[Leica] iMac 27" 5K—first impressions

[hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter)]

I had been hoping that Apple would introduce a 4K display that I could drive 
with my years-old Mac Pro desktop, though it didn?t seem likely that the old 
machine would have the horsepower or compatibility to be able to do so, but 
when I heard that the new iMac was expected to have a Retina screen, I had 
some reason to hope that they?d also bring out a standalone display with the 
same screen.

They didn?t, but they did something better. The new iMac has a *5K* screen, 
which is Retina resolution (217 ppi) across a 23.5 x 13.2-inch display area, 
5120 x 2880 pixels, for a mind-boggling total of just under 15 Megapixels, 
comparable to the pixel count of serious digital cameras. Apple had been 
selling the Sharp 4K display through its stores for $3600, so the new iMac 
with 5K priced at $1000 less than that, with almost twice the pixel count 
and, oh yes, a top-line computer inside, was jaw-dropping. Given all the 
above, I decided to replace my Mac Pro with the new 5K iMac rather than 
hoping eventually for a (now, probably) 5K standalone display that I likely 
couldn?t use with the Mac Pro anyway. (Unfortunately, the data rate required 
to drive the screen exceeds the capabilities of current peripheral 
interconnect protocols and hardware, so there is not a ?target mode? 
available that would allow even a new Mac Pro to use the 5K iMac as its 
display.)

And I must say that to see a brilliant display of a multi-megapixel image 
18? from my face, presented at nearly pixel-for-pixel correspondence to the 
original file, is astounding. I am not only newly impressed by the 
phenomenal detail of the screen, which is unprecedented, but impressed all 
over again by the staggering detail captured by a sensor the size of a 
postage stamp?not news, but now, seen for the first time in its entirety and 
at this size and resolution, beyond impressive. My desktop image at the 
moment is from my Sony NEX7 with kit 18-45 zoom @ 24mm (APS-C sensor, 36mm 
equiv FL), and I fully believe that it is at least as sharp and detailed as 
the same scene captured on MF film would be. It was taken from the top 
observation deck of the Eiffel Tower looking straight down, and it clearly 
shows, for example, two separate legs in the shadows of people standing on 
the plaza almost 900 feet below. I have to take off my glasses and move in 
to 6? from the screen to see even a suggestion of a pixel structure in the 
screen. (Also, staring at it with no text window on the desktop gives me 
vertigo!) Working with images on this screen is going to be a GREAT pleasure!

?howard