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27" iMac... too huge?

Z

zoran

macrumors 601
Original poster
Yesterday i went to see the new 27"iMac and frankly i was shocked by the size, size matter but this one i think its way too big. At work i have a 23" lcd and i think its ok, but the 27" seems too huge, especially since its so close to the user. I think its beyond me, but then again, i cant understand what was apple thinking when it released this huge iMac? Might it be a reason -that i cant figure out- for releasing sutch a monster?
 
Because for some people more screen real estate -> productivity increase? Others might enjoy watching movies on a larger screen. Doesn't seem like much of a mystery to me 😕
 
The general public have been wanting the next generation intel nehalem quad-cores in the iMacs. Given apple's love for slim form-factors, it would be impossible to run such hot cpus in 24 inch iMacs. Apple needed an extra bit of space to separate the gpu and cpu while providing bigger heatsinks-- and oh boy did they!

I have a 27 inch and I don't find its screen big at all. Before this computer I was using a 20 inch G5 iMac for 6 years.
 
The future consists of watching more TV movies and other media on a nice large computer screen. Apple is leading the way to this, too via itunes.

Also, the longer you own it and work on it, the smaller it looks/feels. You'll get used to it.
 
I've got my 27" iMac next to a second display -- 20" with a 4:3 aspect ratio. You can't have too many pixels, as far as I'm concerned. It's only too big if it doesn't fit on your desk.
 
(this question is for all with a 27" iMac)
what is the max width of your desk?
and how close are do you sit towards your imac?
 
I think it's perfect. I really want one but can't justify the purchase cause I need a MacBook for its portability. But every time I'm in the apple store I always seem to find my way over to the iMac table and drool a bit.
 
Na, I was a bit worried about it taking over the kitchen where it lives. Its perfect, even the Mrs is happy with it.
 
zoran said:
(this question is for all with a 27" iMac)
what is the max width of your desk?
and how close are do you sit towards your imac?
Click to expand...

You don't have to use the entire screen when "computering." Use only what you need, but its awesome for watching movies and videos - of course, you may have to sit further away.

Also, think of it as "reserve" space for when you need a larger screen to view something in one piece.
 
I love my 27" iMac. I got it two weeks ago and it is fantastic. I sit about 2 feet away and it's right at my eye-height. Very comfortable, and I can do many tasks at once. I have the i5 version.
 
zoran said:
(this question is for all with a 27" iMac)
what is the max width of your desk?
and how close are do you sit towards your imac?
Click to expand...
My desk is a standard 4 foot long oldschool herman miller.
My face is on average around 2-3 feet away from the screen.


As for screen real-estate, I usually find myself using either all of it or most of it-- with quite a comfortable amount of empty space on either left or right side. Now I can appreciate my bg wallpaper more. Often times I find myself putting 2 full-size safari windows next to each other very comfortably.

I rather watch movies on my Samsung in the living room. I have a ps3 to power the blu-ray movies, and quite frankly the samsung is native resolution of 1080p, so it looks really good-- you can only get so much quality from 720p iTunes movies on a 1440p screen.

I do however, love the 1440p screen for gaming. Starcraft2 and dirt2 look fantastic when in the 2560x1440 native resolution. The gpu is pretty decent too, so not really any framerate issues at all.
 
for me its just too big on a desk , its something for the living room in place of a tv and sitting on a couch at least 10 feet away then the screens size might be comfortable ,honestly i think the 21.5 is far better as monitor on a desk .

but the size race is not over yet, i guess soon we will see something beyond 30" for the iMac which then will dwarf everything else maybe a dual i7 setup ,just for the people who cant have enough processing power to play their games

but i honestly think its better to have multiple smaller screens then one big one
so if i one day would be desperate enough to buy a intel Mac i would go for 2 x21.5 iMacs each with second display (hp does a 21.5 monitor nearly the same design too) all together cost about the same price as one i7 iMac
 
For everyday computing, the screen is way too large. Using one window, there's so much extra light blasting you from both sides, it's headache-inducing.
For movies or games it's great of course, but in those cases one is usually sitting further back than when one is doing standard computer tasks.
The 24" Apple Cinema Display is much more comfortable to view in my opinion, having used both for extended periods of time.
 
