2012 Ultra Thin iMac refresh buyers and owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Walter Kittel]

ARS Technica follows up with a relatively brief review of the 27" iMac
Harder Better Faster Stronger A Review of the 27 iMac
- Walter.

 

[Carlo_M]

Wow - that's a real double entendre of a review title…
Additional benchmarks from Barefeats, the iMac is looking stronger and stronger.
http://www.barefeats.com/imac12p1.html
http://www.barefeats.com/imac12p2.html

 

[Sam Posten]

Yum! Gaming is sounding better and better on it!
Mine has left Kentucky! I was worried, some folks had noted 2 day ground holds there /eeep
Also: TTIUWRP.
This thread is useless without Ron's pictures!!!!!!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sam,

Let me give you a bit of hope...

Mine was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. It arrived one day early.

On Sunday, it was sitting in Kentucky. Left Kentucky Monday morning.

Tuesday morning, I get an email from UPS (as I subscribe to their delivery alerts)
that my package status has changed and I am scheduled to get it a day
early.

So, chances may be very good that you will get it tomorrow.

As for my iMac...

I don't want this coming off as sounding negative in any way...

I wasn't completely wow'd by the iMac like I thought I would as far as
the display goes. It looks very close to my 2009 display. The only thing
that seems odd is that my secondary Apple display looks a bit pale sitting
next to this new screen. That tells me that there must be some improvement
because the look of the secondary screen never struck me as "odd" before.

I ported everything over from the old iMac that I had backed up on an
external drive. Didn't want to start out fresh because I have so many programs
tied to data that I just didn't feel like spending days getting it all back in place.

Haven't really pushed the Mac, but the one thing I was very happy with
is the 768GB SSD drive. I had gotten so used to it on my Retina Macbook
Pro. It was so nice to see programs like Photoshop and Word open in under
5 seconds. Love the SSD drives.

I am going to add another 16GB to the existing 16GB in about a month.

 

[Sam Posten]

That's cool Ron. At this point you are getting returns but they are certainly in the toe of the curve. You've been a bit spoiled by having the best for a few generations =)
Looks like tomorrow is the day:
Scheduled For Early Delivery On:
Thursday, 12/20/2012, By End of Day
Originally Scheduled For Delivery On:
Monday, 12/24/2012, By End of Day
I'm going to presign for it and hope it comes before my christmas party or after it, which is from 1-4. Shouldn't be outside too long.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sam,

Kind of knew that UPS would come through for you.

Excellent. You will have it before the weekend.

Happy for you, Sam!

 

[Sam Posten]

Out for delivery!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Excellent, Sam! Looking forward to reading your comments
as you begin to immerse yourself in your new machine.

 

[Sam Posten]

Now that's what I'm talking about!

 

[Sam Posten]

Need to start thinking about how I am going to handle my Photo library. The 3TB Fusion drive should be enough for my iTunes library, tho I may move that to a USB 3.0 external eventually. But my Lr library for 2004-2012 is hovering around 2TB and I intend to start a fresh library in 2013 on a new drive. I'm not looking for raid solutions, I back up to USB drives and store them off site so I don't need RAID features, I just want a big ass fast disk.
I'm looking at the following:
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Thunderbolt-Desktop-External-STCB3000400/dp/B009HPGBNY/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
Seems cool, can plug any SATA drive into that base it seems.
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thunderbolt-External-Dual-Drive-Storage/dp/B006W3ZXJC/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1356023067&sr=1-4&keywords=thunderbolt
Seems cool, can pop dual drives into that enclosure.
http://www.amazon.com/G-Technology-Thunderbolt-Powerful-Transfer-0G02272/dp/B00846Z4YY/ref=sr_1_33?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1356023149&sr=1-33&keywords=thunderbolt
Little more pricy, full RAID even if I don't need it.
Any other options I should be considering? All of the Promise enclosures seem to be more than what I need.... Folks at MR don't even think TB will make that much difference for my needs, that USB3 would be sufficient...

 

[Sam Posten]

This is my 27" iMac, there are many like it but this one is mine =)

Borderlands3 by Kadath, on Flickr
So far no obvious dead pixels, no image retention, no fan noise (even running borderlands 2 full screen with all options on high), no CPU whining, and everything checking out.
Loaded all my apps off MAS, Steam, and Adobe Cloud. Will punch over my iTunes library tonight and work on moving a copy of the photo library when I get back from Christmas.
Totally digging having the trackpad on left hand for window management and a mouse on my right side for sharp control.
17 seconds from power press to login prompt.
Apps pop in one bounce on the dock.
Can you ddiiiiiigggggg it???

