Decided to try out the newly released (fall 2009) 27" iMac in my office. This new model can also be used as a display from a different computer, and my main interest was to use it connected to my MacBook Pro, as well host my web server in place of the Mac mini which has been performing those duties. Specs are nice ... 3.06ghz dual core, 4gigs of ram, decent graphic performance, 1TB hard drive. If used as a standalone I believe PS and LR would perform very well, and you can shove up to 16gigs of ram in the thing if you want to.

The reason for the post in this forum is a couple of observations regarding the display itself vs. limitations I've seen posted by others of previous iMacs.

To some the gloss screen is an issue, to others not so much. To me in an appropriately dim lit environment (of which the Apple Store isn't one) when working on photos the gloss screen has little affect. Bottom line, it's still a gloss screen.

Other than the gloss screen the other frequently mentioned problem with an iMac has been the brightness. On this model you can turn the brightness down to the point the screen is almost unviewable, so achieving a desired luminance is not a problem. At about 50% brightness I'm at about 140 cd/m2. Going lower would be no problem.

As far as using it as a monitor it seems every bit as good as Apple's 24" display, which I have enjoyed. It's a simple connection in my case, a mini DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort cable connects them. As soon as the MacBook wakes up, it takes over the display. The imac itself continues to operate, so in my case it can continue to serve up web pages. I haven't determined whether or not you can actually use a screen sharing program to control the iMac at this point. Putting the macbook to sleep or unplugging the display cable returns the screen to the iMac. I haven't found a way to wake up the MacBook Pro and have it take over the screen other than by opening it, so I can't leave the Macbook closed ( "clamshell" mode) like I did with the 24" display. Not a big deal.

One downside is the iMac doesn't share anything else with the MacBook. This includes audio and the iSight camera which is a nice feature of the 24" display.

As far as calibrating it, out of the box connected to my Macbook the display seemed amazingly close. After calibrating it to my normal 6100k white point the new profile was slightly cooler than whatever my Macbook was using as the default profile. Out of the box the display seems very good. the end result is basically a perfect match to what my 24" display gave me, and a nice match to prints on Epson Luster and Exhibition Fiber papers.

To use it as a display and calibrate it while connected to the MacBook does present one problem. There is no control to adjust the screen brightness while it is being used as a monitor. This means you have to adjust the brightness while the iMac is connected. Whatever brightness is set there stays the same when the MacBook takes over. Easy fix, I calibrated the iMac first, then left the brightness control the same and calibrated the MacBook connected to it.

Finally, the slight extra width to achieve the 16:9 format is more useful than I thought it would be. I love how the screen real estate lays out with PS and LR.

Thanks for your precious input. I ordered one and it should arrive at the end of the week.

Thanks Wayne for the good news that iMac eventually get a really dimable display. I didn't heard about iMac can be used as a screen. Do you mean simply hook up the minidisplay port to another Mac, it will act as a display, or any software/ setting needed? Can I do the same with older Mac with mini DVI port?

Desmond

No software, I just have a mini DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort cable, plug one end into the macbook, the other into the display, and wake up the macbook ... display switches as soon as it senses the video signal coming in.

Whether you can do that with older macs I'm not sure. assuming you had the right cables I would guess it would work, but don't take my word for it on this one. I suppose it may only work with DisplayPort capable devices. Sounds like a question for google

What spyder and software did you use to calibrate the display?

I'm glad to hear the display works well in a dimly lit room. This 27" iMac might switch me from the PC world.

You can't use older iMacs as a display connected to another system. This is a 27"-iMac feature only. The following is from http://www.apple.com/imac/features.html :



Cheers.

Calibrated with an i1 Pro and i1 Match.

Thank you for pointing this out ... I certainly should have been more clear in my post. I've edited it accordingly.

Replaced my 24" with a 27" iMac last week. Main 2 reasons: bigger screen & better dimmable (no more use of shades program).

Yes, screen is better dimmable but the steps are coarse, about 20cd/m2 per step in my case.

To whom it may concern: compare of profiles of my previous 24" mac with the new 27" (Spyder3elite)

Wireframe is 27", solid is 24". Allmost equal in gamut but 27 has bigger gamut in blues, purples.

Click to view attachment

Are you using the slider in the display preference pane or just the keyboard shortcut? The slider allows much finer control.

I have a pair of applescripts I've adapted to help me with this for all my apple displays. After I get the display to the desired luminance using the slider, I run the first applescript which report a number that is the % of the slider. I then open the second applescript in the script editor, and enter this number in the first line, then make sure the display name matches the display preference pane name. After saving it from then on when I launch the script, it sets the luminance to the exact same setting then launches Photoshop.

what I thought to remember from the 24" mac was that the slider in the pref pane was stepped as the keyboard controls, I just checked the pref pane for my 27" and it is like you write: not stepped and finer control than via the keyboard.

Thanks for the "heads-up" :-)

Huib

Wayne,

Thank you for this bit of info. It seems like a possible solution to the problem I posted here: MBP changes brightness by itself

I don't know how to write applescripts, but I'll look into it. Is there a way to find somewhere a reading of what the brightness slider % is? After I calibrate and set luminance with the i1, it gets lost because of the above-referenced problem. I've resorted to a slightly low setting that at least can be duplicated with F1/F2 keys.

Dave

Your problem about the MacBook getting brighter seems odd. Only possible thing I can think that would cause this is accidentally hitting the F2 key without switching the functionality of the fn key.

Anyway the applescripts are very simple. Open up the Applescript Editor, open a new script, and paste in the following


tell application "System Preferences"
activate
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.displays"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
tell slider 1 of group 2 of tab group 1 of window 1 to set x to value
display dialog x
end tell

hit the compile button, then do a Save As. Select application from the File Format menu, and give it a name. This is now a double clickable app that simply reports the percentage value of the brightness slider.

If you want a script that sets the screen to that same brightness, open another new script and paste in the following

property brightness_level : 1

tell application "System Preferences"
activate
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.displays"
tell application "System Events"
set value of slider 1 of group 2 of tab group 1 of window "Color LCD" of process "System Preferences" to brightness_level
end tell
quit
end tell

Replace the 1 in the first line with the value reported by the previous script - it should be a decimal number such as 0.65
Replace the "Color LCD" with the title of the window that you see when selecting the Display preference pane.

Then compile that script, and do a Save As, also selecting application from the file type popup.

You now have two apps, simply double click on them to perform the appropriate action. If you need to edit the second applescript to adjust the number or change the display name, drag the script onto the Applescript editor icon in the dock rather than double clicking it.

I was thinking of buying one of these new iMacs and am glad to learn that the brightness problem of the 24'' screens has been fixed.

However, I'd like to be able to use both Mac OS and Windows (by using bootcamp), and I'm wondering if I will be able to adjust brightness from Windows since there are no hardware controls on the screen. In other words, is there an Apple display driver for windows, and if not, will the adjustments that I made under Mac OS take effect in Windows ?