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So after much waiting and deliberation, I have just purchased a new 27" iMac. The model I bought was the highest stock configuration, 3.3Ghz i5, AMD m395, 2tb fusion drive etc.

Originally, I wanted to get this config but swap out the fusion drive for the 512gb SSD, but for whatever reason my education discount was even more in store than it was online ($410 off vs $280). This meant that upgrading to SSD would have cost me approximately $400 more (after discounts), and that is not even considering the cost of a good external 2TB drive I would inevitably get as a media drive. I did this knowing that the apple store has a 14 day return policy so that if I found the fusion drive to be too limiting, I could always bring it back and get the higher model.

Anyway, here are my impressions so far:
  • The screen is beautiful, as we all knew it would be. I very fussy with displays, but the screen calibration is really nice, unlike my early 2013 rMBP which had an overly-cool white point straight out of the box and a gamma which was too high.
  • The fusion drive has been good so far. It boots slightly slower than my rMBP (with upgraded OWC ssd), but launches applications noticeably faster. Black magic benchmarks it at about 700mB/s read and write, which is honestly a bit concerning as the new SSD's are supposed to bee much speedier than that.
  • Performance is generally good, I haven't noticed any stuttering so far.
  • The new keyboard feels strange. I have seen reviewers say that it doesn't have less travel than the previous wireless keyboard, but I disagree. To me it feels a lot like the keyboard in the new macbook. Honestly I kind of like the feeling, but time will tell if I keep using it or swap it out for something else.
  • I am not a fan of the new magic mouse, just like I was not a fan of the older one. To me, the biggest problem is the plastic material they use on the top of the mouse; it's just not frictionless enough, and I could see myself really liking the mouse if it had a smooth glass top.
Honestly my biggest complaint with the computer is that the bezels are just so large! I have a feeling that we may see a redesign when Intel releases Kaby Lake, and if that happens I will probably sell this one and upgrade; yet another reason why I didn't want to spend a whole lot on it.

I will be keeping an eye on the benchmarks for the new ssd models. If they tend to be noticeably faster I might change my mind about the fusion drive, but so far it has been pretty great.

Based on you black magic scores, I am assuming Apple stuck with the same SSD and pcie interface on the fusion models....
 
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There are some tools that allow graphical comparison of ICC profiles. ICCView.de is a free one. Share your profile .icc file somewhere and I'll work on it.

I'm on the fence about the new iMac. The improved color gamut was one of my past dealbreakers, so now I'm very much interested in knowing how capable the new LCD panel really is.

Ok so out of the box, the system profile is identical to the included 'Display P3' profile. It is pretty inaccurate though, with an average delta E >3 and white point of around 7000k.

Calibrating with the i1 Profiler to D65, standard tonal response curve with gamma at 2.2 created this icc profile:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-_zCiiUdl8Zlp1QVNPc1Z1NXc/view?usp=sharing
 
How is the heat and the noise compared to the 2014 iMac 5k

I don't have a 2014 5k iMac and have never used one, so I can't compare the two.

The TS has a m395 in his. The 64,000 dollar question is how is the GPU temps and fan noise on the m395x?

The fan is silent for general use, I'm downloading bioshock infinite now to check the temps and fan noise for graphically intensive tasks.
 
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The read/write on the Fusion Drive is quite disappointing. Normally Apple is quite accurate what they advertise on their performance, battery life and so on, but I have this feeling you will only get this speed in all SSD configuration.
Can anyone please run this speedtest with an all flash storage config?

Congratulations on your purchase. I am planning to buy one myself one of these days and going for the completely maxed out iMac 5k (without the Magic Trackpad though).
 
Ok so out of the box, the system profile is identical to the included 'Display P3' profile. It is pretty inaccurate though, with an average delta E >3 and white point of around 7000k.

Calibrating with the i1 Profiler to D65, standard tonal response curve with gamma at 2.2 created this icc profile:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-_zCiiUdl8Zlp1QVNPc1Z1NXc/view?usp=sharing

Thanks AusMacFan!

I loaded your icc profile in the Mac's built in Colorsync Utility and compared it to sRGB, aRGB, CMYK and my current profile. The new screen is a wider gamut than my current one by a good deal. It encompasses all of sRGB and most of CMYK (the blacks/K might extend a bit outside of your profile). The aRGB comparison is interesting. I think I'm reading that aRGB extends further into the reds than your profile is able to show. I'm not sure what that might mean in terms of a color-managed workflow. The good news is that, again, the monitor is clearly better than my current 2011 iMac!
 
