27-inch iMac torn into tiny bits for the greater good
By Tim Stevens 
posted Oct 22nd 2009 7:26AM
posted Oct 22nd 2009 7:26AM
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The inside looks better than most pcs
Most mass produced pc's. Not better than any custom built one.
its perrdy...
...define "better".
@barracuda
http://en.lmgtfy.com/?q=define%3A+better
While we are comparing this to most pc's, How the hell is this thing powered by a 310 watt psu (as is described at the read link)?
CPU - i7 - 90Watt
GPU 4850 -130 (idle) - 250 (max) Watt
Thats already over 300 watts on max load
Add all the other chips, drives, peripherals, and who could forget - A GIANT DISPLAY, and this thing should be sucking 700 watts minimum under load.
Anyone care to explain?
Well, that's true, If we're not talking about laptops that is.
But I can imagine it sucks if one of your HD breaks down and you can't fix it yourself. and you have to send a complete 27" to apple. especially with their 1 year warranty, it's not an irregularity i suppose.
Most being the key word there. Seen the inside of a Blackbird 002?
It's just screen.... then no screen.
Where's the IPS matte screen and the e-SATA port on the back Apple???!
Good question!
i dont like those things. they are non-portable laptops in my mind. ugh
I would hate to change a drive in this thing
All you need is a suction cup and a screwdriver.
I'd really like to get me one of those iMacs.
If Steve Jobs thinks Blu-ray is a bag of hurt, that is no excuse not to include it in this (probably) ultra-expensive machine.
Or is it? After all Steve Jobs is all knowing and all seeing so all the mac fans are probably happy that terrible bag-of-hurt thing isn't included.
what's the point? I've never watched DVD's on any computer and I'm pretty sure I'll never want to view a Blu-Ray on one either..
And seeing as the only application for BD at the moment is video, guess what I don't miss having in a computer... yup a BD drive...
And I don't think $1800 is overly expensive for a Quad Core i7 machine with a decent graphics card and super high res 27 inch screen
$1200 is "ultra expensive"? The Mac Pro, that is expensive, the iMac, not so much.
Or Apple fans are just as disappointed as you are, and also happen to think you're a douche.
There is an almost endless list of things that "could" be included but aren't. I've no problem with Apple offering Blu-ray as an option but I don't want to be paying for something that I don't want or need. Personally, I just don't see the format taking off and therefore I have no wish to invest in it.
The only currently shipping all in one computer with a blueray player is the Sony L series desktop. It also has a 3 inch smaller screen, for $99 more than the iMac. I don't think the blueray player is worth the difference. Besides, if I'm going to be watching a blueray I'll watch it on my tv, not my computer.
"Or Apple fans are just as disappointed as you are, and also happen to think you're a douche."
+1.
Apple missed an opportunity here since this is wall mountable. I think they may be moving in that direction though. Wouldn't surprise me if the next evolution will be 27/30 inchers, wall moutable with Blu Ray and AppleTV all built in.
The LED screen... just love it. Blue-ray isn't strictly necessary but would have liked to see this compensated with an HDMI in (as is the case with the VAIO L)
I'm glad they didn't put BD in this. I just want a decent computer with a decent monitor that can run OSX and the adobe Creative Suite. this should do that. I have a much bigger tv and a PS3 for blu-ray.
I still don't see what the point in bluray is anyhow on a computer. Digital Downloads people I would much rather have a digital copy of an HD movie then a physical copy that I can lose, and trust me I back up my stuff so no worries about it there. Optical Media is so dead give it another 5 years and you won't even see computers with it anymore. Hard drive space is so cheap now a days so if you want to backup your stuff get a 1TB external and you're golden, and it's prob even cheaper then blank BD-R's too. I know there is that small percentage of people out there that are like but what if I want to watch a movie on my computer. Well trust me you are in a very small percentage of Bluray customers that actually do that.
you sound confused
you hate optical media and you dont want to watch movies on your computer
my bet is your tv is next to your computer?
i dont get it man
i hate optical discs too, but it's kinda neat to bring a movie over to a friend and have some kind of 'standard' device you can trust on and play that shit. or are you the guy that comes over and has to install 5 softwares and rearrange all cables before we can watch, eh?!
oh well, one day they will invent movies you don't have to watch :-P
You ever heard of burning blu-ray dvd's?
No I have not since they are not DVD's.... Sorry had to say it but either way I personally think its a waste of time. I have 3 1TB drive that cost me less then Blue-ray players did at that time, so it's a no brainer.
@sjogro
ummmm have you heard of the MP4 standard? My ATV plays it my iMac plays it my PC plays it my XBOX plays it my PS3 plays it and I'm sure there's at least 10 other devices out there that play it.
Would it be to much to ask for 2 HDD bays in this thing too ?
