I am going to disagree with you on this one, the iMac was very much ahead of its time. They removed all the legacy ports, relying strictly on USB going forward, they removed the floppy drive, it had a built in network card that was rare in terms of consumer level computer at that price point AND it had a 56k modem! The iMac was one of the main things that got Apple back on track.
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I love the 27" iMac. It should not come back.
- Thread starter redheeler
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I guess there not being a display size choice for iMac is sorta baffling to me. There have always been atleast 2 and for a while there were 3.
I think the iMac is a very useful computer. For consumers and pros alike - getting a new display when you get a new computer is a great feature. People who were upgrading from the 1080 iMac to the 4k then 5k, you really got your money's worth.
I could see there being a 24" and 32" in the future because Apple seems to like 32" displays lately, which makes them even more useful for some of the reasons people like iMacs in general.
The hugest advantage of iMac that I don't think anyone has mentioned is calibration. Yes Apple calibrates the XDR and Studio display, but anyone buying 3rd party displays isn't going to have the insanely accurate mac-to-mac color calibration that exists within iMac. I've worked in professional design situations where deploying iMacs was the easiest way to get accurate color across thousands of employees in different departments and locations where manual calibration was very expensive and time consuming.
I think the iMac is a very useful computer. For consumers and pros alike - getting a new display when you get a new computer is a great feature. People who were upgrading from the 1080 iMac to the 4k then 5k, you really got your money's worth.
I could see there being a 24" and 32" in the future because Apple seems to like 32" displays lately, which makes them even more useful for some of the reasons people like iMacs in general.
The hugest advantage of iMac that I don't think anyone has mentioned is calibration. Yes Apple calibrates the XDR and Studio display, but anyone buying 3rd party displays isn't going to have the insanely accurate mac-to-mac color calibration that exists within iMac. I've worked in professional design situations where deploying iMacs was the easiest way to get accurate color across thousands of employees in different departments and locations where manual calibration was very expensive and time consuming.
I guess I'll need to see if it's still got valid AppleCare on it and prepare to take it to Apple, if so. Her 2014 5K also had power supply issues, and it limped along for a few months after the first repair but is currently inoperable and sitting around waiting for me to find the time to take it apart and cannibalize it for usable parts/turn it into an external display.
“The Studio Display is overpriced and overenginnered, which is a shame as it has potential to be a much better value.”
I feel this way about a lot of displays
I just want the best panel I can get at the size and resolution I want for a reasonable price
I don’t want speakers in my display, or a camera, or a usb hub, or whatever else they want to add to increase its “value”
I don’t even want a stand, just a standard mount
Happy with my current 4k 32” but would love to go to 5k 32” some day for a “reasonable” price without any bells and whistles
I feel this way about a lot of displays
I just want the best panel I can get at the size and resolution I want for a reasonable price
I don’t want speakers in my display, or a camera, or a usb hub, or whatever else they want to add to increase its “value”
I don’t even want a stand, just a standard mount
Happy with my current 4k 32” but would love to go to 5k 32” some day for a “reasonable” price without any bells and whistles
The major thing about current use cases I disagree with you on is power consumption of target display, not because of the old machines but because of the new ones. The AS machines sip power compared to the old days, and hell the standalone displays Apple sells have (A series) AS chips in them too now. Target display mode where the M* SoC downclocks and switches over to performing the same tasks as the A* SoCs in the current standalones would work really well, it’s too bad it’s unlikely to happen
Upgrade of our iMac 27 to state later than late 2013 is blocked as for our needs current portfolio of Apple desktop products shows disadvantages at multiple points
* 24 inch desktop is fatty 4 inches less in diagonal
* we love much more free space on desk over crazy boxes
* we love minimal cable-footprint at workplace
* additional effort of searching and selecting matching screen, the hassle of deciding
* virtual machines in use used to have 32GB memory altogether while in operation in parallel (actually the plan is for successor setup to have 64GB ram)
* we used to populate own ram bars to mac
* 24 inch desktop is fatty 4 inches less in diagonal
* we love much more free space on desk over crazy boxes
* we love minimal cable-footprint at workplace
* additional effort of searching and selecting matching screen, the hassle of deciding
* virtual machines in use used to have 32GB memory altogether while in operation in parallel (actually the plan is for successor setup to have 64GB ram)
* we used to populate own ram bars to mac
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"modern uses"
Funny to me that the vast majority of computer users at this point are on laptops, and yet somehow at the same time a 4.5K 24" screen is "too small".
Someone tell that to the vast majority of people who are using laptops day to day.
Someone tell that to the vast majority of people who are using laptops day to day.
Not for desktop work where you stare at a screen for 7 hours / day.
No, you don’t know. You’re projecting your viewpoint on unknown others, possibly fuelled by a tiny vocal minority found on sites like MR.
Yep. By easily $500.
