I would have gladly purchased a 21.5" but the 5K model only came in the 27". I still love it even though it's a little big for my space.
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27 vs 21: Anyone have regrets about the size they purchased?
- Thread starter Highway61
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I have found the 27" screen on my current late-2013 iMac and previous mid-2011 iMac to be really nice overall. It certainly was an adjustment initially. I was coming from a 17" flat panel 4:3 screen driven by a PC prior to the first Mac. Yes, it was a dark, dark time.
A lot of the time I don't really need so much screen real estate but for those times when I do, it is really nice to have. It is also very nice when gaming which is something I often enjoy both in OS X and sometimes rebooting to Windows 10 now.
About the only thing I sometimes dislike about the 27" is the vertical height is just a little high for me it seems. As such, I often drag windows down in the view some to avoid craning my neck to look up at the top of them. Short looks at the menu bar do not bother me but I never work with applications all the way up to the top except for Garage Band and coming up when I upgrade to Logic Pro I'm sure it will be the same. I cannot think of anything else I'd want to run full screen besides those two actually. In any event for full size windows side by side the room is great and for gaming it is great. However, for me a little of the height is basically wasted.
I would not want to go back to anything smaller after this. You get spoiled by always having a lot of room whenever you want it. It would feel confining to me using a 21" screen probably although I would like not ever needing to look up at the angle I sometimes do with this one. It's a minor thing and many people may not notice or be bothered by this in the least but I figured it deserves mention as I definitely have noticed it in my own experience.
A lot of the time I don't really need so much screen real estate but for those times when I do, it is really nice to have. It is also very nice when gaming which is something I often enjoy both in OS X and sometimes rebooting to Windows 10 now.
About the only thing I sometimes dislike about the 27" is the vertical height is just a little high for me it seems. As such, I often drag windows down in the view some to avoid craning my neck to look up at the top of them. Short looks at the menu bar do not bother me but I never work with applications all the way up to the top except for Garage Band and coming up when I upgrade to Logic Pro I'm sure it will be the same. I cannot think of anything else I'd want to run full screen besides those two actually. In any event for full size windows side by side the room is great and for gaming it is great. However, for me a little of the height is basically wasted.
I would not want to go back to anything smaller after this. You get spoiled by always having a lot of room whenever you want it. It would feel confining to me using a 21" screen probably although I would like not ever needing to look up at the angle I sometimes do with this one. It's a minor thing and many people may not notice or be bothered by this in the least but I figured it deserves mention as I definitely have noticed it in my own experience.
I forgot to mention, next iMac will absolutely be a 27" retina. I wouldn't imagine there will be anything but retina when I am ready for the next one anyway. The timing is good for me where i like gaming as the GPUs should be substantially faster in two more generations which is when I expect to probably upgrade. So, I may find I can play some games at retina resolution by then but I am fine with scaling down to achieve good performance as needed.
It depends on your desk space and work habits. If you have the desk space and often find yourself running out of screen space, go with the 27". I'm currently using a 32" (plus a 27" external) and it has greatly improved my productivity. I use my 15" laptop occasionally but I'm generally restricted to one app at a time.
Hi dirtyharry. Just trying to be helpful here, and while the 27 is big, it sounds like your desk/chair setup could be an issue here. If you struggle to comfortably view to the top of the screen and have to look up to it then you need to sit higher relatively to the display. When looking straight ahead, you should be looking at the top 1/3 of the screen or thereabouts. Either your desk is too high, or your chair is too low. Hope that makes sense.
Everyone's going to have a different answer.
I love having the 27". Give me a 36" for that matter. Larger than that, perhaps I'd get neck strain, swiveling to take in all the contents. For me, 27" is the difference between constantly bringing windows from back to front and having the stuff side-by-side with a minimum of window manipulation. I author text in InDesign (gotta fit text to the layout). I can have all my research materials, Safari windows, notes and spreadsheets easily available, with a minimum of switching. I used to do it on a 21" (and still do at my home office)... there's no comparison for productivity. And the 27" comes closer to filling my line of sight - fewer distractions.
I can understand "too big" if this was a CRT, but since we're talking about vertical and horizontal space with virtually no depth... The only way I can imagine the width and height to be "too big" is if the existing work area has cubby holes, shelves, and drawers above desktop level, and you make active use of that storage. I never made good use of that kind of storage when I had it (just got cluttered with junk), and I don't miss it now that my desk is a 39" wide, 21" deep glass top from IKEA. There's plenty of room for keyboard and mouse, there's plenty of space for my external drives behind the display, and very little additional space to get cluttered with junk (and when it does, cleanup is very quick).
I love having the 27". Give me a 36" for that matter. Larger than that, perhaps I'd get neck strain, swiveling to take in all the contents. For me, 27" is the difference between constantly bringing windows from back to front and having the stuff side-by-side with a minimum of window manipulation. I author text in InDesign (gotta fit text to the layout). I can have all my research materials, Safari windows, notes and spreadsheets easily available, with a minimum of switching. I used to do it on a 21" (and still do at my home office)... there's no comparison for productivity. And the 27" comes closer to filling my line of sight - fewer distractions.
I can understand "too big" if this was a CRT, but since we're talking about vertical and horizontal space with virtually no depth... The only way I can imagine the width and height to be "too big" is if the existing work area has cubby holes, shelves, and drawers above desktop level, and you make active use of that storage. I never made good use of that kind of storage when I had it (just got cluttered with junk), and I don't miss it now that my desk is a 39" wide, 21" deep glass top from IKEA. There's plenty of room for keyboard and mouse, there's plenty of space for my external drives behind the display, and very little additional space to get cluttered with junk (and when it does, cleanup is very quick).
