i7 27" died last night

[09iMac=Fail]

Ask any of the zealots to provide evidence that even 1% of iMacs are faulty.
They cannot.
I ask them now – show evidence that even a mere 1% of the new model iMacs are faulty.
Silence. Apart from the sound of them thinking "Duh, how can I possibly defend my non-stop assertions that ALL iMacs are faulty if I can't even show that 1% are no good? Woe is me!"

That's a bit of a funny proposition coming from a guy who returned his iMac twice due to defects. You're now on your 3rd iMac, right?

On the flip side of that argument is where someone asks the other zealots to provide evidence that 99% of the new iMacs are not faulty. See what I'm getting at? Your argument is a bit of a stalemate. We'll just have to respectfully agree to disagree.

 

[urfish]

Long time user, first time poster.

Perhaps another viewpoint will help folks considering buying one of these beautiful machines.

I started using macs in '92 for desktop publishing as it was starting to supplant our traditional methods of paste-up in a pretty meaningful way. I was a build it your self pc dude at the time tasked with keeping a room full of quadras, fxs, and classics running alongside the typical DOS AT boxes. Even back then the macs required significantly less effort to keep running and "just worked."

I quickly switched to a mac when I could afford my own. Unfortunately for me, my first mac was a clone (power computing 100 in '95), so I didn't get the real apple experience at home. But the machine was solid and lasted many years. After that I bought a G4 "yikes" which I only retired after a processor daughterboard upgrade about 3 years ago.

My current setup sees me with multiple ipods, an iphone, a powermac g5 dual 2.0 (Pci-X), 2x mac minis (one for entertainment center, one for my wife's primary computer) a macbook, an apple TV, and the responsiblity of specifying and purchasing any apples for my design company.

I also have 4 family members running macs that I'm responsible for remotely maintaining and recommending.

Across all these platforms, apple has proven time and time again to me that it not only produces excellent hardware solutions, but that these solutions are usually engineered to last longer than their PC counterparts.

That being said, all my experiences haven't been perfect. Out of the 3 powerMac towers I've purchased in the current aluminum enclosure, I've only had one that wasn't DOA. Apple took care of the other two, both of which had power supply issues (one dead, the other dying), very quickly and with exchanges. I had one (of 3) minis arrive DOA. Not sure what the issue was, it kept reading an overheat and shutting down. Same with my first ipod Touch. Too many dead pixels in my first one. Quick easy exchange.

Personally, I get the impression (yes, impression—I could be wrong) that most manufacturers these days use the end consumer as quality assurance. There's an acceptable number of failures and products don't get tested before they're shipped. Apple included.

This is why I've started buying apple refurbs. I've never had a DOA refurb, and I believe they carry the same warranty.

I very dearly wish to replace my aged dual 2.0 G5 with a new imac, but I too am given pause by the unusually loud, specific, and consistent complaints coming from end users.

Anyway, thought my experiences might help someone making their decision. Something like this (for me) shouldn't be a hurried purchase. Apple might remedy some of these issues in a Rev-B or a new firmware patch. Who knows. I know this is something I expect will last another 5 years. Waiting 6 months for a clearer picture doesn't bother me.

Best of luck with your decision, and let's hope that we're all wrong and that this isn't a downward trend apple's facing as they try to scale operations up to manage the increased demand for their products.

 

[spcdust]

care to elaborate..?

I'm just calling you out.

This forum is to help users yet you offer no help what so ever, the only post you write is how rubbish Apple is - end of. Your contribution to this forum is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and it's an indictment of your personality that you feel the need to frequent this forum. My excuse for being here is I own an iMac, I want to hear what other users have to say and offer assistance where I can - I really cannot see what your motivation is?

 

[Btom]

.....
Are you serious? People with good iMacs are considered trolls or employees of Apple for saying their machine is problem free?
......

