imac 27 inch lcd panel free sample

Many Apple products use liquid crystal displays (LCD). LCD technology uses rows and columns of addressable points (pixels) that render text and images on the screen. Each pixel has three separate subpixels—red, green and blue—that allow an image to render in full color. Each subpixel has a corresponding transistor responsible for turning that subpixel on and off.

Depending on the display size, there can be thousands or millions of subpixels on the LCD panel. For example, the LCD panel used in the iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) has a display resolution of 5120 x 2880, which means there are over 14.7 million pixels. Each pixel is made up of a red, a green, and a blue subpixel, resulting in over 44 million individual picture elements on the 27-inch display. Occasionally, a transistor may not work perfectly, which results in the affected subpixel remaining off (dark) or on (bright). With the millions of subpixels on a display, it is possible to have a low number of such transistors on an LCD. In some cases a small piece of dust or other foreign material may appear to be a pixel anomaly. Apple strives to use the highest quality LCD panels in its products, however pixel anomalies can occur in a small percentage of panels.

In many cases pixel anomalies are caused by a piece of foreign material that is trapped somewhere in the display or on the front surface of the glass panel. Foreign material is typically irregular in shape and is usually most noticeable when viewed against a white background. Foreign material that is on the front surface of the glass panel can be easily removed using a lint free cloth. Foreign material that is trapped within the screen must be removed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store.

iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple"s consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.

In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gumdrop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case, which was refreshed early on with a sleeker design notable for its slot-loaded optical drive. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved the design to a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely moving arm attached to it. The third and fourth major revisions, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac respectively, placed all the components immediately behind the display, creating a slim unified design that tilts only up and down on a simple metal base.

The fifth major revision (mid-2007) shared the same form as the previous model, but was thinner and used anodized aluminum and a glass panel over the entire front. The seventh major revision (late 2012) uses a different display unit, omits the SuperDrive, and uses different production techniques from the older unibody versions. This allows it to be thinner at the edge than older models, with an edge thickness of 5.9  mm (but the same maximum depth). It also includes a dual microphone setup and includes solid-state drive (SSD) or hard disk storage, or an Apple Fusion Drive, a hybrid of solid-state and hard disk drives. This version of the iMac was announced in October 2012, with the 21.5-inch (55 cm) version released in November and the 27-inch (69 cm) version in December; these were refreshed in September 2013, with new Haswell processors, faster graphics, faster and larger SSD options and 802.11ac Wi-Fi cards.

In October 2014, a major revision of the 27-inch (69 cm) iMac was announced, whose main feature is a "Retina 5K" display at a resolution of 5120 × 2880 pixels. The new model also includes a new processor, graphics chip, and IO, along with several new storage options.Retina 4K" display at a resolution of 4096 × 2304 pixels. It has the same new processor, graphics chip, and I/O as the 27-inch iMac, along with several new storage options.

On June 5, 2017, Apple announced a workstation-class version called the iMac Pro, which features Intel Xeon processors and standard SSD storage. It shares the design and screen of the 5K iMac but is colored in Space Gray rather than silver. Apple began shipping the iMac Pro in December 2017.

On April 20, 2021, Apple announced a 24" iMac (actual diagonal screen size is 23.5 in.Apple M1 processor, its first as part of its transition to Apple silicon.Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports, and two USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports on the higher configurations.

The announcement of the iMac in 1998 was a source of controversy and anticipation among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors. Opinions were divided over Apple"s drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple had suffered a series of setbacks as consumers increasingly opted for Wintel (Windows PCs with Intel CPUs) machines instead of Apple"s Performa models. Many in the industry thought that "beleaguered" Apple would soon be forced to start selling computers with a custom interface built on top of one or more potential operating system bases, such as Taligent, Solaris, or Windows 98.

Ken Segall was an employee at an L.A. ad agency handling Apple"s account who came up with the name "iMac" and pitched it to Steve Jobs. After Jobs" death, Segall claimed Jobs preferred "MacMan" for the name of the computer, but after Segall pitched "iMac" to him twice, the name was accepted.Internet",adopted the "i" prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines, such as iPod, iBook (later MacBook), iPhone, iPad and various pieces of software such as the iLife, iCloud suite and iWork and the company"s media player/store, iTunes.

Attention was given to the out-of-box experience: the user needed to go through only two steps to set up and connect to the Internet. "There"s no step 3!" was the catch-phrase in a popular iMac commercial narrated by actor Jeff Goldblum.border collie Brodie, with an iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with an HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds,

By 2005, it had become more and more apparent that IBM"s development for the desktop implementation of PowerPC was grinding to a halt. Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference that it would be switching the Macintosh to the x86 architecture and Intel"s line of Core processors. The first Intel-equipped Macs were unveiled on January 10, 2006: the Intel iMac and the introductory MacBook Pro. Within nine months, Apple had smoothly transitioned the entire Macintosh line to Intel. One of the highly touted side benefits of this switch was the ability to run Windows on Mac hardware.

The timeline of iMac from 1998 to 2021, comparing it with the original Macintosh 128K (1984). This chart shows the change in the physical characteristics and appearance of the product.

On July 27, 2010, Apple updated its line of iMacs to feature the new Intel Core "i-series" processors across the line. The 21.5" models now feature the Core i3 processor, but these are upgradable to the Core i5. The high-end 27" features a Quad-Core i5 processor, which is upgradable to a Quad-Core i7. On this date, Apple also announced its new "Apple Magic Trackpad" peripheral, a trackpad similar to that of the MacBook Pro for use with iMac or any other Apple computer. Apple also introduced a AA NiMH battery charger intended to simplify the use of batteries in these peripherals. Apple offers an option to use a solid-state drive instead of a large mechanical drive.

On May 3, 2011, Apple updated its iMac line with the introduction of Intel Thunderbolt technology and Intel Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors as well as a 1 mega pixel high definition FaceTime camera, features which were first introduced in the MacBook Pro line in February 2011.

On October 23, 2012, a new iMac was announced (for a November/December release) with a substantially thinner edge, new Apple Fusion Drive, faster processors (Intel Core i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge) and graphics along with updates to the ports, but with the same overall depth (stand depth: 8 inches (20.3  cm)). To reduce the edge, the SuperDrive was removed on these iMacs.

On October 16, 2014, a new version of the 27-inch (69  cm) iMac was announced, whose main feature is a "Retina 5K" display at a resolution of 5120 × 2880 pixels.processor, graphics chip, and I/O, along with several new storage options. This computer was designed with professional photographers and video editors in mind, with the 5K resolution allowing 4K video to be played at its native resolution in Final Cut Pro, with room for toolbars on the side.

