My experience with the iMac 27 retina

[Sirmausalot]

The 395(x) is just a 295(x) basically, .. ATI is known for that misleading renumbering.

Yes, it may be basically the same silicon, but it is not overheating or throttling and is hitting better benchmarks -- up to 10%.

 

[vcn]

Anyway it is a software problem.

I have my doubts. Anyway I hope you guys are right and if that's the case Apple fixes it in the near future.

 

[craig1410]

I'm a web development consultant and use a combination of 2014 5K iMac i7 4GHz, 1TB SSD, 295x GPU and MacBook Pro Retina 15" (max spec) and the iMac blows the MBP away easily with no stuttering.

Clearly the OP is an experienced user but I'd have to agree with others and say the testing methodology is highly flawed, leading to a lot of potential for incorrect conclusions. It could be an issue with Google Chrome, display scaling issues, interactions with browser plugins, poor website design, early GPU driver issues, OS issues etc. One thing I highly doubt is that it has anything whatsoever to do with raw performance of what is a very decent GPU. I know it's not the best GPU money can buy but it's highly capable.

You also need to bear in mind that by default, the machine will be running in hi-dpi mode equivalent to 2560x1440 pixels and the GPU can handle that all day long. I run demanding 3D games at this resolution and it keeps up no problem and the 395x is slightly more capable than my 295x GPU.

It's a shame the OP hadn't come on the forum asking for help before concluding that the machine was not up to the job and sending it back and would urge anyone else to seek help before throwing in the towel as these really are wonderful development machines.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying one of these machines is to read the many professional reviews available and ask questions of users who have been using the machine for a bit longer than the returns period. Go to an Apple Store and take your time trying things out and getting help from the apple staff and then make full use of the returns period to make up your own mind. Oh, and get a pure SSD model if possible.

Cheers,
Craig.

 

[Wizard00]

I have my doubts. Anyway I hope you guys are right and if that's the case Apple fixes it in the near future.

i am web developper too.
macbook air has Intel HD Graphics 6000 and resolution is 1440x900.
Imac 5k with 395x is much more powerful then hd6000 and ofcourse resolution is bigger but it is impossible that is videocard problem when reading other thread, this video card is very good with games and other programs. So "Power" there is.
The only explanation for this problem is software. If i read good..in virtual win8.1 websites look good..so it is a problem with OS. Now it can be browsers in OS, display scaling issues, html 5 on browsers with low optimization for 5k, driver ati or OS in general.
And it wouldn't be a surprise if the problem is the "browser". Every browser in different operating system manages in different way html,html5,javascript and css.

 

[joema2]

...My advice to anyone thinking of buying one of these machines is to read the many professional reviews available and ask questions of users who have been using the machine for a bit longer than the returns period....

That is a great post and excellent advice. You can often find an odd case where performance falls off a cliff.

E.g, in the current Lightroom CC, some tasks slow down if you activate GPU acceleration under LR Preferences>Performance. That doesn't mean the GPU is so slow it's worthless, rather it's a software problem that needs optimization.

That is why seeking a broader range of experience and a wider spectrum of benchmarks is important.

 

[jerwin]

After viewing the websites and downloading the video, I have my suspicions...

I get stuttering when I try to use my magic mouse. When I use my arrow keys, I don't. Do you suppose that whatever function that controls gestures can cope with a screen so large?

 

[effedupstories]

Yes, those are the three urls I've used as an example, although I did tests on a lot more.

http://norilskfilm.com/ - the then and now screen
http://sonsofgallipoli.com - chapters screen
http://karimrashid.com/ - main screen slider, if you scroll on the page I remember there were missing frames too

All websites are run on chrome, its the main browser I use because their developer tools are way better than any others. On safari some websites were smoother and others even more jumpy. Anyhow the performance on the Macbook Air was superior in all browsers.

I wanted to give these a fair test, so I tried it on my PC first (custom built - intel i7 2600k 3.4 GHz cpu, 16 GB DDR3 (1600 MHz) RAM, Windows 10 64 bit loaded onto a 256 GB Samsung EVO SSD with 2 factory overclocked Nvidia 970's in SLI): On the PC I used Chrome on a display of 1440p. It did't "chop", but the animations weren't super smooth on any of the sites. To me, it felt like the animations were 30 fps or perhaps less, sometimes more, giving it a little bit of a jerky feeling.

