24" Aluminium iMac Is Excellent

[mabsey]

I know people with the 20" version of the aluminium (yes, in the UK we spell it with an "ium", not "um" at the end) iMac have had problems with the LCD screen quality but I and most people have found the 24" version to be brilliant.

Adam Christianson of the MacCast says that of all the Macs he'd tested, it was the best, closely followed by the MacBook Air.

Anyone else love (or hate) the iMac?

[Mr. Mayor]

mabsey,

I've only 'oogled' the new generation of iMac in-store.

We do have the past 2 generations of iMac here at Mactropolis though. Both performed well... had no issues with either.

I did get a kick out of the original where you could move the LCD screen around wherever you liked. I probably moved the screen every day depending on the sitting position I plunked down in

Haven't heard any of those issues with the 20" iMac... but that's good to know... might as well go for the 24" anyway... bigger IS better right?

[Duke]

If I remember correctly, the 20" & the 24" screens on the iMacs should be the same quality (aside from the odd defective screen), as they're the same screens used in the Cinema Displays. The only iMac that had a poorer screen was the 17" (non-existent now) because they were purchasing those screens from somewhere else.

[mabsey]

The 20" iMac is not 24 bit.

20" iMac LCD color problems? - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

"LCD panel in the new 20" iMacs is not a 24bit color panel as in the previous generation, but an 18bit panel instead. Support for this includes the Kodawarisan take-apart photos which appear to show the panel as a LG PHILIPS LM201WE3. This panel seems to be a TN (twisted nematic) display most of which, according to wikipedia, "...are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit truecolor) available from modern graphics cards." Other discussions online seem to support this conclusion.

Of course, we heard complaints before about color reproduction on Apple LCD displays. If true, this is consistent with the reviews (e.g. Macworld magazine) that have complained about the quality of the 20" screen versus that of the 24" iMac. If correct this would be a powerful reason to prefer the 24" iMac, particularly if color accuracy is very important to you (e.g. for working with photos)."

[Duke]

I stand corrected Mabsey, I didn't realize that they swapped out for a cheaper 20" screen. I actually have to return my 17"MBP because of colour & hue shifting, after searching the web, I found out that Apple has been using a lot of cheaper LCD's on their MBP's, such a shame for a company of their reputation.

[Mr. Mayor]

All to make a little extra $$$... was it really worth it Apple?