Older I-mac VS new I-Mac

Question

Thank you
next question ---Do the older white I-macs really have a better display?
I do graphics and photos. Some of the reviewers indicated that the new aluminum
I-macs suck as far as the monitors goes. Is this true? I mean glossy, cheap and
not able to be calibrated???
thanks Toni

Answer 1

"Better" depends on what the screen is used for. IPS screens are definitely better than TN screens for graphics and photo work, as they are more color-accurate and consistent. TN screens, however, generally have faster response times (they are the screens used in LCD televisions) so they are better for watching movies and gaming. That aside, however, people are complaining that the specific make and model of the screens Apple chose for the aluminum iMacs (TN for the 20" and S-IPS for the 24") are of especially poor quality as they are subject to very apparent color gradients either from top to bottom (20") or left to right (24") that make accurate photo-editing impossible. One can argue that people who need to do serious photo work could choose a MacPro with a Cinema Display, but one could also argue that an iMac costing upwards of $2000 or more should have a decent screen in it which is at least as good as the screens Apple put into the white iMacs. After all, Apple bills the new iMac as an "upgrade" over the previous white iMac model, but how can it be when the screen is so inferior? So if you need high screen quality, but can sacrifice RAM capacity and speed, then the white iMac is your choice, but if you're looking for RAM capacity and high speed at the expense of display quality, then choose an aluminum iMac. It's just a shame that Apple has put its customers in such a compromising position by not offering a machine with both.