26 ms·

Good? Ever since they got rid of target-mode, bonding a beautiful and expensive screen that will last more than a decade with a computer that will be EOLd in 5

by michael1999 3y ago

Good? Ever since they got rid of target-mode, bonding a beautiful and expensive screen that will last more than a decade with a computer that will be EOLd in 5 years is just sad and wasteful. This was justifiable when there was no practical way to run 5K over standard connectors. But that time is over, and so is the age of the 27" iMac.

mort96 3y ago
The main problem with that is that there are no decent 5K monitors. The Apple Studio Display is literally the same price as the iMac (so a Studio Display + Mac Mini/Studio is ridiculously expensive). The 5K 27" LG UltraFine is not that much cheaper, and people are saying it has pretty terrible build quality (at least compared to an iMac). And those are pretty much the only 5K monitors.
- jseliger 3y ago
  Samsung now makes one: https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/5k/27-viewfinity-s9-5k-monitor-with-thunderbolt-4-matte-display-and-smart-features-ls27c900panxza/ https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/5k/27-viewfini...
  - mort96 3y ago
    Thanks, I didn't know that. It seems to be even closer to the iMac in price, which I'm guessing it makes up for in build quality but that means separately buying the computer and monitor is still very expensive compared to what a hypothetical 27" iMac would cost, and the name "smart monitor" makes my skin crawl... but it seems like a decent somewhat cheaper alternative to the Studio Display. Hopefully these 5K 27" monitors will get more widespread and cheaper over time.
    - PakG1 3y ago
      They have to. I remember my family paying $2000 CAD for a 15" LCD monitor in the 90s. That monitor was crap, looking back at it, but it was state of the art. Electronics always go down in price over time, the question is how long is the wait.
- tshaddox 3y ago
  There's also the new Samsung 27" ViewFinity S9 5K. The list price is $1600 but Amazon has it for $1300 in the U.S. I've heard mixed reviews, particularly about how smoothly it works with Macs.
  - pathartl 3y ago
    I'm not old, but things like this make me go "back in my day we had a CRT with one input, VGA, and it just worked". Obviously we don't have to worry too much about a monitor's supported modes anymore (though that wasn't a problem at the tail end of the CRT), but we're in a period where plugging in a monitor doesn't guarantee that it'll work. Signal integrity and all that sure, but really it's just a freaking monitor.
    - vvillena 3y ago
      The VGA days were the times where a computer user could kill a CRT screen because the analog data stream wasn't what the monitor supported or expected. I don't miss those days! Plugging a monitor nowadays will always work. Of course, buying a new monitor only to have it fall back to a lower-quality compatible mode is unacceptable, but that's what happens in today's world. Monitors are more varied than ever. A 1080p60 monitor will work everywhere, and all monitors will accept such a signal. But we all love fancy toys.
    - tshaddox 3y ago
      True, although to be fair I did spent an inordinate amount of time circa 2006 trying to get multiple monitor setups working reliably in Linux, across several years, PCs, and Linux distros.
- reaperman 3y ago
  I'm partial to the $800 Huawei MateView 28". It's only 9.8 million pixels compared to the 14.7 million pixels of the $1,300 5K UltraFine 27" and $1,300 5K Samsung ViewFinity 27" (Standard 4K is 8.8 million pixels), but the MateView has a 3:2 aspect ratio! So you get 20% more vertical real estate than a standard 4K aspect ratio.
- myrandomcomment 3y ago
  I have both the "Apple" LG 4K and the LG 27" 5K and both just worked for the most part. The 5K is my daily driver plugged into an M1 MacMini.
mikestew 3y ago
I'm in the same boat. I'm looking at a 2019 27" iMac on my desk right now, and it's been a great machine. But without target display mode, I can't use it with the 13" MBP that work gave me. So, what, stick another 27" display on my desk just for the laptop? And when the CPU or MB fries, I'll be stuck with a nice display I can't use. Next time it'll be a Mac Studio and a Studio Display, cost be damned.
- michael1999 3y ago
  You're stuck with the lag of remote-desktop. Which isn't a disaster over decent ethernet if you are just programming.
elteto 3y ago
Honestly, why should I even worry about how they build the machine? My 27in Intel iMac is 7-8 years old and I will probably get 2-3 more years out of it. That's a whole decade I'm getting out of the machine. Probably more than I would get from a non-bonded monitor.
- michael1999 3y ago
  You stopped getting os updates, and will stop receiving even high-priority security updates this year. I feel much safer running a 10-year-old monitor than my 10-year-old laptop.
  - poulsbohemian 3y ago
    This is the issue pushing me to update, and I have to say I'm disappointed in Apple... when I bought this iMac, it was an absolute beast and even today it's very, very good kit. But Apple has decided it's too old to update.
- krabizzwainch 3y ago
  My issue was that my 2019 iMac got updates that made the whole thing practically unusable. The storage became so slow that it would take like 10ish minutes to become usable after boot. I did have the version with a hdd instead of ssd, but it was fine right when I purchased it. I ran whatever storage tests that would show the drive wasn't dead/dying, so I was never sure what the issue was. My options were essentially to either trade it back to Apple for $300, try to sell it myself for maybe $400 and pay a ton to ship it, or try to take it apart myself to swap out the hard drive for an ssd and risk breaking part of it and it being worth $0. I caved and traded it in to Apple just so I could stop looking at the box.
- jollyllama 3y ago
  Indeed, because you could buy that one with base specs (2GB ram) and slap 64 in it with zero screws or soldering.
Erratic6576 3y ago
There should be a way to reuse the screen opening the case and plugging in anything else. What a waste otherwise
- kridsdale3 3y ago
  There used to be, before they went to 5K.
- ender341341 3y ago
  Or just an input on the back...
innagadadavida 3y ago
Apple should release a Mac mini that can "dock" to a 5k monitor with usb-c display and power. This will avoid power cable clutter and enable a much nicer setup.

