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Early iMac Reviews Praise Design and Display Enhancements
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I have to say, looking at that OWC offering with an eye on doing DIY upgrade on the 21.5" iMac, I got spooked by the applying heat to the perimeters of the screen to open it up...
very nicely put. Often i did the same, fearing i might one day poke a hole in the screen! i think one day all desktop computers will have touch screens, it wont be a primary way of interaction, i think mouse is the best pointing and working device for desktop and fingers are best for tablets and phone (sorry Sammy for Notes!)
the only downside from my point of view is that there is only one flash option!? 768 gb flash/ssd for 1300 USD extra!? omg 
Actually, youd be surprised how few of us CG-artists are actually using Wacom Cintiq devices as shown in your photograph. Many like the idea of using a Cintiq/Touch screen, its true, but they rarely live up to artists' expectations. Problems most commonly experienced are:
Cursor lag (onscreen feedback is unable to keep up with quick gestural strokes).
Cursor misalignment (the onscreen cursor is not precisely aligned beneath the tip of the stylus, especially in the corners of the tablet).
Heat radiated by the display makes long drawing sessions uncomfortable.
Poor display quality. Narrow colour gamut, inability to be properly colour calibrated, etc.
No driver support under Linux.
Uncomfortable surface grip. Painting on a display front made of glass (or some other highly smooth surface), with a plastic tipped stylus is slippery and not particularly pleasant.
Uncomfortable to use in combination with a keyboard that offers hotkeys, marking menus, pie-menus, hotboxes, etc. Using one with a 3D application, while certainly possible, is often experienced as awkward and limiting. The Cintiqs have a few controls on the side that the user can program to function as hotkeys. And that works kind of. I cant see Apple designing a Touchscreen/Stylus Mac with controls like that on the side.
Now these problems may eventually be eradicated by better hardware and designs but there are other problems that are harder, maybe impossible to solve, like:
Ergonomics. Its hardly the best posture to maintain for 9-10 hours a day.
Dirt/grease on the screen. Youd be surprised how often Ive mistaken a grease smear on my display for a very light grey brush stroke on a white canvas in Photoshop.
A touch screen would have to have a coating with low porosity to make sure it cleans properly. Matte coatings are problematic here. So this poses a problem with reflections of ceiling mounted lighting on that glossy surface, which after all needs to be orientated more or less horizontally to avoid further fatigue. Working on dark/black canvasses in such a situation would be horrendous. Forget about drawing anything subtle in shadows and expect it to come out correctly.
Hands are in the way of the artwork. And this is a big one. Lots of artists dont want to go back to having their own hands obscure the piece as they are working. Having a regular Wacom tablet in front of a normal display is actually favored by most, myself included. One hand on the tablet, holding the stylus, the other on the keyboard controlling hotkeys.
There are exceptions of course. Search and you will find artists that love their Cintiqs and would never go back to more, shall we say, conservative input devices.
Im not saying things wont ever change, just telling you what the current lay of the land is as I far as I can see.
Forgive me for continuing off topic for a moment.... but if you do 3d animation, I can see Cintiqs as not an ideal solution- not surprising. However, for people that are drawing all day, Cintiqs are the ultimate choice at many 2d animation and design studios. At every studio I've been at in the last four years or so, artists are nearly fighting for available Cintiqs. About the only ones that don't still prefer drawing on paper. Hand eye coordination is much easier when your hand is in full view.... not with our arms out of the field of view. Not surprising- humans have drawn for thousands of years that way.
The studio I'm working with, earlier this week took delivery of 10 brand new 24" cintiqs (leased). Never seen a bunch of happier artists. Beautiful machines. The studios know its an investment that will pay off with more productivity, faster pipelines and better quality draftsmanship. They all will pay for themselves.
I would love to see what Apple would come up with......
Then you have more money than sense or you are a troll.
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Read what you type before you post - He wants a full desktop GPU, you just informed him its a lower clocked GPU, so... It's not a full desktop GPU!
