My 2010 Macbook Pro is limping along with GPU panics, and upgrading to a new MBP seemed just an invitation to experience some weird screen or keyboard issues. And I'm on a tight budget.
SO, I went the route of getting a refurbished 2017 21.5-inch iMac with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.
I'm finding that the sound is really muffled, and I'm wondering if that's just normal for a 21.5-inch iMac. Never owned an iMac before. I found threads about muffled sound with the 2017 27-inch iMac but not the 21-5-inch model. Because the machine is refurbished, it's not clear whether the speakers in my machine are wonky somehow. Even the sound on my iPad 2 is better than this iMac.
What do folks think?
Whenever I've gone to any Apple store, it's been absolute noisy chaos, so it's hard to gauge the sound quality there. But now that I'm starting to work with the machine at home, the sound is so lousy compared to the sound that comes from my 2010 MacBook Pro, which is crisper, less bass heavy, better balanced. How is this possible? Is it related to the position of the speakers on the iMac?
Also, I'm really near sighted, and the retina screen seems hard for my eyes to focus on. I've researched other people reporting issues, but I suspect I'm in the minority with this. If I could have gotten 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD with the non-Retina display, I would have, but that wasn't an option. I'm hoping to connect the Apple Cinema Display that I use with my MBP to the iMac using a Thunderbolt 3 to DVI adapter that arrives later today as an experiment. I do a lot of reading and editing text online and some layouts, and I also edit videos occasionally and will be getting more into film. I need something that won't ruin my eyes further.
Perhaps I should have hung in there a few more months with my MBP to see if Apple updates the MacMini, and used the iMac option along with buying some speakers as a plan B.
Thanks for any feedback and cheers!
SO, I went the route of getting a refurbished 2017 21.5-inch iMac with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.
I'm finding that the sound is really muffled, and I'm wondering if that's just normal for a 21.5-inch iMac. Never owned an iMac before. I found threads about muffled sound with the 2017 27-inch iMac but not the 21-5-inch model. Because the machine is refurbished, it's not clear whether the speakers in my machine are wonky somehow. Even the sound on my iPad 2 is better than this iMac.
What do folks think?
Whenever I've gone to any Apple store, it's been absolute noisy chaos, so it's hard to gauge the sound quality there. But now that I'm starting to work with the machine at home, the sound is so lousy compared to the sound that comes from my 2010 MacBook Pro, which is crisper, less bass heavy, better balanced. How is this possible? Is it related to the position of the speakers on the iMac?
Also, I'm really near sighted, and the retina screen seems hard for my eyes to focus on. I've researched other people reporting issues, but I suspect I'm in the minority with this. If I could have gotten 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD with the non-Retina display, I would have, but that wasn't an option. I'm hoping to connect the Apple Cinema Display that I use with my MBP to the iMac using a Thunderbolt 3 to DVI adapter that arrives later today as an experiment. I do a lot of reading and editing text online and some layouts, and I also edit videos occasionally and will be getting more into film. I need something that won't ruin my eyes further.
Perhaps I should have hung in there a few more months with my MBP to see if Apple updates the MacMini, and used the iMac option along with buying some speakers as a plan B.
Thanks for any feedback and cheers!
I've been traveling and will follow-up on your speaker suggestions to address my sound concerns. I was able to find a way to connect my old Cinema Display to the iMac using a USB-3 to DVI connector, so if my myopic eyes can't adjust to the iMac monitor, I've got a plan B.