Actually the desk and chair are fine. Paying attention just now to the region I view at rest sitting here I am staring directly at about the mid point vertically. The problem I think is my posture. If I sit up straight in my chair I am almost looking maybe 2" down from the menu bar. However, I refuse to change and therefore this issue is entirely Apple's fault.
Fair enough, let's hope the next OS X update can help fix your posture then!
That would be good. I'm sure Tim is getting tired of having to take my phone calls over stuff like this. I expect stuff from Apple to just work - for me!
I have a 24" iMac right now and I love the screen size, kind of wish they still made it. Regardless, I will be upgrading my computer soon and hopefully it'll be a retina iMac, just don't know what size. I feel like 21.5" will be a downgrade and I have always enjoyed the ability to have two apps open side by side, or several word doc pages. The 27" definitely takes some getting used to but once you do its hard to go back. I also have an air and if it didn't have a trackpad I would find the screen size almost unbearable.
Anyway, I find it hard to imagine that if moneys not really an issue that people would be that dissatisfied with the 27" being "too big" whereas the chance of the 21.5" feeling too small is all too real, but that's probably just my perspective. I guess I know what size I am getting after all ;P although I am very interested to see the 4k iMac(!) and how they price it. If it's in line with how they priced the 5k iMac, I mean there's no way the 4k will cost more, right?! It might be quite the computer for the money, watch them make it so the only dGPU is a BTO which brings the price over 2k...
Anyway, I find it hard to imagine that if moneys not really an issue that people would be that dissatisfied with the 27" being "too big" whereas the chance of the 21.5" feeling too small is all too real, but that's probably just my perspective. I guess I know what size I am getting after all ;P although I am very interested to see the 4k iMac(!) and how they price it. If it's in line with how they priced the 5k iMac, I mean there's no way the 4k will cost more, right?! It might be quite the computer for the money, watch them make it so the only dGPU is a BTO which brings the price over 2k...
I love my 27" mid 2011. Sometimes I wish I had another monitor and would go with a bigger one. Maybe one of these days. At first it did seem huge but I quickly got used to it. Now other screens seem so small. I do a lot of editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. It did take getting used to the small font size but you can change the size in finder for the icons easy enough. You can also set safari to not use a font smaller than your choice. It doesn't work for everything, but it's okay.
And the split view? Its going to take getting used to I suppose. Been using BetterTouchTool for years and love the window snapping. Although I do like how split view you can easily resize the size of the split. Too bad it doesn't incorporate the window snapping idea. Would be easier to use.
But it wouldn't do for me to have gotten a 24". Just not enough space. I don't think it really takes up THAT much room. I used to have my iMac on a dinky desk before I moved to a larger home.
But really it all depends on what you are doing. Go into a store and check them both out.
And the split view? Its going to take getting used to I suppose. Been using BetterTouchTool for years and love the window snapping. Although I do like how split view you can easily resize the size of the split. Too bad it doesn't incorporate the window snapping idea. Would be easier to use.
But it wouldn't do for me to have gotten a 24". Just not enough space. I don't think it really takes up THAT much room. I used to have my iMac on a dinky desk before I moved to a larger home.
But really it all depends on what you are doing. Go into a store and check them both out.
My mom just bought the 21.5" model on Tuesday and yesterday I purchased the 27" and I'm glad I did. The extra screen real estate (though completely unnecessary for me) is fantastic. I love this computer.
I think that if you have a 21.5" you have a fine iMac. For a long time I thought that it was all I needed. When I first moved to 27" and put it on my desk I thought that I made a mistake. Now, I will never go back to a 21.5". I suspect that people have used both prefer the 27", particularly if they are using professional apps. YMMV.
Late 2013 27" here. I have a large Safari, Email client, Finder and Fantastical open with space still available. iMessage and Twitter apps are frequently on the desktop too. When "working" I pop Lightroom and/or BBEdit to wherever I want them that day.
When I bought it I considered the 21.5", but thought it was too small for my needs. A 24" would have been perfect.
When I bought it I considered the 21.5", but thought it was too small for my needs. A 24" would have been perfect.
I love having my browser open on half my screen and the other half I open other windows for multitasking. Sometimes I'll have two browser windows open side by side.
That's fine for advanced users, but I think most regular users would have a full screen Safari window on their 27" and lots of white space around it. It's only with El Cap split view mode that regular users will be able to gain full access to their 27" screen without getting confused with overlapping windows from different apps.
I think beginners or casual users would have trouble with split view with the new El Capitan. It's confusing to use in general. I've been using BetterTouchTool for years which uses window snapping. Couldn't be easier to use. I only have a couple gestures I've setup with my trackpad in addition.
The window snapping allows for having 1 2 3 or 4 windows snugly on the screen. I don't often use 4 but many times 3. It's definitely easier than El Capitans split view. It allows for efficient use of having multiple windows on the screen. Too bad El Capitan only allows for 2. Maybe someday.
It's 2015-- you really think the beginner or casual user exists in any significant quantity?
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Well late in the game here, I am now regretting the purchase of the 21.5" only because I cannot use this machine as a display in target mode. Now that I have this knowledge, it may definitely shape which iMac I possibly buy to replace this 2010 21.5". It would be nice to get another couple of years out of this as a display, but, hey, hindsight right?
I've managed with the screen real estate just fine.
I've managed with the screen real estate just fine.
I think as iOS 9 propagates then normal users will get familiarity with the concept of split view on the iPad and transfer that philosophy to El Cap. Today's typical users are not really window savvy in my experience. They most certainly wouldn't cope with complex software like BTT. In fact, you generally find if it doesn't come installed with the OS install then the normal user doesn't install further software. Computers are complex which is why the iPad familiarity helps them.