The way it works is not if you have arm hanging like that, the way it works is when you fold the screen so it is horizontal. Like what HP and Dell are doing, and what Apple has applied for a patent for.
Not to mention, tiresome.
I also believe that iMacs of the future, several years down the line, to be sure, may very well be horizontal, as in -flat on your desk- horizontal, with perhaps a slight slant; and then Touchscreens will be very practical indeed. Until then, I suspect a mouse or trackpad will probably serve most people better.
Wish I was rich....LOL.
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This all hinges on what you do with your computer. I can think of a bunch of things that touch would be faster and better for what I do... but obviously no one wants to compose an email or write the next great American novel on on a touch screen.
At the end of the day, the OS is the make or break to touch. (Obviously, desk top displays are out there that tilt and fold down... the orientation is not the issue.)
I think MS just learned touch doesn't sell a desk top or even a lap top... but its a welcomed addition for some. Office jocky's.... not so much.... creative types, I can see a lot of work flow being easier.
Because mostly everyone knows better than to every buy RAM upgrades from Apple... You're always better off going third party. Apple should be shot for what they charge.
$200 to upgrade when you can get it third party for 60% less??? Don't think so. I think this is why the 21" don't have user replaceable anymore...
I wonder what the Verge writer was comparing the iMac display brightness against? All displays dim over time, VDTs, plasma, LEDs. If he's looking at his old iMac, sure the new iMac is "blindingly bright." If he's comparing against a relatively new last-generation iMac, it means something.
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Or those of us with flat desks (99.9% of people), not so much. This person is at a drafting table where the whole workstation is designed to be working at that angle. If the monitor was up on my normal height desk with that on top of it, I would have to lift my arms up and then down onto the monitor. That is extremely uncomfortable. Sorry, keep posting that picture, but it has little application for most folks' desks.
Even then I think it would only be of benefit for particular tasks. If a 27" screen folded down like that in front of me on my desk, it would be way too big for the distance from my eyes. And where does the keyboard go? If it stays where it traditionally is, then the screen is further away. Or if I'm using a touch screen, that seems a big trade off for the touch function.
Just because you can go out of your way to position a large screen at a better angle / position to be touched, still doesn't make touch screen better than what we already have - it just seems to be doing it for the sake of it, in pretty much most scenarios.
Touch is useful for smaller screens, but still don't see how it really has any use for a larger desktop screen. I'm not saying that because Steve Jobs once said something. I'm saying it because I actually believe it all for myself.
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I can't think of anything ergonomically practical about angling your head down all day at a screen too big to be that close to your eyes.
And Cintiqs are STILL the ultimate tablets for digital art and destroy all tablets including the iPad when it comes to that. I've not seen a Cintiq in person but own an Intuos4 by that same manufacturer and am happy with it. It does exactly what I want it to do that the iPad CANNOT do and that is pressure sensitivity and accuracy (despite the market for those particular styluses). The iPad, however, may be good for conceptualization or design mockups before the final piece is realized on a more powerful system.
Is it possible to do complete illustrations on an iPad? Sure, but not easily. The Wacoms are the most precise tablets out there when it comes to digital art/graphic design purposes.
You're right in that the Cintiq is growing in huge popularity and I've heard nothing but praise for it. Ironically, Sony has a full scale touchscreen PC that resembles a Cintiq that you can adjust the physical settings on it which you can see at: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/47198/sony-vaio-tap-20-touchscreen-pc-pictures-and-hands-on
This tells me that 'super' tablets are coming around the corner soon which is'nt surprising to me.
But that's my viewpoints in contribution to your post and Lone Derangers's.
^This^
I swear I've developed OCD trying to keep prints off my phone (and it has a screen protector). I like the idea of a touch screen, but keeping it clean is another story.
Yea, your are probably right, somewhat ... but, as it has been said many times ... it's not so much the "machine" .... it's the Operating Systems ... That's why I LOVE Apple products.
That's a Cintiq though. The point of buying a Cintiq isn't that it's a touch screen, but that it's a pressure sensitive touch screen for drawing and art work. You can't use your fingers on it either. You have to use a stylus.