Then I tried the sites on my custom iMac (5k with the 4GHz skylake cpu, 8 GB of RAM (adding more eventually), 256 GB SSD and AMD m395x dGPU): For this I tried it on Safari as it's the only browser I have installed currently, at 5k. I found the performance to be exactly the same regarding animations, and if anything, I found the sites loaded a little faster which may be due to the better wifi capabilities on my iMac vs the one in my PC.

So I honestly found no difference at all. Not sure if that differs with the other iMac cards though I would strongly doubt it. My hunch is that maybe all the code/assets were cached on your other computers giving for a smoother look.

That said, I'm not blindingly defending the iMac either, that I also just dropped 4k on. It has it's issues too. While I think the graphics chip is "okay", and it performed better than I thought it would (thanks to all the negativity in posts), it basically performs a little better than my brothers Alienware laptop with the Nvidia 880m he got last year. For a 5k screen, I'm with everyone else in saying that I wish it was at least a Nvidia 980m inside, or would even prefer an official Apple brand external GPU enclosure for a beefier card - it would keep the heat outside the system, and would be optional for only those who want it, keeping the noise to a minimum for everyone else. My biggest issue though is heat. I am very uncomfortable that running any modern games, despite how well they run, drives my gpu up to 101 degrees at a constant rate, and the cpu depending on application under stress hits 89 to 101 as well. That said, those temps are apparently within spec, the system is extremely snappy, has great performance, and a phenomenal screen which is absolutely amazing for design work.

With that said, here's my opinion on the websites that nobody asked for

My thoughts on the websites are this: The first 2 were very neat in concept - I can really appreciate how they were brought to life, but I quickly became annoyed with navigating them, which is how many often feel after the initial "that's cool" feeling wears off. Navigation on these 2 sites I found frustrating. There is a lot to be said for familiarity - people expect the menu to be at the top or in a column in the left, the social media buttons/log in/etc to be in the top right, the main points to be "above the fold" i.e.: seen before you start scrolling because only 20% of your visitors ever scroll down. The third site was the best example mixing flashy design and navigation, but I still found pages by scrolling that were not in the main menu - "about", and because each subsection was basically on a different page, and I didn't have any scroll bars, I only found them by accidentally scrolling.

That said, I think there is a place for those kinds of websites too. Webpages for brands, whether that's bands, special upcoming events, products or whatever where the information is basically static - as in, not really going to be updating on a regular basis, just for info and presence, then these flashy kinds of websites are probably the best kinds of sites to do. It helps differentiate the brand and sticks in your mind. But if it's a site that has constant new content, whether it's news, articles, pics, video, whatever, those kinds of sites should never be used. When someone is looking for something, they want it instantly, and they expect to land on a site where they can quickly and easily navigate to what they're looking for. If that don't happen, they're gonna back button out of there to the next entry on the search page. As a designer I can appreciate that kind of artistry, but when I'm looking for info, I have no time for it, and that's the way most people are.

 

[vcn]

Clearly the OP is an experienced user but I'd have to agree with others and say the testing methodology is highly flawed, leading to a lot of potential for incorrect conclusions.

Of course is flawed man. When I buy an Apple product and access a website with it I expect it to "just work". I have work to do and honestly don't have the time or interest to tinker or wait weeks/months if its a software issue for it to get fixed (apple is slow on that matter). When you get this kind of computer you expect it to have the drivers/configuration/integration with other popular programs well tested and working flawlessly, and if it janks on webpages like my mother's 400$ windows machine I have to assume it has something to do with the laptop gpu/5k display combo and return it

For this I tried it on Safari as it's the only browser I have installed currently, at 5k. I found the performance to be exactly the same regarding animations, and if anything, I found the sites loaded a little faster which may be due to the better wifi capabilities on my iMac vs the one in my PC.

I did some tests on Safari too, some websites were smoother and others even more janky (can't remember if the 3 mentioned were smoother o not).

Well as I said I hope it's a software issue and it gets fixed soon along with the performance issues on some Adobe CC tools for those of you who have the computer.

 

[George Dawes]

Mine came today - a pressie for my dad

Wow

The thing is a beast

SOOOOOOOOO fast it's scary , I was transferring a load of songs from an old iTunes account and thought to myself this is going to take awhile . 3 seconds THREE SECONDS !!!

It's also totally silent , the screen is pin sharp and the built in speakers are stunning . I use a Rotel amp and Tannoy speakers and this thing is just as good as that set up but no wires. VERY VERY IMPRESSED SO FAR