I think they look like really nice upgrades from the previous model, all metal is lovely but really give us eSATA and an easy way to change HDDs
The max hdd space is 2Tb, which is confusing, as these appear to only have a 2.5" bay.
I remember when the first HD 1080p TVs were hitting the market and tech people were trying to explain that in a set under 46" you just won't see much difference.
Here we are a couple of years down the road and people are crying about no blue ray in a computer. Are you really going to notice in a screen thats only 27". Blue ray is for much bigger screens.
As far as writing onto discs goes, external HDDs are a better bang for the buck.
When the resolution is this high, yes, you will notice.
I remember when the earth was flat and we started to encode in Divx3.11 instead of the regular encoding mpg´s for vcd´s and it seemed a massive difference. Now a couple of years later the encoding improved and we moved to hd-ready.. and nowadays i dont even bother watching anything below hd. Ofcourse we could say that the old Divx or even the vcd´s arent that different but after watching anything better stepping back isn´t reasonble anymore. And ofcourse.. you could say its a bag of hurt but c´mon nowadays a BR drive isnt that expensive anymore. Atleast give it as an option to the consumer instead of Steve-O decides that its a bag of hurt. Also... if you consider a computer to be a multimedia device atleast it should be able to play multimedia shizle. That said.. it has been quite a while that Apple was as innovative as it was let´s say 5 years ago nowadays people seemed to be happy already with a simple copy-paste option or a minor upgrade in the cpu speed. No.. Apple is nowadays the design you pay for the hardware you could already get this about a half a year ago if not longer from others.
When you work only 18" from your computer screen as you type at it, resolution/size absolutely makes a difference. God I want this display.
This thing definitely needs a next-gen I/O interface (USB 3.0, LightWire, whatever) and a bump in GPU specs before I'll consider buying it, though.
SO TEMPTING!
You aren't going to see a difference in quality between the two because:
a: Although the computer monitor is smaller it has the same resolution as a larger screen but you are sat closer it making it appear more blocky.
b. The television screen has the same screen resolution as a monitor but it is larger making it appear more blocky but as you sit further away from a screen like this the pixels merge and you see the same image quality.
I'm sat at a 23" 1080p monitor now and the resolution is fine but I imagine if the screen size is cranked up by another four inches and I am sat at the same distance I will be able to see the individual pixels.
(in an monotonous, ominous voice)
the greater good
Shut it!
The image of the intestines sans-screen would make a nifty background image to use with the iMac. Almost like having an transparent display.. techie porn.
these would be great for a graphics workstation
Was hoping to see the LED backlight matrix. :( Did I miss it?
Gotta admire that engineering to keep all that cool. It would be cool if they could use the aluminium as a giant heatsink.
For those marveling at what a great deal the new iMacs are, I actually worked it out. I built systems on Newegg with identical specs for three of the models, except WITH a blu-ray combo drive:
iMac: $1200
DIY equivalent: $864 ( http://yfrog.com/151200imacp )
Mac tax: $336 (38.8%)
iMac: $1700
DIY equivalent: $1136 ( http://yfrog.com/0z1700imacp )
Mac tax: $564 (49.6%)
iMac: $2000
DIY equivalent: $1275 ( http://yfrog.com/0u2000imacp )
Mac tax: $725 (56.8%)
That includes Windows 7 64bit. You can knock off another $109 for Ubuntu.
Sure, iMacs are pretty. But are they really $300-$700 worth of pretty? If you think it's worth it, then more power to you. But don't claim you're getting some great deal, because you're not.
You are marginally correct, but (somehow) find a 21.5" or especially a 27" LED IPS screen and you're looking at a large price increase on those NewEgg configs. You also forgot an 802.11n wireless card and a Bluetooth adapter.
Then you also have the fact that all of those include a lot of wire clutter,
Chip @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:14AM
For those marveling at what a great deal the new iMacs are, I actually worked it out. I built systems on Newegg with identical specs for three of the models, except WITH a blu-ray combo drive:
___________________________________________________
You miss the point entirely and you have too much time on your hands.
Get a life and a clue! Like the above post you are building custom systems not all in one's with IPS screens.
@CHIP I have Built a hackint0sh Running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 with Dual Xeon 5520 CPUs with a Supermicro X8DTG-QF motherboard and 12GB DDR3 1066 Kingston 2GB CL7 ECC RAM, EVGA GTX 295 Co-op Edition, Seagate 1.5TB HDD, Cooler Master 1000w PSU & HAF 932 Case
all for the low price of 2,363$ USD compare that to a MacPro that will cost you 3,700$ USD i even come under the Quad-Core MacPro Price.
i don't think anyone will tell you that they got a MacPro for how it LOOKS come on its just a Tower. i can see that argument being made for a iMac it does LOOK very Nice but in the end its still to much oh well.
