Modified iMac is a chinless wonder

Modified iMac is a chinless wonder

• News

Does the iMac look better sans chin?
Screenshot: Io Technology/Bilibili

The 24-inch iMac is a beautiful bit of kit, but it comes with a hefty “chin.” A custom modified version shows what the all-in-one desktop would have looked like if Apple had made some other design decisions.

Take a look and judge for yourself if this is an improvement.

Would you prefer an iMac without a chin, but thicker?

Inside the slim casing of the 2022 iMac is a powerful computer with an speedy M1 processor. On the outside is a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display. That’s all well and good, but not everyone likes its chin: the sizable blank space below the screen.

Io Technology decided to rebuild the iMac so that the chin is removed. A video shows the modification process.

Of course, the modders couldn’t magically make some of the iMac’s internal components disappear. These were relocated to be behind the bottom edge of the display, making the computer thicker.

The iMac could have been chinless, but it would have needed to be thicker.
Screenshot: Io Technology/Bilibili

And that shows the contradiction between the two versions. Apple decided to make an iMac that’s as thin as possible, even if it has to include a chin. Io Technology wanted an alternative version without a chin, even if it has to be twice as thick.

If Apple had taken that second option, it would have had to come up with a different marketing campaign, as the adverts for the 2021 iMac highlight how thin it is.

This is how slender the actual 24-inch iMac is.
Photo: Apple

Without the chin and with the thicker section, Io Technology’s version of the iMac looks like a fairly typical monitor without a standout feature.