Upgrading to Apple IMac, monitor size question (Page 2): I agree wholeheartedly with the external monitor suggestion. I have been using this solution for many years. You can purchase...

Grey Ghost

Hammer wrote:

Reconsider your purchase. I have a 27" iMac, its great BUT when problems arise , and a few have , you have to cart this lump to the Apple shop or other fixer. I wish now that I had stuck with a laptop and used an external screen. Not only easier to transport but also more flexible . I have been told that the external screens can be a better spec than the iMac screens but can't confirm that.

Good luck whatever you choose.

I agree wholeheartedly with the external monitor suggestion. I have been using this solution for many years. You can purchase whatever size and specifications you want for a monitor and additionally have a laptop computer specked the way you want.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I went from a 21 to a 27. It’s one of the best moves I ever made. Go for the big one.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have the iMac 27 and also a couple of Windows machines with 27" monitors. I wouldn't want to use anything smaller. It would be like going back to watching a 21" TV again. I think you can still add memory to the 27", so you can save money there. You can buy 32GB of memory online for $140, or you can pay Apple $600 for 24GB (going from 8GB to 32GB).

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

via the lens wrote:

27" was my choice and I love it. I've used Macs for 30 years and love how big the screen is now, considering I started on something about 10" or so across. Too funny! Bigger is better. You can open more than one program and you'll have a lot of "real estate" to see what is going on. I actually have two 27" screens that I use, one is an old mac and I use it as a screen only.

Exactly, I did the same. One 5k screen built in, one a 4K screen connected by thunderbolt cable. With dual 27” screens, I could never go back to a smaller screen!

When I replace my current 27” iMac, I will end up with dual 27”, 5k screens with a new video card to drive them both.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

jerryc41 wrote:

I have the iMac 27 and also a couple of Windows machines with 27" monitors. I wouldn't want to use anything smaller. It would be like going back to watching a 21" TV again. I think you can still add memory to the 27", so you can save money there. You can buy 32GB of memory online for $140, or you can pay Apple $600 for 24GB (going from 8GB to 32GB).

dyximan

scaudill wrote:

Hi,

I have been editing my pictures with Lightroom/Photoshop on a laptop with a 15” screen. I will be moving to an iMac and have two options in monitor size a 21.5” and a 27”. I looked at a 27” yesterday and it seems huge. In the members valuable opinion, is the 27” two large, almost overwhelming? What would be the preference among the group? Thanks

I have the 27" and love it I think you'll enjoy it as well

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I have been using a 27" iMac for all of my processing for the past 6 years or so. There is certainly an advantage to being able to view a potential 16x20 print at full size without having to pan around to view.
--Bob

scaudill wrote:

Hi,

I have been editing my pictures with Lightroom/Photoshop on a laptop with a 15” screen. I will be moving to an iMac and have two options in monitor size a 21.5” and a 27”. I looked at a 27” yesterday and it seems huge. In the members valuable opinion, is the 27” two large, almost overwhelming? What would be the preference among the group? Thanks

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Def. go BIG and seriously think about what size mem. card you are starting with so you can easily upgrade without totally replacing All you memory. The 27 " is outstanding.

jacklewis014

I have a MacBook Pro 15" and a 27" Mac. The 27" is awesome for photo editing. I have NEVER regretted my decision to get the larger screen. If I were to do it over I would get more disk space. But I am able to cover that oversight with externals.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

I had a 15" laptop, switched to desktop and 27" monitor and a new 2' deep desk top. Now my monitor is farther away from me than the laptop monitor was and so much better for viewing and editing. Turns out to be the perfect size!
And why would you need to take the monitor in for a desktop repair? Don't the repair places have a monitor to use?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

scaudill wrote:

Hi,

I have been editing my pictures with Lightroom/Photoshop on a laptop with a 15” screen. I will be moving to an iMac and have two options in monitor size a 21.5” and a 27”. I looked at a 27” yesterday and it seems huge. In the members valuable opinion, is the 27” two large, almost overwhelming? What would be the preference among the group? Thanks

I have a Late 2013 21.5" iMac. It has been, and still is, adequate for daily use. I edit 4K video on it (I also use an external monitor for editing. It's connected via an HDMI to Thunderbolt/Displayport adapter.)

