The announced Apple iMac with M4 chip starts at $1,299

Apple announced on Monday an updated iMac with the company's latest M4 chip. Pricing starts at $1,299 and is available to order ahead of the release on November 8th.

Apple's Mac family remains a large business segment, even if it is less important to the company than the iPhone. In the June quarter, Apple reported Mac revenue of $7 billion, up about 2% on an annual basis.

Unlike the iPhone, where only phones released in the last two years support Apple Intelligence, as of 2020, all of Apple's computers with the M1 chip and newer can run the company's artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, Apple is focusing on artificial intelligence when marketing the new Macs in order to get its new offering going.

Apple Intelligence allows users to rewrite, proofread, or summarize text. For example, you can highlight the text of an email and use Apple Intelligence to make it sound more professional or concise. Users can also type in Siri, which now offers more answers about Apple products. Apple plans to release another version of Apple Intelligence in December that integrates OpenAI's ChatGPT support into writing tools and Siri.

The M4 iMac is available in new colors including green, yellow, orange, pink and purple. It is also still available in silver. All four USB-C ports on the back also support the fastest Thunderbolt 4 standard, so you can transfer large videos and other files faster. It supports up to two additional 6K displays. It also comes with an updated Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard with USB-C charging, replacing the older Lightning port.

The new iMac features the same 24-inch 4.5K Retina display as previous models, but now features a new nano-texture display option that eliminates reflections and glare.

Apple could announce more new Macs in the coming days. Greg Joswiak, Apple's chief marketer, quit on Thursday

Apple first introduced the M4 in Apple's iPad Pro in May. At the time, Apple said the chip had additional AI capabilities and a better graphics processor and that it used TSMC's 3-nanometer manufacturing process. According to Apple, the M4 uses half as much power as the M2, which was first released in 2022.

In September, Apple announced new iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods. This week's Mac announcements are likely Apple's last major hardware announcements for the year.