On June 6, 2017, Apple’s 21.5-inch iMac, which has a "Retina 4K" display at a resolution of 4096 × 2304 pixels, and the latest Intel 7th generation i5 processor, was announced. The iMac has Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz supported, and a 1 TB hard drive. Apple’s iMac with 4K display has Intel Core i5 quad-core processor with 3 GHz or 3.4 GHz clock speed. The RAM on board is 8 GB, and it will support a Turbo boost of up to 3.8 GHz. This iMac has options of 1 TB hard drive or 1 TB Fusion Drive. This 21.5-inch iMac also has the option of Radeon Pro 555 with 2 GB of video RAM for graphics or a Radeon Pro 560 with 4 GB of video RAM. Apple’s 27-inch iMac with the 5K display comes with the quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, which is clocked at 3.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz, or 3.8 GHz. This iMac supports a Turbo boost of up to 4.2Ghz and comes with 8 GB RAM option.

In March 2019, Apple updated the iMac to feature 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processors and Radeon Vega graphics. Unlike most other Apple releases, Apple opted not to announce the iMac at an event; instead, they updated the specs and released a press statement. For the first time, the iMac can support 6-core or 8-core Intel processors. Apple claims the 21.5-inch model is up to 60% faster than the previous model, and the 27-inch is up to 2.4 times faster. The exterior of the machine remained the same as the previous model.

On August 4, 2020, Apple refreshed the iMac models. The smaller 21.5-inch model was updated with SSDs standard. The 27-inch model received 10th generation Intel chips, a T2 Security chip, a 1080p camera, studio-quality microphone, an option for nano-textured glass, as well as SSDs standard. The 27-inch model now has SSDs soldered to the motherboard, which means the storage is no longer replaceable, and in order to replace a hard drive the entire motherboard must be replaced and any data on the drive will be wiped.

The original iMac was the first legacy-free PC.USB port but no floppy disk drive. Subsequently, all Macs have included USB. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both x86 PCs and Macs. Previously, Macintosh users had to seek out certain hardware, such as keyboards and mice specifically tailored for the "old world" Mac"s unique ADB interface and printers and modems with MiniDIN-8 serial ports. Only a limited number of models from certain manufacturers were made with these interfaces and often came at a premium price. USB, being cross-platform, has allowed Macintosh users to select from a large selection of devices marketed for the Wintel PC platform, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, USB flash drives, and mice. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of its product line.

Borrowing from the 1997 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, the various LCD-based iMac designs continued the all-in-one concept first envisioned in Apple"s original Macintosh computer. The successful iMac allowed Apple to continue targeting the Power Macintosh line at the high-end of the market. This foreshadowed a similar strategy in the notebook market when the iMac-like iBook was released in 1999. Since then, the company has continued this strategy of differentiating the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple"s focus on design has allowed each of its subsequent products to create a distinctive identity. Apple avoided using the beige colors that were then common in the PC industry. The company would later drift from the multicolored designs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The latter part of the decade saw Apple using anodized aluminum; glass; and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics among their build materials. Today many PCs are more design-conscious than before the iMac"s introduction, with multi-shaded design schemes being common, and some desktops and laptops available in colorful, decorative patterns.

iMac has received considerable critical acclaim, including praise from technology columnist Walt Mossberg as the "Gold Standard of desktop computing";Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET"s "Must-have desktop" in their 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks.

Apple faced a class-action lawsuit filed in 2008 for allegedly deceiving the public by promising millions of colors from the LCD screens of all Mac models while its 20-inch model only held 262,144 colors.Twisted nematic LCD screens. The case was dismissed on January 21, 2009.

While not a criticism of iMac per se, the integrated design has some inherent tradeoffs that have garnered criticism. In The Mythical Midrange Mac Minitower, Dan Frakes of Macworld suggests that with the iMac occupying the midrange of Apple"s product line, Apple has little to offer consumers who want some ability to expand or upgrade their computers, but do not need (or cannot afford) the Mac Pro.Mac mini"s introduction, there were rumors of a "headless iMac"Other World Computing provide upgrade kits that include specialized tools for working on iMacs.

Similarly, though the graphics chipset in some Intel models is on a removable MXM, neither Apple nor third parties have offered retail iMac GPU upgrades, with the exception of those for the original iMac G3"s "mezzanine" PCI slot. Models after iMac G5 (excluding the August 7, 2007 iMac updatemini-tower cannibalizing sales from the Mac Pro, Frakes argues there is enough frustration with iMac"s limitations to make such a proposition worthwhile. This disparity has become more pronounced after the G4 era since the bottom-end Power Mac G5 (with one brief exception) and Mac Pro models have all been priced in the US$1999–2499$ range, while base model Power Macs G4s and earlier were US$1299–1799. The current generation iMac has Intel 5th generation i5 and i7 processors, ranging from quad-core 2.7 GHz i5 to a quad-core 3.4 GHz i7 processor,

Windows XP can only be installed on Macs built up until late 2009 with Boot Camp 3 or earlier, excluding the late 2009 high-end 27-inch model. This includes Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier and copies of Mac OS X 10.7 that have not been updated to Boot Camp 4.

Windows Vista can only be installed on Macs built up until late 2009 with Boot Camp 3 or earlier, excluding the late 2009 high-end 27-inch model. This includes Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier and copies of Mac OS X 10.7 that have not been updated to Boot Camp 4.

Olivarez-Giles, Nathan (May 3, 2011). "Apple updates iMac line with quicker processors, graphics and Thunderbolt I/O". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 29, 2012.

Raletz, Alyson (June 7, 2012). "Man who came up with iMac name tells what the "i" stands for". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved March 30, 2013.

Rich DeMuro (November 22, 2006). Must-have desktop: Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (24-inch, 2.16 GHz). CNET (Internet). Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2007.

If you’re used to the coherence of the Apple cocoon, the PC monitor market is a strange and frightening place. Despite a long history of producing quality screens like the 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, Apple no longer makes monitors other than the insanely priced $5000 Pro XDR Display. Instead, Apple endorses the $700 24-inch LG UltraFine 4K Display and the $1300 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K Display by virtue of selling them—and them alone—in the online Apple store. Alas, those monitors are costly and, in my opinion, underwhelming apart from their pixel density.

