iMac (M1, 2021)

The 2021 iMac was the most dramatic visual reinvention of Apple's all-in-one desktop since the original candy-colored iMac G3 redefined home computing in 1998, and it arrived as the first Apple Silicon iMac, built entirely around the efficiency of the M1 chip. Because M1 and its unified-memory architecture ran so cool and drew so little power compared to any Intel chip the iMac had ever used, Apple was able to shrink the entire computer down to a startling 11.5mm at its thinnest point, an all-in-one so slim it looked almost like a display alone, with all the computing hardware and a completely redesigned thermal system tucked into a slender rear chin. Apple paired this radical thinness with an equally radical return to color, offering the iMac in seven vibrant finishes, from blue and green to pink, orange, purple, silver, and yellow, each with a coordinated colored keyboard, mouse, and trackpad, deliberately evoking the exuberant iMac G3 era rather than the space gray and aluminum severity the iMac had worn for over a decade. Reception to the design split gently but was overwhelmingly positive: some longtime users found the new color-blocked, two-tone chassis a little too playful for a machine sold at professional-adjacent prices, and the reduced port selection (just two or four Thunderbolt/USB4 ports depending on configuration, with no SD card slot) drew mild criticism, but most reviewers and buyers embraced the reinvention as exactly the kind of confident, joyful design statement the iMac line needed after years of visual stagnation. Performance-wise, this M1 iMac inherited all the benefits that had stunned reviewers of the M1 MacBook Air and Mac mini: silent, fanless-quiet operation for most tasks, dramatically improved battery-free efficiency, and CPU/GPU performance that outpaced the Intel iMacs it replaced despite this being the entry-level Apple Silicon chip rather than a higher-tier Pro or Max variant. As the first Apple Silicon all-in-one, it completed Apple's initial wave of the Apple Silicon transition across its most iconic form factors, laptop, desktop mini, and now the flagship consumer all-in-one, and it remains celebrated as one of the boldest and most successful Mac industrial design refreshes of the Apple Silicon era.