I also run Lightroom Classic and Photoshop CC on it. It came with 8GB RAM and a slow 1 TB hard drive, which I've recently replaced with 16GB RAM and a very fast 2TB SSD. I'll probably keep this until Apple no longer supports it with MacOS upgrades.

The 27" iMac can be placed farther away from you on a deep desk. It also has EASILY REPLACEABLE RAM. The 27" model has a simple door on the back to access its ram slots. Upgrading memory takes seconds. The 21.5" iMacs require tricky disassembly to upgrade RAM. Both models require the same disassembly to replace the SSD drive.

DO get a minimum of 16GB of RAM. DO get the largest SSD drive you can afford. 128GB isn't enough.

You don't have to buy the RAM and SSD upgrades from Apple at their ridiculous prices — if you are handy with tools, VERY dexterous, and have experience working with electronics. OWC (Other World Computing — AKA Macsales.com) now has RAM and SSD options for both 21.5" and 27" 2019 iMacs. They also have tool kits for the disassembly/installation/reassembly and detailed videos showing how to do it.

After upgrading my old machine, I'm a big believer in SSDs. More RAM lets me run more apps at the same time and avoids the OS having to swap code onto and off of disk. The SSD speeds up disk input/output. It takes 1/7 the time to render video with the upgrades than it did before. More RAM and SSD capacity are worth their prices, if you don't buy them from Apple.

My one mistake in getting the base machine I did was NOT getting the upgraded, dedicated graphics processor. If you can, get one of the higher models with a fast graphics processor. It provides an extra kick for still and video image processing. It can be used to speed math computations in other applications, too.

Generally speaking, the effectiveness of processor upgrades depends on the work you do. If your applications are MULTI-THREADED, meaning they break down big tasks and send the parts to multiple processor cores at the same time, then having 6, 8, 12, or more processor cores can help. If your apps run in a single core, well... more processor *speed* can help. Apple's Final Cut Pro video editor is a good example of a multi-threaded app. Parts of Lightroom and Photoshop benefit from multi-threading, too. Apps like Microsoft Office 365 don't really seem to need much to keep them happy.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Grabbing the tape measure, mine is 21in wide and I'm seated 30in away. Consider your work area and what size will physically fit into that area, should there be any constraints to what will fit and how far or near you will be seated.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I have used the 21.5" iMac for years and honestly that is a pretty large screen, I was totally happy with it, I recently bought a 27" iMac from one of our members here and have been really disappointed in the inability to control the display size of web pages and my email, the way that pages and emails are displayed the fonts are very small and because the screen is so large I find myself sitting a couple of feet away from it and it is really difficult to read text. I love everything about the computer other than the lack of display options and I could see that for some that would be a deal killer, other than that the computer is great, it has i7 processor at 3.5ghz, 3tb fusion, and 32gb ram, killer and the price I paid was probably less than it would have cost me to upgrade my 21" iMac and unfortunately my old machine was a 2015 model the you have to take the display apart and basically tear the machine all the way apart to upgrade the RAM. No nifty little door on my 21" iMac.

Something to think about, the 21" screen is large, the 27" screen is huge, too bad they don't allow you display options to control how the web displays.

scaudill Loc: Rock Hill, SC

Thanks everyone for you suggestions. I have decided to get the 27”. Going from a 15” laptop to the 27” iMac will take a little while to get used to but I think it is best for my situation.

woodworkerman Loc: PA to FL

scaudill wrote:

Hi,

I have been editing my pictures with Lightroom/Photoshop on a laptop with a 15” screen. I will be moving to an iMac and have two options in monitor size a 21.5” and a 27”. I looked at a 27” yesterday and it seems huge. In the members valuable opinion, is the 27” two large, almost overwhelming? What would be the preference among the group? Thanks

I am on my 3rd 27" iMac. I upgraded the first for a faster cpu, then, giving my 2nd to a grandson to use for schooling, my 3rd was for the most recent display upgrade. I wouldn't consider the smaller screen. I can have 2 full pages on display on the screen at the same time, whether text or Photoshop pages. The large screen makes working on the computer so much more enjoyable.