# New iMac hands on



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Will be playing with the entry level shortly.

Interested to see how the screen is. Happy to answer questions.


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## coreLlama (Aug 5, 2005)

*noise*

sweet... How's the noise? and how's the glare?

I swear my iMac G5 has become louder.


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

Is it really glass? kinda like those flat screen crt's.(note: talking about the glass not the whole screen tech)


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Aero said:


> Is it really glass? kinda like those flat screen crt's.(note: talking about the glass not the whole screen tech)


It's really glass. Just like the iPhone.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Live from a new iMac.

Very sweet looking machine. 

Just some quick notes before we load it with ram.

Keyboard is very quiet and so slim the lack of a wrist rest is immaterial. That said there is no indent on the keys to help finger alignment but the keyspacing is okay.

F-keys are too close to the numeric keys - still not bad. I might try it for a bit on my main system

Yes there is glare.

Have not played a movie but for media this will be a winna - designers...hmmm.
The monitor was almost unusable out of the box - settings were so far out - don;t know what that was about.

ALL of the settings were skewed like this


















Not sure what Apple was on about this.

Unit is very quiet - does beg for the wireless gear as it's so sleek.

Going to be popular to transport as an entertainment unit for the cottage. - Could easily watch a movie - especially on the 24" which unfortunately we have yet to see. 

Will try movie trailer and sound now.


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

coreLlama said:


> I swear my iMac G5 has become louder.


Certainly possible. Dust may be blocking air flow causing more noise. Could also be wear on moving parts.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Well tis has to be the multimedia bargain of all time. I could easily sit and watch a movie fully engaged in near field with the sound system it has.

Blacks are very deep and colours rich without being saturated.
Apple clearly made a choice to go knock on media and let dsigners buy their own screen.

Any light behind the user tho is a distraction.
The keyboard is easy to use with no ambient light - the screen provides enough even with the brightness down.
The white on aluminum actually is a good pairing and the keys being quiet is a nice treat.

Airport connection is solid - tho it is a damp day out - can see 1/2 dozen of the neighbours.

Not sure what the screen is made of - looks like glass and the black surround is a good touch. Will be interested to see what kind of speed we get on the FW 800


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

These truly sound like sweet machines.  Keep teasing us all with details, MacDoc.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Switching back to the matte 30" for now it's clear the Designer Prime of the iMac wears black turtleneck sweaters 

Reflections ARE be distracting and a matte screen on this would have been a wonder ala a Samsung 215.

Still it's a gorgeous bit of design - I'd say perhaps the very best Apple has yet produced even beyond the Cube and matching monitor.

With wireless KB set ( so cheap why not ) this = desk envy big time.

Even the "chin" is really not intrusive - the early G5 iMacs look positively clunky in comparison. It really is slim and Apple has used black and aluminum to emphasize that.
The black around the screen with just a thin aluminum trim makes the 20" look like a 24".

I'm just wondering if they can pull off a 30" version which would be a total cross over unit for many families - HD media centre and monster workspace at the same time.

Needs an HDMi in tho.

By making the back all black it keeps it smoother but it's hard to find the ports - that little pen flashlight will be de rigeur.

I'm curious if Apple used different screen qualities up the line. I tell you out of the box was unbearable. Would like to hear from others on that.


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## mr.steevo (Jul 22, 2005)

Hi,

I'm interested in the 24". When you look at it can you give me an idea what it will be like to swap the hard drive on that one? 

Unless someone already knows about the 24" disassembly and hard drive change.


Thank you.

s.


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

mr.steevo said:


> Hi,
> 
> Unless someone already knows about the 24" disassembly and hard drive change.


I don't know if the 20" and 24" are the same, but here's the 20" taken apart:
Disassembled iMac (2007 Mid) by KODAWARISAN_Page1


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## mr.steevo (Jul 22, 2005)

Hi,

I saw that one.

Where my confusion comes from is apparently the previous 24" iMacs back could be removed easier than on the 20" and 17". I don't know about that, but I would like confirmation.

Thanks Atroz

s.


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

mr.steevo said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm interested in the 24". When you look at it can you give me an idea what it will be like to swap the hard drive on that one?
> 
> ...



Based on the pics referenced above, it doesn't look straight forward. The previous version of the iMac was easier to work from the stand point of swapping hard drives.


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## saxamaphone (May 18, 2004)

My MacBook screen was equally ill-calibrated out of the box. i was surprised by this.



MacDoc said:


> Live from a new iMac.
> 
> Very sweet looking machine.
> 
> ...


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

Came back from Sherway about an hour ago. Played with them for about 30mins. More than usual amount of people there on a Thursday night - all playing or hovered around the new iMac's. The 24in is gorgeous. For some reason, it doesn't look as mammoth as the white one. Didn't find the glare that distracting even in the lit up Apple store. BTW: iWork '08 - sold out!


