A couple weeks back, I wrote about how you should wait before buying the 4K iMac. A couple people asked me, “What about the 5K iMac?”
Thanks to a good friend of mine who is in Greece for the next month, I have borrowed his 27-inch 5K iMac (Late 2015 Version) and although my friend is a great guy, I wish he would extend his vacation a little so I can use his iMac some more. Needless to say, I LOVE this machine. Everything about is is beautiful, speedy, simple, and elegant.
As I wrote a couple weeks back, it’s too early to announce the death of the desktop computer, and the 27-inch iMac proves this more than ever. Once you use this, you won’t want to go back to your laptop, though you will do so because you rely on a portable machine.
The most striking thing about the iMac is its picture-beauty display. The 2014 5K display was good enough, but Apple has taken it to the next level with the 27-inch iMac. The colors are more saturated, more accurate, and make the case for why an IPS LED display is sometimes better than an AMOLED display. The iMac I have been using has no screen bleeding whatsoever (a common problem with monitors), and the screen contrast ration is fantastic.
I have been watching Netflix shows such as BoJack Horseman and Friends and, in some ways, watching these shows on the 27-inch iMac display provides more pleasure than watching them on my 42-inch Samsung television. The iMac speakers also provide excellent sound, which has saved me from having to connect my Bose SoundLink III to the iMac every time I want to watch a show.
But it’s not just multimedia that the iMac excels in; it is especially fantastic for everyday use. Perhaps the best aspect of the iMac has been using Photoshop, which displays photos at full resolution. Even though the iMac uses the Intel Core i5 processor (rather than the more powerful i7 processor), editing photos with complex features has been really smooth. It also works very well with Final Cut Pro.
It helps that the iMac I am using has a Fusion Drive, which combines SSD drive storage with regular storage. If you buy an iMac, spending a little extra on the Fusion Drive option is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, your programs will launch slowly on Apple’s regular 5400 RPM hard drive.
I am going to have to give the iMac back soon. However, after using the 27-inch 5K iMac for two weeks, I would certainly consider buying one in the near future.