Buying a monitor is like navigating a minefield. The market is full of 27-inch and larger screens that support only 1080p resolution and a pixel density of around 100 pixels per inch, about half of any Retina display you’re used to. Even if you find a sharp enough monitor, you may have trouble connecting it to your Mac. Many displays still feature hoary VGA ports that first appeared in 1987. Some have only HDMI ports (that’s a TV, not a monitor), and HDMI is chock full of gotchas: you could buy a 1440p monitor and, thanks to weird HDMI limitations, be stuck at a blurry 1080p resolution. Or you could buy a monitor that advertises USB-C connectivity only to find that the USB-C port works only for power and accessory connections, not video. One false step, and boom, you’ve got a worthless monitor.

If you use a 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display like many of us here at TidBITS, it’s easy to be spoiled by its pristine image quality. Unfortunately, there’s no way to press a Retina iMac into service as an external display—Target Display Mode works only with a small subset of pre-Retina iMacs. It’s challenging to find a reasonably priced display that fits the bill, especially since 5K monitors never took off (see “What Happened to 5K Displays?,” 16 November 2018).

During a recent Black Friday sale, Amazon reduced prices on LG monitors, which caught my attention because LG makes the panels Apple uses in iMacs. I’ve been in the market for a new monitor because my Dell monitor had developed an intermittent shadow across the display. Sometimes resetting the monitor’s settings would dispel it temporarily, sometimes not, and I had grown tired of fighting it all day.

Staring these cold, hard facts in the face, I decided to spend a bit more than I had hoped and buy the LG 27UK850-W, which usually sells for $450 but was on sale for $380. Even at full price, it’s $250 cheaper than the LG UltraFine 4K display and $850 less than the LG UltraFine 5K.

The LG 27UK850-W features a 27-inch IPS panel with a 3840-by-2160 resolution, which I calculate to be about 163 ppi. By comparison, the 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display features 219 ppi, and the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display offers 218 ppi. LG advertises 10-bit color, though a careful reading of the specs reveals that it’s actually an 8-bit display plus A-FRC, which approximates the other colors. The display features HDR10 support for the handful of Macs that support it, plus the Apple TV 4K and various videogame consoles. It supports 99% of the sRGB spectrum.

The screen can produce up to 350 nits of brightness, which is much less than the 500 nits that the Retina 5K iMac can emit. This isn’t a problem for my light-sensitive eyes, but it could be a dealbreaker if you like your brightness cranked up.

Sadly, you won’t find support for P3 wide color or Apple’s True Tone technology. The screen is matte, unlike the iMac’s glossy screen, and it features an anti-glare coating.

In terms of connectivity, the LG 27UK850-W features one USB-C port that supports data, video, and 60-watt charging; one DisplayPort; two HDMI ports; two USB-A ports; and a headphone jack. It comes with white USB-C, HDMI, and DisplayPort cables.

The LG 27UK850-W’s design is very Apple-esque, at least as of about 2005. The back of the monitor is encased in white plastic. The front bezels are black. LG advertises the display as “virtually borderless,” which means there is a bezel, but it’s a thin one on the top and sides. It has less bezel space than the iMac, though the thicker bezel on the bottom bothers me somewhat because it’s uneven (the iMac has a chin as well).

Note that the panel and stand do not come preassembled, but putting it together is as easy as putting the display face down on a table and clicking the stand into place. It also comes with a plastic ring you can clip around the stand arm to hold cables in place.

In addition to a height adjustment of 4.3 inches (110 mm), the display also tilts between -5º and 20º and rotates 90 degrees. However, I wouldn’t recommend buying this monitor to use in portrait orientation because the screen is so tall you feel as though you’re staring into the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also tends to pull at the cables a bit when you do this, so you need to be sure they have plenty of slack. The panel features a VESA mount if you’d prefer a different stand or monitor arm.

I like how the cables connect in the rear. Unlike my old Dell monitor, which awkwardly forced me to insert cables upward, the cables on the LG 27UK850-W plug straight into the back, making life much easier.

I’m more ambivalent about the LG 27UK850-W’s internal settings control system, a small joystick behind the bottom of the panel. A quick flick up or down shows display information. A flick left or right controls speaker volume. You click the joystick to access the menu or select on-screen items.

I’m even less happy about the gap between the screen and bezel, something that’s still commonplace among monitors. Don’t spray cleaner on the screen, as it could drip down and short out electronics because there’s nothing to block moisture and dust. I love the laminated, gapless display of the iMac for that reason. You’d think monitor makers could at least add a gasket, but cutting costs seems to be the main priority for most PC peripherals.

An interesting fact about the LG 27UK850-W is that, unlike most monitors that take a standard, three-prong power cable, it comes with a power brick that connects with a DC barrel plug. Some online reviewers complained about this approach, but I like that if the power supply fails, I can replace it without cracking open the monitor. I also like not having to fool with a big, clunky power cable if I need to move the monitor. Those three-prong power cables can be a bear to insert and remove.

Connectivity is almost as important as image quality. It’s hard to find monitors with the right assortment of ports. And they always have too many HDMI ports. I’d prefer two USB-C ports, two DisplayPorts, and just one HDMI port, if that. As noted previously, the LG 27UK850-W provides one USB-C port, one DisplayPort, two HDMI ports, two USB-A ports, and a headphone jack.

The USB-C port works as advertised, at least with my 2019 iMac and my 2016 MacBook Pro. I plugged the included cable into both machines and the picture popped up almost instantly. A nice feature of the LG 27UK850-W is that it prompts you to switch to the appropriate input when it detects a new device; just click the joystick to switch over. When my 13-inch MacBook Pro is connected to the monitor through USB-C, the monitor keeps the laptop charged.

HDMI, as always, is thorny. My Apple TV 4K connected to the LG 27UK850-W beautifully, with full 4K and HDR right away. I decided to connect my iMac to the monitor through HDMI, to leave the monitor’s DisplayPort open for my ThinkPad and its USB-C port for my MacBook Pro. However, the iMac doesn’t have HDMI output, and none of my USB-C hubs support 4K output. I ended up buying an inexpensive Anker USB-C to HDMI adapter, which works fine with full 4K 60 Hz output.

One minor annoyance is I can’t control the monitor’s speaker volume from the Mac; I have to use the monitor’s volume control. This seems to be a macOS limitation since I can control it from Ubuntu Linux on my ThinkPad just fine. It would be a bigger deal with a Mac mini, but since the iMac’s speakers are so much better than those in the LG 27UK850-W, I use those instead.

