I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. While I agree the "idea" of it has improved, after having gone through four 2012 iMacs so far, all of them have absolutely CRAP viewing angles on black compared to my 2009 27" iMac. Whether it's due to the lamination process or other factors, the 2012 iMac isn't all roses.
And what's the one thing about the new iMac that's impressed me the most? Well, perhaps it's the lack of availability mid-February... or the lack of quality control, or the lack of good black viewing angles... Those things are very impressive! Didn't think it was possible for Apple to mess up this badly, but apparently they have. Huge Apple fan, here, but this launch was a bit of a joke, let's be honest.
In more seriousness, the GPU in this iMac (680) is a very impressive card, with great overclocking potential.
The fact ppl buy apple desktops continues to surprise me
Nope, it was actually my main and only Mac that whole time. Used Illustrator on it, also.
You and I are in the same boat in the sense that it's our first iMac. My last Mac of any stripe was a 1997 PowerMac 250MHz processor with a 4GB hard drive. It went on and on for me until last year, when it finally gave up the ghost.
I am still in the honeymoon phase with mine (got it Christmas morning, a total surprise gift by my lovely and amazing wife!)
One of the things I miss on the old Mac was the ability to play 3D games. I think Deus Ex was the last title I was able to play with more than a single digit frame rate. LOL
On this new Mac, oh my God! Rage looks amazing (I'm in the final mission on it, so I'll keep my spoilers to myself). Left 4 Dead 2 is butter-smooth at maxed out settings, Star Wars: KOTOR is fun, smooth, but doesn't drive the cutting edge graphically. Portal and Portal 2 both look incredible. I'm running out of adjectives! I'll probably be getting my Deus Ex freak on soon with Human Revolution when Steam has one of those crazy 30 minute sales!
So, games are a big one, and you can't play a great game with great graphics without noticing that amazing widescreen 21.5" IPS display. The mouth waters, my friend. The mouth waters.
Even so, those are still production issues. Mainly the defects and such, it's no God among all in ones, but I'm certain I'll be happy with mine. Mine's arriving March 4-5th apparently, but if I get a dud then I'll swap the screen with the AppleCare I bought or get a new one.
Most launches have these defects, and bad availability for awhile. I remember my first PSVita having the worst lamination job on it's OLED screen, you could see the glue through whatever you were playing. And the original PS3 took me 3 months to actually track one down in a shop, the free time I had when I was younger haha. I spent so much time just calling into shops and asking if they had it in stock. As long as I get my iMac within a Month's time, I'll be satisfied.
Funny... Aside from the glare reduction, the 2012 seems to be a huge downgrade from my 2009 27" (viewing angles, bleed, quality control, image retention etc etc).
The best decision I made was getting the Fusion Drive. Almost purchased without it, but so glad I went for the upgrade. It's so fast that I am still amazed by its performance.