Anandtech review and broken expectations

[steve62388]

My assumption? A power supply is a lot easier to test/review than a 10 page iMac review. Also their bread and butter are DIY pc gamers.

That was just the most recent when I posted that message. You could substitute any article, of which there have been many since November last year, about RAM or whatever.

Any review better be darn in depth then, but considering they have now missed three self imposed deadlines with no end in sight I really don't think it's coming now.

 

[AppleDroid]

That was just the most recent when I posted that message. You could substitute any article, of which there have been many since November last year, about RAM or whatever.

Any review better be darn in depth then, but considering they have now missed three self imposed deadlines with no end in sight I really don't think it's coming now.

Oh I agree and it's unfortunate. Anand use to be the only game in town to do reviews beyond surface level like calibration before/after, gamut numbers and most importantly benchmarking for things like temperature. It'd be great to have a full, technical review that can let people rest easy that their 105F GPU's won't actually melt their system after a year.

 

[MacVidCards]

Oh I agree and it's unfortunate. Anand use to be the only game in town to do reviews beyond surface level like calibration before/after, gamut numbers and most importantly benchmarking for things like temperature. It'd be great to have a full, technical review that can let people rest easy that their 105F GPU's won't actually melt their system after a year.

Sadly they are 105C.

221 F, a good ole Texas Barbecue !

 

[aevan]

Seriously, they had 2 (yes, two) Note 4 reviews, and the second one was written by Ryan (who is supposedly writing the Anandtech review) - but still no iMac review. Also, according to his twitter, the next article from him will be a GeForce GTX 960 review - and then maybe.... maybe he gets around to the iMac.

Although I'm doubting that will happen. I'm really sorry about that - their reviews are in-depth and I'm sure we would get a lot of information about the 5K screen, the tech inside, etc. It is a little bit weird, to be honest, that they are not interested in this more - the way Apple is handling 5K should be relevant even for Windows users. It *is* a technical achievement and I for one would love to read about it, even if I wasn't interested in Macs themselves.

P.S. I know a lot of you would hate me for this - but I am more interested in them reviewing the base system (which, I agree, they probably wouldn't do). Don't pay attention to the panic gripping these forums and the gigantic thread about the heat - the M295X will be fine. No, it won't melt. And some throttling is not a reason to go berserk. And all the iMacs with the M295X run fine and smooth and play Shadows of Mordor in 60fps at high settings. Honestly, I'd be happy with that. What is, in my opinion, more important is the question - is M290X really underpowered for OS X in 5K, or something can be done about it. I for one would like to know if some future OS X release is going to make my brand new expensive iMac crawl, or are they going to make it work for the next couple of years.

 

[aevan]

I just tweeted Ryan and he says the review is still coming. I guess they're taking their time. He's reviewing the M290X model.

Don't know if anyone is interested, I for one am curious what they'll say about the new iMac, even if it does take them so long.

 

[wmy5]

still not here

 

[steve62388]

still not here

I think they're waiting for hell to freeze over.

 

[wmy5]

It will never be out

 

[craig1410]

It will never be out

At this point, having owned my Retina iMac for almost 4 months and loving it, I really don't care any more.

However, if they ever DO publish the elusive review then it might give me a rare reason to visit their website.

 

[Genkakuzai]

This has got to be the slowest review ever.

 

[Wahlstrm]

Reading MR forum can easily give you the impression that the 5k is a horrible, loud and constant thermalthrotteling machine.. But then I found this review the other day and it seems like quite the powerhouse. Still a bit loud when pushed an some throtreling do accure but it's not as horrible as all these posts here had me thinking..

http://youtu.be/NJt3av99e8k

 

[steve62388]

The review is no longer relevant, like the website.

He is like a little schoolboy promising to hand in his homework coming up with excuse after crappy excuse why it's not ready. Even his friends are in on the act.

 

[prudenspatiens]

Shame on Ryan Smith

I just tweeted Ryan and he says the review is still coming. I guess they're taking their time. He's reviewing the M290X model.

Don't know if anyone is interested, I for one am curious what they'll say about the new iMac, even if it does take them so long.

It has to be said: Ryan Smith is a liar.

How could we trust the reviews and the judgments of a man that has deliberately kept our hopes up while he knew very well he would probably never write the review?

