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Australian's - Your experience's with quad core 27 inch iMac

M

MulgaBill

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2009
27
0
Sydney
I am about to purchase a quad core 27 inch iMac and just want some reassurance from people locally (Australia) that I'm not buying a lemon.

Reading bulletin boards can at times be counter intuitive as there tends to be more threads around issues and problems than anything else. But, this is what the boards, paradoxically are good for.

So, I would like to hear from anyone that has purchased a quad core 27 inch iMac. Are you experiencing excessive noise from the fans, does your drive make funny sounds, do you have a yellow tinge on your screen.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
MulgaBill said:
I am about to purchase a quad core 27 inch iMac and just want some reassurance from people locally (Australia) that I'm not buying a lemon.
Click to expand...

Hi MulgaBill. They all come from the same factory in Shanghai. Ordered mine on 24/10 and it arrived (Sydney) 16/11, so pretty much the first batch. I'm running it into the ground as much as I can to find any problems. So far, a little dust behind the screen and a slight yellow tinge on the lower right are the only problems.

My advice is the same as I've been saying all along. If you need the computer, buy it. If you don't need it, don't buy. If you buy and have problems, warranty will cover it. The only additional advice I have learnt in the last week or so thanks in part to this forum, is that
a) it's a hassle to have to return the computer, so you might have to think about that (but there is no way to know the odds of this) and
b) there is no point in returning an iMac at the moment as new ones are still coming out with the problems. If you have a problem and you can live with it, wait until Apple iron out the problems. Of course they are not going to announce this, so we have to rely on reports and build weeks to guide us there.
 
Good thread.

I too am waiting for a 27incher. However I am going to wait next year. I look forward to iLife 11 (10?) USB 3.0 and would like to wait until i9 ends up in an iMac.
 
There's an old philosophy when it comes to customer experiences - "no one hears about it when a customer is happy..."

Negative experiences generally get heard about more than positive ones because no one complains about the perfect experience ;)

That said, mine wasn't perfect, but turned out well.

I ordered mine on the 10th of November, got it last week. First day was great, wasn't DOA, no cracks in the screen, and the first 24 hours there was no screen flicker.

On the second day my true love gave to me, a screen with a flicker or three.

I decided to do a complete fresh installation, which has so far worked quite well, no issues, screen flicker free. Only complaint I have now is the Logitech diNovo Edge for Mac that I bought off eBay refuses to charge, so got to go through to the hassle of sending it overseas most likely - still, glad I didn't pay the $300ish AU for retail, $130ish shipped is much better - though I may end up going with just the plain jane diNovo that runs on batteries, even though I'd prefer the bluetooth equipped edge.

Incidentally I even upgraded the RAM with another 4GB of Kingston Apple Memory from RamCity - love the beast!
 
well i must be one of the lucky ones or you just dont hear about the ones that work with no problems because i received my i7 imac on the 16 of nov and have been using every day for web surfing games like wow sims3 video encoding even boot camp pretty much every thing and it has not given me any problems and no glitches:)
 
I recieved my i5 last week from Apple online. It is going back Monday due to the yellow screen. I went and purchased another one from Robina last night, got home, turned it on. Found a stuck pixel in the middle of the screen and also the yellow tinge. Boxed it back up, took it back, got another replacement.

I thought, ok, I will check it out in store before I leave. Screen looks fine so I thought, this is great. Got home, set it up and what do I hear. The high pitched noise when brightness is reduced :( I am NOT happy. Looks like this one will be going back too. I couldn't hear the noise in store as it was busy and noisy. In a quiet room, it pierces through your brain :(

I am starting to think if you don't have a yellow screen issue it will be the high pitched noise issue and vice versa :(

I think I will just get a refund and wait for the next revision.
 
I got an i5 and an i7, both are perfect and wonderful to use. Both have no issues, both screens have no dead pixels, have no cracks, both machines started first go. The screens are bright, nice and white, no flickering.

I couldn't be happier. both been running for 2 days, and no issues at all. No kernel panics, no restarts. I know there have been a reports of duds, but there are plenty of good ones too!
 