mort96 3y ago

The main problem with that is that there are no decent 5K monitors. The Apple Studio Display is literally the same price as the iMac (so a Studio Display + Mac Mini/Studio is ridiculously expensive). The 5K 27" LG UltraFine is not that much cheaper, and people are saying it has pretty terrible build quality (at least compared to an iMac). And those are pretty much the only 5K monitors.

jseliger 3y ago
Samsung now makes one: https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/5k/27-viewfinity-s9-5k-monitor-with-thunderbolt-4-matte-display-and-smart-features-ls27c900panxza/ https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/5k/27-viewfini...
- mort96 3y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know that. It seems to be even closer to the iMac in price, which I'm guessing it makes up for in build quality but that means separately buying the computer and monitor is still very expensive compared to what a hypothetical 27" iMac would cost, and the name "smart monitor" makes my skin crawl... but it seems like a decent somewhat cheaper alternative to the Studio Display. Hopefully these 5K 27" monitors will get more widespread and cheaper over time.
  - PakG1 3y ago
    They have to. I remember my family paying $2000 CAD for a 15" LCD monitor in the 90s. That monitor was crap, looking back at it, but it was state of the art. Electronics always go down in price over time, the question is how long is the wait.
tshaddox 3y ago
There's also the new Samsung 27" ViewFinity S9 5K. The list price is $1600 but Amazon has it for $1300 in the U.S. I've heard mixed reviews, particularly about how smoothly it works with Macs.
- pathartl 3y ago
  I'm not old, but things like this make me go "back in my day we had a CRT with one input, VGA, and it just worked". Obviously we don't have to worry too much about a monitor's supported modes anymore (though that wasn't a problem at the tail end of the CRT), but we're in a period where plugging in a monitor doesn't guarantee that it'll work. Signal integrity and all that sure, but really it's just a freaking monitor.
  - vvillena 3y ago
    The VGA days were the times where a computer user could kill a CRT screen because the analog data stream wasn't what the monitor supported or expected. I don't miss those days! Plugging a monitor nowadays will always work. Of course, buying a new monitor only to have it fall back to a lower-quality compatible mode is unacceptable, but that's what happens in today's world. Monitors are more varied than ever. A 1080p60 monitor will work everywhere, and all monitors will accept such a signal. But we all love fancy toys.
  - tshaddox 3y ago
    True, although to be fair I did spent an inordinate amount of time circa 2006 trying to get multiple monitor setups working reliably in Linux, across several years, PCs, and Linux distros.
reaperman 3y ago
I'm partial to the $800 Huawei MateView 28". It's only 9.8 million pixels compared to the 14.7 million pixels of the $1,300 5K UltraFine 27" and $1,300 5K Samsung ViewFinity 27" (Standard 4K is 8.8 million pixels), but the MateView has a 3:2 aspect ratio! So you get 20% more vertical real estate than a standard 4K aspect ratio.
myrandomcomment 3y ago
I have both the "Apple" LG 4K and the LG 27" 5K and both just worked for the most part. The 5K is my daily driver plugged into an M1 MacMini.

mikestew 3y ago

I'm in the same boat. I'm looking at a 2019 27" iMac on my desk right now, and it's been a great machine. But without target display mode, I can't use it with the 13" MBP that work gave me. So, what, stick another 27" display on my desk just for the laptop? And when the CPU or MB fries, I'll be stuck with a nice display I can't use. Next time it'll be a Mac Studio and a Studio Display, cost be damned.

michael1999 3y ago
You're stuck with the lag of remote-desktop. Which isn't a disaster over decent ethernet if you are just programming.

elteto 3y ago

Honestly, why should I even worry about how they build the machine? My 27in Intel iMac is 7-8 years old and I will probably get 2-3 more years out of it. That's a whole decade I'm getting out of the machine. Probably more than I would get from a non-bonded monitor.

michael1999 3y ago
You stopped getting os updates, and will stop receiving even high-priority security updates this year. I feel much safer running a 10-year-old monitor than my 10-year-old laptop.
- poulsbohemian 3y ago
  This is the issue pushing me to update, and I have to say I'm disappointed in Apple... when I bought this iMac, it was an absolute beast and even today it's very, very good kit. But Apple has decided it's too old to update.
krabizzwainch 3y ago
My issue was that my 2019 iMac got updates that made the whole thing practically unusable. The storage became so slow that it would take like 10ish minutes to become usable after boot. I did have the version with a hdd instead of ssd, but it was fine right when I purchased it. I ran whatever storage tests that would show the drive wasn't dead/dying, so I was never sure what the issue was. My options were essentially to either trade it back to Apple for $300, try to sell it myself for maybe $400 and pay a ton to ship it, or try to take it apart myself to swap out the hard drive for an ssd and risk breaking part of it and it being worth $0. I caved and traded it in to Apple just so I could stop looking at the box.
jollyllama 3y ago
Indeed, because you could buy that one with base specs (2GB ram) and slap 64 in it with zero screws or soldering.

Erratic6576 3y ago

There should be a way to reuse the screen opening the case and plugging in anything else. What a waste otherwise

kridsdale3 3y ago
There used to be, before they went to 5K.
ender341341 3y ago
Or just an input on the back...

innagadadavida 3y ago

Apple should release a Mac mini that can "dock" to a 5k monitor with usb-c display and power. This will avoid power cable clutter and enable a much nicer setup.