Apple 2023 M3 iMac Review Roundup [Video]

Early reviews of Apple's new M3 iMac have been posted ahead of its release tomorrow.

The 2023 iMac is already available to pre-order starting at $1299. You can learn more about its features here:
● Apple Announces New 24-inch iMac With M3 Chip

Check out our review roundup below!



CNET
Overall, I like the current iMac design a lot, both its looks and the size. I wish Apple would add an SD card slot next time around as it's done with the MacBook Pro. A height-adjustable stand option would be nice also. Those are small considering the rest of the package, though. The M3's performance is a huge plus for everything from basic home office and school tasks to content creation. Just make sure you pick your configuration carefully with an eye toward how you'll use it now and how that may change later. The 24-inch iMac seems especially well-suited as a family computer or if you want something other than a laptop to easily move from room to room. It's small enough to squeeze into tighter spaces, like a kitchen nook, but big enough to spread out your work, kick back and stream a movie or do some casual gaming.


Forbes
The 24-inch iMac is the most beautiful desktop machine Apple has ever built, I'd say. Its svelte profile, gorgeous display and handsomely color-matched accessories are all a delight—Lightning connectivity notwithstanding. If you have an iMac with M1 processor, but if you're coming to Mac desktop computing from a non-Apple brand or from an Intel iMac, it's a no-brainer. It's a spectacular home computer with speed, power and stamina. And the fact that it's the same price as the M1 iMac on sale last week, but has double the speeds in some metrics, makes it more appealing still.


TechCrunch
The M1 model that arrived in 2021 represented a big shift the iMac line, both in terms of design (the old one was getting long in the tooth) and the jump from Intel to Apple Silicon. Two years later, it's safe to say that the follow up doesn't represent the same caliber of update. Much of the hardware remains the same here, which is, perhaps, to be expected — especially in an era when so much of the systems' value is determined by the SoC. After skipping the M2 altogether, the M3 absolutely brings impressive gains over the already powerful M1. Is it worth the upgrade from the 2021 model? Not really. If, however, you're looking to replace an older machine or for something compact and zippy for a dorm room or cubicle, or just an apartment with a space crunch, it's a nice little option that's far more accessible than the pro-focused Mac Studio.


Tom's Guide
If you're in the market for a new desktop Mac and you like the idea of an all-in-one, the iMac M3 is easy to recommend because you get decent performance at pretty much everything but serious gaming and creative work in a package that costs under $2,000. That's a better deal than paying over $2,000 to pair a Mac mini M2 ($799) with an Apple Studio Display ($1,599), which would be another way to build a desktop Mac setup that, as you can see from our testing, would deliver similar performance to the iMac M3. And that's why it's hard to heartily recommend existing iMac M1 users upgrade to this new M3 model: It's not that much faster or better, and it still has all the same weaknesses. It's disappointing that there's so little room to move the display on the stand, especially when so many competing Windows all-in-ones come with VESA mount brackets built in and offer more options to adjust display height, angle and tilt. And it just feels silly that you effectively have to pay Apple a $200 upcharge if you want one in purple. But the extra ports and other amenities that come with it are worth it, and you do get what you pay for: a speedy Mac all-in-one that looks and sounds great, making it one of the best all-in-one computers of the year.


Pocket-lint
If you have the iMac (M1, 2021), I would say there's no real need to upgrade to this model, especially with the design and the display remaining the same and both running the same software. If you have an older Intel-based iMac however, or you're looking to buy an iMac for the first time, this model is quite simply fantastic. It won't let you down and it will not only look fabulous in your home for many, many years to come, but it will offer the performance to match too.


Karl Conrad