The M4 iMac Becomes the First Model to Support External Displays at 8K Resolution with 60Hz Refresh Rate

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has yet to release its own 8K display. Its top-resolution display, the Pro Display XDR, reaches 6K resolution and, despite its high price, has a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. However, the company will allow new M4 iMac owners to connect external 8K 60Hz displays.

M4 Chip's Additional Thunderbolt Controllers Enable High-Resolution Display Support If you delve into the "Technical Specifications" section of the M4 iMac, you will notice that the base model, which includes an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, is limited to supporting only one external 6K display at 60Hz. Fortunately, the higher-end model, which comes with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, will support two 60Hz 6K displays or one display with 8K resolution.

It is worth noting that the M3 MacBook series also supported up to two external displays, but it required the lid to be closed, which imposed a sort of limitation. Regarding how the new iMac will support an 8K external display, this is likely related to an increase in the number of Thunderbolt controllers on the chip. Compared to the M3, the number of Thunderbolt controllers in the M4 is reportedly doubled, providing the necessary bandwidth to handle the massive pixel count of an 8K display.

With this latest development, Apple could also extend the same feature to the next MacBook Pro models, but we will only find out when an official press release is published. The addition of 8K support in the M4 iMac model may indicate that Apple is preparing to launch its own 8K display that could potentially replace the Pro Display XDR in the future. What do you think?