HLdan,

Exactly the same situation as with people discussing problems, who are being accused of being trolls send by competition, whiners, and in general party poopers.

Tom B.

I'd take a picture for you, but that'd be a waste of time trying to appease someone who can't be appeased....thanks for your constructive and intuitive post...

I was trying to be humorous, don't know if it worked. In any case picture is not necessary (and since it can be faked, too).
What I am trying to say is, that from about twelve 27" iMacs I have seen on display in various stores around where I live, more than half had VISIBLE yellow tinge (~~ 5% - 10% blue missing) at the bottom of the screen. Also, the screen flickering thread on the Apple own support site is already 3000 post long and counting (my comfort threshold would be ~1000 posts). Apple firmware update didn't seem to slow the threat down, that's why I am not having this warm and fuzzy feeling yet...

Tom B.

Perhaps another viewpoint will help folks considering buying one of these beautiful machines.
....

urfish,

Thanks for this very informative post!

Tom B.

 

[HLdan]

why..?

because I don't want to expose him to you?

he deals with enough problems with repairs each day. Speaking to you can only make anybodies day who suffers it..worse.

You're protecting a reseller from a customer? OK!!! What for? Cecil is just like any other customer. Makes no sense for you to be protecting a reseller unless the reseller doesn't exist along with the rest of your stories.

 

[archipellago]

You're protecting a reseller from a customer? OK!!! What for? Cecil is just like any other customer. Makes no sense for you to be protecting a reseller unless the reseller doesn't exist along with the rest of your stories.

believe what you like, you will anyway.

I was told in confidence, so whilst I can mention the story, Anonymity keeps that confidence.

no reason to lie, I only asked in store as I haven't seen a yellow iMac in the flesh... ironic no.?

 

[HLdan]

I was trying to be humorous, don't know if it worked. In any case picture is not necessary (and since it can be faked, too).
What I am trying to say is, that from about twelve 27" iMacs I have seen on display in various stores around where I live, more than half had VISIBLE yellow tinge (~~ 5% - 10% blue missing) at the bottom of the screen. Also, the screen flickering thread on the Apple own support site is already 3000 post long and counting (my comfort threshold would be ~1000 posts). Apple firmware update didn't seem to slow the threat down, that's why I am not having this warm and fuzzy feeling yet...

Tom B.

Well Tom, I live the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm within 30 minutes of 5 Apple stores. I've been in 3 of them, along with Best Buy and Fry's Electronics. Out of the 3 stores I've seen 8 of the 27" iMacs, I've checked them out using the plain grey background. I don't need a stupid test page. If I did then that proves my eyes don't see any issues on their own and I have a very good pair of reading glasses. None of them had a yellow tinge. I did notice only 1 machine had a flicker issue and Apple has addressed that. Since then I've seen nothing.

Also, I think you might want to check into reality in terms of those 3000 posts you see Apple's discussion page. You do realize that the same people post more than once, more than twice, more than 10 times a day? It would only take 30 people with 100 posts each (and that's nothing to a very vocal complainer) to create 3000 posts.

I understand your point that people with problems deserve to be heard as much as people with no problems but your defending the wrong set of people here and that worries me. You're quick to jump to the defense when someone accuses new registrants of MR to be an employee of a competitor that is doing their daily due diligence by posting FUD about Apple's new products. Doesn't make sense that you'd do that. What for? You shouldn't feel threatened about it unless you were one of them. After all, you are a new registrant and you certainly are defending it. You're not looking too good here.

 

[Sir Cecil]

I haven't seen a yellow iMac in the flesh.

So endeth the lesson. Clearly there is no point for anyone to heed a single word this fellow has ever uttered on the subject.

 

[archipellago]

I'm just calling you out.

This forum is to help users yet you offer no help what so ever, the only post you write is how rubbish Apple is - end of. Your contribution to this forum is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and it's an indictment of your personality that you feel the need to frequent this forum. My excuse for being here is I own an iMac, I want to hear what other users have to say and offer assistance where I can - I really cannot see what your motivation is?

