New iMac thread, please post thoughts/experiences here

I have had the new 21.5 iMac now for a couple of weeks and simply love it. I had last years model for about a year, gave it to my wife and got the new one. I just couldn't have a 27 inch monitor setting on my desktop. It is just too big.

I am glad to hear that both Craig and Ron love theirs too. I am sure that Ron will not regret for a moment going from his Mac Pro to the new iMac in performance and the screen blows all others away.

BOOM, baby: http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/14/core-i7-based-27-imac-benchmarks-show-significant-improvements/

Those benchmarks are what I had hoped for with the i7. Though real world results won't be as dramatic, one of the programs I use heavily (Logic Studio) does make excellent use of multiple cores.

Now I just want to hear a few more testimonials from other i7 iMac owners on those mac forums to make sure the display/video driver issues really are non-existent on the i7s...

Boom confirmed:
http://gizmodo.com/5407204/benchmarked-the-quad+core-i7-imac-is-super-fast

Too bad it doesn't have Blu or it would be on my desk.

Geez, like it's hard to buy an external burner if and

when Mac announces it will support the format?

 

Some still say Mac will never support Blu-ray.

I am not convinced the hdcp chain will allow ROM playback from an external device if and when apple supports it. I don't technically need a new computer. So I'll stick to my guns until they wake up and when they do I'll get a fast new desktop in addition to blu. I can afford to be patient and a critic for a while...

I have spent the last few weeks on the various Mac
forums on the Internet talking about the new iMacs.

As far as Blu-ray is concerned, outside of Home
Theater Forum, it's an entirely different world out there.

I was shocked to find that the majority of people on
the forums when discussing Blu-ray and Apple did not
care for the format. 

Most don't own Blu-ray players.  Many see BD as
a temporary format that will not live for many more
years.  Many think that movie downloads are where
we are heading.  Most of all, people don't want to
watch Blu-ray movies on their PC.

While there are those that agree that BD would be
great to archive home movies off a camcorder, I
was again surprised to see that those of us that
wanted it for that purpose were in the minority.

Many feel that Apple doesn't see BD as an
important format and through iTunes, is hoping
to promote the downloading of movie content.

Frankly, for me, Blu-ray is not a life and death
situation.  If and when Mac announces support
for it I will buy an external drive.   I can't see Apple
not making the use of such drives incompatible
with their BD upgrades.

I hear you.  But I don't shop for other people, I shop for me.  For friends and family I can happily point them to the 21/27 and say "PLEASE go get this, you will love it"

But with a Mac Pro that I love like a kid, and a MacBookPro thats a joy to use I'm SET.  Speed bumps aren't really a driving factor for me.  But you combine those with a full Blu support line including writing to blank media and I'll budge for sure.  I'll have to save up but I'd be motivated to do it personally where I am not currently.

The worst any HDCP difficulties will cause you to use third party software, which works NOW without any help from Apple, with external BD drives (MakeMKV + Plex).

Ted - am I understanding you correctly? Can you point me to somewhere that has users successfully using external BD to the current gen iMacs? If so, that removes one of the obstacles to my purchasing an i7...

I'm interested in that too.  I don't want to rip media, I want to burn large backups of NEF raw files to the burner and watch packaged media via Quicktime/iDVD or whatever...

There is nothing stopping you from burning BD media with an external burner right now.  Toast is one program I know of that supports it.

To watch commercial BDs, you need to rip them to disk first, using MakeMKV see:
www.makemkv.com/download/
www.makemkv.com/aboutmkv/

For playback, use Plex:
www.plexapp.com/

It is my understanding that "problem" BDs do crop up, but it is also my understanding that they are just as likely to not to play smoothly on a fully sanctioned Windows software/hardware combo: part of that "world of hurt" that Steve Jobs spoke about.  Indeed if I had to make a wild guess as to why Apple pulled the rumored BD drive from the 27" iMac my top guess is that they didn't want to help an iTunes competitor.  But close behind is El Jobso popping in a Pixar BD in the test iMac and having the playback choke on him and ordering the the hardware be pulled.

Cmon Ted, lets be reasonable.  Ripping a BD in order to watch it later is a hell of a lot different than having a library of hundreds of BDs and being able to to watch any of them at a moments notice...  Again, does it pass the "Mom test"?

Anyway, the iMac stories continue to write themselves when the numbers are this good:
http://www.macworld.com/article/143998/2009/11/corei7vsmacpro.html

I expect a huge bump to the pro line early next year...  Until then nobody should be shocked when the newest iMacs meet or beat these beasts... 

Sam

I feel the need to again sing the praises of this new i7 iMac.

It is by far the best computer I have ever owned. It is super
fast, quiet, and the display is something I can stare at all day.

I will never go back to the Mac Pro line -- not if Apple keeps
pushing the envelope with these iMacs.

Don't hesitate to buy one of these babies.  It will be the best
desktop hardware purchase you have ever made.

Wow, you've got a ton of apps installed and you don't run spaces?  CRAZY =)

I like that desktop image too.

Not so sure about the widgets running on the desktop tho.  I like having them hidden.