Thinking of upgrading from an Intel iMac? Or curious how much Apple’s all-in-one desktop has changed now that it’s powered by the third generation of its custom silicon? Follow along for a detailed look at the M3 iMac vs Intel iMac.
M3 iMac vs Intel iMac (21.5 and 27-inch)
CPU, GPU, memory, neural engine
Compared to the 2019 21.5-inch Intel iMac and the 2020 27-inch Intel iMac, the 2023 iMac with M3 chip includes a more powerful 8-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, unified memory of up to 24GB, and a dedicated media engine.
One M3 spec that is lower than the Intel iMacs is memory with a max of 24GB. But keep in mind the new unified memory is finely tuned with the whole M3 SoC.
| M3 iMac | 21.5″ Intel iMac | 27″ Intel iMac | |
| CPU | 8-core | Up to 3.2GHz 6-core Intel i7 | Up to 3.6GHz 10-core Intel i9 |
| GPU | 8 or 10-core | Up to AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 | Up to AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT |
| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW, Video decode engine, Video encode engine, ProRes encode and decode engine, AV1 decode | ❌ | ❌ |
| Storage | Up to 2TB SSD | Up to 1TB Fusion Drive | Up to 8TB SSD |
| Memory | Up to 24GB | Up to 32GB | Up to 128GB |
| Neural engine | 16-core | ❌ | ❌ |
One other spec that is lower with the 24-inch M3 iMac is up to 2TB SSD – the 27-inch iMac allowed up to an 8TB SSD.
But compared to the 21.5-inch Intel iMac Apple says you should see 4x faster overall performance with the M3 iMac.
Apple says the M3 iMac is up to 2.5x times faster “than the most popular Intel‑based
27‑inch iMac models.” It doesn’t specify which 27-inch iMac that is, but it’s likely one with middle-of-the-road specs.
Apple also says the 8-core CPU is up to 35% faster than M1, and the 10-core GPU is up to 65% faster than M1.
In our first look at M3 iMac benchmarks, the single-core and multi-core scores came in near that 35% mark.
Display
The M3 iMac features a 4.5K Retina display, P3 wide color, True Tone, and 500 nits brightness.
To put that in perspective, you’re getting a resolution right in between the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs with the physical display size in the middle too.
| M3 iMac | 21.5″ Intel iMac | 27″ Intel iMac | |
| Size | 24-inch | 21.5-inch | 27-inch |
| Resolution | 4480 x 2520 (4.5K) | 4096 x 2304 (4K) | 5120 x 2880 (5K) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Brightness | 500 nits | 500 nits | 500 nits |
| Retina display | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| P3 wide color | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| True Tone | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| LED-backlit | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Nano-texture option | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
The only thing you’re not getting with the modern M3 iMac that the 27-inch iMac offered is the low-reflective nano-texture glass option.
M3 iMac vs Intel iMac I/O
You get a number of nice I/O upgrades with the M3 iMac over the Intel iMacs. That includes Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, an improved speaker system, and optional Touch ID with the Magic Keyboard.
| M3 iMac | 21.5″ Intel iMac | 27″ Intel iMac | |
| Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 | 2 | ❌ | ❌ |
| Thunderbolt 3/USB 3 | – | 2 | 2 |
| USB 3 Type-C | 2 on mid models and up (0 on base models) | – | – |
| USB-A | ❌ | 4 | 4 |
| Gigabit Ethernet | Optional with base models, included with mid models and up (in power brick) | ✅ | ✅ |
| 10Gb Ethernet | ❌ | ❌ | Optional |
| SDXC slot | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| WiFi | WiFi 6E | WiFi 5 | WiFi 5 |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 4.2 | 5.0 |
| Touch ID | Optional with base models, included with mid models and up | ❌ | ❌ |
| ‘Hey Siri’ support | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Webcam | FaceTime 1080p HD + M3 ISP | FaceTime 720p HD | FaceTime 1080p HD |
| Video output | 1 external display up to 6K at 60Hz | Up to 2 4K external displays at 60Hz or 1 at 5 or 6K 60Hz | Up to 2 6K external displays at 60Hz |
| 6-speaker system | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Wide stereo sound | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Dolby Atmos support | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Studio-quality 3-mic array | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| 3.5mm headphone jack | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Unfortunately, like the M1 iMac, the M3 iMac is still limited with support for only one external display. That may not be as much of an issue as with MacBooks since you’ve already got a 24-inch built-in display with iMac.
But that’s still a bit of a letdown when both the 21.5 and 27-inch Intel iMacs from years ago supported up to 2 displays.
Colors and size
Colors for the M3 iMac are the same as the M1 iMac. That includes 7 choices for the 4-port models and 4 colors for the 2-port models. That’s 6 more choices than the Intel iMacs.
| M3 iMac | 21.5″ Intel iMac | 27″ Intel iMac | |
| Colors | Blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange, purple (all w/ white bezels) | Silver (black bezels) | Silver (black bezels) |
| Weight | 9.87 pounds (4.48 kg) | 12.1 pounds (5.48 kg) | 19.7 pounds (8.92 kg) |
| Height | 18.1 in (46.1 cm) | 17.7 in (45 cm) | 20.3 in (51.6 cm) |
| Width | 21.5 in (54.7 cm) | 20.8 in (52.8 cm) | 25.6 in (65 cm) |
| Depth with stand | 5.8 in (14.7 cm) | 6.9 in (17.5 cm) | 8 in (20.3 cm) |
The M3 iMac physical design has a super-thin 11.5 mm depth (14.7 cm counting the stand). The rest of the dimensions are slimmer than the old Intel iMacs. However, the large chin remains.
Like the M1, the one downside of the M3 iMac is there’s still no model available with black bezels.
Price
Apple has kept the starting price for the iMac the same for many years. That’s an affordable $1,299 for the base model, $1,499 in the middle, $1,699 on the higher end, and $2,699 at the top.
| M3 iMac | 21.5″ Intel iMac | 27″ Intel iMac | |
| Base model | $1,299 | Orig. $1,299 | Orig. $1,799 |
| 4 port 256/8GB | $1,499 | – | – |
| 4 port 512/8GB | $1,699 | – | – |
| 4 port 2TB/24GB | $2,699 | – | – |
M3 iMac vs Intel iMac wrap-up
Reasons to buy
If you’ve been holding out for the new iMac release and love the all-in-one form factor, the M3 iMac is a great, yet iterative update for those with light to medium computing needs.
Considering most 4.5k or 5k external displays sell for $1,000 on their own, the M3 iMac with a sharp display and modern Apple Silicon starting from $1,299 is a solid value.
Unless you have a high-end 27-inch iMac, you should see somewhere between 2 and 4x faster performance with the M3 iMac over the Intel iMacs.
Reasons to pass
Unfortunately, there’s no M3 Pro option with the new iMac. So if you’d like to spec out your new Mac with a more powerful CPU, GPU, memory, etc, you could go with a Mac mini or Mac Studio. Those come with the ability to step up to the M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra chips (all more powerful than the M3). Plus you can take unified memory up to 192GB.
Other reasons to pass on the M3 iMac include if you need support for more than one external display or if white bezels are a deal breaker.
Spec advice
If you do pick up an M3 iMac, keep in mind you can’t upgrade the chip, memory, or internal storage after the fact. So if you can afford it, get it specced out exactly how you want (thinking about how long you’d like to keep it may help dial that in).
You can get the M3 iMac at Apple, Amazon, Adorama, and more.
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