Apple’s new M6 chip arrived on Tuesday in two Macs at once, the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 24-inch iMac, with two more CPU cores and two more GPU cores than before. Both pick up Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and both open for preorder on Wednesday, October 28, ahead of a November 6 release.
In its MacBook Pro announcement, Apple says the M6 pairs a 12-core CPU, built from two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores, with a 12-core GPU that has a Neural Accelerator in every core. Apple quotes up to 30% faster graphics than the M5 model, up to 1.9x faster Neural Engine performance, and up to 1.2x faster image processing in Affinity, or 3.3x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1. The Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) now starts with 1 TB of storage and 16 GB of unified memory, configurable to 24 GB or 32 GB, and Apple rates it for up to 24 hours of video streaming, the longest battery life it has ever put in a Mac. The M5 Pro and M5 Max versions of the 14-inch model stay on sale alongside it.
The Liquid Retina XDR display is still one of the best screens you can edit on away from a desk. It runs at 3,024 x 1,964 pixels, holds 1,000 nits across the full screen, peaks at 1,600 nits on HDR content, and covers P3 with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, which makes it a strong screen for editing HDR photos in Lightroom. A nano-texture option cuts reflections when you’re working near a window or outdoors. The ports cover the essentials for photo work: an SDXC card slot, HDMI, MagSafe 3, a headphone jack, and three Thunderbolt 4 ports. It comes in space black or silver and weighs 1.55 kg.
The iMac jumps straight from M4 to M6, skipping a generation. Apple’s iMac announcement lists up to 2x faster graphics than the M4 model for work like photo editing in Affinity, up to 5x faster on-device AI performance, and an SSD with up to twice the read and write speed, which helps large photo libraries open quickly. The Apple 24-inch iMac (M6) comes with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU or a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU. The 12-core model doubles the Thunderbolt 4 ports from two to four, supports two 6K external displays, offers nano-texture glass, and includes 2.5Gb Ethernet, which Apple says is up to 2.5x faster than the previous iMac’s wired connection and is an option on the 10-core model. The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display runs at 4,480 x 2,520 pixels and 500 nits with P3 color, and the iMac comes in blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver.
For photo work, the two machines split neatly. The MacBook Pro is the one for HDR editing and for working on location, with its XDR screen, a built-in card reader, and a battery that lasts a full day. The iMac is a superb desk machine with a sharp P3 display, and its faster SSD and 2.5Gb Ethernet make it a good fit if your archive lives on a NAS. Its base model has 256 GB of storage, so plan on keeping your library on an external SSD over Thunderbolt 4. On both, 32 GB is the memory ceiling, which handles most Lightroom and Photoshop work comfortably. If you build very large layered composites, the M5 Pro MacBook Pro goes up to 64 GB.
Key Specs: 14-Inch MacBook Pro (M6)
- Chip: M6, 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, dual 16-core Neural Engine
- Memory: 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB or 32 GB
- Storage: 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB
- Display: 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, 3,024 x 1,964, 1,000 nits full screen, 1,600 nits peak HDR, optional nano-texture
- Ports: SDXC card slot, HDMI, three Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
- Battery: up to 24 hours of video streaming
- Weight: 1.55 kg
Key Specs: 24-Inch iMac (M6)
- Chip: M6 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, or 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU
- Memory: 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB (10-core) or 32 GB (12-core)
- Storage: 256 GB, configurable to 1 TB (10-core) or 2 TB (12-core)
- Display: 24-inch 4.5K Retina, 4,480 x 2,520, 500 nits, P3, optional nano-texture on the 12-core model
- Connectivity: two Thunderbolt 4 (10-core) or four (12-core), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, 2.5Gb Ethernet (standard on 12-core, optional on 10-core)
- External displays: one 6K display (10-core) or two (12-core)
The Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) starts at $1,999, and the Apple 24-inch iMac (M6) starts at $1,499 for the 10-core model and $1,699 for the 12-core model, with preorders opening October 28.