You’re probably wondering how the LG 27UK850-W compares to Apple’s Retina displays given that its 163 ppi is much lower than the 218/219 ppi in Apple’s iMacs. The LG 27UK850-W is still plenty crisp, but I noticed some eye strain after a few days of using it. Upon close inspection, I noticed that text on it is ever so slightly fuzzy compared to the 27-inch iMac. Even with font smoothing disabled, text on the LG 27UK850-W is fuzzy.

I think this is primarily an artifact of how Apple tunes macOS to look best on Retina displays.  When I crank my Linux machine to 4K, text on the LG 27UK850-W looks as razor-sharp as it does on the iMac’s screen, if not more so. (Don’t take this as an endorsement of Linux; it has more than its share of headaches, such as poor support of scaling to ultra-high-resolution displays.)

Speaking of scaling, the first thing I had to do when I connected my Macs to this display was open System Preferences > Displays. Then, on the window that appeared on the LG monitor, I selected Scaled and then the second option, which scales the resolution to match the 2560-by-1440 resolution of my iMac’s screen.

The LG 27UK850-W has a feature called Super Resolution+ that adds an extra layer of sharpness to the image. In other words, it adds aliasing or “jaggies.” It can be helpful when viewing soft text or upscaled content, and if you’re the sort of person who hates how smooth text looks on the Mac, you’ll probably love this feature.

I can confirm that the LG is not as bright as the iMac. I cranked up the brightness on both, and the LG is considerably dimmer. That said, I tend to find Apple displays painfully bright, so if you’re somewhat light-sensitive like me, this isn’t a big deal.

As for color, it looks pretty good after some calibration. I used the RTINGS settings for the LG 27UK650-W and installed their ICC color profile, which got me pretty close to the iMac’s display. Looking at the two side-by-side, the LG looks slightly duller than the iMac, though I don’t do enough graphics work to care much.

LG offers software to interface the monitor with a hardware calibrator, but it reportedly does not work with macOS 10.15 Catalina. That might be a dealbreaker for some professionals, but the good news is that the LG 27UK850-W has a slew of fine calibrations. Beyond just three-color adjustments, you can make six-color adjustments for red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow. I haven’t found that necessary.

The LG 27UK850-W has several built-in presets, none of which are particularly helpful. There’s a reader mode that acts like Night Shift, putting a yellow haze over the screen to reduce blue light, but it looks much weirder than Night Shift. There are the typical photo and cinema modes, which again look strange to me. There’s an HDR effect mode that tries to make everything look like HDR video, which is odd but interesting. And there are three special gaming modes: two for first-person shooters and one for real-time strategy games, which is something I’ve never seen before. I can’t comment on these modes, though I have found gaming presets helpful in the past because they often do special tricks to enhance the display’s response time.

Speaking of HDR, I don’t have a compatible Mac, but I do have an Apple TV 4K, and despite its 8-bit panel, HDR looks great on the LG 27UK850-W. The Apple TV 4K immediately turned on both 4K and HDR, and I was able to bump the chroma setting without issue. I sampled a few films that take advantage of HDR, such as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Fifth Element. Both looked great, with the full, rich color you’d see on an HDR-compatible iPhone or iPad. However, note that the LG 27UK850-W supports only HDR 10 and not Dolby Vision.

Viewing angles are fine. I haven’t noticed any color change or brightness dropoff as I move around my office. Nor is there any ghosting or other issues associated with cheap LCD screens.

The built-in 5-watt speakers are way better than those in my ThinkPad but not as good as my iMac’s speakers. I’d say they’re middle-of-the-road for speakers built into an LCD screen. However, I do enjoy the convenience of connecting an HDMI or DisplayPort device and having audio right there without having to set up additional speakers on my desk. It will make Apple TV testing easier.

I tested the headphone port while sampling movies from the Apple TV 4K. Sometimes monitor headphone jacks diminish the audio quality, but I was blown away at how good the audio sounded on my Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I much prefer connecting my headphones directly to my computer, but that’s not an option with the Apple TV 4K. If you want your monitor to act as a personal movie machine, the LG 27UK850-W is a great pick. Note that MaxxAudio is disabled when headphones are connected.

The LG 27UK850-W is a good monitor for the price, but no monitor on the market is as good as I’d like. If only Apple would bring back a modernized Thunderbolt Display!

Step 4: Familiarize yourself with your monitor’s display controls. They may be located on the monitor itself, on the keyboard, or within the operating system control panel.

In older versions of Windows, you can find the Color Calibration utility in the Display section of the Control Panel, which is listed under Appearance and Personalization.

Step 1: In MacOS, the Display Calibrator Assistant is located in the system preferences under the Displays tab, in the Color section. If you are having trouble finding it, try entering calibrate in Spotlight to scan through your computer’s various folders and files. The results should show an option to open the utility in the System Preferences panel.

The Lagom LCD Monitor Test Pages: Handy for both online and offline use, the Lagom LCD Monitor Test Pages not only allow you to adjust various things such as contrast and response time, but also allow you to download the images as a 120KB zip file, so you can check any monitor in-store that you are thinking about purchasing.

Want to find a way to use iMac as a monitor? While Apple’s target display mode is limited to 2009 to 2014 iMacs, fortunately, there are several other options to make use of that nice big screen on your iMac as a monitor.

Target display mode is an Apple solution to use iMac as a monitor with another Mac in a wired setup. It was a very popular feature for years, but when Apple launched its Retina iMacs starting in late 2014, support was dropped.

The good news is even if you don’t have an 8-year-old+ iMac that supports target display mode, you can still use iMac as a monitor with a variety of different options. Let’s dig into your 5 options…

This of course doesn’t offer Mac to Mac support, but if you want to use iMac as a monitor with an iPad, Sidecar is a great free solution. And it works wired or wirelessly.

This feature doesn’t work if you want to extend your iMac or iPad desktop space, but you can mirror from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch directly to an iMac or any other compatible Mac.

This might seem obvious but another choice is to pair your iMac with an external monitor and choose which one you want to be the primary display and secondary display.

If you happen to have an old iMac, you may be able to use target display mode but it will also need to be running macOS Catalina or earlier – same for the secondary Mac. Here’s what you’ll need to use iMac as monitor with the original solution.

You can use more than one iMac as a display, if each iMac is using a Thunderbolt cable to connect directly to a Thunderbolt port on the other Mac (not the other iMac).

Dell’s UltraSharp U2720Q was our main pick in an older version of this guide; compared with the S2722QC, it has a higher, 90 W USB-C charging rate and a slimmer border around the screen. If you can find it for around the same price as the S2722QC, it’s still worth considering. But as of this writing, it’s either out of stock or considerably more expensive than the S2722QC, and it’s just not worth paying extra for.