Thanks AusMacFan!

I loaded your icc profile in the Mac's built in Colorsync Utility and compared it to sRGB, aRGB, CMYK and my current profile. The new screen is a wider gamut than my current one by a good deal. It encompasses all of sRGB and most of CMYK (the blacks/K might extend a bit outside of your profile). The aRGB comparison is interesting. I think I'm reading that aRGB extends further into the reds than your profile is able to show. I'm not sure what that might mean in terms of a color-managed workflow. The good news is that, again, the monitor is clearly better than my current 2011 iMac!

That's great to hear! I'm interested to see how other people go with backlight bleed on the new panels; if they are as bad on average as last year's models were, I will definitely be clutching on to mine for dear life rather than going up to an all ssd model.
 
The TS has a m395 in his. The 64,000 dollar question is how is the GPU temps and fan noise on the m395x?

Ok so I just tested out the GPU with bioshock infinite, game was running at 1440p high graphics preset. Performance was all over the place, averaging 60fps and above in indoor scenes, but dropping to the 40s and even as low as 35fps for more complex scenes.

The GPU temp got up to ~95 degrees. However, the fans are so quiet I could barely notice them. I gave the GPU a good chance to get hot, but according to the istat widget the fans stayed at around 1200rpm, and honestly I couldn't even tell that they were on. Perhaps the GPU wasn't pushed hard enough for the fans to kick in at full, but I don't know how this could be when it was struggling to keep the game above 50fps.
 
It is just the fan profile apple has used. I have been testing my m395 in bootcamp and I am getting temps up to 98c before the fans slowly revs up. The temps are then kept between 96-98c with very little noise.
My 290x in the 2014 fans would rev up much sooner and much higher
 
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Ok so I just tested out the GPU with bioshock infinite, game was running at 1440p high graphics preset. Performance was all over the place, averaging 60fps and above in indoor scenes, but dropping to the 40s and even as low as 35fps for more complex scenes.

The GPU temp got up to ~95 degrees. However, the fans are so quiet I could barely notice them. I gave the GPU a good chance to get hot, but according to the istat widget the fans stayed at around 1200rpm, and honestly I couldn't even tell that they were on. Perhaps the GPU wasn't pushed hard enough for the fans to kick in at full, but I don't know how this could be when it was struggling to keep the game above 50fps.
yes but we wonder how is the fan noise on a M395x
 
Calibrating with the i1 Profiler to D65, standard tonal response curve with gamma at 2.2 created this icc profile:

Thanks, AusMacFan. I'm working on an analysis of your profile, including a comparison with "traditional" wide gamut displays that cover AdobeRGB. I'll update this thread with my results soon.

Anyone else has a profile for the previous 27" Retina iMac to share? I'd be great for comparison. Ideally created using i1 Profiler (i1 Display Pro or Colormunki Display), 6500K and gamma 2.2
 
Thanks to AusMacFan contribution, I was able to compare the new P3 iMac display to my reference Dell AdobeRGB wide gamut display. This is strictly a color gamut comparison, ignoring any other variables, like screen reflections, shadow grayscale and gradient responses, etc.

The Dell wide gamut display has stronger blues and cyans, true to its claim of 99% AdobeRGB coverage. The late 2015 27” P3 Retina iMac Display surpasses it only slightly on the magentas and reds, but is considerably larger on the green-yellow-orange parts of the spectrum.

Overall shape is very similar to the DCI P3 color space, falling a little short on the greens and blues, but actually surpassing it a bit on the purple-magenta axis.

Which color gamut one is more useful?

For video, definitely the iMac, since it corresponds closely to a video standard.

For web, both represent a real problem until all browser vendors adhere to the color management guidelines suggested by the W3C. In a nutshell, only Firefox (if properly configured) and Safari do color management right on the Mac platform. Chrome interprets ICC v2 profiles embedded in images, but fails to apply any color management to the other page elements, rendering them on the full display gamut. P3 iMac users will see oversaturated colors on Chrome, as any other wide gamut display users.

Compared to a high end inkjet on fine art baryta paper (Epson 9900 and Epson Exhibition Fiber), the P3 iMac display falls short on the blues. The Dell AdobeRGB wide gamut monitor covers almost all of the printer colors on the blue axis, but, on the other hand, fails to achieve its full gamut on the yellows and oranges.

