Going from 27" to 21"

[Robster3]

Anyone gone from a 27" to a new 21". We have a 27" and a 21" 09 and i find the 21 is better for movies, tv and streaming video on full screen. The 27" seems to distort the picture.

 

[WilliamG]

Anyone gone from a 27" to a new 21". We have a 27" and a 21" 09 and i find the 21 is better for movies, tv and streaming video on full screen. The 27" seems to distort the picture.

Not sure why you think it "distorts" the picture. There's certainly more scaling for the 27", though, since it's a much higher resolution playing a lower resolution feed. If all you're doing is watching movies and streaming TV, the 21.5" will certainly be sharper. Just depends on how important that is to you.

 

[ashamam]

If you display a 1080p or 720p image/video on a 1440p screen it forces upscaling, ie various processes 'guess' the missing pixels from the source.

Same reason dropping resolution on a game to 1080p on the 27" screen considerably drops the sharpness. Its most noticable with finely detailed games imo.

On the other hand if you have a 1440p source, it looks gorgeous . Sadly video doesn't really exist at this resolution.

 

[iCaleb]

I used to have a 2010 27''.

And I downgraded to a 2012 21.5'' and I am much happier with the smaller size screen.

 

[Lancer]

I used a 1920x1080 21.5" LCD on my old Mac for years, then upgraded to a 24" with the same spec until I got my new 27" iMac and could not be happier, love the extra pixels for day-to-day use and watch a lot of video on it, not DVD. Even 480p 'upscaled' to 1440p is acceptable on the new LED they use.

Also consider with the 21.5" you're never be able to access the RAM so will have to pay Apple and still be limited to just 16Gb. The slower video card, the 5400rpm HDD which is limited to just 1Tb. So to make the most of the 21.5" you'll be paying around $2000 for it with Fusion and 16Gb of Apple RAM. That's the starting point of the 27".

 

[Brandiño]

Are there any advantages aside from price that the new 21" has over the 27"? If so, I may need to curb this obsession with the 27". So far it's only seemed like a downgrade.

 

[maiden666]

Also consider with the 21.5" you're never be able to access the RAM so will have to pay Apple and still be limited to just 16Gb. The slower video card, the 5400rpm HDD which is limited to just 1Tb. So to make the most of the 21.5" you'll be paying around $2000 for it with Fusion and 16Gb of Apple RAM. That's the starting point of the 27".[/QUOTE]

I just bought my new 21 inch imac,and was in two minds whether to spend £1700 on a 27 inch with fusion and get more RAM later on,or spend around £1500 on a 21 inch w fusion and more RAM.
In the end when i was in the Liverpool apple store last week i went and bought a standard 21 inch and love it.
The 21 looks tiny next to the 27 but when i took it home i was really glad i did'nt get the 27,it would have looked massive.
Last night i was rendering a 1gb movie with itunes playing and browsing safari and had no problems,unlike my last pc when rendering i could'nt even browse the web.

Plus i am a mac newbie and did'nt want to spend all that cash without knowing if i could get round to everything imac.
Saying that though in three years time after my apple care runs out i might consider selling this one and looking what the latest mac then has to offer.
Glad i took the plunge and got one though.

Ian