The biggest failing of the ViewSonic VG2756-4K is its mediocre 949:1 contrast ratio, which is okay in a budget monitor but harder to swallow in a model that usually costs around $500. Its performance in our color-accuracy tests was also mediocre. It has many of the other features we look for in a good 4K monitor, including a USB-C port, a USB hub (along with an Ethernet port), a flexible stand, and a three-year warranty. But its image quality is a step down from that of the Dell S2722QC and the HP Z27k G3.

Lenovo’s ThinkVision P27u-10 was our runner-up pick in an older version of this guide. It’s similar to the Dell S2722QC and the HP Z27k G3 overall, both in design and in the number and types of ports it has (though its USB-C port provides only 45 W of power, rather than the 65 W of the Dell monitor or the 100 W of the HP monitor). When we tested it in 2019, we found its colors to be fairly accurate but its contrast to be mediocre, and we also observed minor image-retention issues. In addition, its stand doesn’t swivel.

The LG 27BK67U-B and the LG 27BL55U-B are 4K monitors with good color that cost less than $400; the 67U-B has a USB hub and USB-C, whereas the 55U-B omits those features and generally costs less. But in our tests both monitors suffered from image retention, leaving behind noticeable afterimages that other budget monitors we tested didn’t have.

We dismissed the ViewSonic VP2768-4K and the BenQ PD2700U for their lack of USB-C connectivity, which is a must-have in $400-and-up monitors these days.

We dismissed the NEC EA271U-BK in 2019. It has handy features like picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture, and its stand and port layout are fine. But it generally costs more than our other 27-inch picks, so we didn’t test it in later rounds.

We also didn’t test the 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K Display, an even-higher-resolution screen for Macs with Thunderbolt 3. It’s very expensive, and getting it to work with Windows is either complicated or impossible depending on the PC you’re using.

The Acer B326HK and the BenQ PD3200U are sometimes cheaper than the 32-inch monitors we considered, but when we tested them in 2017 and 2019, respectively, we were disappointed by their mediocre contrast and color accuracy. They’re also missing newer features that we consider essential in a high-end monitor, such as a USB-C port.

We dismissed some 32-inch monitors without testing them because they were missing one or more of the features we were looking for. The ViewSonic ColorPro VP3268-4K lacked a USB-C port and didn’t cost much less than monitors that had one, and the BenQ EW3280U omitted a USB hub and had a limited stand that tilted the monitor up and down only.

Most companies have stopped making new 24-inch 4K monitors, but we did test the LG 24UD58-B against the Dell P2415Q in 2019. The LG’s screen was less accurate than the Dell’s by a wide margin. This model also had fewer ports (two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort connection), and its stand tilted the monitor up and down only.

We didn’t test the 24-inch LG UltraFine 4K Display, which Apple recommends for Macs that use Thunderbolt 3 ports. It also costs more than our other picks.

If you’re thinking of upgrading your Mac but don’t want to get rid of your trusty old iMac, here we show you how to use an iMac as an external monitor including with M1 & M2 Macs such as the Mac Studio.

It’s important to be aware from the start that it’s far simpler and you’ll get much better quality resolution by using  a dedicated external display than an iMac as an external monitor.

This is especially true when trying to use an iMac as an external display for video editing or graphic design with the M1/M2 MacBook Pro, M1/M2 MacBook Air, M1 Mac Mini and the Mac Studio.

Not all iMacs can be used an external monitor. Only iMacs from 2009 to 2014 can be used as an external display with another Mac because they have something called Target Display Mode which Apple has since dropped from the iMac.

This is because the resolution in Retina iMacs was so high, that a Thunderbolt port would not be powerful enough to support it without increasing the bandwidth of Thunderbolt ports to support Retina displays.

If you have an iMac built between 2009 to 2014 with Target Display Mode, you an use it with your Intel Mac Mini, Intel MacBook Air or Intel MacBook Pro as an external monitor.

2009 – 2010 24-inch and 27-inch iMacs: Can be used an external monitor with any Mac that has a Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2 port

Apple Silicon M1 and M2 Macs cannot use iMacs that support Target Display Mode as an external display because they do not support macOS Catalina which the Primary Mac needs to run in order to connect to an iMac with Target Display Mode.

However, there are other solutions that allow you to use any iMac as an external display with an M1 or M2 Mac such as the Mac Studio which we’ve covered here.

We therefore wouldn’t recommend using an iMac as an external display on an M1 or M2 Mac if you’re doing video editing unless you use a Thunderbolt or Ethernet cable to connect the monitors using Luna Display which supports 5K and reduces lag significantly.

Connect it to the Mac you want to use it with either with a Mini DisplayPort cable or Thunderbolt cable. If it has both, then Thunderbolt is preferable as it also allows you to use more than one iMac as a display at once. Most Intel Macs can support at least one or two external Thunderbolt displays and the latest Mac Studio with M1 Max or M1 Ultra chip can support up to 4 Thunderbolt displays.

Your iMac should automatically enter Target Display Mode but if it doesn’t, press CMD+F2 to activate it. You’ll see the desktop or screen of the Mac you’re connected to on the iMac.

If you want to play music on your source Mac and hear the audio come out of the speakers on your iMac, then go to the Apple logo in the top left of your screen, select System Preferences > Sound > Output and select the iMac as your output device.

Your Mac also won’t recognize any other ports on your iMac. If you want to connect an external hard drive for example, you must plug it into your source Mac, not the iMac it is connected to.

Any applications or software that are open on your iMac will also continue to run in the background consuming far more energy than a standard external display and generate a lot more heat.

Apple Silicon M1 and M2 Macs do not support connecting to iMacs with Target Display Mode because the primary Mac needs to be running macOS Catalina which is not supported by Apple Silicon Macs.

All MacBook Pros or MacBook Airs from 2018 onwards, iMac or Mac Pros from 2019 onwards, the ‌iMac‌ Pro, and the 2020 or later Mac mini support AirPlay.

AirPlay 2 mode is a feature in macOS Monterey that allows you to wirelessly share a screen and audio with another Apple device including iMacs running Monterey.

This means that AirPlay can’t utilize the full retina resolution on your iMac and it definitely won’t be able to use the full 5K resolution on 5K iMacs.

Because AirPlay requires Monterey on your iMac, you can only use a 2019 iMac or later or 2017 iMac Pro as an external monitor using AirPlay. It won’t work on older iMacs.

