Apple refreshes the iMac, entry-level MacBook Pro with the M6 chip

Apple has announced refreshes for the iMac and the entry-level, 14-inch MacBook Pro. Both machines are getting the M6 chip, which was introduced in the Mac mini several weeks ago.

iMac configurations

The M6 is split into two variants for the iMac. Picking the “M6 chip with two Thunderbolt ports” option gets you a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, whereas picking “M6 chip with four Thunderbolt ports” gets you 12 cores for each, instead.

• The two-port variant maxes out at 24 GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, whereas the four-port one maxes out at 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

MacBook Pro configuration

There’s only one M6 chip option for the MacBook Pro - the one with the 12-core GPU and CPU. It caps out at 32GB of RAM, but can go to 4TB of storage.

Performance gains

It’s a more substantial refresh for the iMac, as its previous update introduced the M4. Apple skipped the M5 and went straight to the M6 here.

In terms of performance gains moving from the M4 to the M6, Apple said with the Mac mini that users can expect up to 40 percent faster CPU performance, up to double graphics performance, and nearly five times faster on-device AI.

All that largely matches what we saw when we tested the M6 Mac mini last month, and users of the new iMac should expect similar numbers.

Connectivity

Additionally, the N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.