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jasimon9

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
184
3
Today I went into my local Best Buy to take a look at the new iMacs. In particular I wanted to see if the so-called "bulge" was objectionable, because of all the discussion about it.

Fortunately, they had a 21 inch late 2012 next to a 27 inch 2011. I immediately noticed the thinness at the edges of the 21 inch, and saw a bulge. Fortunately, there was nothing objectionable about it.

Then I noticed something on the 27 inch 2011 -- it also has the same bulge. It is only less apparent because the edges do not taper down to the very thin edge. So I attempted to take some causal measurements of the "thickness of the bulge" on both models. While my method had a lot of built-in error, after several comparisons I had to conclude that the bulge is roughly the same on both models. A better comparison would have been to a 21 inch 2011, but there was not one on display.

My conclusion is that rather than "adding a bulge", the designers rather sculpted away thickness as you move towards the edge, leaving the bulge the same as it was before. That is, the bulge was not "added", simply "revealed".

When I got home I checked my 24 inch 2007 iMac. The thickness at the edge is approximately 30 mm. The thickness at the bulge may be estimated by extending a vertical from the bulge over the top of the screen, then measuring the distance from the front of the screen to the vertical. The measurement is approximately 60mm. Even given significant error in the measurements, one is forced to conclude that prior to 2012 there has always been a bulge in the iMac. It was simply less noticeable because of the tapering to a much greater thickness at the edge.

Conclusions:
  • bulge not objectionable
  • it was always there, more or less.
 

bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
The old models didn't bulge, they were simply about an inch thick all the way across. Frankly, as I sit in front of my machine, I could care less. That is, except for the fact that they took out the ODD and stuck the SD slot on the arse of this thing. A bit hard to get to with a desk that has a shelf over it.
 

Zandros

macrumors regular
Sep 1, 2010
124
82
The old models didn't bulge, they were simply about an inch thick all the way across. Frankly, as I sit in front of my machine, I could care less. That is, except for the fact that they took out the ODD and stuck the SD slot on the arse of this thing. A bit hard to get to with a desk that has a shelf over it.

The last, and really only, iMac without a curved back ("the bulge") was the pre-iSight iMac G5, which was perfectly flat. (Well, maybe the sunflower iMac too.) My subjective impression comparing the 2011 and 2012 21.5'' models side by side is that the curve is of a similar radius and it is simply the flat part on the edges that has shrunk away into virtually nothing, making it more obvious, certainly, but not "bulgeier" as such.
 

JSchwartz15

macrumors regular
Mar 21, 2012
119
4
The old models didn't bulge, they were simply about an inch thick all the way across. Frankly, as I sit in front of my machine, I could care less. That is, except for the fact that they took out the ODD and stuck the SD slot on the arse of this thing. A bit hard to get to with a desk that has a shelf over it.

Not true. When putting away my Early 2009 iMac yesterday to replace it with the 2012, I noticed that it does in fact have a bulge. The edge is straight back by an inch, and then a bulge.
 

torana355

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
Not true. When putting away my Early 2009 iMac yesterday to replace it with the 2012, I noticed that it does in fact have a bulge. The edge is straight back by an inch, and then a bulge.

Exactly, to take it one step further when i received my 2012 model i had them both lined up so i could check the side profile and the 2008 iMac defiantly has a bulge.
 

jasimon9

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
184
3
Not true. When putting away my Early 2009 iMac yesterday to replace it with the 2012, I noticed that it does in fact have a bulge. The edge is straight back by an inch, and then a bulge.

If you cannot overcome the optical illusion of "no bulge" on earlier iMacs, and cannot measure it yourself in the way I explained, here is a really simple way to see the bulge.

If you still have your original shipping box with the foam inserts, just look at those foam inserts where the screen fits in. You will see an obvious indication of the bulge by the shape of the cutout where the screen fits.
 

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
Reality is when you're using the new (or old) iMac you can't see the bulge and from the front there is no change apart from the much better LCD on the 2012 model.

Also it still looks 1000% better than any AIO PC or PC monitor for that matter.
 

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
17
Silicon Valley
If you cannot overcome the optical illusion of "no bulge" on earlier iMacs, and cannot measure it yourself in the way I explained, here is a really simple way to see the bulge.

If you still have your original shipping box with the foam inserts, just look at those foam inserts where the screen fits in. You will see an obvious indication of the bulge by the shape of the cutout where the screen fits.

What's your point? No one is denying that it is not 5mm thin throughout. No one claimed that it was 5mm thin throughout. It's not Apple's fault you can't read.

