Apple’s New iMac Has A 5K Retina Display – Is This A New MegaPixel Race?

Stefan Kohler

Stefan Kohler is a full-time retoucher. He’s from Germany and likes bacon. In the last years, he built up a broad community around his retouching classes at the Infinite tool’s website.

Bildschirmfoto 2014-10-17 um 06.51.48

Here it is. The new iMac. With a gorgeous Display. Well. At least with a high resolution display.

First, I have to say: I love Apple Products. Most of them. In my household, there are plenty of them. iPhones, iPad, (the old) Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacMini and iMacs. Darn. It’s actually a lot of computer gear, but who cares.

I love the design, but even more I love the fact my “computer downtime” and “computer health care time” are kind of zero. I am simply more productive on a Mac right now.

So I am interested in the new Apple Products. But this new 5K-iMac does hit me differently.

I am working on a Retina Display and I really love it. It’s sharp and the Colors are quite good – at least for a mobile computer. The iMac isn’t exactly a mobile computer, even if some part of it are borrowed from laptops. But this is not a big deal anymore. I saw the new 5K-Retina-iMac and thought:

Is this Apples Megapixel-Race?

So why am I picking to the 5K-Display? Right. I am working on 4K or 5K Video, probably made with a RED EPIC. I am dealing with Images as well. That’s what they say:

Developing a display with the performance to light up 14.7 million pixels, reducing energy consumption while maintaining our high standard for brightness, and advancing image quality for the most striking contrast ever.

Apple once proudly said: “This iPhone [5] displays sRGB“.

Apple now says: “This screen is unbelievable detailed, has four times as many pixels as the standard iMac and let you experience unbelievable detail.”

I really hope I am wrong, but this sounds for me like Nokias 41 Megapixel Smartphone…

Apple. Please – make your Screens as thick as you want. The professionals really don’t care. But please cover at least 97% AdobeRGB.

And if it is not the monitor you are here for, here are the rest of the critical specs:

Price starts at 2.499$:

  • 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
  • 8GB (two 4GB) memory
  • 1TB Fusion Drive1
  • AMD Radeon R9 M290X with 2GB video memory

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Stefan Kohler

Stefan Kohler

Stefan Kohler is a full-time retoucher. He’s from Germany and likes bacon. In the last years, he built up a broad community around his retouching classes at the Infinite tool’s website.

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17 responses to “Apple’s New iMac Has A 5K Retina Display – Is This A New MegaPixel Race?”

  1. 12423423423 Avatar
    12423423423

    expensive overprized apple…..

    1. Erik R.s.P Avatar
      Erik R.s.P

      Is it? This is an honest Question. Speaking only about this imac.

    2. spqr_ca Avatar
      spqr_ca

      Dell is rumored to have a 5K display in the works for $2500. That’s just a display… Can’t say that I’d call the new iMac expensive in that context.

      1. mrniceguy715 Avatar
        mrniceguy715

        Dell already has a 27in all in one that is 4k and displays adobe rgb with an i7, 2tb 7200 hdd and 32gb ssd, with 10 finger touch and its not overly glossy and that retails at about 2gs

  2. John Flury Avatar
    John Flury

    There doesn’t seem to be any mension of the AdobeRGB coverage. Could be a bad sign, yes. Let’s wait and see.

    1. Stefan Avatar

      Let’s wait and see :-)
      The latest iMac wasn’t that bad – but this is a completely new Panel. Well…

  3. VitaminCM Avatar

    Megapixel race is a good analogy for most computer users. It’s a big number that seems sexy, but is it providing a better experience to MOST users? Probably not.
    Yes, video editors and photoshop guys – I get it, you’ll use the pixels. But, go the the Apple store and look at who’s really buying iMacs. It’s your mom, not the studio crew from Avatar.

  4. jason bourne Avatar
    jason bourne

    Being Apple, the price is probably 5K as well.

  5. Paul Cudmore Avatar

    nice stew, but not sure about imac’s as you can’t edit very easliy if it has a glossy screen unless you are in a dark room

  6. joe_average Avatar
    joe_average

    aside from the 5k panel, that’s a pretty crappy computer for that price tag. i’ll never understand apple fans.

    1. Shmacksung Avatar
      Shmacksung

      as an Shitsung employee, it is clear, you will always have problems understanding better, wiser and richer people.

      1. Brian Peixinho Avatar
        Brian Peixinho

        Exactly – forget these turds

  7. Wil Fry Avatar

    I remember my first digital camera, a 2 MP Sony Cybershot. At the time, my monitor was 800×640, so the photos I made seemed huge. I could zoom in to 100% to see “incredible” detail. Then I upped my monitor size and suddenly the old 2 MP photos seemed small. Today, the 2 MP photos don’t even fill my screen.

    Of course, I’m also shooting 18 MP (5184 x 3456) photos now, so they still look huge on the 1920×1080 monitor.

    So Apple’s new monitor has a resolution of 5120 x 2880? That means my 18 MP photos will look small and unzoomable. Crop a bit and suddenly it’s smaller than the screen.

    I guess what I’m saying is that pixel density only goes so far for me. At some point, I want the physical size of the monitor to increase more than the number of pixels.

  8. Mark Gray Avatar

    Dear Santa!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Amaryllis Avatar

    I got myself the previous 27 inches iMac and I feel absolutely no need to go for a screen with more resolution. Can you imagine the uber-huge shots I’d need to make decent wallpapers on a screen with that many pixels?! That’s a no-go for me. I don’t even see the difference between 1080p and 4K, so I don’t think 5K screen would be useful…

  10. joe_average Avatar
    joe_average

    $550 Samsung 4k panel, then build a PC on steroids for $1000, and put the remaining $950 in your pocket because you’ve earned it.
    http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-28-Inch-Definition-Monitor-U28D590D/dp/B00IEZGWI2/ref=sr_du_1_map?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1413572395&sr=1-1