"I built systems on Newegg with identical specs"
Forgive me but no you didn't. This is the equivalent of someone building a much cheaper desktop PC with the specifications of a laptop and then declaring that the laptop is a rip-off. Configure your own all-in-one PC and then we'll talk.
And, yes, try adding an IPS panel display next time.
Good grief...
Don't forget about ddr3 also, which then jacks up the cost of the mobo.
Dude, if you want to make a point like that, you'd better know what you're talking about. And clearly you don't.
LOL at all the iZombies. There is no functional difference between a desktop and an all-in-one. The other differences are minimal bordering on non-existent. Performance-wise, the systems I put together are IDENTICAL. If you jackasses really think saving a few square inches of desk space is really worth an extra $700, then you deserve to get ripped off.
Chip, I dislike Apple as much as the next Thinkpad user, but honestly, look for a 27" IPS LCD and get back to us.
This isn't some Apple hand-waving BS for once. 27" 109 dpi H-IPS is worth more than a Acer TN screen.
Wow...
First off, Price of mobility components > price of desktop components.
Secondly, Price of LED backlit IPS panel Display >>> Crappy TN panel
Way to make an uninformed comparison chip.
AS everyone has already pointed out, this is a rediculouse comparison. The screen alone would likely sell for at least $800, if an alternative were available.
I have been critical of Apple's pricing for a long time, but I have to say, the new product line, especially with the i7 option actually seems reasonable (given that at least a 20% premium is expected for smaller components and Apple systems.).
This is a really nice looking piece of equipment with lots of options at not unreasonable price points. At this stage though, Apple should offer Blue Ray authoring options to future proof a machine this expensive with limited upgrade options.
Very Very Good work we need lots more macs torn into pieces thxs very much!
Sadly, Even though this Apple is very high res, Apple is and will probably always be guilty of having terrible response times, likely a standard refresh rate and standard contrast ratio. I have never seen a large format display made by apple with a faster than 16ms response and i do not think that they improved it much for this model since I can not seem to find the true specs on apples site. Just apple bragging about their resolution
I know it's not "exactly" so, but it looks as if Apple simply engineers the layouts as if it was to be a laptop/notebook and then places the screen on top of it...thus, the engineering behind iMac development...
"27-inch iMac torn into tiny bits"
You should tear them all apart if you want to help the greater good.
I'm interested to see what issues they have with heat. I'd love one of these but if it sounds like an aircon unit in the corner of the room it's a non-starter (talking about a quad core machine).
Wonderful! Almost perfect! I can't wait to see that thing in person.
But hey, have fun with your thousands of diffused colors, Crappy viewing angles and fuzzy picture quality. People that buy these iMacs will enjoy MILLIONS of colors superior viewing angles and razor sharp picture quality in the meantime.
I did not actually take the time to check the monitors he picked. But I have yet to see true specs on the screen except for it is back lit with LED and that it is high resolution. Having super high res means nothing if you do not have things like high contrast ratio, fast response time, and fast refresh rate. I can only imagine that the contrast ratio is at the very least average which would be a huge upgrade to their imacs that were not back lit with LED because previous imacs had garbage contrast and garbage response time.
Also this is not 8-bit anymore. You would impress me if you found a monitor with less than 1 million colors.
Chip, you don't get it. There are different factors that go into manufacturing All In One computers and desktop computers. You can't look at an All In One or laptop and call it overpriced compared to a desktop homebrew PC.
For starters, with OEM computers, you have to pay for them to make it for you. Then you have to factor in the cost of parts as well as R&D. Mobility components cost much more than desktop components. On top of that, Apple had to spend millions in R&D when designing their hardware.
You can't compare two totally different things and then call one of them overpriced. That is stupid beyond belief.
You talk of a price difference, but the display difference could EASILY fill that gap.
This iMac has a far FAR better display than the ones you picked. IPS displays are NOT cheap.
But hey, have fun with your thousands of diffused colors, Crappy viewing angles and fuzzy picture quality. People that buy these iMacs will enjoy MILLIONS of colors superior viewing angles and razor sharp picture quality in the meantime.
One other thing: he picked a crap case and low end green drives. Apple uses the highest end, fastest, quietest hard drives. The one in my 2007 Aluminum iMac was a Hitachi. The computer was completely silent, then I swapped the disks and now it makes a bit of noise. The hard drive is the only part that makes any noise at all, and that's only because I dropped in a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB drive.
The simple fact that this iMac's display is made by LG is a true testament of just how low quality this computer really is...no wonder Steve Jobs' decided not to offer Blu-Ray with this computer. By the same token, there is no point to give this iMac an HDMI either, the highly reflective glass display is not ready for the advanced video technologies. One can easily find a better looking display made by Samsung or Sony.
for $20, you can get a MDP-HDMI adapter.
Also, it can run as a monitor instead of just a computer.