I've helped loads, mainly by PM and mainly away from Apple. That is 'assistance', you may not like it.

I've even helped other UK'ers with small claims procedure on faulty Macs, that failed 14 mths into existence after Apple UK effectively gave them the finger.

saving them time and considerable sums of money.

I have no truck with anyone who wants to use Apple products or OS X.

I don't like companies NOT standing behind their products and/or deceitful and downright misleading advertising.

I could go all day on that one...

So endeth the lesson. Clearly there is no point for anyone to heed a single word this fellow has ever uttered on the subject.

"Do you need to fall off a cliff to know that it hurts..?"

Tony Hancock 1959

 

[spcdust]

I've helped loads, mainly by PM and mainly away from Apple. That is 'assistance', you may not like it.

I've even helped other UK'ers with small claims procedure on faulty Macs, that failed 14 mths into existence after Apple UK effectively gave them the finger.

saving them time and considerable sums of money.

I have no truck with anyone who wants to use Apple products or OS X.

I don't like companies NOT standing behind their products and/or deceitful and downright misleading advertising.

I could go all day on that one...

Actually you do have a use, it's all the hot air you generate. Your credibility is non existent and to be quite frank I do not actually believe a word you say. You go on about how bad Apple is, how their customer service is useless and how you've taken them to the small claims court on several occasions. Heaven only knows what you're doing wrong as despite any issues I've may have had with any Apple product I've owned the one constant is the good quality of their after sales customer service. Perhaps it's your attitude that needs changing in your dealings with these companies as getting to a state when multiple small claims proceedings are necessary suggest something is amiss.

Not only do you not own any Apple products yet post on a daily basis on an Apple forum it now seems you also make enquiries, during the day, at Apple resellers regarding Apple goods which you have vowed never to own? I mean come on, you are just farcical.

Bottom line archipellga, your advice is a worthless as the British Pound and posters should ignore your pointless and misleading posts.

One final thing, is it the once or twice you've been banned from these forums?

 

[Sir Cecil]

On the flip side of that argument is where someone asks the other zealots to provide evidence that 99% of the new iMacs are not faulty. See what I'm getting at? Your argument is a bit of a stalemate. We'll just have to respectfully agree to disagree.

Preposterous. Like if a mugger is being asked in court for his alibi and then turns to the judge saying "Well, where were YOU that night judge".

Sad.

 

[09iMac=Fail]

Preposterous. Like if a mugger is being asked in court for his alibi and then turns to the judge saying "Well, where were YOU that night judge".

Sad.

Actually, it is nothing like that, and I'm not surprised one bit that you can't comprehend the argument. Sad.

There is no way possible anybody (outside of Apple) can say with factual data that 1% of new iMacs are faulty. There is also no way a person can say with factual data that 99% of new iMacs are free of any defects. Seems like a simple concept to me. Any speculation about numbers is just that, speculation, and on this board it has ranged from .08% to 100% from various posters.

No one here will ever know the numbers. If I ask you to prove with evidence that 51% of the new iMacs are defect free, you can't! What exactly does that mean? NOTHING!

Asking somebody to provide evidence that a certain % of new iMacs are either faulty or perfect is a waste of time, and an argument that leads to nowhere.

 

[canes960]

Well now you have lost all your data. But at least you get another brand new iMac.

 

[Btom]

Well Tom, I live the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm within 30 minutes of 5 Apple stores. I've been in 3 of them, along with Best Buy and Fry's Electronics. Out of the 3 stores I've seen 8 of the 27" iMacs, I've checked them out using the plain grey background. I don't need a stupid test page. If I did then that proves my eyes don't see any issues on their own and I have a very good pair of reading glasses. None of them had a yellow tinge. I did notice only 1 machine had a flicker issue and Apple has addressed that. Since then I've seen nothing.