On the Primary Mac that you’re connecting to your iMac’s display, go to System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar, select Screen Mirroring and check the box Show In Menu Bar and select Always from the drop down menu.

You can then either use a USB-C or Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt cable to connect your Mac to the iMac or use Wifi. For less lag, we recommend using a Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt cable.

On the Primary Mac, go to the Menu Bar at the top of the screen and click on the Screen Mirroring symbol (which looks like two small black bars) and in the drop-down menu that appears, you will see your iMac. You can choose whether to Mirror the display or Use as a Separate Display. We recommend choosing Use as a Separate Display because the image quality is much higher than mirroring.

Finally go to the Screen Mirroring symbol in the Menu Bar again and select Display Preferencesand click on the Arrangement tab. You can then arrange the displays as they are on your desk so that dragging the mouse cursor to the left for example makes it appear on the iMac screen if it’s positioned to the left of your Primary Mac on your desk.

Luna Display is from the makers of Astropad and is a small dongle that connects to the Thunderbolt port on your Mac including M1 & M2 Macs and allows you to transmit images and audio from any Mac to an iMac.

If you have an M1 Mac Mini, Luna Display will also connect to an iMac display via Ethernet too or via Ethernet to any M1/M2 Mac using a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter.

This does mean that you will need to use two Thunderbolt ports – one for the Luna Display dongle and one to connect your Mac to the iMac – but it’s well worth it.

Like AirPlay though, you can also run Luna Display over a WiFi connection as long as your Mac and iMac are connected to the same WiFi network although the quality and performance are not as good as using a Thunderbolt cable.

Open the Luna Display app on your iMac. Click on Setup and you’ll also have the option o grant Luna permission to use your iMac keyboard with your M1 Mac if you want.

You can also enable Retina resolution which is the real outstanding advantage of Luna Display compared to other ways of using an iMac as external monitor.

Although the big advantage of Luna Display is support for using an iMac as an external monitor at 5K, it can be unstable at times and cause kernel panics which crash the Primary or Source Mac.

When Duet detects the iMac the message will change from  “Connect to Mac or PC” to “Launching Duet” and you should see your Primary Mac screen on the iMac display.

You can customize the quality of the image you see on your iMac with Duet Display by going into the Settings and you can configure it to use the highest possible resolution that your monitor supports including 4K.

Look, people have wanted Apple to sell the 5K display from the now-discontinued 27-inch iMac as a standalone product for years now. When that first 27-inch 5K iMac came out in 2014, the display was so far ahead of the competition that buying one for the screen alone represented a bargain — that there was an entire computer attached to it was almost a bonus.

So now Apple’s gone and discontinued the 27-inch iMac and essentially replaced it with the new Mac Studio and the new 27-inch Studio Display. If the Mac Studio represents the fulfillment of a 20-year-old Mac power user’s dream, the Studio Display should be the fulfillment of a similar dream that’s been around since 2014: just give us the iMac’s 27-inch 5K display.

Apple is generally terrific when it comes to displays across its devices, and the Studio Display is great at the basics: it’s clear, it’s sharp, it’s bright. If you have ever looked at a 27-inch 5K iMac display, you know exactly what this thing looks like. The Studio display is the same 27-inch size, the same 5120x2880 resolution, the same 218 pixels per inch, the same 60Hz refresh rate, and has the same single-zone LED backlight. The only real spec difference is that Apple says the Studio Display now has a “typical brightness” of 600 nits vs. 500 on the iMac, but in my actual typical use next to a 2015-vintage 27-inch iMac, that’s pretty hard to see.

The real issue is that $1,599 is a lot of money, and here, it’s buying you panel tech that is woefully behind the curve. Compared to Apple’s other displays across the Mac, iPhone, and iPad lineup, the Studio Display is actually most notable for the things it doesn’t have.

The Studio Display has… well, it has none of that. It’s a regular old LED backlight that lights the entire screen all the time, and the darkest black it can produce is basically gray. In normal use in a well-lit room, it looks fine enough — LCD displays have looked like this for a long time now — but if you’re watching a movie in a dark room, the letterboxing will look light gray. There are $379 TVs with more advanced local-dimming backlights than this.

Our rule has always been to review products based on what we have in front of us and never against the promise of a future software update, and based on what I have in front of me, I simply wouldn’t want to use this camera. The cameras on the new MacBook Pro and M1 iMac are far superior to what we’re seeing here, and an iPhone front camera is even better still. I’m hopeful Apple will improve things via software in the future, but I would not spend $1,599 on this display until that actually happens.

The Studio Display comes with a nice braided Thunderbolt 4 cable in the box; that same cable can deliver 96W of power to a laptop, enough to charge my 16-inch MacBook Pro. That cable connects to the Thunderbolt 4 port on the rear of the display; there are three USB-C ports next to it for peripherals. Ports! People like ‘em.

When Apple announced its $1,599 sibling to the $4,999 Pro Display XDR, I was among those disappointed that the long-anticipated model wasn"t simply a smaller, lower-brightness version of its big brother. Not that the 27-inch Apple Studio Display is disappointing: It has excellent color accuracy and surprisingly good speakers for a

The actual display is excellent, though not blow-your-socks-off outstanding. That"s because it"s a traditional IPS panel with a standard white LED backlight, albeit one without common artifacts like backlight or edgelight bleeding.

It"s rated for up to 600 nits with its default Apple P3-600 profile and hit about 590 in testing, but the black is a bit brighter than some other 600-nit monitors I"ve seen, too -- about 0.27 nits. And like many IPS panels, color and gamma are a little less consistent in the deep shadows than the rest of the range, though it doesn"t vary a lot. Contrast is about 1,100:1, which is pretty good for an IPS panel. Of course, sitting next to the Pro Display XDR you can see the obvious difference from the XDR"s only-OLED-is-better black level and its improved detail visibility in the darkest shadow areas.

Apple frequently refreshes its all-in-one system with new hardware upgrades. Today we have a closer look at the larger 27-inch unit, which gets new CPUs and GPUs, but it is also the first iMac with an optional matte screen. Apple calls it nano-texture glass and charges more than 600 Euros (~$709) for the option. We obviously want to find out whether this price is justified. We do not test many desktop systems, so we will mainly focus on the performance compared to other desktop and laptop components.

Our test unit ticked pretty much every box in the options list, only the storage and the RAM can be upgraded even further. Our unit with the Core i9 processor, Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD storage, 10 Gb/s Ethernet, and the nano-texture glass retails for 5,500 Euros (~$6,503). The base configuration of the iMac 27 currently starts at around 2,000 Euros (~$2,365).

