The new iMac, anyone got one yet ?

[abvidledUK]

I'm going to get one, to replace my trusty old G3 600mhz.

Actually, I will keep the G3 for internet use, as it's all set up, but I do a lot of photo and especially video editing, for personal use, so have been waiting for the new release.

Real world, what's it like ?

I've seen the innards pics, as well as the press launch video.

Should I wait until Leopard, is released, supposedly October ?

I'm currently on 10.3.9, and it's fine.

Miss having a DVD writer built in though.

Toast works very well with external DVD writer, for Data.

I will get one, that's for sure, I use Excel and Word a lot.

 

[Marduke]

Apple has a policy that if they release an OS update within 6 months of your purchase, you can upgrade for free. So, it's your gamble if Leopard really will be out within 6 months.

 

[greg_in_canada]

I've been reading the iMac threads on Macrumors.com. Some people have gone to the store and looked at the new iMac versus the old white iMac and come home with the old model. The primary reason seems to be the glossy screen on the new version. Some people are bothered by the reflections, others aren't. Other posters on Macrumors have chosen the new iMac for the style and the low profile keyboard (and they like or aren't bothered by the glossy screen).

For me I like the style of the new iMac but from looking at different laptops in the store I know I wouldn't like a shiny-screened iMac.

I don't know the answers to your other questions

Cheers - Greg

 

[abvidledUK]

So it looks like a wait of a couple of months, to see if Apple take on board such comments, and bring out a Matt screen version, or someone brings out 3rd party Matt Screen cover.

Or even a 3rd party replacement Matt glass.

I haven't yet seen a new (glossy) iMac to form my own opinion, a trip to Apple Store methinks asap.

Perhaps even consider a Mac Mini !

 

[greg_in_canada]

I like a lot of things Apple does but I often get the feeling they choose style over function. The new keyboard with short throw laptop-type keys is an example. We know why laptops use them: to leave room for the rest of the computer underneath. Why did Apple use them? To make a cool looking thin keyboard I guess. So I feel the glossy look is here to stay. Perhaps in a year they will come out with a glossy LCD with a real anti-reflection coating on it (like camera lenses). Then the reflections will be much dimmer than with plain glass.

In one of the macrumors threads someone pointed to a "as seen on TV" type web page that was selling some matte spray that you'd use on the front of you TV to cut the glare. I'm not sure I would be brave enough to spray that on my new computer. But perhaps there will be 3rd parties that change the glass to matte or have some sort of matte cover you can apply yourself.

The Mac Mini did get an upgrade the other day. It's still slower since it uses laptop drives rather than 3.5" drives AFAIK. Still it could be a good option.

Greg

 

[greg_in_canada]

Here's the link: http://www.glarebusters.com/

Greg

In one of the macrumors threads someone pointed to a "as seen on TV" type web page that was selling some matte spray that you'd use on the front of you TV to cut the glare. I'm not sure I would be brave enough to spray that on my new computer.

Greg

 

[Cerbera]

I've been reading the iMac threads on Macrumors.com. Some people have gone to the store and looked at the new iMac versus the old white iMac and come home with the old model. The primary reason seems to be the glossy screen on the new version. Some people are bothered by the reflections, others aren't. Other posters on Macrumors have chosen the new iMac for the style and the low profile keyboard (and they like or aren't bothered by the glossy screen).

For me I like the style of the new iMac but from looking at different laptops in the store I know I wouldn't like a shiny-screened iMac.

I don't know the answers to your other questions

Cheers - Greg

I'm surprised people are REALLY bothered by it. I haven't seen the quality of the glossy of the new iMac, but I have a HP W2007 monitor and I really love the glossy on this monitor. The colors on the HP can't be matched by any other monitor in my opinion. I have to go and check it out.

 

[greg_in_canada]

Some people are also upset that the 20" iMac now uses a TN type LCD (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1217369). These apparently only have 6-bit colour so they use dithering to get 8-bits of colour (for R, G and B). This is visible on web pages that have a gradient (shows up as lines).

The 24" still uses the better quality panel.

Greg

 

[lahjik]

I have 2 glossy screened mac laptops: one regular, and one pro. I love the glossy screen! It is so much brighter with lower screen brightness, and at regular brightness I can't see any reflections. The screen is much crisper, especially when watching movies or gaming.

