Yes I think it might beDo you mean too big for your workspace?
I have the 21.5" and a friend has the 27". Compared with mine, he places his machine further away from himself whilst using it. Therefore the perceived screen sizes are pretty well the same!
Possibly, the main advantage of a larger screen is watching films (DVD player/TV is better!) or gaming.
Hmm, I'm also going to be going from a 24" display. The 27 looks giant in the store and the 21 looks plenty big to put two documents side by side.
The 27 seems so gigantic. Sure one could put all the side by side programs on it. But most of the time I'm just working on one program or I use spaces to flip between them very quickly. That seems like a huge amount of screen to be running when usually I'm just doing something like reading a word processing page, an email, or looking at a website, all of which usually just mean about 6 to 8 inch wide space that I'm actually focused on. Like right now I'm focused on this text entry box which is five inches wide on my computer.
OR reviewing multiple documents side by side, OR having a bunch of applications open at the same time. OR having the ability to put a display on either or both sides of it. (sigh)
<real reason> OR admitting that your eyes are going to :censored: due to age, and wanting a bigger screen to compensate.
I've got my three year old 22" samsung next to it, and the imac display just puts it to shame. Nothing wrong with the 21.5" display, it's just that the 27" serves my purposes better.
Well you can put another display on the side of it with the 21.5. Not on both though.
I am going to give another aspect or point of view so to speak. I have a 21.5 currently, and have on order a 21.5 with 2.8 i7 and SSD + 1 tb hd.
I use the 21.5 with a 27 cinema display. The Cinema display is superior in every respect. Less warm and no yellow hue to speak of. I own quite a few 27's and the majority of them have some type of yellowing issue.
How many threads on here with people with the same problem?
With using the 21.5 with another display and using the 21.5 as the extra display that is no longer a issue.
Plus you are free to use any display you want, new OLED? New PLS?
You have more options. With the 27 you can do the same, but is that even practical? More than likely you will use the 27 as your main display.
Your stuck with the 27 for the life of the iMac. With he 21.5 with a Cinema display, you get two good glossy IPS panels that match as opposed to a 27 paired with a inferior display.
Do you mean that the Cinema Display is superior to the iMac 27" screen? I thought they were both the same model, no?
I got the 21.5" 2011 iMac. Very happy with it and I work on it pretty much 10 hours a day non stop.
I wrote a review on my blog, you'll find the link in my signature.
To answer your question though, I think the 21.5" is really enough. The 27" is something, sure, we'd "like" but really don't need at all. That, and, on most home style desks, I find 27" is so close to my eyes that I feel lost with such a big screen.
If money were no object, of course I would go for the top top 27" iMac (the base 27" iMac doesn't score that much better than the standard 21" models).
I plan on getting the 21". The 27" is just too big to carry on the subway when I'll need a hard drive replacement.