Shame on you Ryan Smith. Shame on you.

 

[craig1410]

I agree with @steve23094 - the review *is* no longer relevant because anyone who got one will either be very happy with it (like me) or will have returned it, and anyone who was holding off buying one will probably be happy to wait a bit longer for the next revision in a few months (probably).

I'm using mine to type this message and I can safely say it is the absolute best machine I have ever used and although I can get the fans to spin up when playing some demanding 3D games, or even some heavy non-game processing tasks, the sound is not unpleasant and in some ways helps to justify the upgrade I chose to the 4.0GHz CPU and faster GPU. The logic being that, if the fans never spin up then I probably won't be seeing the benefit of that faster CPU.

I use my computer for my livelihood and I work on a day rate (development consultant) so if I have to wait a few seconds less each time I do a compile or run my test suite then that has a tangible, cumulative advantage. Also, having so many pixels to play with lets me optimise my workflow without needing multiple displays. Finally, the screen quality is invaluable at avoiding potential eye strain after 8-12 hours sitting in front of it each day.

My advice to anyone considering an iMac is to go see one in person and spend a decent amount of time with it (say an hour). Take some of your own content with you if possible and make sure you play with the various screen resolutions starting from "Default" and then trying out each of the "Scaled" settings to see how these can allow you to see more content per screen or less content but better clarity.

I would strongly advise getting the faster GPU and budget for adding in some more RAM later if you become RAM constrained. The CPU upgrade is really only for people for whom time is money for the most part. The storage options are a lot more complex to decide on and anyone who tells you what to buy without talking to you is giving poor advice in my opinion. I got the 1TB SSD but only because I use this machine for work and expect it to last me 3-5 years before I replace it. Over that timescale I will get a return on that investment due to cumulative time saved I hope. It was a tough decision though. Generalising for a moment, I'd say if you can live within 512GB then get the 512GB SSD but otherwise the 1TB or 3TB Fusion options are probably better. That said, it comes down to a delicate balance of speed, capacity and cost and you really need to think carefully and ideally discuss with someone who has been there and faced that decision. Feel free to PM me if I can help you to decide but it must be your decision.

I hope the above helps anyone who comes to this thread expecting a review!

 

[Pressure]

The review is no longer relevant, like the website.

He is like a little schoolboy promising to hand in his homework coming up with excuse after crappy excuse why it's not ready. Even his friends are in on the act.

It has to be said: Ryan Smith is a liar.

How could we trust the reviews and the judgments of a man that has deliberately kept our hopes up while he knew very well he would probably never write the review?

Shame on you Ryan Smith. Shame on you.

I have it on good authority that Ryan had a period of illness which caused quite a bit of a backlog.

Cut the man some slack please. It's not like you are paying him or AnandTech for their invaluable knowledge and time.

 

[craig1410]

I have it on good authority that Ryan had a period of illness which caused quite a bit of a backlog.

Cut the man some slack please. It's not like you are paying him or AnandTech for their invaluable knowledge and time.

To be fair, Anandtech is a business and everyone who visits the website is actually creating revenue for them. So in effect we are all paying Anandtech and to make matters worse we are paying for "goods" we have not received despite promises months ago that they would be delivered.

Obviously, if Ryan has been ill then of course that demands a certain amount of understanding and sympathy but if Anandtech is truly a business then it needs to be run as such and staffing issues need to be addressed in a timely manner.

Anyway, as others have said, the review is no longer relevant and I for one shall be unsubscribing from this thread as it has become a bit of a bad joke.

Wishing Ryan (and everyone else) good health. No hard feelings.

 

[steve62388]

I have it on good authority that Ryan had a period of illness which caused quite a bit of a backlog.

Cut the man some slack please. It's not like you are paying him or AnandTech for their invaluable knowledge and time.

I did cut Anandtech some slack, I refrained from posting for quite some time. But since then we have had public promises repeated on Twitter and this thread no less with Anandtech continually missing their own self imposed deadlines. A number of articles authored by Ryan have been posted from products released after the 5K so the backlog should have been cleared long ago.

I and everyone here certainly do pay Anandtech for their time and knowledge by visiting their page. Websites generate ad revenue through advertising, how did you think they raised money?

 

[odedia]

Any updates? LOL