Apple put its new M6 chip into two of its quieter product lines on Tuesday: the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and the iMac. Neither machine looks any different from the one it replaces. The changes are all inside.
For the iMac, this is the bigger jump. Its last update brought the M4, and Apple skipped the M5 generation entirely to go straight to M6, the same chip that showed up in the Mac mini a few weeks ago. The iMac comes in two configurations built around which chip you pick. The "M6 chip with two Thunderbolt ports" option gets a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, tops out at 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and starts at $1,499. Step up to the four-Thunderbolt-port model and you get 12 CPU and 12 GPU cores, up to 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and a $1,699 starting price.
Apple says the Mac mini's M6 delivered up to 40 percent faster CPU performance than the M4, roughly double the graphics performance, and close to five times the on-device AI speed. The company is pointing to similar gains for the new iMac, along with up to double the SSD read and write speeds over the M4 model. The four-port iMac can also be configured with 2.5Gb Ethernet, something the previous generation didn't offer.
The MacBook Pro's upgrade is more modest on paper, because the outgoing 14-inch entry model already had the M5. There's just one chip option this time: a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, maxing out at 32GB of RAM but stretching to 4TB of storage. Apple is citing up to 30 percent faster graphics and double the Neural Engine throughput over the M5 version. The MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 and still has no Ethernet port, so anyone who wants wired networking on a laptop is stuck with the iMac or an adapter.
Both machines pick up Apple's N1 chip, the connectivity silicon that handles Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 instead of relying on third-party parts. That's a small but real upgrade for anyone on older, slower home networking standards.
Neither device changes shape, color options or ports beyond what's already listed. This is a spec refresh, not a redesign, and Apple is treating it that way: pre-orders open October 28, with units shipping November 6.
Apple hasn't published India pricing for either machine as part of this announcement, and the company's statement covers US pricing only. For buyers weighing the entry MacBook Pro against the iMac, the calculus is familiar: the iMac gets you a bigger jump in raw chip generation for less money, while the MacBook Pro gets you portability and a screen you can take with you. Neither one got cheaper, and neither one got a new look. The M6 is simply the thing that changed.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
Laptops, desktops, processors, graphics cards and the operating systems that run on them.
More from this desk →
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.