The design of the Apple iMac did not change since 2015, but there is still not much to criticize about the design of the all-in-one system. The case is almost completely made of aluminum and the build quality is perfect. However, the iMac 27 is no lightweight at almost 9 kg, but at least the power adapter is already included inside the case. You can change the tilting angle to a certain degree (see pictures below), but you cannot adjust the height. It is possible to use Vesa adapters for optional mounts.

The black bezels still quickly attract fingerprints. We already know this from previous iMacs, and the problem is even more pronounced with the optional matte screen. You should therefore touch the case at the bottom of the aluminum case when you want to adjust the screen, otherwise you will have to clean the bezel.

The iMac is hardly convincing in terms of maintenance. You can only access the four RAM slots via a small cover at the rear. To remove the cover, you must push a little button above the connector for the power cable. The mechanism was a bit tight on our unit. All in all, the maintenance is still extremely limited for a desktop PC.

Like the current MacBooks, Apple still uses a Wi-Fi 5 module from Broadcom. The Wi-Fi signal in general is very stable and we did not notice any problems during our review period even when we downloaded larger files for our gaming benchmarks, but the transfer rates are still not very high. We already know this phenomenon from previous iMac models. Our standardized Wi-Fi test with the router Netgear Nighthawk RAX120 only determined around 600-700 Mb/s. The current MacBook Pro 16 with its Wi-Fi 5 module is a bit faster, but we have also included two Windows laptops in the comparison chart. Their Wi-Fi 6 modules manage much higher transfer rates.

Apple upgraded the webcam of the iMac, but the jump is not huge. Instead of the old 720p webcam, you now get a 1080p module. The quality is a bit better compared to many notebooks, but it is not a really good camera, either. There are no space restrictions here, and especially in the current time with more home office work we would have liked to see a much better camera, for example a front camera from Apple"s iPhone portfolio.

The 27-inch 5K panel did not change. The resolution is still 5120x2880 pixels (16:9) and there are no scaling issues in macOS. It is still a glossy panel by default, but now you can select the matte nano-texture glass for 609 Euros (~$720). Many manufacturers use additional matte filters, but the nano-texture is etched into the glass in this case. This process is supposed to ensure the same picture quality you get with a glossy screen. But does it work?

Not completely. The subjective picture impression is still very good, but the picture just does not look as vivid. Bright surfaces also look a bit grainy, but this is hard to notice from a regular viewing distance. Still, the matte panel works extremely well in bright rooms or when the iMac is located close to a window and we would always prefer it over a glossy screen for work. However, you have to decide for yourself whether you want to pay more than 600 Euros (~$709) for this feature.

There is hardly any visible backlight bleeding, despite the large panel and the high luminance. We can detect PWM flickering at a brightness of 66% or lower, but the high frequency of more than 22 kHz should not cause any problems.

We use the professional CalMAN software in combination with the X-Rite i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometer. Compared to the iMac Pro we reviewed back in 2018, the panel ID has changed and we measured better values across the board. The brightness is a bit higher (more than 500 cd/m² on average) and the black value is a bit lower, so the contrast ratio has improved. The color accuracy is very good out of the box and calibration is not necessary, because all the color deviations are already lower than 3 (compared to the P3 reference color space). We can only improve the color accuracy slightly with our own calibration; the corresponding profile can be downloaded for free in the box above.

The panel, like most Apple devices, targets the P3 color gamut and it is completely covered according to CalMAN (2D comparison). This means the panel is very well suited for picture or video-editing. True Tone (automatic adjustment of the color temperature to the environment) is supported and also very comfortable in practice, but you should deactivate this feature for the most accurate color presentation.

The viewing-angle stability on large desktop systems is not quite as important as on mobile devices, but Apple"s iMac does not reveal any weaknesses here with its IPS display.

The display backlight flickers at 22730 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 66 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting.

The processor is an Intel Core i9-10910, which is exclusive for Apple"s iMac. The CPU shows many similarities with the regular Core i9-10900 but has a slightly lower clock, so the i9-10910 should also consume a little less power. It offers 10 cores (20 threads) with a maximum clock of 5.0 GHz. Please see our tech section for more information.

The performance utilization of the Core i9 in the current iMac 27 is still decent and there is just a small drop under sustained workloads. Compared to the iMac Pro 2018 and especially the most powerful MacBook Pro 16, there is a significant performance advantage. So much about the current Intel situation, but then there is the problem with AMD CPUs. Even a 45 W processor like the Ryzen 7 4800H is not much slower, and AMD"s desktop counterparts are just much faster. AMD also managed to improve the single-core performance noticeably with the brand-new models like the Ryzen 7 5800X and is now ahead of Intel in these scenarios as well. According to rumors, there will be an iMac with Apple"s own silicon next year, and we are already curious to see what the performance will be like.

Thanks to the powerful components and especially the fast PCIe-SSD, the iMac is a very responsive system, and we did not notice any problems during our review period. Windows 10 also works very well when you run Windows 10 via BootCamp and it is a good choice when you want (or have to) use applications that are not available for Apple"s operating system. The results in the synthetic benchmarks (PCMark) are also very good, so there do not seem to be any limitations caused by the BootCamp drivers.

The iMac 27 is only available with SSDs, but a storage capacity of 256 GB for the base model (more than 2000 Euros, ~$2,365) is not much. However, you can get up to 8 TB SSD storage, even though the prices are extremely high at about ~3000 Euros (~$3,548) for the jump from 512 GB to 8 TB.

Note: The smaller iMac with the 21.5-inch screen is also shipped with a small 256 GB SSD by default, but there is still the option for a 1 TB FusionDrive, which is a combination of SSD cache and HDD storage. We cannot recommend this option, because the subjective system performance can be much worse in certain situations.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is an upper mainstream desktop graphics card, but the core clock is much lower compared to other versions of the RX 5700 XT and the iMac also falls behind in the benchmarks. Similar to the processor, we suspect that there is a limitation of the power consumption, and the graphics drivers might have an impact as well.

The old Radeon Pro Vega 56 of the 2018 iMac Pro is just beaten, and the current MacBook Pro 16 is much slower. Depending on the benchmarks, the performance sits between the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile and the RTX 2070 Mobile.

