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FWIW, the only other 5k monitor I can find is from Dell. It's also $2500.[1] In other words, buy a Retina Cinema Display, get the computer to power it for fre

FWIW, the only other 5k monitor I can find is from Dell. It's also $2500.[1] In other words, buy a Retina Cinema Display, get the computer to power it for free. [1]: http://www.maximumpc.com/dells_5k_monitor_pre_reviewed_2014 http://www.maximumpc.com/dells_5k_monitor_pre_reviewed_2014

ceejayoz 12y ago
I can't imagine it'll stay that way for long. 4k displays are already down to $300-500 at Amazon.
- Tloewald 12y ago
  Shitty 4k displays have been cheap for a while. It's not a reasonable comparison. (My no-name brand Korean 27" IPS display was great until it frizzed out after 9 months.)
  - Audiophilip 12y ago
    Dell's 24" UP2414Q is an IPS 4K monitor with 99% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB coverage, and it has a 185 PPI panel that I'd argue is already in the "retina" range. Although with its ~€555 price it's not exactly in the $300-$500 range, but it's a close call, so I wouldn't call all 4K monitors around this price range "shitty" at all. Update: it works in 60Hz @ 4K.
    - _broody 12y ago
      It was twice as expensive at launch, though. I suspect the new Dell model will follow suit.
    - Tloewald 12y ago
      You can buy a good 24" display for a lot less than a similar 27" display. That's a whole different discussion.
      - Audiophilip 12y ago
        Sure, but we weren't discussing screen sizes, we were discussing 4K monitors in a certain price range.
  - derefr 12y ago
    You could buy quite a few shitty 4k displays for the price of one of these, though. Enough to get one that escapes the bathtub curve, certainly.
- SG- 12y ago
  IPS at 60fps?
  - Audiophilip 12y ago
    Yes, via DisplayPort 1.2.
    - SG- 12y ago
      What I mean is he knows of high quality IPS 4K displays that can do 60fps for $500?
- rsynnott 12y ago
  Typically 30hz ones, so not suitable for general computer use. 60hz still tend to be fairly expensive.
nawitus 12y ago
Can you buy the monitor separately? It looks like a dream display to me, assuming that it's glossy which is usual for Apple. It's very difficult to find glossy monitors these days. I just can't go back to matter after getting spoiled with glossy.
- gmays 12y ago
  Not yet it seems. They haven't released an update to their Thunderbolt Display in years (since 2011), but it should be right around the corner with the release of this 5K iMac.
  - jagger27 12y ago
    They would have announced it today if that was the case. Currently there isn't a display transport capable of pushing that many pixels. DispayPort 1.2 can't do it on a single port and that's what Apple has MacBooks and Mac Pro.
    - arrrg 12y ago
      Don’t both MacBook Pro and Mac Pro have multiple Thunderbolt ports? Don’t those work as separate DisplayPorts? At least on the Mac Pro?
      - potatolicious 12y ago
        Yes, and that's already being used by the first batch of 4K monitors and is called MST. This models the monitor as 2 lower-resolution displays and drives them with two separate signals. It has a lot of compatibility problems, and is hacky as hell. I doubt Apple would adopt this as an official/first-class solution to anything.
        jagger27 12y ago
        Exactly. They can get away with it in the iMac 5K because it's all baked into one tight enclosure.
arrrg 12y ago
The 5k display would be more versatile, however. Well, I guess that’s relative to … I can understand why Apple is not in a hurry to sell this just as a display. This display could likely not be driven at all by all of their most popular Macs: all the MacBooks and the Mac mini. Maybe it would work with the Mac Pro, but that’s it. And that Mac Pro is probably not the best selling Mac, by a large margin. So they would basically sell this display that only works with a Mac Pro. I can understand how that might seem like a wasted effort until at least a couple more widely selling Macs support the display. Maybe when the MacBook Pros can do it they will start selling just the display. With the iMac the advantage is that Apple is delivering it with a computer that definitely can push those pixels, so you dodge all compatibility woes that will plague these high-res displays for a couple more years. It seems like the still had to get in there and do some weird custom stuff and maybe that’s just hard or impossible to do if you have to do it in a display that is hooked up to some random GPU from Apple’s past Macs.
- leejoramo 12y ago
  Prior 27" iMacs have had the ability to run as external displays in Target Display Mode. This was very nice when the view connection was DVI, but the current ThunderBolt connections limit it to other systems with ThunderBolt and the appropriate drivers. This limits it to pretty much using the display with other Macs. My quick review of the Apple's tech spec for the new iMac doesn't say if it has this feature.
  - dragontamer 12y ago
    Thunderbolt is backwards compatible with DisplayPort. DP1.2 however only supports 4k resolutions.
    - jonmrodriguez 12y ago
      You can use a Thunderbolt computer (which are rare) with a DisplayPort display, but you cannot use a DisplayPort computer with a Thunderbolt display!
    - zaphoyd 12y ago
fuzzythinker 12y ago
I think it's a supply issue. Once that's worked out, I'm sure they will release just the 5k monitor. I don't think they like telling customers who ask for a 5k monitor to go buy dell for too long.
valisystem 12y ago
> In other words, buy a Retina Cinema Display, get the computer to power it for free. Funny thing, it was also the case for the first 27" imac

ceejayoz 12y ago

I can't imagine it'll stay that way for long. 4k displays are already down to $300-500 at Amazon.