Also, I think you might want to check into reality in terms of those 3000 posts you see Apple's discussion page. You do realize that the same people post more than once, more than twice, more than 10 times a day? It would only take 30 people with 100 posts each (and that's nothing to a very vocal complainer) to create 3000 posts.

I understand your point that people with problems deserve to be heard as much as people with no problems but your defending the wrong set of people here and that worries me. You're quick to jump to the defense when someone accuses new registrants of MR to be an employee of a competitor that is doing their daily due diligence by posting FUD about Apple's new products. Doesn't make sense that you'd do that. What for? You shouldn't feel threatened about it unless you were one of them. After all, you are a new registrant and you certainly are defending it. You're not looking too good here.

For some reason I feel each time anybody is pointing at any issue with iMac, it strikes some collective nerve. I understand brand loyalty and all, but don't be ridiculous accusing people having real problems of being some kind of James Bonds. I don't wish anybody to have to write a post "My iMac died last night", or to have to send third unit back for replacement.

Tom B.

 

[MovieCutter]

Preposterous. <snip>

Actually, it is nothing like that <snip>

I think you two ought to just shoot each other in a duel to the death instead of cluttering up the forum with the same BS arguments....especially iMac09-fail-lameass-username, or whatever you were going for.

 

[HLdan]

For some reason I feel each time anybody is pointing at any issue with iMac, it strikes some collective nerve. I understand brand loyalty and all, but don't be ridiculous accusing people having real problems of being some kind of James Bonds. I don't wish anybody to have to write a post "My iMac died last night", or to have to send third unit back for replacement.

Tom B.

What you replied to me has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. I KNOW there are people on here with real problems, that's not what my post was about. I'm talking about new registrants on MR that come here to sabotage Apple's products each time a new model comes out and you have no issue with defending against that logic which holds you quite suspect. Based on many of your posts, you fit the bill pretty well, IMO.

The issue here is not people complaining about a specific issue, it's about CERTAIN forum members, especially newbies post FUD saying things like, "This is the worse product Apple has ever put out", OR, "Apple is screwing their customers because they refuse to acknowledge that they screwed up".
I've even seen posts like, "I feel so sorry for you that you got burned by Apple and that they won't make good on such a crappy product" .
Oh, and my favorite one, "The poor LCD manufacturer is not at fault here, Apple is sending out defective products and it's their fault, they refuse to admit that they screwed up and this is ridiculous for a $2000 computer"

My examples are not from people that truly have issues and are coming here for help, those examples are what you'd see from a FUD spreader. There's no need for such melodramatic posts other than to fulfill an agenda.

 

[Btom]

What you replied to me has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. I KNOW there are people on here with real problems, that's not what my post was about. I'm talking about new registrants on MR that come here to sabotage Apple's products each time a new model comes out and you have no issue with defending against that logic which holds you quite suspect. Based on many of your posts, you fit the bill pretty well, IMO.

The issue here is not people complaining about a specific issue, it's about CERTAIN forum members, especially newbies post FUD saying things like, "This is the worse product Apple has ever put out", OR, "Apple is screwing their customers because they refuse to acknowledge that they screwed up".
I've even seen posts like, "I feel so sorry for you that you got burned by Apple and that they won't make good on such a crappy product" .
Oh, and my favorite one, "The poor LCD manufacturer is not at fault here, Apple is sending out defective products and it's their fault, they refuse to admit that they screwed up and this is ridiculous for a $2000 computer"

My examples are not from people that truly have issues and are coming here for help, those examples are what you'd see from a FUD spreader. There's no need for such melodramatic posts other than to fulfill an agenda.

None of the above quotes are mine, but I guess I am guilty by association for "...fitting bill pretty well...", since I am a "...new registrants on MR..." (but really for asking some "inconvenient" questions)?