The gaming performance of the iMac is decent. We tried multiple titles running Windows 10, and 1080p with the maximum settings is no problem at all. Many titles even run smoothly in our 4K setting. There were some warning messages about the driver version, but the games still ran without a problem (like Doom Eternal or Horizon: Zero Dawn).

dB(A)0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2032.431.830.733.230.22526.529.32624.730.33130.129.327.128.830.74030.326.625.827.728.25026.227.525.825.3276326.929.723.923.524.38024.526.725.322.12510027.728.32523.525.212527.633.322.92223.916028.434.223.522.325.420026.833.7222223.925029.43423.822.624.931526.932.521.121.223.640025.630.520.520.522.650025.530.720.619.22263025.431.219.81921.680025.531.41918.221.810002329.318.217.919.8125028.334.318.917.123.1160026.933.117.516.623.5200033.638.417.716.326.5250025.531.316.11619.6315020.428.11615.616.6400017.222.815.715.516500016.119.515.515.515.6630016.220.315.715.515.6800016.220.115.715.515.61000015.617.415.515.415.51250015.516.215.315.315.31600015.215.615.11515.2SPL38.243.629.729.133.2N2.54.11.31.21.7median 25.5median 30.7median 18.2median 17.1median 21.8Delta4.75.332.53.9hearing rangehide medianshow medianFan NoiseApple iMac 27 Mid 2020

However, the performance utilization in the stress test is not particularly good, because the processor only runs at about 65 Watts (10x 3.0 GHz), which is significantly below the TDP recommendation of 125 W. The graphics card also runs at about 50% of the maximum clock. All in all, this shows that the cooling solution of the iMac 27 is insufficient for the components.

dB(A)0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2033.232.12524.728.53128.832.84027.733.85025.344.56323.560.78022.165.510023.572.41252273.316022.375.6200227525022.675.931521.273.740020.572.350019.272.16301975.180018.269.6100017.968.7125017.171.8160016.668.3200016.372.525001675.8315015.669.9400015.567.5500015.564630015.561.5800015.561.31000015.459.81250015.358.5160001567.2SPL29.182.9N1.262.1median 17.1median 71.8Delta2.53.33634.529.530.93130.229.830.629.434.728.345.226.557.325.562.523.667.722.167.323.569.62271.32170.620.974.219.872.818.970.418.573.318.273.417.771.617.371.417.369.71769.41769.41767.417.166.91768.317.166.417.163.11761.917.360.13082.31.360.7median 17.7median 69.41.92.3hearing rangehide medianshow medianPink NoiseApple iMac 27 Mid 2020Apple MacBook Pro 16 2019 i9 5500M

The consumption values are very similar to the old iMac 27 and lower compared to the iMac Pro. We measure a peak consumption of around 350 Watts under load, but it quickly levels off at around 250 Watts. We want to mention the extremely low consumption when the iMac is in stand-by or turned off. The iMac also performs much better than many compact notebooks in this respect.

Apple"s iMac 27 is still a good all-in-one system and offers a great 5K screen and design. The integrated speakers are also excellent and many users won"t need additional external speakers.

The problems start when we look at the performance of the components. Neither the CPU nor the GPU can utilize their full performance potential due to the limited cooling performance. Considering this, the optional components are not really worth it. The CPU comparison with current AMD models is another problem because they just offer much more performance. We are also not happy with the pulsating fans under combined workloads.The iMac 27 is still a good all-in-one system in 2020, but you have to be careful with the components you select. The performance utilization of the optional components is not great.

Then there is the new nano-texture glass. Yes, the matte surface works well and the picture quality is just marginally worse compared to the glossy models, but the additional price is steep at more than 600 Euros (~$709). If you are interested in an iMac, you should save the money for the optional processors and graphics card and get more storage or RAM instead.

Ever since it was released in August 1998, the iMac becomes one of the most popular desktop computers worldwide, and it evolved into many different forms. In 2009, a new version of the iMac is introduced to users, and it"s the first device with Target Display Mode. This new feature enables people to use the iMac as a monitor to display another device.

"Can I use my iMac as a monitor for PC?" Many people are curious about this question. Yes, you can use the iMac as a monitor for a PC as long as the iMac offers a target display mode and the Thunderbolt port or the Mini DisplayPort. Then, you can follow the steps in this post to connect and use an old iMac as a monitor.

2. Plug the end of a cable into the Thunderbolt port or the Mini DisplayPort of the iMac, and then plug the other end of the cable into the Thunderbolt or Display port on your PC.(Don"t use the adapter)

7.Don"t forget to adjust the screen resolution for optimal display quality. To match the relatively old iMac models, it"s advisable to select the 2560 x 1440 resolution on your PC.

To use an iMac as the monitor for a PC, the first step is to check if the system and version of your device are available. As to the operating system, the iMac should use macOS High Sierra or an earlier version. Besides, the iMac you want to use as the monitor should have a bi-directional Mini DisplayPort or a Thunderbolt port that enables your iMac to get the data input and work as a monitor for another device. There are mainly several types of iMac you can choose from.

Other iMacs also have the ports mentioned above. For instance, the 5K retina iMac that was released in 2014 has the Thunderbolt port. But it cannot work as a monitor for PC as it doesn"t support the Target Display Mode.

If it"s unnecessary to use the adapter, you only need to plug the end of a cable into the Thunderbolt port or the Mini DisplayPort of the iMac, and then plug the other end of the cable into the Thunderbolt or Display port on your PC.

After all the devices are correctly connected, the next step is to activate the Target Display Mode on iMac and mirror the PC screen to iMac. This part will give you the best straightforward method of using iMac as monitor for PC. Follow it if it"s useful for you.

Step 4.Don"t forget to adjust the screen resolution for optimal display quality. To match the relatively old iMac models, it"s advisable to select the 2560 x 1440 resolution on your PC.

What if you want to watch what is happening on the PC screen with your iMac, but the iMac you are using is unsuitable for the method above. There is an alternative way to do that, i.e., record the PC screen as a video and play the captured video on your iMac. To record a high-quality video, a powerful screen recorder that is compatible with your PC, like EaseUS RecExperts, is what you need.

This software supports recording screen with your audio and webcam simultaneously, and this feature enables you to record many types of video. Besides that, you can adjust the output format in accordance with the formats the video player supports. This is really helpful if you want to play the recorded video on iMac without converting the format.

"Can you use an iMac as a monitor?" This may be a problem that has troubled you for a long time. Luckily, this post solved it by offering you a detailed tutorial on how to use iMac as monitor for PC. You should pay attention to the model and system of the iMac, the way those devices get connected, and the method of activating the Target Display Mode.

What if your iMac doesn"t have a Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt port and doesn"t support the Target Display Mode? It"s optional to capture the PC screen as a video and p