Review of the 27" iMac

[mbohn]

A review of the iMac 27" Core 2 Duo: yep, it's still an iMac

 

[True Bassist]

A nice, concise review. Thanks for sharing!

 

[coaster]

That's an excellent review. Well done, and thanks for posting. I only wish I could get mine. Waaaaaah!!!

 

[True Bassist]

Waaaaaah!!!

I completely agree with you.

 

[macguy90]

Awesome review! Well done in every aspect of it!

 

[lanakole]

I still can't believe cnet rated the HP touchsmart 600 better than the iMac due to things such as Blu-ray, touch screen (which I personally don't find very useful to use when sitting down at a computer desk), and the amount of connecting ports. Read their review here: http://http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/apple-imac-21-5/4505-3118_7-33783913.html?tag=mncol;lst

What do you guys think about the iMac not having a Blu-Ray? Is there any work around? I am getting conflicting information. The sales rep said that even if I bought an external Blue-ray player, i wouldn't be able to play it on my iMac. is that true?

 

[coaster]

Your link isn't working. There's an extra http:// in the url. (also, depending on the BBCode implementation here, quotes may or may not be needed around the url) Good reasons for testing an url after posting.

After editing, the url points only to their iMac review and not the HP review you're referring. Or did I misunderstand? Please repost if you can; I'd like to read the HP review, too.

 

[mostro]

What do you guys think about the iMac not having a Blu-Ray? Is there any work around? I am getting conflicting information. The sales rep said that even if I bought an external Blue-ray player, i wouldn't be able to play it on my iMac. is that true?

At the moment, there is no way to output a Blu-Ray player to the iMac. The only things that currently can use the 27" iMac as a display are other Macs that use mini Displayport.

However, there is a company claiming to have made an adapter that will allow you to output Blu-Ray to it using an HDMI to Mini-Displayport adapter. I don't believe it's available yet, and hence is not tested or confirmed.

Blu-ray comes to the iMac... via an Apogee HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter -- Engadget

 

[chrmoody]

Good review, I think cnet didn't do the iMac 27" justice. I mean, I'm not a long Apple user, I've had the iPhones and Ipods galore, but I've recently made the switch from PC to the new 27" iMac and also got a mac mini. And by fair I'm not disappointed. I mean for me personally, I didn't care about HDMI or Bluray, so those were cut-off points for me. I'm from now on a Mac user

 

[martyp]

Gotta love ars-technica's reviews, brilliant as usual!

Oh how I wish I had one of those 27" iMacs...

 

[ioaus09]

haha got the 27inch (core i5, 4G, 512mb Graphics), and its way to big, hard to read stuff on it without maximsing the screen. put in windows bootcamp, played games and whoah it played it easily. A problem is the bad (in my opinion) graphics, some computer already have 1GB graphics cards, yet macs only have up to 512. Lastly, its really expensive upgrades lol (dreamed of having the i7, 8G, but to no avail)

 

[mostro]

haha got the 27inch (core i5, 4G, 512mb Graphics), and its way to big, hard to read stuff on it without maximsing the screen. put in windows bootcamp, played games and whoah it played it easily. A problem is the bad (in my opinion) graphics, some computer already have 1GB graphics cards, yet macs only have up to 512. Lastly, its really expensive upgrades lol (dreamed of having the i7, 8G, but to no avail)

If it handled your games easily as you say, why is the graphics bad?

The iMac isn't a pro-level machine like they sell as "gaming machines" in the Windows world, that would be the Mac Pro. You aren't going to find any all-in-one (including Windows ones) that have hardcore gaming video cards, etc in them. They're too big and require too much cooling.

And the amount of RAM in a GPU doesn't necessarily dictate its performance, the chipset and speed of the buses, etc all factor in more than the amount of memory.

 

[wrestleantares]

I still can't believe cnet rated the HP touchsmart 600 better than the iMac due to things such as Blu-ray, touch screen (which I personally don't find very useful to use when sitting down at a computer desk), and the amount of connecting ports. Read their review here: http://http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/apple-imac-21-5/4505-3118_7-33783913.html?tag=mncol;lst

What do you guys think about the iMac not having a Blu-Ray? Is there any work around? I am getting conflicting information. The sales rep said that even if I bought an external Blue-ray player, i wouldn't be able to play it on my iMac. is that true?

I was disappointed:

Mac's - well actually PC's in general are as much about entertainment as they are about productivity. Especially in this day and age of easy home networking. It seems a no brainer to have the winning HD disc format as at least an option. Especially with that nice display.

Also, I need a Bluray writer/reader (12-20 Gig files I did not want to split).

 

[Spike88]

.

Off topic but related...