 

[Carlo_M]

Congrats Sam!
When I was playing with a 27" iMac at the Apple Store I too was surprised at just how cool the machine was, even though it had been on all day (this was about 7PM at night). I ran Logic Pro and Aperture and put it through its paces. I never heard the fan kick on once, nor did the enclosure even come close to approaching what I would call a warm temperature.
And yes, Fusion makes all the difference. The first time I messed around with one it had a 1TB Fusion and my experience matched yours (along with the i7 CPU and 680GPU). The second time it had only the traditional HD (and i5/660) and programs were significantly slower to load. If/When I buy one I'm definitely getting a Fusion and maxing out the CPU/GPU.

 

[Sam Posten]

I don't intend to ever put Parallels or Bootcamp on this machine, but this is interesting to note- An enterprising group of folks have figured out an unofficial way to make Bootcamp work on 3TB fusion drives:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=16493571&postcount=26

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sam,

Congrats again on your purchase.

Like you, I am very much enjoying my new machine. One of the
things I am impressed about this new iMac is that is doesn't seem
to get hot. My 2009 iMac acted as a heater for my office. In fact,
it got so hot that I got slight screen burn-in issues (which are very
common for those machines).

Love the way programs just fly open with the SSD drive.

But know what I like most? The external DVD Superdrive. So
much quieter than having it built into the iMac. I love the fact
that it sits on my desk and I can actually put a CD in the drive
straight instead of sideways.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yep, it's super quiet, even when gaming. Amazing!
I think I'm gonna go with the Lacie 2big raid or the Gdrive 8tb raid for my photos. 8TB would get me through to my next computer in 4 years I reckon!

 

[Carlo_M]

I think you can't go wrong with either of those options, Sam!
I will say, a few years ago when the 27" was introduced at 2560x1440 I had my mind blown at the display size and awesome ppi. But it's funny how companies can become victimized by their own success. Was at the store again yesterday drooling over the 27" but the retina Macbook Pro table was right beside it, and as I turned back to and from the iMac and the rMBP I kept thinking "the iMac is a great display but man I wish they could get retina quality out of it!".
I know, not feasible, you couldn't get the same ppi that the rMBP has (that would be like 10 million or 15 million pixels at the 27" range?). And of course the pure horsepower needed out of the GPU to drive that amount of pixels well is probably between 4-5 years away, or more. But it's just stunning how beautifully the rMBP renders text, smooth rounded corners, etc. That just gave me a little bit of envy.
Still planning on an iMac in 2013 once finances recover from the holidays. Unless Apple really does pull something amazing out of its hat for the Mac Pro before I pull the trigger on it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Smokin WoW performance:

Alrighty then... I just completed the Terrace of Endless Spring in a 25-man LFR group. Wow, I am so impressed with this machine.
Here are my specs:
3.2GHz i5, 8GB RAM, GTX680 MX, 3TB HDD
When I was completing this raid, I actually had several things occurring on the machine. This thing is a multitasking beast. I had the following programs running:
iMessage
Spotify
Mail
Calendar
AirDrop (receiving a 50GB iPhoto library from my MBP)
iTunes (copying my 700GB library off my external drive)
Tweetdeck
Google Chrome
So, while I was using all the these programs, World of Warcraft still ran superb. Here are the in-game settings I was running. Not everything on Ultra, but some of these things that I marked on High are not even noticeable.
I am also running a completely revamped UI, LUIv3.0. I do believe this custom UI is putting additional stress on the VRAM, but I am not 100%. Here's what it looks like in the middle of the raid.
As you can see from this screenshot, the frame rates dip to around 45-50 fps, but I can't even tell the difference whether it is 45 or 60. It is so minor that you can't really see a difference.
However, when just solo questing, the frame rates are through the roof like below (75 fps).

More and images:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=16538587&postcount=381

 

[Sam Posten]

$200 beans but this looks cool!
http://www.ilugger.com/product/detail.cfm?nid=1460&pid=40029

 

[Sam Posten]

Ordered the 8TB G-raid with Thunderbolt.
I intend to have other drives on USB 3.0 for backup purchases so figured it was the best way to maximize the port availability even if this drive itself will not fully realize the capabilities of TB.
Would have ordered via Amazon but no Prime vendors for this item, surprisingly.
Also purchased that powered hub via Amazon. Not sure on the quality of that so a little hesitant, but will give it a shot.
Will keep ya posted when they come in.

 

[Sam Posten]

Loving mine so far. The G-Raid rocks. The fan noises aren't too bad but I've decided to power it down when not in use just so it gets less wear and tear. Anyone having issues with their 27" not staying asleep? I am, think the issue might be with the external USB hub. I have it set to sleep even through network traffic and every 30 seconds or so it wakes up, the usb hub lights up, the fans breathe for a few seconds, then goes back to sleep. Rinse repeat. Haven't tried sleeping it without the hub attached, will try that tonight.