Tloewald 12y ago
Shitty 4k displays have been cheap for a while. It's not a reasonable comparison. (My no-name brand Korean 27" IPS display was great until it frizzed out after 9 months.)
- Audiophilip 12y ago
  Dell's 24" UP2414Q is an IPS 4K monitor with 99% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB coverage, and it has a 185 PPI panel that I'd argue is already in the "retina" range. Although with its ~€555 price it's not exactly in the $300-$500 range, but it's a close call, so I wouldn't call all 4K monitors around this price range "shitty" at all. Update: it works in 60Hz @ 4K.
  - _broody 12y ago
    It was twice as expensive at launch, though. I suspect the new Dell model will follow suit.
  - Tloewald 12y ago
    You can buy a good 24" display for a lot less than a similar 27" display. That's a whole different discussion.
    - Audiophilip 12y ago
      Sure, but we weren't discussing screen sizes, we were discussing 4K monitors in a certain price range.
- derefr 12y ago
  You could buy quite a few shitty 4k displays for the price of one of these, though. Enough to get one that escapes the bathtub curve, certainly.
SG- 12y ago
IPS at 60fps?
- Audiophilip 12y ago
  Yes, via DisplayPort 1.2.
  - SG- 12y ago
    What I mean is he knows of high quality IPS 4K displays that can do 60fps for $500?
rsynnott 12y ago
Typically 30hz ones, so not suitable for general computer use. 60hz still tend to be fairly expensive.

nawitus 12y ago

Can you buy the monitor separately? It looks like a dream display to me, assuming that it's glossy which is usual for Apple. It's very difficult to find glossy monitors these days. I just can't go back to matter after getting spoiled with glossy.

gmays 12y ago
Not yet it seems. They haven't released an update to their Thunderbolt Display in years (since 2011), but it should be right around the corner with the release of this 5K iMac.
- jagger27 12y ago
  They would have announced it today if that was the case. Currently there isn't a display transport capable of pushing that many pixels. DispayPort 1.2 can't do it on a single port and that's what Apple has MacBooks and Mac Pro.
  - arrrg 12y ago
    Don’t both MacBook Pro and Mac Pro have multiple Thunderbolt ports? Don’t those work as separate DisplayPorts? At least on the Mac Pro?
    - potatolicious 12y ago
      Yes, and that's already being used by the first batch of 4K monitors and is called MST. This models the monitor as 2 lower-resolution displays and drives them with two separate signals. It has a lot of compatibility problems, and is hacky as hell. I doubt Apple would adopt this as an official/first-class solution to anything.
      - jagger27 12y ago
        Exactly. They can get away with it in the iMac 5K because it's all baked into one tight enclosure.

arrrg 12y ago

The 5k display would be more versatile, however. Well, I guess that’s relative to … I can understand why Apple is not in a hurry to sell this just as a display. This display could likely not be driven at all by all of their most popular Macs: all the MacBooks and the Mac mini. Maybe it would work with the Mac Pro, but that’s it. And that Mac Pro is probably not the best selling Mac, by a large margin. So they would basically sell this display that only works with a Mac Pro. I can understand how that might seem like a wasted effort until at least a couple more widely selling Macs support the display. Maybe when the MacBook Pros can do it they will start selling just the display. With the iMac the advantage is that Apple is delivering it with a computer that definitely can push those pixels, so you dodge all compatibility woes that will plague these high-res displays for a couple more years. It seems like the still had to get in there and do some weird custom stuff and maybe that’s just hard or impossible to do if you have to do it in a display that is hooked up to some random GPU from Apple’s past Macs.

leejoramo 12y ago
Prior 27" iMacs have had the ability to run as external displays in Target Display Mode. This was very nice when the view connection was DVI, but the current ThunderBolt connections limit it to other systems with ThunderBolt and the appropriate drivers. This limits it to pretty much using the display with other Macs. My quick review of the Apple's tech spec for the new iMac doesn't say if it has this feature.
- dragontamer 12y ago
  Thunderbolt is backwards compatible with DisplayPort. DP1.2 however only supports 4k resolutions.
  - jonmrodriguez 12y ago
    You can use a Thunderbolt computer (which are rare) with a DisplayPort display, but you cannot use a DisplayPort computer with a Thunderbolt display!
  - zaphoyd 12y ago

fuzzythinker 12y ago

I think it's a supply issue. Once that's worked out, I'm sure they will release just the 5k monitor. I don't think they like telling customers who ask for a 5k monitor to go buy dell for too long.

valisystem 12y ago

> In other words, buy a Retina Cinema Display, get the computer to power it for free. Funny thing, it was also the case for the first 27" imac