iMac and entry-level MacBook Pro to receive M6 chip
Apple is giving its all-in-one and its most affordable pro laptop the latest generation of chips. Apart from that, practically nothing is changing, and prices remain stable as well.
The iMac and the base model of the MacBook Pro are getting a chip upgrade. Both now feature the M6, which is already used in the Mac Mini. It offers more performance than the M4 in the previous iMac and the M5 in the previous base version of the MacBook Pro. AI applications in particular are expected to run significantly faster. Otherwise, little changes on both devices.
Compared to the M5, the new chip gets two additional CPU and GPU cores each. According to Apple, this increases multi-thread performance by 20 percent. The GPU is said to offer 30 percent more performance for AI. The Neural Engine doubles the number of cores and thus its peak computing power compared to the previous generation. In my review of the Mac Mini, the chip also performed very well in practice.
Beyond the main chip, Apple is giving the iMac and MacBook Pro better wireless connectivity thanks to its in-house N1 wireless chip. It supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Both were previously reserved for more expensive models with Pro and Max chips. For the iMac, the SSD is also an upgrade, which is now said to be 2.5 times faster.
No further price increase
According to Apple, the M6 MacBook Pro manages up to 24 hours of video streaming and 16 hours of web browsing on a single battery charge. These figures are identical to the predecessor model. The laptop costs 1899 Swiss francs or 2299 euros for the model with 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and a 1 terabyte SSD. This corresponds to the price of the predecessor after the price increase in June of this year.
Source: Apple
The price of the iMac with 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD is 1499 Swiss francs or 1799 euros. It remains available in the same seven colors (blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and silver). The design also remains unchanged.
The M6 iMac and the M6 MacBook Pro, as well as the iPad Mini with an OLED display, are not the only Apple products expected this week. On Wednesday, the grand finale is expected with a touchscreen MacBook. The devices can be ordered from October 28. Delivery begins on November 6. As soon as they are available in our shop, they will be linked in this article.
My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
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