I think you will hear more from people who have experienced problems.

I have had the Core 2 Duo version purchased a few days after release, and have had no screen problems, or high pitched drive noise it is totally stealth.

The screen is amazing and even this version flies.

I'm still waiting on my i5 order from a reseller.

There have been a lot of people wo have had either cracked screens, flickering screens or the dreaded yellow tinge, but it would be hard to place a percentage on the number of failures.
 
I love my machine, but here are some honest observations:

It's bloody fast. It seems that you don't have to wait for it to do anything. Installing and launching programs is when you notice it in particular....it's all very quick!

The screen is massive and I do love it but I can't help but feel I probably don't enjoy it as much as I could have because the last computer I had used 2 wide screens allready.

I'm not entirely sold on the magic mouse to be honest. The touch features are nice, but like the newer MacBook touch pads, if your fingers get a bit sweaty or clammy, it becomes "grippy" and hard to use and you find the whole thing moves when you try scroll or swipe gestures. The tracking is too slow also. You can thank the massive screen resolution for this as you seem to have to move the mouse from one side of your desk to the other just to move the cursor around the screen even with the tracking turned right up! There is a 3rd party solution to this however.

Ironically, because the screen resolution is so massive, all the text/popup windows/message windows/folders are next to impossible to read! I had to go though and change the icon sizes and text sizes, but there are some fonts you can't even change! The menu bar for instance you need a magnifying glass to see and good luck with the internet!! Tinker Tool will help a bit, but it's a shame that "out of the box" there is no option to assist you with this.

The speakers are nice and clear. They are loud but lack a bit of bass in my opinion. Again though, the computer this iMac is replacing had surround speakers with a sub-woofer so there you go.

That's all that stands out for me. No screen issues. No noisy hard drive. Hope this helps someone.
 
All,

Many thanks for the response.

plasticphyte I agree that you don't hear about the good stories, it just seems that with the 27 inch imac there is an unusual number of not so good ones.

Alicia1 what eventually happened? Did you go a refund?

Dvtch thanks for your input, interesting to get your thoughts on the magic mouse and font sizes.
 
Picked up my i5 last Wednesday. It's fast and silent, and the screen is just ... beautiful. Not a single complaint.
 
Alicia1 said:
I recieved my i5 last week from Apple online. It is going back Monday due to the yellow screen. I went and purchased another one from Robina last night, got home, turned it on. Found a stuck pixel in the middle of the screen and also the yellow tinge. Boxed it back up, took it back, got another replacement.

I thought, ok, I will check it out in store before I leave. Screen looks fine so I thought, this is great. Got home, set it up and what do I hear. The high pitched noise when brightness is reduced :( I am NOT happy. Looks like this one will be going back too. I couldn't hear the noise in store as it was busy and noisy. In a quiet room, it pierces through your brain :(

I am starting to think if you don't have a yellow screen issue it will be the high pitched noise issue and vice versa :(

I think I will just get a refund and wait for the next revision.
Click to expand...

Bought standard i5 on black friday from Robina Apple and yellow tinge found. Replacement on Saturday still got yellow tinge. Third Replacement on Sunday yellow again. So basically 3 imacs in 3 days. All got the same yellow tinge problem. And the sales people are nice, but very disappointed on apple in regards to the product quality~~~
BTW the sales person in Robina said my one is the first one been returned because of the yellow issue, but obviously it's not!!! They know that!!!!
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
Good thread.

I too am waiting for a 27incher. However I am going to wait next year. I look forward to iLife 11 (10?) USB 3.0 and would like to wait until i9 ends up in an iMac.
Click to expand...

It's unlikely that you'll get either i9 or USB3 in iMacs next year (you will probably get speed-bumped version of the current iMacs) ... try again in 2011. :)
 
MulgaBill said:
All,

Many thanks for the response.

plasticphyte I agree that you don't hear about the good stories, it just seems that with the 27 inch imac there is an unusual number of not so good ones.

Alicia1 what eventually happened? Did you go a refund?

