The New iMac Worth It?

[TheStu]

I have an external optical drive. It sits in my closet. Plastic discs are now a niche. And not a big one at that. The future is upon us!

I think a mac mini with 2 21.5 inch monitors might be nice. But alas, only 27 inch is available.

You could always get 3rd party monitors.

Does the Mini support dual thunderbolt displays off of the single connector? Cuz I think that the Air does (did?) not.

I reckon that the 2013 Mini will drop the fw800 for a second thunderbolt.

 

[Pia]

To me the new iMac represents Apple once again fucking over everyone who'd like to have a bit of GPU power to go with their desktop. They pursue this insane "thin and light" policy on every last machine, including desktops where it doesn't matter at all, and functionality suffers. It doesn't make sense. If they want to serve a market that cares about nothing in a desktop computer except how thin it is, why don't they get serious about that and make an even thinner iMac with integrated graphics? And why don't they make another chassis that has room for a heavy-duty GPU and sufficient cooling? Knowing their design and manufacturing ability, I'm sure they could squeeze that into a very compact form, probably not any thicker than the 2007-2011 model.

Losing the optical drive I don't mind.

 

[SKORPI0]

Why no 17-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display?

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/11/apple-axes-17-inch-macbook-pro/

 

[HaukSwe]

It's infuriating that apple refuses to produce a powerful consumer desktop. Like many I don't care if it's thin and light, the size of the other one was fine. Just give me a proper GPU...

Disappointed with the direction here.

 

[Atty]

It's infuriating that apple refuses to produce a powerful consumer desktop. Like many I don't care if it's thin and light, the size of the other one was fine. Just give me a proper GPU...

Disappointed with the direction here.

Forgetting the Mac Pro? Use upgradeable GPU.

Albiet it is old now and underpowered in a lot of areas when compared to its brothers and sisters Apple puts out. Though, didn't one of the Apple execs email a customer that they had something "special" planned for the "Pro" users in 2013?

I'm pretty sure the 27'' w/ the highest spec GPU (680MX?) is no slouch though.

 

[Syrome]

Yes the 27in with the 680 mx is a nice GPU. 2GDDR5 is very acceptable

 

[Pia]

Forgetting the Mac Pro? Use upgradeable GPU.

He said "consumer desktop" so no, he didn't forget the Mac Pro. If all you want is a nice GPU, Mac Pro's $3000+ price, old parts, huge case and power draw make it a very bad deal.

I'm pretty sure the 27'' w/ the highest spec GPU (680MX?) is no slouch though.

The 680MX seems like it will be slightly better than the desktop 660Ti, which is decent but doesn't exactly have a vast power reserve considering you can only get it for the 1440p model iMac. I expect the price will be ridiculous also.

 

[HaukSwe]

Is it a nice GPU for gaming at that resolution though? It's "Ok" today and 1-2 years from now it'd be dated and you'd have to buy an entire new computer.

I want a Mac Pro in a mATX version case and with consumer CPU's, no need for the xenon etc etc.

They could've kept the old iMac case and upgraded it with beefier parts instead.

 

[Zaap]

Why worry over heavy gaming on the iMac using OSX?

Can't you just use it as a monitor for a tricked out gaming PC via mini display port? (I'm pretty sure the old model could be used that way.)

 

[Subyman]

I think a lot of people forget you are getting a $800-1000 monitor with the iMac 27". That alone justifies the price.

 

[TheStu]

Is it a nice GPU for gaming at that resolution though? It's "Ok" today and 1-2 years from now it'd be dated and you'd have to buy an entire new computer.

I want a Mac Pro in a mATX version case and with consumer CPU's, no need for the xenon etc etc.

They could've kept the old iMac case and upgraded it with beefier parts instead.

A: You're almost certainly never going to get the Mac Pro you want
B: XEON

They use XEON processors because they are server/workstation CPUs, and the Mac Pro is a workstation.

Why worry over heavy gaming on the iMac using OSX?

Can't you just use it as a monitor for a tricked out gaming PC via mini display port? (I'm pretty sure the old model could be used that way.)

That functionality is still there, what I am not sure about though is whether it requires a Thunderbolt based host rather than just a mDP one.

 

[Sa7aN]

I think a lot of people forget you are getting a $800-1000 monitor with the iMac 27". That alone justifies the price.

...... seriously?

 

[TheStu]

...... seriously?

Which part?

 

[Dug]

...... seriously?

I'm sure he is. Like I said earlier, you can't find a 2560x1440 ips monitor color calibrated under $1k.

On another topic, I do wish they made a mac mini with the same specs as iMac. But the mini has always used the laptop cpu instead of desktop cpu which really hampers it for my type of work.

 

[Pia]

I think a lot of people would be happy with a headless desktop that has a built in, non upgradable desktop spec GTX 670 (or similar). Apple could build that smaller and quieter than run-of-the-mill micro-ATX desktop cases because they'd be free to lay out the chips and cooling any way they want. The performance would be better and component cost lower compared to the parts they are forced to use in the iMac. Fat margins for Apple, win for the customers who don't need a workstation but care about GPU.

 

[capeconsultant]

I think a lot of people would be happy with a headless desktop that has a built in, non upgradable desktop spec GTX 670 (or similar). Apple could build that smaller and quieter than run-of-the-mill micro-ATX desktop cases because they'd be free to lay out the chips and cooling any way they want. The performance would be better and component cost lower compared to the parts they are forced to use in the iMac. Fat margins for Apple, win for the customers who don't need a workstation but care about GPU.

Maybe a "micro" tower design. Good idea. Small, quiet and cool.

 

[Zink]

It's a bit too late for that stuff. Apple's consumer products are moving towards low power and mobility and any OSX gaming focus would be on software that runs well on the IGP in macbooks. Getting a mac for gaming has never been a thing.

I heard the iPad is the best gaming platform out there, A6X is strong enough to run games at full 3MP resolution which is not so far off from a 27" monitor...
HA

 

[Subyman]

...... seriously?

Sure I'm serious. I own a Catleap, and its nice, but not nearly as nice as the higher priced units. They share the panel, but that's it. I had to buy another monitor (Viewsonic VP2770) due to backlight flicker (pwm dimming issues with the catleap.) Side by side, there is a large difference in image quality. The Catleap tended to blues, where as the Viewsonic was very neutral. The color and contrast were better and, most importantly, my head aches went away.

Other stuff such as USB hub, fantastic monitor stand, OSD settings, multiple inputs, etc etc were just gravy. So, yeah a high quality 27" monitor is still expensive.

Plus, the backlight flickers alot during warm up on the catleap. Just started a few weeks ago. I doubt it will last longer than a year.

 

[ElFenix]

It's a bit too late for that stuff. Apple's consumer products are moving towards low power and mobility and any OSX gaming focus would be on software that runs well on the IGP in macbooks. Getting a mac for gaming has never been a thing.

I heard the iPad is the best gaming platform out there, A6X is strong enough to run games at full 3MP resolution which is not so far off from a 27" monitor...
HA

Except the graphical quality of games on iPad is trash.

 

[TheStu]

Except the graphical quality of games on iPad is trash.

Compared to?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Compared to?

You know... SLI GTX 680s on a 46" 1440p display. Everybody here has that, right?