iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K Display Teardown

[Paul&John]

Nice photos here:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac...Teardown/30260

[MPGdevil]

[Mutt]

!

That's a very cool website!

[Dvae]

...and its just as we've always been told by the haters, its full of "overpriced off the shelf parts"

[yuu.design]

so fucking awesome

[MrTrollkien]

Looks like you can upgrade to a new cpu (Haswell refresh probably) since it doesn't appear to be soldiered on.

[edgeprod]

Interesting video. I'm still not sold on the iMac versus the Mac Pro desktop ... how many extended monitors can I attach here without it getting bogged down? Two lightning connectors, basically, so 3 monitors total, including the built-in?

[Sid70]

[seeandsee]

Ok looks cool, i dont want it

[2MuchMark]

Interesting video. I'm still not sold on the iMac versus the Mac Pro desktop ... how many extended monitors can I attach here without it getting bogged down? Two lightning connectors, basically, so 3 monitors total, including the built-in?

I wonder that since there are now 2, can you connect them in series so you could have as many monitors as you want?

[edgeprod]

I wonder that since there are now 2, can you connect them in series so you could have as many monitors as you want?

... that's interesting.

[John-ACWM]

An interesting piece.

[johnnyloadproductions]

... that's interesting.

As far as I know 2 external displays, then the 5k itself. AdultKing has an iMac with two thunderbolt displays, I'm a bit envious of his setup actually.

With a SSD and lots of ram, you'll be fine for a good 3-4 years at least. I've got a mid 2010 that works perfectly fine with the latest OSX install and I've got a $500 27" Samsung display attached (same resolution as thunderbolt at half the price).

Not sure about 4k performance, can you run 2 external 4k monitors? That I don't know.

[XXXBizXXX]

[pornguy]

Tooo bad its not just the Monitor.

[edgeprod]

As far as I know 2 external displays, then the 5k itself. AdultKing has an iMac with two thunderbolt displays, I'm a bit envious of his setup actually.

With a SSD and lots of ram, you'll be fine for a good 3-4 years at least. I've got a mid 2010 that works perfectly fine with the latest OSX install and I've got a $500 27" Samsung display attached (same resolution as thunderbolt at half the price).

Not sure about 4k performance, can you run 2 external 4k monitors? That I don't know.

Yeah, that's my concern -- iMacs are very underpowered, so I'm worried about my displays (I usually attach 4).

[AdultKing]

As far as I know 2 external displays, then the 5k itself. AdultKing has an iMac with two thunderbolt displays, I'm a bit envious of his setup actually.

With a SSD and lots of ram, you'll be fine for a good 3-4 years at least. I've got a mid 2010 that works perfectly fine with the latest OSX install and I've got a $500 27" Samsung display attached (same resolution as thunderbolt at half the price).

Not sure about 4k performance, can you run 2 external 4k monitors? That I don't know.

The current DisplayPort over Thunderbolt specification won't support 5k. DisplayPort 1.3 will when Intel releases the next set of chips, possibly late 2015. Until then you'd need to satisfy yourself with 2 normal Thunderbolt displays like I have.

[AdultKing]

Yeah, that's my concern -- iMacs are very underpowered, so I'm worried about my displays (I usually attach 4).

5k iMac + 2 normal Thunderbolt (DisplayPort 1.2) displays runs fine.

I would expect that when DisplayPort 1.3 is available it will also be fine to run one iMac + 2 Displays.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/17/...al-display-no/

[edgeprod]

5k iMac + 2 normal Thunderbolt (DisplayPort 1.2) displays runs fine.

I would expect that when DisplayPort 1.3 is available it will also be fine to run one iMac + 2 Displays.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/17/...al-display-no/

Awesome. I may have to consider that instead of the Mac Pro or the Hackintosh, then. I am so waiting for the Retina Air ... I have a Macbook Pro now, and a Mac Pro, but would like to have a Macbook Air and the iMac/Mac Pro.

[shoot twice]

I'm not trying to provoke or "hate" but I have a question that bothering me.

What's the ability of our human eyes?

I've know a handful of people that have claimed to get headaches when watching anything in HD. And I don't get headaches or anything like that but I do tend to have a really short attention span when looking at an HD screen. So I'm wondering if our analog eyes can efficiently process seeing these super resolution displays.