Dvtch thanks for your input, interesting to get your thoughts on the magic mouse and font sizes.
Click to expand...

As sad as I am to say it, I will be taking mine back to Robina on Thursday night. TNT picked up my original one today. I hope when I get my 4th from Robina it will be ok. I left it a few more days in hope that Robina get another batch in. I will give it one more go and if I get another dud, I will just ask for a refund. If only this current one didn't have the high pitched noise :(

I set up the yellow tinged one next to my current one and the difference was amazing. It wasn't just the bottom that was yellow, it was yellow all over!! I couldn't believe the difference and even my mum commented and she doesn't know the first thing about computers. I checked in preferences and the manufacturer and model of the panels is exactly the same yet one is white and the other yellow. Go figure.
 
MulgaBill said:
All,

Many thanks for the response.

plasticphyte I agree that you don't hear about the good stories, it just seems that with the 27 inch imac there is an unusual number of not so good ones.

Alicia1 what eventually happened? Did you go a refund?

Dvtch thanks for your input, interesting to get your thoughts on the magic mouse and font sizes.
Click to expand...

twas said:
Bought standard i5 on black friday from Robina Apple and yellow tinge found. Replacement on Saturday still got yellow tinge. Third Replacement on Sunday yellow again. So basically 3 imacs in 3 days. All got the same yellow tinge problem. And the sales people are nice, but very disappointed on apple in regards to the product quality~~~
BTW the sales person in Robina said my one is the first one been returned because of the yellow issue, but obviously it's not!!! They know that!!!!
Click to expand...

I bet they gave you the first one I took back Thursday night. Did it look to be open at all? I always wonder if they try to sell the duds to somebody who may not notice........ Did you end up getting a refund or trying a 4th??? I hope they get another batch in before Thursday.
 
Alicia1 said:
As sad as I am to say it, I will be taking mine back to Robina on Thursday night. TNT picked up my original one today. I hope when I get my 4th from Robina it will be ok. I left it a few more days in hope that Robina get another batch in. I will give it one more go and if I get another dud, I will just ask for a refund. If only this current one didn't have the high pitched noise :(

I set up the yellow tinged one next to my current one and the difference was amazing. It wasn't just the bottom that was yellow, it was yellow all over!! I couldn't believe the difference and even my mum commented and she doesn't know the first thing about computers. I checked in preferences and the manufacturer and model of the panels is exactly the same yet one is white and the other yellow. Go figure.
Click to expand...

I never cease to be amazed why people keep buying them in this situation..

amazing..
 
Alicia1, hopefully you'll get a winner this time around. My thinkning at present is to wait until the new year and hopefully the bugs will have been ironed out.

jvalente, pedant that you are, my apologies if I offended with such careless use of an apostrophe :) I hope things go well for you with the iMac. Let me know how it turns out.
 
twas said:
Are you sure you do not have yellow tinge? what's the production week?
Click to expand...

46, apparently. If I change the background to pure white and look at the screen so my eyes are closer to the bottom than the top, I can almost imagine there's a slight tinge...but any other colour or with my vision perpendicular to the screen, and no.

So sorry guys, looks like mine's perfect :D
 
MulgaBill said:
All,

Many thanks for the response.

plasticphyte I agree that you don't hear about the good stories, it just seems that with the 27 inch imac there is an unusual number of not so good ones...
Click to expand...

True - but we don't know how many units these 'duds' represent out of total sold, for all we know it could be 1% or even 0.5%.

At any rate, like with all things sold, it's a matter of having to bite the bullet and do it - if you have any problems that is what the 14 day return period is for, and then the 1yr warranty (without AppleCare) is there for when that has passed.
 
plasticphyte, point well taken and even now I'm still very tempted. I'll be in the city again tomorrow and will inevitably swing by the Apple store, who knows.

AlexisV, what can I say. Please accept my sincere apologies for abusing the Queens (I couldn't resist) English in such a way. However, what we antipodean's (and again) lack in apostrophe etiquette we make up for in cricket :)
 
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