The iMac M4 Is Apple’s Best All-in-One, but Your Timing Matters

The iMac with Apple Silicon M4 is the all-in-one desktop Mac that makes sense for most people — it starts at $1,299, packs a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, and runs macOS Tahoe with Apple Intelligence without breaking a sweat. The real decision isn’t whether the iMac M4 is good. It’s which of the four configurations you should actually buy, and whether spending that money right now is smart when Apple is expected to release an M5 iMac later this year.

I get why people hesitate on the iMac. It looks like a consumer machine from the outside — colorful, slim, almost toy-like compared to a Mac Studio bolted to a monitor arm. But inside that thin aluminum shell, the M4 chip handles 4K video editing, large photo libraries, software development, and everyday multitasking without flinching. If you want the full case for why the iMac punches above its weight, we laid that out in our deep dive on the desktop Mac most buyers underestimate. This article is about the buying story — which configuration earns your money, and when.

The $1,499 iMac Is the Configuration You Want

Apple sells the iMac M4 in four standard configurations, and three of them have a catch.

The $1,299 base model gives you an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB of unified memory, and a 256 GB SSD. That SSD is the dealbreaker. Two hundred fifty-six gigabytes fills up fast — macOS Tahoe itself, a handful of large apps, and an iCloud Photo Library sync will eat most of it before you’ve done real work. You also only get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, no Touch ID on the keyboard, and no Ethernet in the power adapter.

The $1,499 model upgrades to a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, bumps you to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, adds a gigabit Ethernet jack built into the power brick, and includes the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. Storage stays at 256 GB, which is still tight. But you can configure it to 512 GB or 1 TB at checkout, and the extra ports and processing cores are worth the $200 jump by themselves.

The $1,699 and $1,899 tiers add more storage and memory out of the box, but dollar-for-dollar, the $1,499 model configured with a 512 GB SSD — $1,699 total after the upgrade — hits the sweet spot. You get the better chip, all four Thunderbolt 4 ports, Ethernet, Touch ID, and enough storage to breathe.

One thing that catches people off guard: you cannot upgrade the RAM or SSD after purchase. Unified memory is soldered to the M4 package, and the SSD is part of the logic board. Whatever you order is what you live with for the entire lifespan of the machine. If your workflow involves large Logic Pro sessions, virtual machines, or heavy multitasking with dozens of browser tabs and creative apps open simultaneously, pay for 24 GB of memory at checkout. For everyone else, 16 GB handles 2026 workloads just fine.

This table compares the four standard iMac M4 configurations across chip, ports, base storage, Touch ID, and ideal use case to help you choose the right model.

Nano-Texture Glass Is Worth It — for the Right Room

Apple offers a nano-texture glass option on the 10-core iMac configurations for an extra $200. The coating scatters incoming light instead of reflecting it, which dramatically cuts glare in rooms with windows behind you or overhead lighting that hits the screen.

Here’s my honest take: if you work in a bright room, nano-texture is one of the most worthwhile upgrades Apple sells across any product. The difference between standard glass and nano-texture is immediately visible when you sit in front of both. Standard glass shows you, your room, and every light source behind your head. Nano-texture shows your work.

The trade-off is real, though. The coating slightly reduces the display’s perceived vibrancy compared to glossy glass. Colors remain accurate — Apple maintains the P3 wide color gamut and 500 nits brightness, as documented in Apple’s official iMac technical specifications — but the image carries a faintly matte quality that some people prefer and others genuinely don’t. For photo editing and color-critical work in a controlled lighting environment, I’d stick with the standard display. For a home office with big windows and no blinds? Nano-texture earns every penny.

Should You Wait for the M5 iMac?

Apple is expected to refresh the iMac with the M5 chip later in 2026, likely alongside a refreshed color palette. Rumors also point to Apple testing an M5 Max iMac that could revive the iMac Pro name with a larger display — possibly 32 inches. An OLED iMac is much further out, likely 2029 or 2030 based on current display supply chain timelines.

So. Should you wait?

If you need a desktop Mac right now — your current machine is dying, you’re building a new workspace, you have a project that needs horsepower this month — buy the M4 iMac today. The M5 will be faster, sure. But the M4 is not slow. It runs every feature macOS Tahoe ships with, handles Apple Intelligence natively, and will get software updates for years. Waiting six months for a 15 to 20 percent performance bump only makes sense if your current setup isn’t screaming for a replacement.

If you can wait comfortably until the second half of 2026, then waiting is the smarter play. Not because the M5 will be dramatically better — it won’t — but because the M4 iMac will likely drop in price or hit Apple’s refurbished store at a discount once the M5 ships. Either way you come out ahead.

That rumored larger iMac Pro? I wouldn’t make it your purchasing decision. Apple has dangled a bigger all-in-one for years and the timeline keeps sliding. If you need more than 24 inches of screen real estate today, the proven path is a Mac Mini or Mac Studio paired with an external display. The Mac Mini M4 starts at $599 and shares the same chip family as the MacBook Air M5 — leaving plenty of budget for a sharp 27-inch 4K monitor.

When the iMac M4 Is the Wrong Call

The iMac M4 is genuinely excellent at what it does. But it’s wrong for some people.

If you need a display larger than 24 inches, the iMac can’t help. You can connect a second external monitor via Thunderbolt, but it will be a different panel with different calibration and different bezels — not the seamless dual-screen experience some workflows demand. Power users who need 27-inch or 32-inch screens should look at the Mac Mini M4 Pro or Mac Studio M4 Max paired with the display of their choice.

If you already own a great monitor, the iMac is essentially asking you to pay for a second one. The $1,499 iMac’s processing power lives inside a $599 Mac Mini M4. That’s roughly a $900 premium for Apple’s 4.5K display, six-speaker system, 12MP Center Stage camera, and the clean integrated design. Worth it if you value the all-in-one simplicity. Not worth it if you already have the peripherals covered.

And if your work demands sustained GPU-heavy workloads — 3D rendering pipelines, machine learning training sets, or compiling massive codebases for hours at a stretch — the M4’s GPU caps at 10 cores. The Mac Studio with M4 Max offers a 40-core GPU and up to 128 GB of unified memory. Completely different league.

Accessibility and Ergonomics

The iMac M4 has a genuine advantage over a Mac Mini plus external display: everything works out of the box. VoiceOver, Switch Control, and every macOS Tahoe accessibility feature functions immediately on the built-in display and speakers with zero driver quirks. The 4.5K panel at 218 pixels per inch renders text sharply at every zoom level, which matters for anyone who relies on display zoom or larger text sizes throughout the day.

Nano-texture glass doubles as an accessibility feature for users with light sensitivity — reducing glare-induced eye strain without a third-party anti-glare film that can soften text rendering.

One genuine ergonomic friction point: the standard iMac stand tilts but doesn’t adjust for height. The display sits roughly 18 inches tall on its stock stand, and there’s no built-in way to raise or lower it. If that default height doesn’t match your seated eye line, you’ll need Apple’s separate VESA mount adapter and an adjustable monitor arm — or, less elegantly, a stack of hardcover books.