Maybe not for desktop work where YOU stare at a screen for 7 hours/day, sure. But for me? Absolutely fine. And I suspect for a lot of other people as well. Don't generalize your own preferences onto everyone else, mate.
There is a lot you said that I agree with, but this quote above stood out to me as something I vehemently disagree with. My desk is SUPER CLEAN. I've got 2 Studio Displays, a 14" M3 Max MBP, an 11 Port OWC Dock, and a HyperDrive Gen2.
Try to spot the mess of cables!
It might suffice those use cases but surely why would you move to a smaller screen? Would you do that with a TV? or car (if needs must I suppose). Users like myself with a 27 inch iMac dont want to save space they just simply want to replace the old iMac they have with a newer one and not one that destroys the all in one aestehtic. I upgraded my iMac to 128Gb Ram for workflow reasons - can a 24" iMac be configured that way - No, can I buy a Studio Pro or whatever they're called today - think 64Gb is the max - No I'm being compelled to buy a Studio Ultra (M2) at some ridiculous price - £5000 for the base alone - minus the display - If I choose the standard Studio display another £1500 - so a total of £6500 as opposed to my original iMac at £1800 - I cant justify that - and to get backk to your point it completely destroys the all in one aesthetic to the point of sheer ugliness - Apple pricing is now beyond belief but I guess if you want a high end computer, you have to pay a high end price - but it does feel that Apple are saying to these old iMac customers, screw you for all your loyalty over the years - thanks a bunch Apple!
Not to forget numerous those who use their laptops with external screen.Someone tell that to the vast majority of people who are using laptops day to day.
Not to forget those who interchange the laptop use with desktop use, day by day, depending on environment of working at particular moment.
Those who use laptop day by day do it rather on own (or boss') decision.
This is creation of problem which doesn't exist - at least as for our circumstances here. iMac lifetime appx. 7 years, if one does it longer one makes on own responsibility. This time span is short enough the configuration purchased to suffice till decommissioning. What also works very well in case of need of upgrade: lifetime is that short one can waits till decommissioning.
Our Windows XP prior to current iMac was 10 years on duty without big problems, only two minor upgrades were needed that time span.
Current iMac no hardware upgrade needed till going out of operation, or we simply wait till planned replacement comes (due to very few points: more speed on USB, Ethernet).
For those who need frequent hardware upgrades Apple equipped Mac Studio high-level configurability.
How many years will mac Studio receive macOS updates? Same 6 till 7 years, or so? One of reachiest configurations will easily suffice till new model pops out.
I've read there are other issues as well—in particular, that it can be laggy. Plus there may be very heavy compression, resulting in picture quality that doesn't quite match the beautiful image the iMac is able to display natively (thus defeating the point of having a 5k screen in the first place).
My sense is that it would work OK if you were using the iMac as a secondary external display, but you wouldn't want it as your primary (e.g., if you had an ASD in the middle, you could put an iMac on one side and another display on the other, for a nice three-display setup).
Also: there's no instant-wake; you need to boot it up to use it.
I really like this writeup! Lots of good thoughts, especially the problem of the Studio Display being overpriced, $1299 would be the right price.
One thing, I love the clutter free experience of an all in one, can't get that with mac studio. However, what if they made an all in one with just a apple silicon unit that could plug in the back? Like the whole thing can't be much bigger than the old ram sticks in the older 27iMac, so then the brains of the display could be updated. Would have to stay within the same thermal constraints, so this would never be top of the line, but maybe M3 Max (but not Ultra) probably M3 or M3 Pro, and user could update to M5 or whatever in the future. Would help Apple's sustainability goals as well.
That looks great and wish my desk could look that simple.
Your use case looks a little more simplistic from that image.
I was meaning people who have a lot of peripherals like myself.
So I have multiple Thunderbays with hundreds of tb of drives, audio dacs etc etc back in the day they were all internal in my Mac pro now everything is external desks are a lot busier than they used to be thats what I was meaning.
For several decades people managed, without problem, with CRT televisions 24-32 inches. No one thought anything of it. Today they would find it intolerable given now being used to flatscreens averaging about 50 inches. And for many years 15-17in. CRT computer screens were the norm.
Not “everyone” opts for a 27in. although they’re more popular than 32in. or larger. For a lot of people 24in. is a comfortable size given their desk setup.
Not “everyone” opts for a 27in. although they’re more popular than 32in. or larger. For a lot of people 24in. is a comfortable size given their desk setup.
True but imagine the case if apple dedcided the only iMac they would produce going forward, would be the 27 inch as opposed to the 24 inch (really 23.5) - bearing in mind desk constraints, I'm sure users would feel as equally annoyed and disappointed as I/we do - wouldnt they? I would argue its easier to upgrade as opposed to downgrading to a smaller screen, but hey, what do I know.
Thanks for pointing that out - means the Ultra is even more insanely expensive 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