The M6 iMac starts at $1,499 and still ships with 256GB of storage
Apple's new iMac gets the M6 chip, Wi-Fi 7 and up to 12 cores. It starts at $1,499, what the M4 model cost after June, and still has a 256GB base.
Eduardo··4 min read
Apple announced the new iMac with M6 on Tuesday. It keeps the 24-inch display and the seven colors, and adds up to 12 CPU and GPU cores, Wi-Fi 7, and an SSD that Apple says reads and writes up to twice as fast as the one in the M4 iMac. It starts at $1,499 in the US and 35,999 pesos in Mexico. Preorders open Wednesday, October 28, and it hits stores Friday, November 6.
The details
M6 chip: with a 10- or 12-core CPU and GPU. Both versions have a dual 16-core Neural Engine (the part of the chip built for AI tasks) and up to 170GB/s of memory bandwidth. Apple promises up to 5x faster on-device AI than the M4 iMac and up to 18x the performance of "the most popular Intel-based iMac." It doesn't say what process the chip is built on.
Display: a 24-inch 4.5K Retina panel (23.5 inches measured diagonally), at 4480 x 2520 pixels and 500 nits. The nano-texture glass option, which cuts glare, is only offered on the 12-core model.
Memory and storage: both models start with 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD. According to the spec sheet, the 10-core model goes up to 24GB and 1TB; the 12-core model, up to 32GB and 2TB. Mind the fine print on the SSD: per the announcement, the "up to 2x faster" claim is measured against an M4 iMac with 10 cores, 32GB and 2TB, not a 256GB one.
Ports and networking: the 10-core model has two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports and supports one external display. The 12-core model has four Thunderbolt 4 ports, supports two displays and includes 2.5Gb Ethernet. Both use Apple's N1 wireless chip, with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread.
Everything else: a 12MP Center Stage camera, three mics, six speakers (two pairs of woofers plus two tweeters) and macOS 27. Siri AI arrives in beta with macOS 27.2, in six languages including Spanish.
What it costs, and how much it went up
Starting prices, per Apple's announcement:
10-core CPU and GPU: $1,499 ($1,449 for education); 35,999 pesos in Mexico.
12-core CPU and GPU: $1,699 ($1,599 for education); 39,999 pesos.
For comparison, the M4 iMac launched in 2024 at $1,299 with an 8-core CPU. But in June Apple raised prices across much of its hardware, and that iMac went to $1,499, per Engadget, and 35,999 pesos in Mexico, . So the M6 model holds the entry price that was already in place, now with 10 cores, though it's $200 (4,000 pesos) more than the 2024 launch price. What didn't change is the baseline: 16GB and 256GB, same as two years ago.
The upgrades are where it adds up. These prices come from Apple's Mexico store, checked October 27, and they're the same on both models: 5,000 pesos for 24GB of memory, 5,000 for 512GB and 12,500 for 1TB. Adding 24GB and 1TB brings the 10-core model to 53,499 pesos, and the 12-core model to 57,499. Only the 12-core model goes to 32GB (10,000 more, and it requires at least 512GB, so it starts at 54,999) and to 2TB (25,000 more), and offers nano-texture (5,000); on the 10-core model, Ethernet costs 1,000.
One computer for the whole house, with 256GB for everyone
An iMac tends to be the household computer rather than one person's machine: everyone has their own account, photos, downloads and apps, and all of it comes out of the same 256GB.
Touch ID helps here. According to Apple's support guide, each account can register up to three fingerprints and the Mac stores up to five in total, so a family of four can switch users with a finger (each person has to have logged in with a password first). But the Touch ID keyboard only comes in the box with the 12-core model; on the 10-core model it's a configuration option.
To get what works best for a family as standard (Touch ID, Ethernet and more ports), you have to step up to the $1,699 model. And that model still ships with 256GB, so storage costs extra: in Mexico, 5,000 pesos for 512GB and 12,500 for 1TB.
My take
On paper, the M6 is a clear jump over the M4 (going by Apple's "up to" figures), and the entry model moves to 10 cores without going above the price it already had. What I don't like is how fast the prices climb. An iMac is a computer that gets shared at home. Every step up in configuration weighs more when you're buying for the family. And 256GB as the starting point is bad for that kind of use: it's already tight for one person, and here it gets split three or four ways. In Mexico, the real math starts at 40,999 pesos with 512GB, and adding 24GB and 1TB it reaches 53,499, almost 50% more than the advertised price.
