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I made a simulation to help 27" iMac owners considering the new 24"

primarycolors

primarycolors

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2015
328
527
CA
I made this for myself to test what using the new 24" iMac might be like with the light gray bezels and smaller screen. Thought someone else in the same situation may find it helpful :D
  • Set this image as your wallpaper
  • Set the menu bar to automatically hide
  • Resize the dock (if necessary)
  • Clear your desktop
  • Resize your windows within the screen and do a little work. Pretend it's the actual limits of your screen.
It's not a perfect science or simulation, but you might get an idea of how it feels.

If you're gonna make some snarky comment like 'why would you want the 24" iMac', just don't. You ain't original and this isn't the thread.

YTK4aSW.jpg


RLmCeWO.jpg
 
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fishkorp said:
I’m not using a 27” iMac, but I do use a 27” UltraFine 5k as my primary display. This is actually super helpful. I’ll give it a try later when I’m home. Thanks.
Click to expand...
No problem! I was a bit apprehensive but it's helped me decide the screen size and bezels will be just fine.
 
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Update after a day using this, I'm surprised on two counts:
  1. How easily my brain was fooled by the simulation. After getting deep into some work I completely forgot the bezels/screen limits were fake.
  2. How easy the new size and bezels were to adjust to. The white bezels weren't distracting at all, even for graphic design work. I think the new iMac is gonna be dang awesome 😎
 
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Having used the LG 5K and Imac 27” screens, and now on a LG 24“ 4K, I vastly prefer the 24. My personal preference of course, but I simply am more productive with this size as it is far easier to focus on the whole screen and less mouse work.
I hope they make a pro 24” version, although highly doubt it.
 
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The bezels are white not grey? Will The 24” with 16gb and 2TB be as good or better as my late 2015 27” 5k iMac 2TB Fusion with 24gb, is the bigger question?
Same price.
 
Robbosan said:
The bezels are white not grey? Will The 24” with 16gb and 2TB be as good or better as my late 2015 27” 5k iMac 2TB Fusion with 24gb, is the bigger question?
Same price.
Click to expand...
I think you’ll find your answer elsewhere, that’s not really the point of this thread.

And as the person who made this simulation, technically speaking yes they are light gray. Apple refers to them as such.
 
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primarycolors said:
I think you’ll find your answer elsewhere, that’s not really the point of this thread.

And as the person who made this simulation, technically speaking yes they are light gray. Apple refers to them as such.
Click to expand...
Looks white to me and everyone else complaining, your the first that says grey on here that I have seen. I can find a answer where ever I ask, don’t need you to tell me where to lol.
 
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Robbosan said:
Looks white to me and everyone else complaining, your the first that says grey on here that I have seen. I can find a answer where ever I ask, don’t need you to tell me where to lol.
Click to expand...
Nope Apple stated grey, it’s just all the muppets on this site who get angry if something isn’t to their exact requirements, so just repeat what others say, without any knowledge.
 
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Very helpful, thanks. I'm definitely downsizing from my seven-year-old 27" model. I'm tired of having the behemoth on my desk. I had considered switching to a laptop full time but that's too much downsizing. :)

One thing I'd point out... In a normally lit room (not super bright) the new whitish bezels are not going to appear nearly as bright as they do in this simulation. Just sayin'. I think I'm going to like my new iMac when it arrives in "late May."
 
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Robbosan said:
I can find a answer where ever I ask, don’t need you to tell me where to lol.
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You can ask wherever you want, I'm just saying you might not get your specific personal technical question answered in a thread about form factor lol

LeeW said:
The fact that a thread like this 'needs' to exist is simply another poke at Apple's design decisions.
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It really isn't. This thread would exist even if the bezels were black and the iMac looked exactly how you wanted. It's just an opportunity to try a different screen in your own workflow before you buy.
 
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iDave said:
One thing I'd point out... In a normally lit room (not super bright) the new whitish bezels are not going to appear nearly as bright as they do in this simulation. Just sayin'. I think I'm going to like my new iMac when it arrives in "late May."
Click to expand...
This is very true! I pointed that out in this post's Reddit counterpart.
I thought to darken the bezels for realism, but ultimately just color matched to the promo photos because I knew people wouldn't get it and would point it out.
 
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After using it a bit, I don't think the size would bother me for the "regular stuff" display. Browser window, terminal, FTP client, Cura slicer. My design and development will still need to be done on a second UltraFine 5K. I'm just too used to the size and space. I'm sure it's a mental hurdle I can get over, but I already have it (well, 2), so why not use it. Mismatched bezels won't bother me. I actually think I'd run macOS in light mode instead of dark on it though, dark mode just seems way too contrast to the white bezel. The only issue I'm going to have, and it's a personal thing, is having mismatched screen sizes might drive me crazy.

I'll continue to use 1 screen with this wallpaper and 1 normal. Have almost a week to decide (well, longer). I'm at the point of figuring out if I just stick with what I have and see when the "pro" machines are announced or get an iMac and sell 1 of my UltraFine displays. A 16GB/1TB iMac should be $2099. After DTK credit it'll be $1599. If I can get $500-600 for one of my screens then I'm looking at about $1000 for the computer, plus I can sell/trade one of our existing ones. If I go with whatever new 16" MPB is, I need to keep both monitors and spec-wise I'll be looking at at least a $3000 machine, probably closer to $4000. My laptop is used on a desk in clamshell 95% of the time now, so a notebook isn't necessary. And if it is, we have a second one, and a lot of what I'd need to do on the go can be done on an iPad.

Again, I appreciate you putting this out there. It's actually a lot smaller than I expected on first glance. It doesn't seem small when you think about it, but when you see it on your existing screen there's a noticeable difference. And for me, I think it's more the physical size than it is the resolution. 4.5K is still better than the crappy 4K 27" screens I had before the UltraFines. I need the pixels, not the physical size. Just a mental adjustment I'd need to make. Worst case scenario, I ride out what I have until summer/fall and then get whatever best suites me.
 
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I'm on a 2012 iMac 27", the first one to sport the current 27" design, on a 85cm-wide desk. Did a simulation of the iMac 32" based on the width of the 6K Pro Display XDR 32" and it will fit a 71.8cm-wide display.

As nice as the design of the iMac 24" I will wait for the larger than 27" model that I expect to ship after June 2021 or December 2022.
 
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