So what's the new iMac like? Quick summary please

Based on the 2 21.5" models I have helped buddies with the following stands out:

1) Boot times are significantly faster
2) Screen is improved with a sharper image and better colour definition.
3) Large Apps such as Word, Pages, Numbers etc. load very much more quickly than they used to.

USB3 with an attached hub and a genuine USB device ( I've only tested sticks) is a huge improvement with fast read and write times.

These comparisons are based on timings from my own 27" 2011 iMac. Mine has the 3.4GHZ I7, whilst both of the 21.5's have the 2.4 GPU installed. I think the biggest hit is the Fusion drive which does indeed seem to function as Apple said it would. It's still early days, and I haven't had a chance to try any games etc. but my overall impression is a good one.

My own upgrade Imac has been ordered but will not ship until January. I did what I always do and maxed it out with the top end GPU CPU and a 3TB Fusion drive. I will only have real feedback on that a month or so in as the SSD / HDD Fusion system organises my apps. My workload is a great deal higher than either of my friends, so it will be interesting to see how it performs.

GorgeousGeorge said:

Just like to hear a brief summary from those who are lucky enough to have their new iMacs.
Just curious to know the general consensus?
Mines due in the next couple of days so very excited.....I'm moving from a 10 year old emac

Cheers George

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Got my 27"/3.2GHz i5 iMac delivered on Friday.

Taking it out of its box, first thing I noticed is how well it was packed. Quick physical inspection showed everything was well. The build quality is superb. The 27" is a little overwhelming (I had a 21.5" monitor before) at first, but regardless of the model you're getting, you'll quickly adjust to a larger screen and appreciate the extra real estate.

Mine currently boots in about 30 seconds. Mountain Lion was a bit of an adjustment for me, but I'm getting there. The keyboard and mouse is…interesting. Much more like a laptop keyboard, so takes a bit of getting used to from the older keyboards with the large buttons. I'm enjoying the lack of wires.

I do have to say that I realised I do actually need an optical drive, and half-wish that the iMac had a built-in one. That said, I've got an external one, I'm just too lazy to set it up.

The screen is beautiful to look at, hardly any glare.

I haven't really got any complaints with it. The backlighting on the screen could be a tiny bit more even. But unless I'm looking for it, the display is very uniform.

Overall, I'm absolutely loving it. I just wish I could run more of my old PPC apps on it; having a bit of difficulty working around some issues with that, so I'll be keeping my PowerMac for a little while yet. If you plan on running PPC apps, you'll have to invest in VMware Fusion or Parallels, or just use VirtualBox (it's free!) and source a copy of OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard — but it must be the server version — from "somewhere".

Haven't really stretched it's legs yet, but it's hardly working. It runs really cool though, much cooler than its predecessor — screen hardly feels warm and the back is pretty cool too.

Macman45 said:

Based on the 2 21.5" models I have helped

....

These comparisons are based on timings from my own 27" 2011 iMac.

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Can you please tell me why you've changed to the 21,5" iMac? I'm not sure if I should order the 27" iMac for the benefit of video watching and playing high end games..

thanks in advance!

EDIT: sorry.. just saw it's your buddies 21,5"... but would also know why you prefer 27" and your buddies don't

Thinner, faster, no optical drive.

Was that quick enough?

Mine was out of necessity to replace my 5 year old 24" iMac that I'd thought would go on for ever. So it was a bit of an evil rather than an enjoyable purchase.

But my 21" is awesome. Screen colours and brightness vastly better. Very very quiet by comparison and as others have said runs much cooler. I'm missing the slightly bigger screen but the 27" was too big and to much cost for me at the moment.

Would have liked a fusion drive but again the additional cost wasn't worth it for my use.

It's pretty snappy too but I was kinda expecting that.

I love my 21.5"!

I was at my local mall doing some Christmas shopping for my wife's gifts. The Apple store there finally had 27" iMac's on display to play around with.

Oh my goodness, the Fusion drive on one of them loaded Adobe Photoshop CS6 instantly and the software was a fresh launch (not minimized). I clicked it and it was open.

As for the screen. Geez. I opened up one of Apple's default hi-res images in iPhoto (btw, which loaded instantly) and it looked immaculate.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with the computer that should be delivered to me this week. So pumped!

Couldn't be happier with mine. It's my first Mac. The screen is excellent. I would put it on a par with the high end Eizo & NEC screens we use at work. Colours are bright and consistent.
The Fusion drive loads everything really quick. Whisper quite to.

hacke said:

Can you please tell me why you've changed to the 21,5" iMac? I'm not sure if I should order the 27" iMac for the benefit of video watching and playing high end games..

thanks in advance!

EDIT: sorry.. just saw it's your buddies 21,5"... but would also know why you prefer 27" and your buddies don't

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Well, in one case it's lack of space, and the other is just money...Neither really needs the kind of power and real-estate I use for work.My own specs for delivery in January:

that's it... i've decided to get the iMac 27 Will order it in Late Jan/early Feb when the stock becomes higher. Kind of don't like paying for something and waiting for ages. Figure if I ordered now it would come in Feb and if I order in Feb I will get it in Feb

They are freakin awesome this is my first ever Mac and I'm in LOVE w/ my 27"

It pissed the hell out of me coming over from windows for the first couple days...still does at times navigating around. But as I get the hang of it more and more oh boy its so simple, blazing fast, and not bloated like PC's. All the time spent on is it is doing things you actually want to not HAVE to like running CCleaner, Spybot etc..

