Apple refreshes the iMac, entry-level MacBook Pro with the M6 chip
Ars Technica Samuel Axon ● Covered by 2 sources
Apple just gave the iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro the M6 chip. The iMac skips M5, and Apple says the new chip is much faster than M4.
Based on reporting by Ars Technica, Samuel Axon — read the original for the full story.
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Apple has updated two Macs at once: the iMac and the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro. Both now come with the M6, the same chip Apple put in the Mac mini a few weeks ago.
The iMac gets two M6 choices. The version with two Thunderbolt ports has a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, and tops out at 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The four-port model is the stronger one, with 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, plus up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
The MacBook Pro is simpler. There’s only one M6 option, with 12-core CPU and GPU configurations. It can also reach 32GB of RAM, but storage goes much higher, up to 4TB.
This matters more for the iMac, which was last updated with the M4. Apple skipped the M5 entirely here and moved straight to the M6. On the Mac mini, Apple said the M6 can deliver up to 40 percent faster CPU performance, up to twice the graphics performance, and nearly five times faster on-device AI. That lines up with what was seen in testing of the Mac mini last month, and the new iMac should land in the same neighborhood.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Apple’s chip ladder is getting a little too tidy for its own good: one shiny number, then two ports, four ports, and a shopping trip. Skipping the M5 on the iMac makes the upgrade look bigger than it is, which is a classic Apple move and, frankly, part of the job description.
Read more about this at: Ars Technica