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Well... You'll read a lot of different opinions if you search for the "iMac heat/cooling" topic here, or anywhere (I'm not one of those who tells people "just google it" I'm just saying, there are many opinions on it and this is just mine, so you might want to research it before buying to be sure it's not a worry for you )
I'll tell you point blank: If you touch the case on your iMac, especially when you are doing CPU intensive tasks (gaming, HD video editing, heavy photo work, etc.) it's going to feel pretty warm. Maybe even hot in some instances. But there are a few things you have to keep in mind. First of all, Apple designed them the way they did, for good reason. The hardware inside is reliable. They test them thoroughly, and in many conditions your iMac should never find itself in
The case on the iMac is Aluminum. That makes a very good heatsink. On the bottom, you'll notice the speaker holes, but also there is a space where it draws cool air in. On the top, in the back, there is a slit that runs all the way across the width of the machine. The hot air is ejected there, and even when the iMac is silent, you will feel air moving out constantly if you hold your hand over it. (not rushing out like a jet, but moving). This brings the air through the machine, dispersing heat to the Aluminum case, which takes the heat away from the hardware inside. The aluminum soaks it up like a sponge, and then disperses it to the air outside. If you feel the Aluminum, especially towards the top, it will feel very warm. (sometimes, honestly, maybe even hot. Though personally ours never gets what I would call "hot". I find the claims of heat greatly exaggerated by paranoid owners in my personal experience, but that's just me.) But it is designed to be that way. This allows the iMac to remain virtually silent, and still get rid of the heat inside. The fans don't have to work nearly as hard because of the material and design involved, taking advantage of the fact that heat rises.
Some people, don't like this. They'll look at their temps and feel that one component or another is too hot, and that they know better than Apple as far as engineering and design. You'll read various studies on temperature vs. hdd life, and so on, but really, in the end these machines run under absolutely safe parameters. They are just different from Windows based towers. The All in one is like a laptop, and like many laptops, it runs a little warmer than a tower based PC design. If you feel it's too warm for you, you can find ways to control the fans via the SMC (the most common way I see is using "SMC Fan Control", a third party app (free) ) and keep the machine ice cold (though very loud) if you like.
We use our iMac for very heavy HD video and photo work. It runs daily, at bare minimum probably 9-12 hours a day. It's never had a problem, and when it starts getting hot, the fans kick up speed and keep it safe. It's a well built machine It cools perfectly fine, the temperature parameters are kept the way Apple intended them to be. If you feel it's too warm, it's very easy to keep it cool manually. (No extra fans needed ) If you kick the speeds up manually, the back will feel like a jet with all the air moving through
I'll tell you point blank: If you touch the case on your iMac, especially when you are doing CPU intensive tasks (gaming, HD video editing, heavy photo work, etc.) it's going to feel pretty warm. Maybe even hot in some instances. But there are a few things you have to keep in mind. First of all, Apple designed them the way they did, for good reason. The hardware inside is reliable. They test them thoroughly, and in many conditions your iMac should never find itself in
The case on the iMac is Aluminum. That makes a very good heatsink. On the bottom, you'll notice the speaker holes, but also there is a space where it draws cool air in. On the top, in the back, there is a slit that runs all the way across the width of the machine. The hot air is ejected there, and even when the iMac is silent, you will feel air moving out constantly if you hold your hand over it. (not rushing out like a jet, but moving). This brings the air through the machine, dispersing heat to the Aluminum case, which takes the heat away from the hardware inside. The aluminum soaks it up like a sponge, and then disperses it to the air outside. If you feel the Aluminum, especially towards the top, it will feel very warm. (sometimes, honestly, maybe even hot. Though personally ours never gets what I would call "hot". I find the claims of heat greatly exaggerated by paranoid owners in my personal experience, but that's just me.) But it is designed to be that way. This allows the iMac to remain virtually silent, and still get rid of the heat inside. The fans don't have to work nearly as hard because of the material and design involved, taking advantage of the fact that heat rises.
Some people, don't like this. They'll look at their temps and feel that one component or another is too hot, and that they know better than Apple as far as engineering and design. You'll read various studies on temperature vs. hdd life, and so on, but really, in the end these machines run under absolutely safe parameters. They are just different from Windows based towers. The All in one is like a laptop, and like many laptops, it runs a little warmer than a tower based PC design. If you feel it's too warm for you, you can find ways to control the fans via the SMC (the most common way I see is using "SMC Fan Control", a third party app (free) ) and keep the machine ice cold (though very loud) if you like.
We use our iMac for very heavy HD video and photo work. It runs daily, at bare minimum probably 9-12 hours a day. It's never had a problem, and when it starts getting hot, the fans kick up speed and keep it safe. It's a well built machine It cools perfectly fine, the temperature parameters are kept the way Apple intended them to be. If you feel it's too warm, it's very easy to keep it cool manually. (No extra fans needed ) If you kick the speeds up manually, the back will feel like a jet with all the air moving through