Anyhow, the 2012 iMac still performs better and looks much nicer than any AIO computer on the market. The level of attention to details both large and small is incredible. No other company can rival this. Other AIOs look like they were put together by a dozen different teams. Not to mention they run Windows 8. A usability nightmare, especially for non-touchscreen computers and desktop/laptop computers.
 

mushroomtip

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
354
0
The old models didn't bulge, they were simply about an inch thick all the way across. Frankly, as I sit in front of my machine, I could care less. That is, except for the fact that they took out the ODD and stuck the SD slot on the arse of this thing. A bit hard to get to with a desk that has a shelf over it.

looks like there's a bulge to me
 

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bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
looks like there's a bulge to me

wow, you got me. Considering it was already pointed out a month and a half ago, you are right on top of things. The bulge was much less pronounced than it is in the new ones, and they had plenty of room for internals, because there was about an inch of depth before the back even starts. Anyway, points to you, mushroomtip. Take long enough to look at the whole thread and the dates.
 

mushroomtip

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
354
0
wow, you got me. Considering it was already pointed out a month and a half ago, you are right on top of things. The bulge was much less pronounced than it is in the new ones, and they had plenty of room for internals, because there was about an inch of depth before the back even starts. Anyway, points to you, mushroomtip. Take long enough to look at the whole thread and the dates.

nice soapbox !
 

turtlez

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2012
977
0
Everyone loves to make fun on new things Apple does. Take a look at the iPad for example. "Oversized iPod" "iTampon" "it will never sell" - M$. Now the iPad is one of the top selling electronic devices and everyone else spun their wheels quickly to get started on their iClones once they realised that their mockery of the iPad was far from right.

My experience with the 2012 iMac has been nothing but flawless. The machine stays quiet and cool even in stressful times whereas the "fatter" 2011 model burned my hand off doing the same things. People complaining about thinner just need to give it up already or go buy a PC if you want fat designs. I have owned this 2012 iMac for over 2 weeks now and not once have I had a need for the optical drive. I am getting the best mobile GPU, best CPU, insane amount of RAM, two drives (fusion) and an elite screen in a quiet, cool and attractive looking design. I actually haven't held a dvd/cd for about 2 years. The only optical media I touch is bluray movies for my bluray player attached to the TV. Why would I want a cumbersome optical drive in a Mac driving up costs a bit more and fattening a design just for one unused component??

PS. for those of you complaining that it could have been a desktop class GPU then try this. The iMac is not designed 100% for professionals. A lot of professionals use them but guess what.. Apple provides the Mac Pro for professionals that uses the desktop GPU card. If you want the desktop card for games then you shouldn't even be using a mac since you will get a 20% reduction in performance compared to windows for games. Games you don't even have to look at the Bindows UI if you play fullscreen so there is no point to even need OS X in terms of aesthetics.

I think a lot of people on this forum think computers are just another gaming console. It seems to be the most bashed topic against Macs over the internet apart from "they cost too much". Too many pimple faced virtual war heroes who think FPS games all day is such a good way of living are lurking here.
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,920
3,800
Seattle
Reality is when you're using the new (or old) iMac you can't see the bulge and from the front there is no change apart from the much better LCD on the 2012 model.

NO!!! The 2012 is MUCH better from the front. Gawd... the psychological benefits of the slimness of the.... sliMac are too much to ignore!!! You can sit in front of the 2012, and just KNOW that if you go over to the side of it it's amazingly thin on that edge. I know that makes my workflow 10x faster than on the 2009-2011 iMacs. True story.
 

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
NO!!! The 2012 is MUCH better from the front. Gawd... the psychological benefits of the slimness of the.... sliMac are too much to ignore!!! You can sit in front of the 2012, and just KNOW that if you go over to the side of it it's amazingly thin on that edge. I know that makes my workflow 10x faster than on the 2009-2011 iMacs. True story.

I agree it's much better but from a design POV it's basically the same. I'll be able to tell better once I get my 27" next week. I've only had a few minutes to test them in shops so far.
 

mushroomtip

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
354
0
So, if you could care less, just how much do you care?

Frankly, I could not care less, but clearly, you do care to some degree because, as you state, you could care less.

How much do you care?

it's almost like when someone says " to tell you the truth " or " to be honest with you " , geez .... I wonder when you weren't ?
 

AndiS.

macrumors regular
Dec 16, 2012
181
0
So, if you could care less, just how much do you care?

Frankly, I could not care less, but clearly, you do care to some degree because, as you state, you could care less.

How much do you care?

There is actually some interesting discussion about that phrase

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm

Excerpt: "There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with the Yiddish heritage and (especially) New York Jewish speech. Perhaps the best known is I should be so lucky!, in which the real sense is often “I have no hope of being so lucky”, a closely similar stress pattern with the same sarcastic inversion of meaning. There’s no evidence to suggest that I could care less came directly from Yiddish, but the similarity is suggestive. There are other American expressions that have a similar sarcastic inversion of apparent sense, such as Tell me about it!, which usually means “Don’t tell me about it, because I know all about it already”. These may come from similar sources"

Admittedly, I doubt that every one uses it with a sarcastic intention, but in the US it has been a very common phrase and when it's used, people know what the speaker means.
 

bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
Wow, you guys did a great job of reviving an already dead thread, just to take it off topic. I'll even throw you another phrase. You are a day late and a dollar short. Or in this case, 45 days and about $2,800 short. Let's see if I can get you all to go revived another dead thread with pointless posts.

HEY LOOK! SQUIRREL!

There they go...
 
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