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New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

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Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#81

Post by hollerith »

randallsquared wrote: post #78
teh_klev wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "x 1080" in the display dimensions make me sad. It's a shame this is becoming the norm on medium sized panels and not 1920x1200.

It's "becoming" the norm? That was happening 6-8 years ago. Now 1080p has been the norm for something like two upgrade cycles, and anyone who currently cares about resolution beyond that is looking at 1440p or more.

Grandparent means he is sad that the 16:9 aspect ratio is becoming the norm. He prefers 16:10.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#82

Post by randallsquared »

hollerith wrote: post #81
randallsquared wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "becoming" the norm? That was happening 6-8 years ago. Now 1080p has been the norm for something like two upgrade cycles, and anyone who currently cares about resolution beyond that is looking at 1440p or more.

Grandparent means he is sad that the 16:9 aspect ratio is becoming the norm. He prefers 16:10.

Right, and that transition happened last decade, not this one... Perhaps I was too specific with the 1080p mention.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#84

Post by gambiting »

M4v3R wrote: post #70
pling wrote: post #9

Can I replace the disk with an SSD easily? Probably not! :(

Dunno how it works for the newest iMacs, but I replaced HDD for SSD on an earlier model quite easily.

You need suction cups to take out the glass, and then you will never ever get the screen clear of dust before you attach the glass again, unless you work in a sterile environment. And it drives me nuts to see even a single speck of dust under that glass.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#85

Post by JohnBooty »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #66
cmelbye wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simplicity? My grandma doesn't want to buy an "external display", she would truly have no idea where to even start to do that. And then after she's got the Mac mini, the external display, and the cable to connect the display (assuming she was able to find the right one,) someone then has to set it up for her. Compare that to an iMac. Go to the Apple store, drop $1k, take it home, plug in the power cable, and she's on…

That's quite a price premium to pay for 5 minutes extra work!

Surely, if you examine your own life, you will find many instances where you trade time for money.

Do you mend your own socks instead of throwing them out? Change your own oil in your car? Sweep your own chimney? Grow your own food? Roast and brew all of the coffee you drink? Come on.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#86

Post by JohnBooty »

joezydeco wrote: post #79
toomuchtodo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my grandmother an iMac refurbished: http://www.refurb.me/us/desktop Very pleased, saved ~$200 off list. Still get a warranty.

Always buy refurbished directly from Apple. You get a full year of AppleCare warranty attached to the purchase and can buy more years of AppleCare after that. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals When a new model launches, that's the best time to buy refurbs on the older stuff. The older Macbook Airs are going for 35-40% off list right now.

I've had nothing but good experiences with this - bought several refurb Macs from Apple and each one has been indistinguishable from a new machine. I always extend my warranty as well.

The only downside is that Apple will charge sales tax, which can be substantial on a $1,000 or $2,000 item. Last time I bought a MBP it was actually cheaper to get a new one from Amazon because they were discounting it. (That was before Amazon started charging sales tax in my state, obviously - otherwise it would have been a wash)

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#87

Post by jiggy2011 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #85
jiggy2011 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's quite a price premium to pay for 5 minutes extra work!

Surely, if you examine your own life, you will find many instances where you trade time for money. Do you mend your own socks instead of throwing them out? Change your own oil in your car? Sweep your own chimney? Grow your own food? Roast and brew all of the coffee you drink? Come on.

I do a few of those, but it's a matter of cost benefit. Growing all your own food would probably cost more than buying in many cases. You have to be extremely rich to value your time in the thousands per hour.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#88

Post by lloeki »

dsr_ wrote: post #21

This has a 1920x1080 display. I fail to understand why someone would buy this over a Mac Mini and an external display: cheaper, more powerful, ability to change displays, only two more cables (power and data for the display). Anyone care to enlighten me?

On the technical front, this one has a Haswell CPU (more efficient and has a HD5000), 8GB RAM, an IPS screen, and bundled keyboard and mouse. Also you can still plug an external monitor to "change" the display.

On the functional side, thanks to the L shaped foot with the huge cable guiding hole, iMacs "hover" over the desk and thus have almost zero footprint. It's extremely practical to be able to push documents around or move your legs and not have dangling cables or boxes occupying above- or below-desk space.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#89

Post by chenster »

joezydeco wrote: post #79
toomuchtodo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my grandmother an iMac refurbished: http://www.refurb.me/us/desktop Very pleased, saved ~$200 off list. Still get a warranty.

Always buy refurbished directly from Apple. You get a full year of AppleCare warranty attached to the purchase and can buy more years of AppleCare after that. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals When a new model launches, that's the best time to buy refurbs on the older stuff. The older Macbook Airs are going for 35-40% off list right now.

Ditto that! All my Apple products are refurbished. Working great and 20 to 50% off.

Re: New Entry Level 21.5-inch iMac

#90

Post by qq66 »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #66
cmelbye wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simplicity? My grandma doesn't want to buy an "external display", she would truly have no idea where to even start to do that. And then after she's got the Mac mini, the external display, and the cable to connect the display (assuming she was able to find the right one,) someone then has to set it up for her. Compare that to an iMac. Go to the Apple store, drop $1k, take it home, plug in the power cable, and she's on…

That's quite a price premium to pay for 5 minutes extra work!

I once paid $100 to a car mechanic for a job that took him about 5 minutes. The reason I did it was that I didn't know how to do it myself, so I paid whatever it took to get the job done. "Grandma" here is similar.
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