Apple's latest iMac receives glowing review from Computerworld

Apple's iMac is a popular and speedy desktop all-in-one computer, and Mac aficionados have been in love with them since 1998. The latest edition was introduced on May 3, 2011, with Intel's Sandy Bridge processor and lightning-fast Thunderbolt I/O. Now Computerworld has weighed in with a review of the new iMac that is absolutely glowing.

Computerworld writer Michael deAgonia was impressed with the speed of the new iMac, noting that a complex 50-minute iMovie project he uses as an informal benchmark took an hour and eight minutes to render on the previous top-of-the-line iMac, and is now done in just 48 minutes. deAgonia recommends that potential buyers go for all of the HD capacity they can, since Apple is now using a proprietary hard drive in the iMac that can only be upgraded by Apple-certified techs.

He also makes a recommendation that I thoroughly agree with -- if you're about to purchase one of the new iMacs, get a Magic Trackpad instead of the more traditional Magic Mouse. Why? The soon-to-be-released Mac OS X Lion makes use of many gestures that make your day to day computing a snap. deAgonia also had nothing but good things to say about Thunderbolt, although he had no access to Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals during his testing.

The review is a good read for the holiday, and for anyone who is on the bubble about purchasing an iMac, it's highly recommended.

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Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217955/Apple_s_lates…

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Computerworld has weighed in with a review of the new iMac that is absolutely glowing

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Kitesurfjerry

If you connect a second monitor (Thunderbolt 27") can you use all 4 speakers (iMac & Display)?
Blue skies!!
Jerry

September 28 2011 at 5:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

optics261

@anti-glossy screen folk

There is a big tradeoff in going matte. There is no 'matte' glass used in any screen in the consumer/prosumer world that i've ever heard about .

What make things 'matte' in the LCD world is a layer of film which goes on top of the glass screen. That layer is attempting to deflect the light in such a way that it appears to not have a reflection. It works, except that the layer in itself is affected by the light from the LCD screen. Thats why if you look for a while, whites and grays on matte screens look grainy and sparkly, you are seeing the matte film instead of clear white.

Glossy screens dont have this problem. the colors are very 'true'.

I have matte on my macbook pro and they did do a reasonable job in not choosing an aggressive matte coating but its not as perfect as my cinema display at home. I'm glad I went with matte for the macbook, because its often in situations where the lighting scenario would make the screen look worse under glossy.

But when I'm at home, where I can control the lighting, the glossy display is unbeatable.

July 07 2011 at 9:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

romzburg

I think the comment about the hard drive is wrong, since Thunderbolt is so freaking fast that an external hard drive is the same as having an internal drive, according to the Macbreak weekly podcast guys.

July 04 2011 at 11:30 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to romzburg's comment

hfwbr

I got the 3.4GHz 17 model with both SSD and 2TB HD, and don't regret it. What option could you or I be using right now that's as fast as the internal HD for bulk data storage? For that matter, when will you or I be able to make use of the Thunderbolt port for storage—without paying early-market prices, at least?

July 04 2011 at 1:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sam omar

As good machine as it is.. if it can't do LoL (League of Legends) basically it can't do jack sh*t.

July 04 2011 at 9:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Sam omar's comment

Acey Riot

...lol it can.... very easily! ever heard of boot camp? Parallels? Vmware?

July 09 2011 at 4:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Laptop Computers

iMac have luxurious look and great design.. Overall functionality measures good.. quality matters first.

July 04 2011 at 6:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

freediverx

While I agree the iMac is awesome, Computerworld's opinion is pretty much worthless. A few years ago, before Apple became so popular, the iMac would have been compared unfavorably with a low quality clone from Dell, citing the Dell's faster components and lower price.

July 03 2011 at 7:53 PM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

Andrew Solmssen

"deAgonia also had nothing but good things to say about Thunderbolt, although he had no access to Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals during his testing."

Right there is everything that's wrong with Mac punditry and the Mac community.

July 03 2011 at 5:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Andrew Solmssen's comment

Oscar Goldman

It's an attractive system, but too bad the keyboard doesn't have a real Delete key.

And the glossy screen? The most idiotic regression in computing ever. You may not realize how bad a glossy screen is until you go back to matte.

July 03 2011 at 3:59 PM Report abuse Permalink -4 rate up rate down Reply

5 replies to Oscar Goldman's comment