For photographers, it’s a wash between AdobeRGB wide gamut LCDs and the new Apple P3 displays. Both represent a tangible improvement compared to traditional sRGB displays, specially for those doing fine art printing.

Keep in mind that those gamut limitations don’t necessarily represent a problem in real world usage. Color managed apps map out of gamut colors to the display gamut, keeping the overall image representation plausible and accurate.

Looking for a previous generation 27" 5K iMac ICC profile for comparison. ;)
 
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Old vs new iMac.jpeg


Here's a visual comparison of the 2011 iMac vs AusMacFan's Retina 5K P3 monitor. Both profiled with an i1display to 6500k and gamma 2.2. His is the larger/white representation; mine is the one that fits entirely within it...
 
And here are comparisons to standard Adobe RGB, sRGB and CMYK color spaces. His is the large white one again.
aRGB.jpeg
CMYK.jpeg
sRGB.jpeg
 
View attachment 593392Here's a visual comparison of the 2011 iMac vs AusMacFan's Retina 5K P3 monitor. Both profiled with an i1display to 6500k and gamma 2.2. His is the larger/white representation; mine is the one that fits entirely within it...

Thanks, eoren1. Do you mind sharing your profile ICC file so I can draw some gamut coverage comparisons using ArgyllCMS tools?
 
Thanks to AusMacFan contribution, I was able to compare the new P3 iMac display to my reference Dell AdobeRGB wide gamut display. This is strictly a color gamut comparison, ignoring any other variables, like screen reflections, shadow grayscale and gradient responses, etc.

The Dell wide gamut display has stronger blues and cyans, true to its claim of 99% AdobeRGB coverage. The late 2015 27” P3 Retina iMac Display surpasses it only slightly on the magentas and reds, but is considerably larger on the green-yellow-orange parts of the spectrum.

Overall shape is very similar to the DCI P3 color space, falling a little short on the greens and blues, but actually surpassing it a bit on the purple-magenta axis.

Which color gamut one is more useful?

For video, definitely the iMac, since it corresponds closely to a video standard.

For web, both represent a real problem until all browser vendors adhere to the color management guidelines suggested by the W3C. In a nutshell, only Firefox (if properly configured) and Safari do color management right on the Mac platform. Chrome interprets ICC v2 profiles embedded in images, but fails to apply any color management to the other page elements, rendering them on the full display gamut. P3 iMac users will see oversaturated colors on Chrome, as any other wide gamut display users.

Compared to a high end inkjet on fine art baryta paper (Epson 9900 and Epson Exhibition Fiber), the P3 iMac display falls short on the blues. The Dell AdobeRGB wide gamut monitor covers almost all of the printer colors on the blue axis, but, on the other hand, fails to achieve its full gamut on the yellows and oranges.

For photographers, it’s a wash between AdobeRGB wide gamut LCDs and the new Apple P3 displays. Both represent a tangible improvement compared to traditional sRGB displays, specially for those doing fine art printing.

Keep in mind that those gamut limitations don’t necessarily represent a problem in real world usage. Color managed apps map out of gamut colors to the display gamut, keeping the overall image representation plausible and accurate.

Looking for a previous generation 27" 5K iMac ICC profile for comparison. ;)

Thats fantastic, thanks for doing all that work halfcamerageek! Adding to what you have said about browsers, I have noticed on my rMBP that whenever I use a calibrated profile, Safari does some really odd colour shifting with fullscreen video, and so does Quicktime. I'm not quite sure what causes it, but I have noticed that Chrome does not do the same thing, perhaps because it defaults to the stock profile? When I did a full reinstall of the OS of my rMBP, the issue was no longer there at first, but quickly started happening again. I haven't noticed this on my iMac yet, but perhaps it an OSX issue?

View attachment 593392

Here's a visual comparison of the 2011 iMac vs AusMacFan's Retina 5K P3 monitor. Both profiled with an i1display to 6500k and gamma 2.2. His is the larger/white representation; mine is the one that fits entirely within it...

Thanks for doing this! It's good to know that the new display actually offers tangible benefits.
 
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Sure! Here you go.

Thanks! Unfortunately your profile and AusMacFan's are both ICC v4 and Argyll CMS couldn't process them for the gamut coverage calculation. I tried some alternative methods, but none worked well.

