. Unsurprisingly, the game dipped to a slideshow-like 12 fps when we kicked up the resolution to 4K. If you’re looking for ultra-high-definition gaming, machines like the Dell XPS Desktop (which packs a dedicated Nvidia graphics card) and higher-end Macs (like the Mac Studio with M2 Max or MacBook Pro with M3 Max) ran the game at exponentially higher frame rates that often hit triple digits.

Despite this just-fine performance, there was something novel about playing a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 on an iMac. Apple’s plug-and-play desktop is a heck of a lot more compact and easier to set up than a PC tower and external monitor, and could fill a niche for folks who want to do some light gaming in, say, a dorm room or studio apartment. The list of noteworthy Mac games is steadily getting bigger, with critically acclaimed titles like Lies of P, Resident Evil Village, No Man’s Sky, Psychonauts 2 and Layers of Fear available now — and big names like Death Stranding and the excellent Resident Evil 4 remake slated to arrive sometime soon.

Same great display, speakers and webcam

Beefier internals aside, the rest of the 2023 iMac is mostly unchanged from the M1 model — which means you’re getting a crisp webcam, sufficiently loud speakers and a vibrant 24-inch display that all combine for a nice self-contained work and play machine.

The iMac’s 24-inch 4.5K Retina display proved to be an excellent canvas for my daily activities, giving me just enough real estate to comfortably multitask during work hours while providing plenty of colorful pops and details when I played games and binged YouTube. The vivid greenery and bright blue skies of an 8K nature documentary looked bold without being oversaturated, and I could make out every tiny strand of orange fur on a tiger’s face. The deep reds of Baldur’s Gate 3’s hellish intro level looked especially satisfying on the iMac’s display, which also highlighted the finer details of my elf-like character and octopus-faced companion.

The speakers on Apple’s all-in-one are similarly dependable, pumping out my usual pop-punk playlists with enough volume to make my desk vibrate — but not enough to make anything sound blown out. The iMac’s six-speaker setup filled my bedroom with Travis Barker’s pounding, galloping drumwork on Blink-182’s “Anthem Part 3” while still giving plenty of breathing room to the bright, buzzy guitars.

You can confidently use this iMac for video calls without fumbling for that external webcam. The all-in-one’s integrated 1080p camera captured my scruffy face and bold orange hoodie with accurate color and decent detail. Heck, it made me look even better than the $130 Logitech Brio 500 I use daily, which added an odd blue hue to everything.

What we didn’t like about it

Limited ports and adjustment options

Most Macs are frustratingly scant on ports these days, and unfortunately, the latest iMac is no exception. The base $1,299 model packs just two Thunderbolt USB-C 4 ports, giving you room to hook up, say, an external monitor and a portable hard drive. Upgrading to a $1,499 configuration gets you just two extra USB-C 3 ports for basic accessories.

This likely won’t matter to someone who’s using their iMac to check emails and watch Netflix, but if you’re a power user who needs lots of connections — or access to things like USB-A or a microSD card reader — you’ll end up having to spring for a USB-C hub. And while I appreciate how seamless and minimalist the iMac looks up front, I wish there were a front-facing port or two handy so that I didn’t have to constantly wrap my head around the desktop to plug things in.

Also, the iMac is not a very adjustable all-in-one. You can tilt the screen backward and forward a bit, and that’s it. I’m a taller person, and while the iMac was pretty comfortable to use at my desk, I would have appreciated a bit of height adjustment to get the screen more level with my face. If you want an Apple screen that can slide up and down, you’ll have to grab the Studio Display, which costs a whopping $1,999 for a height-adjustable model.

Some colors cost extra

Much like how the M3 MacBook Pro’s stunning Space Black color is limited to the higher-end models, some of the iMac’s best hues are exclusive to those willing to splurge. The base $1,299 model is limited to blue, green, pink and silver. Want an iMac in purple, orange or yellow? Get ready to spend at least $1,499 on a higher-end configuration. I’m sure plenty of people will be cool with the starting options (I love my blue iMac, and it’s the year of Barbie pink), but I also feel like no one should ever be denied the color purple for any reason.

How it compares

Bottom line

The latest 24-inch iMac is one of the most compact, attractive and powerful computers you can get for the money — and certainly one of Apple’s best Macs yet. It can fit into any office or playroom, and its excellent built-in display, webcam and speakers give you everything you need to get to work (or have some fun) right away. Its M3 chip makes it reliably fast for heavy multitasking and light photo or video editing, and it can even run the small but growing library of big-name Mac games at highly playable settings.

That said, it’s far from the Mac for everyone. If you own the M1 model from a few years back, there’s no real reason to upgrade here. For those cool with supplying their own monitor and accessories, the $599 Mac Mini M2 is an incredible value (and more than powerful enough for most). If you’re not tied to having an all-in-one desktop, you can get the superb 15-inch MacBook Air M2 for the same price as the iMac, or spend a little more for the excellent new MacBook Pro M3 — both of which you can connect to a monitor for that big-screen experience.

But for those who want a whole lot of computer in a sleek, stationary and space-saving design, it’s hard to do better than the new iMac.