Is the upgrade worth it?

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  24-inch iMac (M3, 2023)

  The latest iMac

  The 2023 iMac features a meaningful bump in power thanks to Apple’s M3 chip. Plus, you also get an upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, making this iMac the most advanced iMac yet. What’s more? It starts off at the same price as the last generation.

  Pros

  • Powerful new M3 chip
  • Wi-Fi 6E
  • Bluetooth 5.3

  Cons

  • Expensive upgrades
  • No M3 Pro/Max support

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  Source: Amazon

  Apple iMac (2021)

  Last-gen model

  The 2021 iMac is a powerful all-in-one machine that features Apple’s own custom silicon: the M1 chip. Enjoy ample computing power alongside everything you want from a PC built conveniently into one tidy package.

  Pros

  • Gorgeous display
  • All-in-one convenience
  • Apple silicon

  Cons

  • Not as powerful
  • Expensive upgrades

With the launch of Apple’s all-new line of M3 chips has come new M3 Macs, including an M3 iMac. If you’re looking for one of the best computers for working from home, an iMac is worth considering, even if there are reasons why a Windows all-in-one PC is worth thinking about too, but should you go for the new M3 iMac or the M1 iMac from 2021?

Not to worry, because we’re here with the ultimate comparison between 2023’s M3 iMac and 2021’s M1 iMac to help you decide.

24-inch iMac (M3, 2023) vs iMac (M1, 2021): Price, availability, and specs

You can order a new 2023 iMac right now, with availability beginning Nov. 7. Pricing begins at $1,299 for the base model with 256GB of storage, 8GB of unified memory, and an 8-core GPU. You can spend more for more storage, more memory, extra GPU cores, gigabit Ethernet, and extra USB ports. A 2023 iMac will run you $2,700, and you won’t get the option of an M3 Pro or M3 Max chip, leaving you with the base M3 chip.

The 2021 M1 iMac is also available now at your favorite retailer of choice, and pricing starts off around that same $1,289 price point. The base model comes with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage, while you can spend more for more storage, more memory, an extra GPU core, and additional connectivity, much like the 2023 iMac. If you’re looking at buying an iMac today, the 2023 model is the easy choice, but it’s more complicated if you’re thinking about upgrading.

• 	24-inch iMac (M3, 2023)	Apple iMac (2021)
  Brand	Apple	Apple
  Memory	8GB, 16GB, 24GB	8GB, 16GB
  Graphics	8-core, 10-core	7-core, 8-core
  CPU	8-core	8-core
  Storage	256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB	256GB, 512GB
  Ports	2x Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm headphone jack, Gigabit Ethernet, 2x USB 3	2x Thunderbolt, 3.5mm headphone jack, Gigabit Ethernet, 2x USB
  Display	23.5-inch 4.5K Retina display, 4480 x 2520p, 218ppi, 500 nits	23.5-inch, 4.5K Retina display, 4480 x 2520p, 218ppi, 500 nits
  Dimension	21.5 x 18.1 x 14.7 inches (54.7 x 46.1 x 14.7cm)	21.5 x 18.1 x 14.7 inches (54.7 x 46.1 x 14.7cm)
  Price	$1,299	$1,299
  Operating System	macOS Sonoma	macOS Ventura

Design and display

The design of the new 2023 iMac is the same as the older 2021 iMac so much so that even the dimensions of these machines are nearly identical; although there is a slight discrepancy in terms of weight. This is no bad thing, though, as the 2021 iMac was a sleek, well-designed computer that slimmed itself down from even older versions, so the newer 2023 model keeping that same design language makes a lot of sense and is hard to complain much about.

It’s a similar story with the display. In fact, the display on both iMacs is the same. You’re getting a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with a 4480×2520 resolution that comes in at a 218ppi density. You also get 500 nits of peak brightness and True Tone technology. While the display hasn’t changed since 2021, again, this is no bad thing, as in our review of the 2021 iMac, we called its display “beautiful [not] just to look at, but to work on.”

Performance

While much between these computers has not changed, there are some differences, and largely, these differences come down to performance.

The 2021 iMac comes with an M1 chip that sports an 8-core CPU and 7-core (or 8-core) GPU, while the 2023 iMac features Apple’s M3 chip that has an 8-core CPU and an 8-core (or 10-core) GPU. Core counts aren’t everything, though, as Apple estimates the M3 line of chips is 15% faster than the M2 series and 30% faster than the M1 series. There’s also a particular focus on GPU power.

The M3 comes with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, following up on the A17 Pro’s similar support for this tech, alongside a new feature: Dynamic Caching. Dynamic Caching is a new, more efficient way to allocate memory for your GPU, increasing overall utilization. According to Apple, the M3 is an impressive 65% faster than the M1 in terms of graphical performance.

With a machine like an iMac, relatively few users are, for example, big gamers, so the big bump in GPU power may not benefit you that much, but that will depend on your usecase. The new 2023 iMac can also support more RAM (24GB vs 16GB) than the 2021 iMac, which might be something worth considering if you plan on running a bunch of memory-intensive applications on your iMac.

It’s no question that the M3 iMac is more powerful than the M1 iMac; however, the biggest performance differential is in GPU power, so unless you’re actually leveraging the power of the GPU on your iMac, you may not notice that much of a performance jump.

Features

Feature-wise, there is almost total parity between the new machines, so you will get that same 1080p webcam, six-speaker system, three-mic array, Thunderbolt/USB port setup, and Magic Mouse + Magic Keyboard inclusion across both the 2021 and 2023 iMacs.

Yet again, the above isn’t really bad news. In our review, we appreciated the upgrade to a FHD webcam and loved the speaker system that supports spatial audio via Dolby Atmos, for example. Although, you do get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on the 2023 iMac vs Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 on the 2021 iMac. The Wi-Fi upgrade means faster speeds and lower latency on average, which is certainly a win for anybody not relying on a wired connection, while a newer Bluetooth spec is definitely nice but is likely to be less relevant to the average user.

It’s undeniable that there are upgrades with the 2023 iMac, but better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth aren’t necessarily brain-melting additions. Certainly, you’d prefer the 2023 iMac over the 2021 iMac if you’re buying your first iMac, but as an upgrade? It may not be worth it for most.

24-inch iMac (M3, 2023) vs iMac (M1, 2021): Which is right for you?

As mentioned above, the latest iMac is the greatest iMac, period. So if you were wondering which machine is better, that’s your answer. And considering there doesn’t seem to be a price drop on the older 2021 iMac, there’s little reason not to pick up the newer model at the same price.

For those who already have a 2021 iMac, though, the new iMac is very much an iterative upgrade. Unless you were very disappointed by the GPU performance of your M1 iMac, there isn’t really much of a reason to upgrade. Plus, even if you were disappointed by the GPU power of your M1 iMac, you might be better served by an M3 Pro/M3 Max MacBook Pro or a Windows machine where there’s more GPU power on offer than there is on the M3 iMac.

Nonetheless, the M3 iMac is the superior machine. An upgrade may not be worth it, however, if you already own the M1 iMac.

The 2023 iMac is an impressive all-in-one machine made even more impressive by the inclusion of Apple’s latest M3 chip that sports a big jump in GPU power. Plus, you also get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 alongside all the features you already loved from the 2021 M1 iMac.