By the way, I usually configure i1 Profiler to output v2 profiles, which are more compatible and have no real world drawbacks compared to v4 profiles. I've had some wonky results with v4 profiles and Firefox, in the past.

Adding to what you have said about browsers, I have noticed on my rMBP that whenever I use a calibrated profile, Safari does some really odd colour shifting with fullscreen video, and so does Quicktime. I'm not quite sure what causes it, but I have noticed that Chrome does not do the same thing, perhaps because it defaults to the stock profile? When I did a full reinstall of the OS of my rMBP, the issue was no longer there at first, but quickly started happening again. I haven't noticed this on my iMac yet, but perhaps it an OSX issue?

Most video players are not color managed. Safari and Quicktime must be applying some some of color management on their output by taking your display profile into consideration. Chrome ignores it completely. That should explain the difference.

You can test your browser's color management capabilities here, or read this article about color management on the web. It's a little outdated, though. Safari is now fully color managed.
 
So after much waiting and deliberation, I have just purchased a new 27" iMac. The model I bought was the highest stock configuration, 3.3Ghz i5, AMD m395, 2tb fusion drive etc.

Originally, I wanted to get this config but swap out the fusion drive for the 512gb SSD, but for whatever reason my education discount was even more in store than it was online ($410 off vs $280). This meant that upgrading to SSD would have cost me approximately $400 more (after discounts), and that is not even considering the cost of a good external 2TB drive I would inevitably get as a media drive. I did this knowing that the apple store has a 14 day return policy so that if I found the fusion drive to be too limiting, I could always bring it back and get the higher model.

Anyway, here are my impressions so far:
  • The screen is beautiful, as we all knew it would be. I very fussy with displays, but the screen calibration is really nice, unlike my early 2013 rMBP which had an overly-cool white point straight out of the box and a gamma which was too high.
  • The fusion drive has been good so far. It boots slightly slower than my rMBP (with upgraded OWC ssd), but launches applications noticeably faster. Black magic benchmarks it at about 700mB/s read and write, which is honestly a bit concerning as the new SSD's are supposed to bee much speedier than that.
  • Performance is generally good, I haven't noticed any stuttering so far.
  • The new keyboard feels strange. I have seen reviewers say that it doesn't have less travel than the previous wireless keyboard, but I disagree. To me it feels a lot like the keyboard in the new macbook. Honestly I kind of like the feeling, but time will tell if I keep using it or swap it out for something else.
  • I am not a fan of the new magic mouse, just like I was not a fan of the older one. To me, the biggest problem is the plastic material they use on the top of the mouse; it's just not frictionless enough, and I could see myself really liking the mouse if it had a smooth glass top.
Honestly my biggest complaint with the computer is that the bezels are just so large! I have a feeling that we may see a redesign when Intel releases Kaby Lake, and if that happens I will probably sell this one and upgrade; yet another reason why I didn't want to spend a whole lot on it.

I will be keeping an eye on the benchmarks for the new ssd models. If they tend to be noticeably faster I might change my mind about the fusion drive, but so far it has been pretty great.

I don't see why people think they will redesign the iMac. If they wanted to redesign it they would've done it when they moved to Retina.

The 5mm edge is still gorgeous and there's no room to spare to make it thinner, the 5k already runs hotter than the older ones.
 
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Thanks! Unfortunately your profile and AusMacFan's are both ICC v4 and Argyll CMS couldn't process them for the gamut coverage calculation. I tried some alternative methods, but none worked well.

By the way, I usually configure i1 Profiler to output v2 profiles, which are more compatible and have no real world drawbacks compared to v4 profiles. I've had some wonky results with v4 profiles and Firefox, in the past.

Ok, I've done the same calibration but with ICC v2, here's the .icc:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-_zCiiUdl8dHFvZ1J3c0dqQk0/view?usp=sharing
 
Ok, I've done the same calibration but with ICC v2, here's the .icc:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-_zCiiUdl8dHFvZ1J3c0dqQk0/view?usp=sharing

Super cool. Thanks for doing that. This will allow me to get better insights, like finding out which gamut is more useful in the real world. I'm still trying to understand Apple's decision to aim for a different gamut than the traditional AdobeRGB wide gamut displays.

It'd be also interesting if you could share the Apple provided default profile for your LCD. It's usually located in /Library/Colorsync/Profiles/Displays and has the name of your computer or just "Color LCD" along with a random string of characters.

I'll post my findings soon.
 
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