Yep. I was in an Apple Store yesterday and looked at two 21.5" iMacs. Overall screen quality was underwhelming at best.
It's been my experience that smaller screens have always looked sharper. But the new iMac displays didn't look much better than the iPad Mini's that were out.
What I'm surprised about is that there have been very few posts from new owners commenting on the screen one way or another.
no one has come in these forums with a thread of how much they enjoy the laminated glass and minimal reflections.
Well I wouldn't go that far. The mini's text display is fairly obnoxious once exposed to a Retina iPad.
I am now very confused as to what I want. I can get an iMac , MacBook Air or 13" rmbp. I thought the new iMac screen would help me settle it but its just confused me more.
Maybe the glass is just much thicker which gives it the impression that there's a slight gap but I don't think it's much of an improvement. That said, it wouldn't hold me back from buying an iMac if I was in the market for one (I'm not a fan of all-in-ones so I was really checking it out for the future possibility of a new Cinema Display).
Maybe some things, when done right, just don't warrant any commentary.
...which, methinks, is the underlying Apple axiom: the best user experience is one which isn't noticed at all.
We're on an enthusiast site, if the screen was THAT much better, there would be threads popping up. That said, it's not like its worse than the previous generation. It's just not a crazy improvement like some sites have reported (I think it was the verge that said it looked like images were sitting on the top the glass ). I was definitely hoping it was true...
Just get a Air and an external display
Korean 27" IPS LED Monitor around $400(same basic panel as the iMacs I believe)
Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter - $100
13" Air 8gb - Around $1300
Total - $1,800. This gives you both laptop and a 27" IPS display with resolution of 2560 x 1440.
Yea I know it's a decent screen and retina has spoiled us all. I just expected it to seem better than the previous gen.
When I compare the iPhone 5 to the 4s/4, i notice a difference. It's just brighter and seems nicer. Same with the iPad mini! That air gap they eliminated seems to work wonders with the smaller devices. I just thought I'd notice a difference in the iMacs as well but so far I haven't.
Probably a little off topic but does anyone know if you can install Mac OS X on an external SSD?
Since the nearest Apple store is 2 hours away, I finally got a chance to check out the latest iMac at my local Apple reseller. It was sitting next to a 27" Thunderbolt display and I could see the reduction in glare and reflections immediately.
I think the new display looks great, and without the benefit of a side by side comparison, I think the reduction in glare is very comparable to the results I obtained by simply removing the outer glass on my 2011 iMac.
I then jumped onto the MacBook Air 13" and everything seemed super sharp. And don't even get me started about the retina mbps.
We're on an enthusiast site, if the screen was THAT much better, there would be threads popping up. That said, it's not like its worse than the previous generation. It's just not a crazy improvement like some sites have reported (I think it was the verge that said it looked like images were sitting on the top the glass ). I was definitely hoping it was true...
I would hope it is an enthusiast site, but I see very little of a product coming out and saying it's great. When products come out the threads are usually Apple did this wrong, that wrong, I'm not buying etc. As much as they have done right in these macs you would read the forums and think that performance has dropped etc.
People rarely go on forums to say something is working, however the moment it doesn't we are all here moaning.
I have seen people mention just how much better glare is though.
The airs have the highest PPI of non retina macs, but the iMac is sharp too. The only thing where sharpness bothers, is with text. But text will be harder too read on the MBA than on the iMac, as everything is smaller, yet fonts have exact the same detail on both machines.
If you want sharp: install windows 7 on your iMac. OSX font rendering is quite soft and targeted at accurate object placement for layout, where Windows is more about crisp display with the sharpest possible fonts.
This is correct, and I am thinking very much indeed of going with windows in my work mac at least for that very reason. I 've ****ing had it with apple, unless they bring retina resolutions to the imacs their font rendering will remain sub par in terms of sheer clarity and also in term of size customization. To add insult to injury where they do have retina as in the rmbp their software implementation and/or their hardware for the retina is creating a choppy laggy interface in may apps....
Wow... That's a bit over the top....
I've seen several places predictions about 21'' retina desktop displays next year. Here is a link:
http://www.techspot.com/news/48165-...displays-coming-to-laptops-desktops-soon.html
Once you have a retina it's hard to go back to a standard screen. I am considering am iMac 27inch but once I put in a fusion drive its $2000. It's hard to spend that much on a non retina