Apple Announced the 24-Inch iMac Three Years Ago Today

[joecomo]

If you dont mind taking it apart and installing a display driver board in place of the motherboard, this can be done. I’m not ready yet with my 2017 model but maybe at some point. I also agree with your statement. It would be great to have a secondary mode that allowed it to be used as a monitor when not used as an iMac and have both available. I would buy into that for sure.

I know - and there are some nice howtos to even use it as an USB and ethernet hub.

But this would just be a hobby or ecological sacrifice - because alone the board cost about 600 EUR these days on Aliexpress, so even if you don't count your own time it is economically a limit case.

 

[guzhogi]

It works for the purpose of the imac, which is to define an area of screen in a single device that stands out rather than blend in or merge better with another display. And, honestly, I've been using my iMac G4 a lot recently for retro gaming, which also has a white bezel obviously, and I'd forgotten how much I loved it. Best design of an iMac ever and the white bezels are totally fine. For that matter the OG iMac, the G5s, and the first round of Intel ones all had white bezels. In case you forgot what those looked like:

I kinda liked the 20th Anniversary Mac which had speakers in the bezels. Also liked the Performa/Power Mac 5400 series. Yeah, I'm old.

 

[darngooddesign]

3 years later, white bezels were still a stupid and ugly idea.

Counterpoint: I like the white bezels.

 

[gsmornot]

I know - and there are some nice howtos to even use it as an USB and ethernet hub.

But this would just be a hobby or ecological sacrifice - because alone the board cost about 600 EUR these days on Aliexpress, so even if you don't count your own time it is economically a limit case.

They are about $170 US on eBay. Also, yes, it's a hobby thing to do and would be better as a standard option. Just saying, if an iMac is done and needs a purpose, it can be made into a nice 5k display for use with other Macs or devices needing a nice display. Not that it should be done, but could.

 

[seek3r]

I know you can Airplay to iPads. Kinda wish you could use touch input while doing that.

If you use sidecar you can extend a display to an ipad and keep the touch input

 

[Student of Life]

Still never seen one in public and I still see new 27 inch imacs regularly.

Absolute garbage these were in my opinion.

The only business I have seen using them in there stores outside of Apple are Tesla which makes a lot of sense for them. But they only use the white silver one which sorta goes with the white interior of their cars. I have seen the 27 inch iMacs in hotels, small shops etc.

 

[Mr. Nice]

how long ago was that? Inflation’s been pretty high globally for a bit now…

That was a long time ago, 2009/2010?
But please consider:
how has the price of the MacBook Air developed? It hasn't gone through the roof.
At the end of 2010, the MacBook Air 13 also cost €1,299. Where is it today? The Air costs even less! The iMac has gone from €999 to €1,599 over the years. Apple has overdone it with the iMac.

 

[joecomo]

They are about $170 US on eBay. Also, yes, it's a hobby thing to do and would be better as a standard option. Just saying, if an iMac is done and needs a purpose, it can be made into a nice 5k display for use with other Macs or devices needing a nice display. Not that it should be done, but could.

Depends on the driver - the ones with USB-C, DP1.4 and DSC are more around 300.

The 600 EUR link is here Aliexpress r1811- but indeed you can get it for half of that or even less if you sacrifice some features.

 

[lordoftheflatbush]

Tim, still waiting for my M3/4 27 inch iMac. Stop the AI BS and release the 27 inch iMac please.

 

[Dreadpirateflappy]

Still remember how gushing iJustine was with her lot of new iMacs

Maybe a little jealous of me but I'm glad in the end they didn't make a bigger one, because I'd probably have one now

Ijustine was gushing over the Apple book as well, she gushes over literally anything that is made by Apple... I like her content, but she loves even the bad products.

 

[wbeasley]

Ijustine was gushing over the Apple book as well, she gushes over literally anything that is made by Apple... I like her content, but she loves even the bad products.

with a name like iJustine, i'd expect nothing less

 

[Student of Life]

That was a long time ago, 2009/2010?
But please consider:
how has the price of the MacBook Air developed? It hasn't gone through the roof.
At the end of 2010, the MacBook Air 13 also cost €1,299. Where is it today? The Air costs even less! The iMac has gone from €999 to €1,599 over the years. Apple has overdone it with the iMac.

This is a very good point.

 

[seek3r]

This is a very good point.

Not really, economy of scale has kept the air down. It has become, over the time from 2010 when it had only been introduced a couple years prior, to now the mainstream consumer laptop Apple sells. It took over from the base Macbooks and Macbook pros.

The iMac is a more niche machine, and desktops in general have lost significant ground to laptops over the last 15 years. If you think the iMac was ever going to be subject to the same price drops as the Air has seen you're rather out of touch with the industry. Adjusted for inflation the iMac hasnt risen much if at all, while the Air has dropped. That's in line with the general shift in the industry on consumer compute preference and with Apple's positioning of the air