I have a 24" old (ha, 2 months old) iMac on my desk at work, and will be buying one for home soon. I was going to wait until Leopard in October just to make sure everything is okay with the new systems. The initial release of the macbook pros had some issues and was followed quickly by some upgrades. Unless there is a pressing need, I say wait until October.

 

[James S]

it's only an issue because it's something new. Windows laptops and most desktop machines went completely glossy a while back and then people were complaining that it wasn't an option for Mac products. Now it is on the mac and people complain that it frightens them I've worked sitting at both kinds of monitors and honestly I can't see that it makes any difference at all. At least not to me sitting at the machine. When you're not actually typing at it and you step back to watch a movie though the glossy screen is much better. The improved perceived contrast on it really does make a movie look better on the screen.

In order to see the reflections on the glossy screen while you're sitting at it you have to turn the machine off. When it's just a black screen the reflections are quite a bit more visible on glossy than matte. But once you actually turn on the monitor they disappear completely swamped by the light coming from the monitor itself. I can imagine situations where it would cause trouble, but really not nearly as many as some people seem to think and worry about before they have even sat in front of one.

Make a commitment to yourself to sit for a week in front of the thing every day and work before you decide to do something drastic like spray matte film on it or something. You're much more likely to end up with a big, uneven mess that way than just learning to deal with the fact that if you concentrate really hard you might be able to perceive the reflection of a light in the screen behind you... It's like the finger prints on the iPhone screen. They are quite visible when the screen is off, but once the screen turns on you cannot see them at all.

The new iMacs are really nice. We're getting one here. I'd have one now but I had to pay for some expected dental work. But once I get this root canal paid for I begin saving up for a new one!

 

[ViReN]

glossy screen is one of the biggest drawbacks, not just for new macs but for other's as well.
I love the mat finish glass CRT Monitor of one of my oldest Computers.... Nothing yet comes closer to that other than the 17 Inch PB Screen....

Perhaps in a year they will come out with a glossy LCD with a real anti-reflection coating on it (like camera lenses). Then the reflections will be much dimmer than with plain glass.

AR Coating on glossy still has glare although not as high as pure glossy screen.... compare that with AR Coated with Mat Finish Display that some monitors have

 

[Perfectionist]

I was REALLY looking forward to the new iMac's ..... but I think I'm gonna wait another 6-12 months now ....

This new range seems so rushed out .... they redesigned the keyboard but still have the same old Mouse and Remote which doesn't even match now ..... WTF ?? :thumbsdow (They also removed the cool magnetic feature of the Remote too ?? :sick2

And the complaints about the glossy screen being too reflective could have been so easily solved with a good AR coating .....

And why doesn't Apple buy one of the TV Card companies like Elgato and make built-in TV a hardware option with the relevant software integrated in to Front Row ..... ??

Anyway, the day that Apple release an iMac which has the option of a decent Graphics Card ..... will be the day that Apple finally break in to the big time ..... unless they want to remain a fringe player in the PC market with barely 5% share !!

The iMac has the potential to be the "perfect" PC ..... if only Apple realised this !! :shakehead

 

[James S]

Actually the mouse was redesigned, there is a bluetooth version and I believe I read about how it's easier to clean the little track ball now.

Sony makes an AR coated monitor. It's a speciality medical item and the 14" version sells for $1600 because of the coating. There are no glossy monitors with photographic grade anti-reflective coatings on them. Can I just say again how funny it is that a year ago people were moaning, oh why oh why doesn't apple do a glossy monitor to keep up with the PC monitor folks, and now it's oh why oh why has apple gone with a glossy monitor Perhaps you should look into a MacBook pro as they come either way. Personally I bought mine with the matte finish.

Apple walks a fine line with the movie content creation people. I have a suspicion that adding in recording to the build in hardware might **** them off. Not that those companies aren't already capricious and suffering self inflicted wounds And have you looked at the el-gato stuff? It's really quite excellent. ATSC and other tuners for over the air HDTV, recording directly to disk, all the program data comes for free over the web, encodes and adds to your itunes library for syncing to your AppleTV all automagically. I have one attached to the house server and it's amazingly good. And cheap too, I think the little stick was under $150. I then spent another $90 for the H.264 USB encoder thing so that my video encodes without slowing down the server. These are great products! Dont wait for apple to do it, just go buy one!

 

[James S]

I went ahead and ordered one of the new flat keyboards Was time to replace my currently sesame seed and pretzel salt filled one anyway :green:!!