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## jackyk (Jun 22, 2005)

1. Is the LCD LED?

2. Is the screen HD? I saw that the graphics card is HD... whats the point in that if the screen isn't?


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*iSight: Not hi-res?*

This review from PC World indicates that the iSight in the new iMac is "640-by-480-resolution." - That's a bit of a surprise, given that the MacBook Pros have gone hi-res.

Any confirmation / refutation of the camera's resolution?

M.


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## MasterBlaster (Jan 12, 2003)

.


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## messed_kid (Jun 13, 2007)

When I was at durham college in oshawa, I met a good buddy of mine who was taking a photography course. His program gave him a macbook, I bought mine myself. He had to give his back and just got his new iMac. He says it's freakin sweet.

If anyone could test out some games and post your reactions of full settings. Especially World of Warcraft


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## Guest (Aug 10, 2007)

MacDoc said:


> I'm curious if Apple used different screen qualities up the line. I tell you out of the box was unbearable. Would like to hear from others on that.


Those shifts were quite curious. The luminocity I could see, but those color shifts are pretty crazy.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Messed - that's a great idea on the games - #1 kid shall be put to the task tomorrow.....err later today.

••

I wonder if Apple is skewing the monitor set up to force a calibration. 

•• We'd like to try a Tornado in an iMac with 4 gigs of RAM - too bad it won't drive a 30" - might have considered giving up my tower.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

jackyk said:


> 1. Is the LCD LED?


Nope, a regular TFT LCD. Not LED (note: LCD and LED are two different techs... so technically no LCDs are ever LED  -- but the new iMacs are definitely not LED.)



jackyk said:


> 2. Is the screen HD? I saw that the graphics card is HD... whats the point in that if the screen isn't?


20" = 1620x1180 (HD 720p)

24" = 1920x1200 (HD 1080p)

They're both "technically" HD -- but the 24" is "true" 1080p HD.

More here: Apple - iMac - Tech Specs

PS: Is anyone other than me going to miss the two FW400 ports on the White iMacs? I always have a FW HD and a Video Camera hooked up -- and I don't have any FW800 peripherals. (And yes, I know FW800 is probably better, and you can get FW400 --> FW800 cables... but those are all extra $$ spent when my current setup works just fine!)


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## psychodad (Apr 30, 2004)

> I always have a FW HD and a Video Camera hooked up


Does your FW drive have an extra FW port? If so, you can use that for your video camera.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

psychodad said:


> Does your FW drive have an extra FW port? If so, you can use that for your video camera.


I've always assumed there was some sort of disadvantage to doing this. (Something to do with i/o buses and the video coming in and going out on the same FW port). Is there??


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## psychodad (Apr 30, 2004)

> I've always assumed there was some sort of disadvantage to doing this. (Something to do with i/o buses and the video coming in and going out on the same FW port). Is there??


There are no issues with attaching another HD, or an iPod etc - but perhaps video is more sensitive and you may get dropped frames etc. Try it and see - I suspect it will work just fine.

I have a newertech external drive + hub (Ministack) so I have extra ports.


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## hUssain (Aug 10, 2007)

fyrefly said:


> Nope, a regular TFT LCD. Not LED (note: LCD and LED are two different techs... so technically no LCDs are ever LED  -- but the new iMacs are definitely not LED.)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think JackyK was in fact asking if the screen was LED backlit, like the Macbook Pros LCD screen. Large screens (Stadium size) do use LED lights, but I believe in something for consumer screens, it would have to be OLED, which is a few years away.

Also the 720p standard is 1280x720 at 60fps, meaning that even the macbook is able to play HD videos, with black bars. 1080p is 1920x1080 at 60fps, so only the 24" will display 1080p videos without being enlarged.

ATI uses the HD label to signify that these cards comply HDCP standards, meaning blu-ray/HD-DVD will work without needing a new video card, but I don't know if that means the monitor is HDCP compliant


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Looks like PC World got it wrong... the new iMac's iSight cameras are 1280x1024!


M


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## Vandave (Feb 26, 2005)

MacDoc said:


> With wireless KB set ( so cheap why not ) this = desk envy big time.


Why not? 4 to 6 week waiting time now. I am thinking of getting one this week but I won't wait that long for a wireless keyboard.


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## genuineadvantage (Mar 14, 2007)

You the man MacDoc! In all honesty what do you think of the new Apple keyboard? Should I hold on to my Logitech S 530 or pass it down to my sister and upgrade  

Also speaking of display calibration I set my iMac to 2.2 instead of 1.8 for the target gamma because 1.8 looked VERY washed out.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Yeah I always find the stock setting too washed out - not quite 2.2

Personally I'd stay with the Logi


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## genuineadvantage (Mar 14, 2007)

MacDoc said:


> Yeah I always find the stock setting too washed out - not quite 2.2
> 
> Personally I'd stay with the Logi


Cool thats MacDoc! What color profile do you use with your display?


