Screen size?

[thunderbunny]

Has anyone used both screen sizes and can comment? I am going to buy an iMac when my ridiculous employer relocates me along with a years salary moving bonus.

Had a play in the apple stores. While the 27" will comfortably let me have 3 or 4 usefully sized documents on screen I'm not sure long term use so close to such a large screen would be comfortable. Comments?

 

[tc3jg]

Has anyone used both screen sizes and can comment? I am going to buy an iMac when my ridiculous employer relocates me along with a years salary moving bonus.

Had a play in the apple stores. While the 27" will comfortably let me have 3 or 4 usefully sized documents on screen I'm not sure long term use so close to such a large screen would be comfortable. Comments?

BIgger is better you will kick yourself for getting a smaller screen

 

[Hellhammer]

It feels big for few days. After that, you can't go back to smaller one. If you can afford the 27", get it. It's simply brilliant

 

[Tigerman82]

BIgger is better you will kick yourself for getting a smaller screen

Well I almost went with the hype and the 27" screen... And I would be kicking myself now if I hadn't chosen the 21.5" screen instead. First of all the 27" screen takes a lot of space. I have a large wooden desk and while it acts as a sort of a livingroom table as well, it has space. The 27" screen would have taken up so much space that I wouldn't have been able to use the desk for anything else.

Another thing is the resolution of the 27". Yes, it is great for multitasking but single windows maxed out will look empty. Moreover, everything you see on the screen will look small. There have been several reports of people getting headaches and pain in their eyes when using the 27" screen. I'm sure you can get used to it, but I don't think any screen at any point should make people's heads ache. The resolution of the 21.5" screen is a popular resolution for movies and games so you don't have to scale. On the other hand, the resolution of the 27" is not that common and you may have to downscale quite a bit -- and whenever you have to scale the picture gets a bit worse.

If you have a large desk and you don't have to place the screen close to you, the 27" screen could be a good choise. However, if you don't do a lot of multitasking, it's not necessarily a good choise. I do have to say that some have reported that with these 2010 iMacs the 27" screen seems to be more trouble-free this time around -- it seems people with the 21.5" screen seem to have more of that yellow tint problem.

Finally, remember to measure your desk space and think about how much space out of it would a 27" screen take. Furthermore, do not think that you can't multitask with a 21.5" screen because you can. Do remember that some of these "get 27" screen or die" people have said that really no screen size is big enough. In other words, some of these 27" people have said that a 40" screen on their desks would not be an overkill. I guess there is nothing wrong in having a 40-incher on your desk but for basic computer users that sounds ridiculous.

 

[tc3jg]

If you need desk space put it on the wall. as for having empty space Id rather have the empty space and be able to use it if needed rather than need it but it not be there. As someone else said if you have the cash get the bigger screen. imo

 

[thunderbunny]

Thanks for the thoughts. To be honest after using the 27" it was strange to look at the 21.5" and think it looked so small, bit like using iPhone after iPad

Have got a couple of months thinking time at least

 

[Vylen]

Try using a 27" for a while in the Apple store - ideally while reading a lot of stuff. You might be like the few people on these forums that seem to get a headache while reading documents on a 27" screen.

 

[MacAndMic]

Once you go 27" you will never go back. It's neat in the store opening a few documents and a browser session or two but once you start using it daily you would actually not mind having more.

I am in and out of CAD, mail, calendar, word, pdf's, excel and others all day long and the monitor real estate definitely makes me more productive.

troutspinner

 

[arjen92]

I have the iMac 24", also the imac G4's (15" and 17") and honestly, you just get used to the sizes. At my dad's work they have iMac 20", and it's big enough too.

But I'm most of the time on 24" screen (which is only a little bit less wide than the 27" and a lower resolution). It is absolutely no problem. Not more a problem than all the other screens (when you surf the forums at 2 am with all the lights out your eyes are getting painfull, no matter whether that's on my 13,3" macbook or 24" iMac).

Now I have to admit I'm like two feet away from the 24" screen, and I also use an extra screen for my extra stuff. For example itunes. I never have two windows on one screen. I just don't like it. But the big screen is just wonderfull for Final Cut Pro, I use the second screen for the resulting video.

But definitely go for the 27", it has more power and more screen. I you can go for it, why shouldn't you? I really don't think it's overkill (a Mac Pro with two of these screens would be overkill.... although).

 

[B.winkle]

I use the 21.5 and it's fine for me. Some like the 27" and that's okay. Whatever floats your boat. YMMV.

 

[aki]

It really depends on what you plan to use your machine for. Here are the factors I would consider.

How much space do you have? The monitor is physically very large, and you need a little more space on the right side to be able to insert DVDs (if anyone still uses those).

How close do you sit to your screen/what is your eyesight like? If your computing space/desk forces you to sit up too close, you may find you have to move your neck around to view the screen - not good. Also, if you have eyesight issues a large screen may induce strain. This can also be an issue for gaming. I sc2 on my 27" without problems myself, but I have heard plenty of people say they prefer playing competitively on their laptops because its easier to look around the smaller screen.

What will you use your machine for? A large screen is fantastic for video editing (FCP etc), photoshop or any other app which involves multiple simultaneous windows, or watching movies in your living room. If you are mostly writing documents in word, or web-browsing, I'm not sure it's so good or necessary.