Tom B

 

[Choctaw]

Thanks WeegieMac for your help

Revision A, the first version of a certain product line, ie: the i7 iMac

Thanks for the info..........not like some who post here I don't know everything, but ask for help.

 

[usnrrn]

Update to the death of my i7

So I was called at about 2100 last night to be notified that my i7 was repaired and ready for pick up. I went to the Apple store this evening after work to get my computer. I stood around for a while what I felt was being ignored (I had not made an appointment at the Genius bar) and eventually caught the eye of someone who asked if I needed help. I said I was here to pick up my computer. She asked who called me and I did not know the answer to this. I handed her my ID and she went out back and after 5 minutes returned with the computer. She handed me a paper to sign said there you go and dismissed me. I asked her to hang on a moment to find out what was wrong with my iMac. She looked at the paper and read they replaced the Video card, logic board and power supply and then said ok! As she prepared to walk off I asked if I could plug in the iMac to make sure it worked. She grabbed a cable, key board and mouse and did this. I made sure that my data was intact and it was. She shut the computer down and as she turned it around I noticed that there were come scratches on the corner of the Mac as well as some other scuffs. She said it was not scratched and tried to buff them out. Some of them mostly came out but one larger one on the corner did not. She pointed this out to another person and they said they would keep the computer and have the back aluminium case replaced. I said that I would hold off and she said they would make a note in my file about this.

So I know you are bored about reading this. I think my computer looks good screen wise right now. I do not think there is any yellowing of flickering at this time. We shall see how it goes over the next few days/weeks et cetera. I am kind of blown away at the dimissiveness shown at the store. I explained that I am new to Apple and so far my iPhone had to be replaced due to some fault, then the iPhone power cord and then the iMac. Not a good track record over the last three months at all. Lets hope it was just bad luck and I can truly enjoy my computer from here on.

 

[Choctaw]

not a chance he has an aversion to people like you...

During my long life span of 68 years I have met may situations where someone would tell me they knew such and such as an absolute fact. However when pressed to come up with the proof……….they waffled. I frankly see nothing wrong with telling us the store name and letting an inquiry be made as to their positive and negative experience with iMacs ………prospective buyer always question reliability of new products. Just my opinion.

 

[miniConvert]

I am kind of blown away at the dimissiveness shown at the store.

Unfortunately not every employee is going to be a customer service tzar, and even when they are they could be tired/busy. You were persistent and got a positive outcome, so I'd say that's all par for the course.

Sucks about the scratch. My local authorised service centre made a bit of a hash of one of our white iMacs, it's really irritating when things like that happen - especially for those of us that take such good care of their belongings. I'm glad they've offered to replace the casing for you; quite right, too.

 

[talmy]

An argument against high failure rates is that it kills company profits. Replacing those parts for the OP's system would wipe out most if not all the profit Apple made on his machine. Indeed, if the (maybe) million iMacs sold the past quarter were all defective we wouldn't have seen Apple posting record profits.

I've got a "perfect" 27" i7, at least as perfect as I can tell, that I've had for over two months now. We also have a "Rev A" 17" G5 iMac that was also considered trouble prone but it's been running for 5 years now without ever needing a repair.

 

[Choctaw]

Sucks about the scratch..... it's really irritating when things like that happen - especially for those of us that take such good care of their belongings. I'm glad they've offered to replace the casing for you; quite right, too.

Through the years when I have something that I want to leave for repairs I do the following. Have the place I am leaving my equipment with inspect and take a good look at my equipment……then state on my receipt that it is in good order showing NO observable scratches, dents or damage. If there is scratches or dents we document it right then and there.

I sell used guitars and mail them with a signed statement from someone other than myself..(a music store etc) describing what they find….that way if the buyer says it’s damaged upon arrival…it’s proof that it left my hands in good order…thus a claim on UPS or FedX. It does help to have paper work to back up what type of condition your stuff is in at the time you turn in over to some often careless repair shop. If they don’t want to do it that way…….find another place.