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Just did it by eye until it looked right - did not pay a lot of attention but man the orginal settings were so whacky


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## Puccasaurus (Dec 28, 2003)

MacDoc said:


> Just did it by eye until it looked right - did not pay a lot of attention but man the orginal settings were so whacky


It's always been bad out of the box for some reason. Maybe I just have goofy eyes, but display calibration is the first thing I do after letting software update run. Actually, installing anacron is first


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

jackyk said:


> 1. Is the LCD LED?
> 
> 2. Is the screen HD? I saw that the graphics card is HD... whats the point in that if the screen isn't?


1) The LCD is not backlit by LEDs. Backlighting larger LCDs with LEDs is still too expensive. The backlight is a flourscent backlight.

2.What do you mean by HD? The resolution of the screen is 1920x1200 so it can show HD content. Is it HDCP compatible? Don't know. 

Then again, it's pretty well useless for HD movies, unless MacOS 10.5's DVD Player software supports HD via HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray.


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## hUssain (Aug 10, 2007)

Kosh said:


> 2.What do you mean by HD? The resolution of the screen is 1920x1200 so it can show HD content. Is it HDCP compatible? Don't know.


Again, the new ATI chipset uses the HD label instead of the old X,it's an easy way to say it's HDCP compliant, is the screen also compliant? I don't know. But as far as I know both the Screen and the card have to be compliant to play HD DVDs/Blu ray.


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## psychodad (Apr 30, 2004)

*No Sleep light?*

I read in an Appleinsider review (not a particularly helpful review IMHO) that the new iMacs lack a Sleep light and remote magnet.

Not big issues, but a curiosity, especially the sleep light. Can anyone confirm?


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## jackyk (Jun 22, 2005)

A sleep light isn't that big of a deal. It was kind of annoying because it was really bright.

More importantly, does the new iMac have screen power off button? I've always had to use scripts to turn the screen off and you still have to wait 1 minute.


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## psychodad (Apr 30, 2004)

> A sleep light isn't that big of a deal.


Sure, it's not a big deal. But from a design and function perspective it's certainly interesting. Macs have featured a sleep indicator for a while. Personally, I have found it useful.


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## saxamaphone (May 18, 2004)

i bought a first gen iMac G5 and they issued a firmware update to reduce the brightness of the sleep light. It was pretty bright!




jackyk said:


> A sleep light isn't that big of a deal. It was kind of annoying because it was really bright.
> 
> More importantly, does the new iMac have screen power off button? I've always had to use scripts to turn the screen off and you still have to wait 1 minute.


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## applebook (Aug 4, 2004)

HDCP shouldn't be an issue with the iMac's internal screen as long as the GPU is HCDP (and it is). The DVI-output might or might not be HDCP though.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

psychodad said:


> Sure, it's not a big deal. But from a design and function perspective it's certainly interesting. Macs have featured a sleep indicator for a while. Personally, I have found it useful.


Like you, I find it useful, but there were alot of complaints from people who kept their Macs in a dorm or bedroom that the light bothered them when they slept. Go figure. I think most people commented to just put something in front of the light..


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## hamfisted (Feb 17, 2000)

I got my 20" 2.4 Ghz machine last night. It's great - fast, quiet (especially compared to my old G5 iMac!) and looks great.

And, yes, the display settings were completely skewed.


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## tizerfish (Jun 8, 2002)

my 24" 2.8ghz comes in on Thursday :clap: :clap:   extremely fast shipping since it's a BTO machine

to bad i will not be home till the next monday to play with it


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

tizerfish said:


> my 24" 2.8ghz comes in on Thursday :clap: :clap:   extremely fast shipping since it's a BTO machine


Congrats. Why is the shipping faster because it's a BTO? Does apple automatically upgrade the shipping or something?


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## tizerfish (Jun 8, 2002)

Atroz said:


> Congrats. Why is the shipping faster because it's a BTO? Does apple automatically upgrade the shipping or something?


ty.
oo didn't mean it like that. I Ment it more like it's been fast shipping even on my BTO order they said 5-7 days to ship and it took just less then 4


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

tizerfish said:


> ty.
> oo didn't mean it like that. I Ment it more like it's been fast shipping even on my BTO order they said 5-7 days to ship and it took just less then 4


Ah ok. I'm VERY close to buying one of those machines myself. What shipping method did you pick and how much did it cost?


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## tizerfish (Jun 8, 2002)

i picked the free one =) it's comming via Fedex ( tptptptp their site takes for ever to update )


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

tizerfish said:


> i picked the free one =) it's comming via Fedex ( tptptptp their site takes for ever to update )


You get FedEx now for free shipping? When I bought my iMac 15 months ago they used "Sameday-Rightaway" which was terrible. Took 2 weeks to get here from California and they didn't follow my delivery request even after they agreed to. Had to go and chase my iMac down in some industrial park before they closed.


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## tizerfish (Jun 8, 2002)

no matter what it seems they ship with fedex for overseas =( my G5, Macpro, and, now my iMac

my G5 took 5 weeks (yes 5 weeks) to get from apple to me, they literally left it in a distribution centre for two weeks till i figured out what was going on


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