I got used to it fairly quickly. I started with a G3 iMac which had a 14" CRT, I sat pretty close to the screen when I was using that one. I waited a long time and upgraded to a G5 iMac with a 20" screen, that was a huge improvement. I waited an even longer period of time and upgraded to a 27" i7. The i7 sits all the way at the back of my desk now and the only complaint I have is that I am constantly enlarging the font so that I can read the text on websites I visit.

I can't imagine how much bigger the screens can get without the iMac becoming prohibitively heavy.

I can barely imagine what it might be like looking at a 50" screen 10 years from now.
 
MacHamster68 said:
but the size race is not over yet, i guess soon we will see something beyond 30" for the iMac which then will dwarf everything else maybe a dual i7 setup ,just for the people who cant have enough processing power to play their games
Click to expand...

Dual i7 is already there. It's called Mac Pro dual Quad.
Dual processors requires XEON DP parts, which are workstation products.
The iMac does, and definitely will ever use consumer parts, simply because of their price.

So no dual processors for the iMac.
I can, however, see a 30" screen in the iMac of 2012 or so. And I hope to see a 32" Cinema Display this year!

There is no such thing as too big. You simply have to get used to it. People here are running triple 30" screens!
 
I love my iMac 27" i7! I do not find it to big at all. That said I don't do a lot of work on mine either. The usual e-mail, surfing the net, military forums, movies, etc.

As for work, I do have MS Office 2008, for Spread sheets, Word and Power Point as well as a few Bento 3 databases.

30" or beyond? Maybe 30" but I don't think I would need to go any bigger!

I've been using Macs since 1986 with varying screen sizes and I really do enjoy the size, speed and clarity of this iMac i7! 😀 :apple:
 
zoran said:
.. i cant understand what was apple thinking when it released this huge iMac? Might it be a reason -that i cant figure out- for releasing sutch a monster?
Click to expand...


Have you ever used any of Apple's Pro Apps. Logic, FCP both take up a HUGE amount of screen space. I used Logic and I could fill a 30" LCD easy.
 
I don't have a positive or negative opinion on the screen size, but I have often thought it was a bit overkill for my tastes. I don't do much but use iTunes and browse the web though, so I don't know.

I just bought a Mac Mini and thought about buying a new display, but am happy with my 4 year old 1024x768 4:3 LCD monitor 😀. So I just paid $25 for the mini-DVD to VGA adapter and called it a day.
 
The 27" is good for a dorm room, or a studio apartment where the owner will be using it as an all-around display for movies and gaming as well as computer chores.

For somebody who already has a big flat screen in their living room, I really don't see the point. It looks vaguely ridiculous sitting in an office. Like the owner is overcompensating for something. 😛 Actually it makes me feel the same way as when I see somebody (non-military) driving a hummer, or a Ford Excursion with no passengers.

Maybe it's from living for years in Asia and Europe. I dunno, there's a certain elegance to things that are well-proportioned and don't take up too much space or scream "look at me", but manage serve their purpose beautifully. Aside from movies, in what situations are users finding the 21.5" screen to be too small?

Before anybody chimes in with "I absolutely need two 30 inch ACDs side by side to do my digital editing work", let me just say fine, you need the real estate. But I don't think this is the case with the majority of users.
 
Well I had a 24" iMac. Got it in Sept of 07 when they came out with the newly redesigned Aluminum. It lasted a while before I had LCD burn in problems and Apple replaced the whole computer pretty much trying to fix the problem.

Well they decided enough was enough and gave me a replacement 27" because it was still under Apple Care. So I decided to why not pay a little out of pocket for an OUTSTANDING machine since I could at the time.

I can't wait to fully max out my Memory for 16GB! HAHA
 
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