[AdultKing]

What's the ability of our human eyes?

The human eye can discern the pixels on a standard 27" iMac display, it cannot on a 5K display without magnification.

As for the rest of your question, let me ask, are you stupid or were you dropped on your head as a child ?

[shoot twice]

As for the rest of your question, let me ask, are you stupid or were you dropped on your head as a child ?

It was just a question there's no reason to be an asshole. Or is being an asshole part of the new "business model" in the adapt or die philosophy?

[AdultKing]

It was just a question there's no reason to be an asshole. Or is being an asshole part of the new "business model" in the adapt or die philosophy?

I'll go with simply stupid then.

[JustDaveXxx]

I'll go with simply stupid then.

To everyone out there who thinks their question might be "Dumb"; Try googling your question 1st before posting it. 98% of the time you will find your answer in the 1st 10 links that come up.

Just Dave

[shoot twice]

To everyone out there who thinks their question might be "Dumb"; Try googling your question 1st before posting it. 98% of the time you will find your answer in the 1st 10 links that come up.

Just Dave

Was I the only person in the world that was taught that the only dumb question was the one that someone was afraid to ask.


Anywho,
The "answer" to my question is pretty in depth and quite heady with the calculations. A photography site kind-of-sort-of answered some of my question. But unfortunately it's something I think I would need to devote some time to researching to really understand it.


source : http://warrenmars.com/photography/te...perception.htm
Here's an excerpt :

We know that the human eye requires a contrast ratio of 1000:1 for full dynamic experience, so any display device capable of this should do the proper job and afford us no chance to cheat further, but the question of display contrast specs is a vexed one as one can discover by searching the net.

One has to be very careful of believing manufacturer's specifications, since it is in their interest to inflate their values to achieve greater sales, and recently those figures have gone through the roof! There are various ways to boost one's figures without completely lying so it is best to use the figures of a respected 3rd party. As of early 2009, typical contrast ratios from quality display devices were as follows:

LCD monitors - 1,000:1
Plasma monitor - 5,0000:1
Printed page - 500:1
Projected image - 500:1

As you can see, cinema and prints are less demanding, and we can reduce the required capture dynamic range to suit, however, computer and TV monitors offer no such out, their contrast ratio matches that of the human eye. We are stuck with our minimum of 1 million photons per hot pixel.
Your Monitor

As a matter of interest I include some test images to show how your monitor handles the contrast gamut. Firstly have a look at the 10 step strip. This goes from intensity 0 to 255 in steps of 10, (the last step is 16). On my monitor at least, the dynamic range is heightened in the centre of the range and lowered at the extremes. I am struggling to see a transition between the 2 darkest patches and can't make out the transition between the bright patches at all. This could be a limitation of my monitor, or it could be set up incorrectly (although I am very particular about my monitor setup), or perhaps it means that the gamma curve of the screen or the graphic application isn't quite matched to the human eye, probably deliberately so, since we are used to looking at mid-tone things.

If you can see 256 levels from black to bright green on your monitor, then not only is your monitor exceptional, but your eyes are super-human! 256 levels is what you get if you go up the green scale in steps of 1. I have provided a section of the 1 step strip from the middle of the range. Note however, what I have said above about dynamic range being heightened in the centre of the range and lowered at the extremes, so that even if you can make out the 1 steps, it doesn't necessarily mean you are really capable of 256 separate levels of green. "

[AndrewX]

If you can see 256 levels from black to bright green on your monitor, then not only is your monitor exceptional, but your eyes are super-human! 256 levels is what you get if you go up the green scale in steps of 1. I have provided a section of the 1 step strip from the middle of the range. Note however, what I have said above about dynamic range being heightened in the centre of the range and lowered at the extremes, so that even if you can make out the 1 steps, it doesn't necessarily mean you are really capable of 256 separate levels of green. [/i]"

Very interesting. I compared the green contrast in steps of 1 on my iphone 5s, ipad2 and my old Samsung laptop with a dirty LCD screen (w/ LED backlight as they advertised). I have to tilt the screens alot but I see the same amount of transitions. I can clearly see multiple transitions on all screens which makes me think all those retina blabla is all bullshit when it comes to actual colors. It's more pixel related.