Apple iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) vs Apple iMac 24″ (M4)

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iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) compared with iMac 24″ (M4)

	AppleiMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)	AppleiMac 24″ (M4)
Overview
Released
Released	May 2011	November 2024
Performance
Processor
Processor	Intel Core i5-2400S, Intel Core i5-2500S or Intel Core i7-2600S	Apple M4
CPU cores
CPU cores	4	8 or 10
Graphics
Graphics	AMD Radeon HD 6750M (512 MB GDDR5) or AMD Radeon HD 6770M (512 MB GDDR5)	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU
AI engine (NPU)
AI engine (NPU)	–	38 TOPS
Memory
Memory	4 GB, 8 GB or 16 GB	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	500 GB to 2 TB	256 GB to 2 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	2.5 GHz quad-core Core i5-2400S or 2.7 GHz quad-core Core i5-2500S; the higher model offers a 2.8 GHz quad-core Core i7-2600S upgrade. Exact model identities cross-checked with EveryMac; the i5 has 6 MB shared L3 cache. Intel confirms the i7 has eight threads and up to 3.8 GHz Turbo Boost.	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores (two-port model), or 10-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores (four-port models)
GPU
GPU	2.5 GHz model has AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512 MB GDDR5; 2.7 GHz and optional i7 models have Radeon HD 6770M with 512 MB GDDR5	Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
AI engine
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	120GB/s
Memory type
Memory type	Four SO-DIMM slots, 1333 MHz DDR3; 4 GB standard as two 2 GB modules. Base model offers an 8 GB factory upgrade; higher model offers 8 or 16 GB. Memory is user accessible.	–
Storage type
Storage type	Base model has a 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive. Higher model has a 1 TB 7200 rpm drive, configurable to 2 TB and a 256 GB solid-state second drive. Mixed hard-drive-plus-SSD options are described here rather than labelled Fusion Drive or presented as a single SSD; no standalone 256 GB row is inferred from the support sheet's second-drive wording. Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer DVD burning.	SSD
Media engine
Media engine	–	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; video decode engine; video encode engine; ProRes encode and decode engine; AV1 decode
Display
Screen size
Screen size	21.5″	24″
Resolution
Resolution	1920 × 1080	4480 × 2520 (better)
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	IPS LCD
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	–	60 Hz
Brightness
Brightness	–	500 nits
Display type
Display type	Glossy LED-backlit IPS widescreen display, millions of colours; optional unpublished refresh rate and brightness omitted	4.5K Retina display; actual diagonal 23.5 inches
Pixel density
Pixel density	–	218 ppi
Display features
Display features	–	1 billion colours; wide colour (P3); True Tone; nano-texture glass option on four-port models
Connections
Ports
Ports	Thunderbolt, 4 × USB-A, Ethernet, SD card slot, headphone jack	2 × Thunderbolt 4, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	1 Gb/s	–
External displays
External displays	Up to 1	Up to 1
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	802.11n	Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	5.3
Camera
Camera	FaceTime HD camera	12MP Center Stage
Back ports
Back ports	One Thunderbolt port also provides Mini DisplayPort video output; four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 at 7 W, Gigabit Ethernet, SDXC slot, headphone/optical digital output and line-in/optical digital input. FireWire and audio input are described here because the main port list has no fields for them; IR receiver built in.	2 × Thunderbolt / USB 4 (two-port model) or 4 × Thunderbolt 4 (four-port models), each with Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s) and DisplayPort; Gigabit Ethernet on the power adapter, standard on four-port models and optional on the two-port model
External displays
External displays	Full built-in resolution and one external display up to 2560 × 1600 simultaneously; extended desktop and mirroring, optional DVI/VGA/dual-link DVI adapters	Two-port model: one at up to 6K 60Hz; four-port models: two at up to 6K 60Hz, or one at up to 8K 60Hz
Camera
Camera	–	12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View; 1080p HD video recording; advanced image signal processor with computational video
Speakers
Speakers	Stereo speakers with two internal 17 W amplifiers, built-in microphone and support for iPhone headset microphones	High-fidelity six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo sound; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
Microphones
Microphones	–	Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse, with Magic Trackpad substitution available from the online store	Magic Keyboard (two-port model) or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (four-port models), and Magic Mouse; Magic Trackpad or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad available instead
Design and power
Type
Type	All-in-one	All-in-one
Weight
Weight	9.3 kg	4.42 kg (better)
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	528 × 188.5 × 451 mm	547 × 147 × 461 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Power supply
Power supply	Maximum continuous power 205 W; 100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz single phase	143W external power adapter; power lead (2 m)
Materials
Materials	Aluminium and glass enclosure, arsenic-free display glass and mercury-free LED backlight; BFR-free and PVC-free components, with PVC-free AC cord availability limited to named regions	100% recycled aluminium in the stand; more than 15% recycled content overall
Colours
Colours	–	Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Silver
In the box
In the box	iMac, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Launch press specifies Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife '11; the later support sheet lists OS X Lion, reflecting the software update rather than launch software.	iMac, Magic Keyboard (with Touch ID on four-port models), Magic Mouse, 143W power adapter, power lead (2 m), USB-C Charge Cable, polishing cloth (nano-texture glass only)