I was going to purchase a future iMac (21.5" or 27") this March 2010 - for my birthday. Due to high amount of screen problems and other high technical problems, I've decided to wait until Christmas 2010. Or, perhaps March 2011. Hoping from now until then, Apple will have many of its high amount of technical problems (with its newly upgraded) iMacs resolved. And, its 2nd "release wave" of iMac platforms are much better.

For me, I don't know which platform is better. re: PC or Mac. Especially with the high amount of iMac technical (new screen) problems being posted during the last 2 months. Eliminate this high problem patterns and I haven't read too many posts about Mac users going back to a PC platform. I bet high majority of Mac Users love their Mac platforms, and stay with Mac Platforms. Forget about PC vs Mac reviews - from folks sitting in a test lab. Look at patterns from "real users" who have used both - for "average" home user needs...

To me, that's where reality is...

.

 

[coaster]

Spike, you've got to keep in mind that what you read in forum postings is not at all representative of the actual rate of problems in the entire Mac products delivered. You're going to hear about all the problems here, but you're not going to hear from the folks whose machines are working just fine, thank you.

I think that if you buy a Mac now, the odds of you getting delivered a perfectly functioning machine are so high as to represent the real reality and if you wait you're depriving yourself unnecessarily of the use of your Mac, but if you wait until the next product cycle, you'll find yourself using the same excuse to justify waiting again.

The real reality is that whatever the defect rate, you can rest assured that Apple is VERY good about adjusting whatever the problem is, and furthermore, has an extremely cheap extended service plan, compared to most.

 

[jeremy8_8]

i have a 24" iMac
but still good.

any good pts to switch to 27"?

 

[Spike88]

Spike, you've got to keep in mind that what you read in forum postings is not at all representative of the actual rate of problems in the entire Mac products delivered. You're going to hear about all the problems here, but you're not going to hear from the folks whose machines are working just fine, thank you. .....

If wondering, I do focus on both NOT posted and posted items. Unlike some, I don't have a narrow focus - in any self research. Even when shopping for a new vehicle, I do lots of research on many community forums as well. If there's 0 posts about bad mufflers and a "few" posts about bad intake gaskets, I do notice the patterns. If 1 Million items are produced and only a small 5% of total population have "immediate" problems (especially within 3 months of being released), that's still a large number of devices. Thus, I stay away from that specific item. I wait for the next year or the next "production release" of that same - and its problem plattern count settles back down to 0. Once the iMac screen issue posts on this (and my other Mac forums) settle down, I'll then think about buying an iMac again. For now, I'll let others "take the risk" of getting first build model. Like many things in life, 2+ builds are often better - regardless of the product...

If wondering, I was attracked to the Mini-Mac and iMac platforms due to many videos on Youtube. Many folks showing off their Mac (from first setups, to reviews, to usage) and each of these folks "glowing from ear to ear." Thus, showing me that Apple products are good for folks. Just not too sure of the current bad "pattern" of iMac screens across many different forums. And yes, 3+ head gaskets blowing on a newly released brand of vehicle catches my eyes as well. Patterns that don't appear with other brands of vehicles. Thus, I'll wait for next year - when this bad pattern of iMac screens settles down. Luckily, I have freedom of choice as well...

.

 

[mostro]

Well said, spike88. It's important to note that even a great company with such a good track record of excellent hardware can have issues. These iMacs are very highly engineered and rely on extremely new manufacturing processes at factories on the other side of the globe (from Cupertino) and issues can and do crop up.

Mark Wilson, an editor at Gizmodo, has received two 27" iMacs with bad (yellow) screens now, and is taking them to the task of owning up to it and fixing the issue. He is taking info from others who have received them and will be posting about it until its fixed. Here are links to his recent posts on it (as recent as four days ago). And keep in mind he is a long-time Apple user and fan.

Worry Not Crusaders, I Haven't Let Broken iMacs Off the Hook! - Yellow imacs - Gizmodo

Apple Has Thwarted My Efforts, So I Need Your Help - Yellow imac - Gizmodo

My Second iMac Is Busted, Too - iMac - Gizmodo

I Spoke Too Soon, My iMac Is &#$@ed, Too - iMac - Gizmodo

 

[mostro]

Here's an update:

http://gizmodo.com/5447250/the-faulty-imac-saga-chapter-1

Of note: "We've received at least 15 tips to our submissionsATgizmodo.com line, all users who've received yellow-tinged iMacs since January 1st and documented the problem with photos. "

Also, this site is tracking issues with the new iMacs: http://imac.squeaked.com/results.php

I'd hold off on it for now, it can't be long before a fix comes out. I mean, you've waited this long without a 27" Mac, right?

 

[Cycledoc22]

As noted in Gizmodo, it would be nice if Apple acknowledged the problem and provided an immediate fix to those who have spent the premium demanded for what they thought was a superior product.