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Over two years ago, during the Spring Loaded event in April 2021, Apple’s iconic iMac was completely redesigned and outfitted with a then-cutting-edge M1 chip. But as Apple began to phase in the M2 a year later, each time a new update launched, the same question came up: What about the iMac? And there was nothing. At the end of October 2023, we finally got an answer: Apple updated the iMac with the M3, skipping the M2 series altogether. It has the same design, colours and features as the M1 iMac – so, an icon in Apple’s product line‑up got a simple chip upgrade. That’s a good way to make a great Mac even better.
PERFORMANCE
At the heart of the iMac is a M3 chip, replacing the M1 from two years ago. The M3 is the base chip for the series, with the M3 Pro and Max currently available in the 14- and 16‑inch MacBook Pro.
The M3 configurations start with an 8-core CPU with 4 performance and 4 efficiency cores. Apple offers the M3 in the £1,399 iMac with an 8-core GPU, while the £1,599 and the £1,799 iMac (the model we tested) have a 10-core GPU.
Geekbench 6: Single-core CPU
M3 iMac 8-core CPU: 3,177
M1 iMac 8-core CPU: 2,335
M2 Mac mini 8-core CPU: 2,631
M2 Pro Mac mini 12-core CPU: 2,658
Intel Xeon W-2191B 2.3GHz iMac Pro: 1,377
Intel Core i7 3.2GHz 21.5-inch iMac: 1,474
Geekbench 6: Multi-core CPU
M3 iMac 8-core CPU: 12,085
M1 iMac 8-core CPU: 8,320
M2 Mac mini 8-core CPU: 9,743
M2 Pro Mac mini 12-core CPU: 14,284
Intel Xeon W-2191B