Its like going from a bucket car to a smooth Caddy

bobright said:

They are freakin awesome this is my first ever Mac and I'm in LOVE w/ my 27"

It pissed the hell out of me coming over from windows for the first couple days...still does at times navigating around. But as I get the hang of it more and more oh boy its so simple, blazing fast, and not bloated like PC's. All the time spent on is it is doing things you actually want to not HAVE to like running CCleaner, Spybot etc..

Its like going from a bucket car to a smooth Caddy

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hahaha, back in 2005 was when I stopped using PCs. I remember back in those days though I would format every 3 or so months and then had to do the whole disabling processes, running spybot, running adaware, installing drivers, tweaking things. The whole process took a good afternoon to get everything back to what I wanted it to be.. All that from a fresh install. With os x it stays clean no matter how often or long you use it and never have to tweak ****. Back in the days I kind of enjoyed tweaking around and being nerdy but then I grew up and realised the simple things in life were much less taxing on my mind and allowed me to concentrate on much nicer things

I do have a bunch of nerdy FPS friends who think they are some kind of elite commando because they can get top of the charts on BF3 etc when really they are unfit slobs. They constantly give me crap about my macs and say I paid too much but the reality is my job is much less stress than theirs because of macs and I am on a similar wage

Using Premiere Pro, Speed is amazing!

3.4/3TB fusion/680MX USB 3.0 storage for video files.
Just brilliant ( I had a 2008 24" which was staggering to keep up)
Screen is highly saturated, the machine is quiet, it boots in 10-15 seconds, loads Premiere Pro in about 15 seconds with 90 minutes of footage!
I couldn't be more pleased and my mate who runs PCs/PP reckons it would cost about the same to get a DIY PC Windows machine with the same spec.
Hope you all get yours for Xmas!
PS my Dell /U2410 24" screen which was out performing my old Mac is not quite as good as the new iMac 27". Reflections on the new iMac (a problem in the past on the 24") are not apparent

Sharp, glare free display
Cool
Quiet
Fast

turtlez said:

hahaha, back in 2005 was when I stopped using PCs. I remember back in those days though I would format every 3 or so months and then had to do the whole disabling processes, running spybot, running adaware, installing drivers, tweaking things. The whole process took a good afternoon to get everything back to what I wanted it to be.. All that from a fresh install. With os x it stays clean no matter how often or long you use it and never have to tweak ****. Back in the days I kind of enjoyed tweaking around and being nerdy but then I grew up and realised the simple things in life were much less taxing on my mind and allowed me to concentrate on much nicer things

I do have a bunch of nerdy FPS friends who think they are some kind of elite commando because they can get top of the charts on BF3 etc when really they are unfit slobs. They constantly give me crap about my macs and say I paid too much but the reality is my job is much less stress than theirs because of macs and I am on a similar wage

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Indeed, it was to the point I mainly only used my windows machine to manage my iTunes library and for syncing my iPhone and iPad. Everything as far as we browsing was done on my iPad. So glad to have finally made the switch. So simple so easy. Windows is garbage and I've been using them for 15+ years so that says a lot.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1510945/

i explained my feelings on my new 27" i7 680MX machine there, bootcamp experience, gaming performance, overall impressions, etc.

bobright said:

Indeed, it was to the point I mainly only used my windows machine to manage my iTunes library and for syncing my iPhone and iPad. Everything as far as we browsing was done on my iPad. So glad to have finally made the switch. So simple so easy. Windows is garbage and I've been using them for 15+ years so that says a lot.

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I used Windows for probably about that many years prior to os x also. My first computer experience was Apple back in 1991 but by about 1993 schools started using PCs and continued using them until 2005 when my university was using macs. Had a PC until about 2007 then it died and I bought my first mac so that's about 14 years PC and almost 10 years (including 1991-1993) mac. About even amounts so I know people can't call me out on not knowing the other platform.

Loving it but even minor audiophiles may want to purchase speakers

Loving the maxed out 27 inch fusion, runs cool so far, no noise and I am doing some tasks that caused my 2008 supped up macbook pro to gasp for air. Overall very pleased. However, I am not in any way an audiophile, and while playing tunes many sounded as if they came from a very nice tin can. Love the multitasking screen size.

Sweet

Went back to wired keyboard for number pad.

Trackpad is nice

It is fast! But iTunes is still showing beach balls ... Needs a washout maybe 12

Screen is beautiful, love it

turtlez said:

that's it... i've decided to get the iMac 27 Will order it in Late Jan/early Feb when the stock becomes higher. Kind of don't like paying for something and waiting for ages. Figure if I ordered now it would come in Feb and if I order in Feb I will get it in Feb

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They don't charge your credit card until it is ready for shipment.

Mine was shipped today and judging from all your comments I have something to look forward to.