So I'll be sure to let everyone know how I like it when it arrives next week.

 

[LEDninja]

The store was all out of 17" iMacs so I got stuck with the 20" new one. Learning curve jumping from OS8.6 to OSX was steep. Maybe should have gotton a Wintel machine.

I am browsing CPF at half resolution (800x500 instead of 1680x1050) and did not notiice the dithering.

Do not like the new keyboard. Sleek looking but does not feel right. Like a PC jr. keyboard of yore.

Really hated the not so mighty mouse. Have to keep one of the buttons activated as the right mouse button but the buttons are on the sides of the mouse so just holding the mouse tends to activate the right button and I have to select something to get out of the drop down menu. Unlike on a Microsoft mouse where I just release the right button to make the drop down menu go away. Think I will have to get a proper 2 button mouse. Does the right button on a Macally mouse work as a secondary button under OSX?
EDIT
A former colleague of mine now owner of a Mac store in the next town showed me how to work the mighty mouse properly. Have to lift the fingers on the right side of the mouse up when clicking otherwise the mouse will sense them and think you are right-clicking. Arrrhhh!
Still prefer buttons I can see. Buttons I have to physically push down some distance to activate.
Thanks Marduke for the same advice.

Spent lots of money getting Quicktime Pro, Flip4mac, Toast (so I can convert my olde videos to DV so I can import them into iMovie). So much for Mac Guy implying Macs come with everything you need unlike Windows where the demo software does not do anything until you pays lots of cash to get the full version. Well the Office for Mac and iWork demos don't do anything either.

 

[Marduke]

The store was all out of 17" iMacs so I got stuck with the 20" new one. Learning curve jumping from OS8.6 to OSX was steep. Maybe should have gotton a Wintel machine.

I am browsing CPF at half resolution (800x500 instead of 1680x1050) and did not notiice the dithering.

Do not like the new keyboard. Sleek looking but does not feel right. Like a PC jr. keyboard of yore.

Really hated the not so mighty mouse. Have to keep one of the buttons activated as the right mouse button but the buttons are on the sides of the mouse so just holding the mouse tends to activate the right button and I have to select something to get out of the drop down menu. Unlike on a Microsoft mouse where I just release the right button to make the drop down menu go away. Think I will have to get a proper 2 button mouse. Does the right button on a Macally mouse work as a secondary button under OSX?

Spent lots of money getting Quicktime Pro, Flip4mac, Toast (so I can convert my olde videos to DV so I can import them into iMovie). So much for Mac Guy implying Macs come with everything you need unlike Windows where the demo software does not do anything until you pays lots of cash to get the full version. Well the Office for Mac and iWork demos don't do anything either.

The mighty mouse has a right button click feature without using the side buttons. It senses if you have one or two fingers resting on the top of the mouse. If you lift your left finger off so it does not touch, your right finger will function as a right click.

 

[James S]

the keyboard softens up quite a bit with a little bit of use. I was afraid I'd hate it when I first got one, but a week later it is great.

Changing from the old to the new is always a pain, but you're going to do OK YES, you can use any 2 button mouse and it will work just fine. It doesn't even strictly need to have Mac drivers or any special software but you wont be able to program the dozen or so other buttons on it without that.

When you use a lower resolution on an LCD, it doesn't dither but it gets slightly blurry for text and such. Not a big deal. I need to get one of these

 

[LEDninja]

the keyboard softens up quite a bit with a little bit of use. I was afraid I'd hate it when I first got one, but a week later it is great.

Changing from the old to the new is always a pain, but you're going to do OK YES, you can use any 2 button mouse and it will work just fine. It doesn't even strictly need to have Mac drivers or any special software but you wont be able to program the dozen or so other buttons on it without that.

When you use a lower resolution on an LCD, it doesn't dither but it gets slightly blurry for text and such. Not a big deal. I need to get one of these

I used to like that style of keyboard on my Radio Shack Color Computer looong ago but have gotten used to the curvy keys of more standard keyboards.

Held off on the 2 button mouse now I found out how to operate the mighty mouse. Still getting a lot of accidental right mouse clicks.

That is why I use 1/2 the natural resolution so 1 dot uses a 2x2 pixel grid. 800x500 or 1680x1050. On my other computer I use 1280x1024 or 640x480 and stay away from 1024x768 etc.