I'm done, what a short adventure this was

[Editor-]

Hello everyone,

I feel the urge to type my frustrations down, and I got the feeling that you'll be the unlucky ones to read them.

I started my iMac adventure in the beginning of December last year. Always have been a Windows user, am not really a fan of it..just grew up with it. The brand new iMac's 27" convinced me to swing and give it a go, so I ordered.

I was following the shipment status and all of a sudden my first frustration was there. UPS announced me 6 days in a row that they would deliver, so I took 6 days off my student's job, just to make sure that someone would be home in case they would bring it. On the 6th day I've had it and called Apple, they said that I could pick it up. So I left and went to UPS Brussels, when I arrived there they mentioned "I'm sorry, we can not find your package". Seriously, when you have been waiting for all time, something like that hits like a bomb. So I yelled at him that I would wait, no matter howmany hours it takes..took them 1 hour and 40 minute to finally find it.

I installed the iMac and immediately heard a very noisy hard drive. Did all the squeaked tests and found 8 dead/stuck pixels in the iSight. The dead pixels .. that I could live with but the noise became louder and louder. So I returned my iMac and immediately took the refund path noticing howmany of you all had second, third and even fourth failures.

What disturbs me the most is that:
1. After all this time Apple still seems to manage to produce computer with pretty severe issues

2. the way how Apple has been handling this. After almost 3-4 months of complaints they still manage to make the same mistakes.

Why exactly am I swapping back? Well my local Apple reseller told me that I should wait a couple of more months to have a decent chance against the bad odds. At first I was willing to do so, because yeah, this is a Mac right? But now, I'm not anymore.. don"t want be buying a system in March that is almost not upgradeble and find out in October, or when it might be, that there is another brand new iMac.

Will I give Apple another chance? Ah well, maybe next time, in a couple of years they deserve another one.

 

[miles01110]

...UPS...

Not Apple's fault, really. Are you boycotting UPS as well now?

I installed the iMac and immediately heard a very noisy hard drive. Did all the squeaked tests and found 8 dead/stuck pixels in the iSight. The dead pixels .. that I could live with but the noise became louder and louder. So I returned my iMac and immediately took the refund path noticing howmany of you all had second, third and even fourth failures.

Unfortunate. This is why I don't buy rev. A Macs.

What disturbs me the most is that:
1. After all this time Apple still seems to manage to produce computer with pretty severe issues

2. the way how Apple has been handling this. After almost 3-4 months of complaints they still manage to make the same mistakes.

Production lines don't turn on a dime, you know. And every computer manufacturer has issues.

don"t want be buying a system in March that is almost not upgradeble and find out in October, or when it might be, that there is another brand new iMac.

There will always be something new coming out. Not sure why you're even bringing this up.

 

[MovieCutter]

No failures or issues on my 27" i7. Sucks for you though. Good luck in the future.

 

[flopticalcube]

Too bad. I had a nasty issue with my Rev A aluminum iMac that was also widespread and took Apple 4 months to correct on the production line. Its pretty much all forgotten now. If you want Rev A, wait until the bugs have been settled out.

 

[Gav2k]

So the shipping issue wasn't apples fault.

Then here is a couple of faults that you could have had fixed.

Are dell,hp,IBM etc better? No trust me there worst. Hp took 18 months to fix a false sensor Reading on there first mediasmart server that would cause every machine connected to flash up a system overheat powerdown message every five minutes. You could disable it till the next boot.

IBM there first decent thinkpads suffered with major keyboard flex as well as track pad failures.

Dell - well there is no need to go there is there!

 

[Editor-]

So the shipping issue wasn't apples fault.

I agree, it wasn't. But that is basically 10% of the frustrationload that this brought to me.

There will always be something new coming out. Not sure why you're even bringing this up.

On this I agree too, but it'll be alot easier to upgrade a 'PC' than an iMac, that's why I am saying this.

 

[GoCubsGo]

The amount of money I've spent on one Mac is far less than what I spent on any one PC. Why? I would constantly think I needed to upgrade my PC so over 4 years I could have bought at least two powerbooks. I bought a powerbook that lasted me 4 years until I opted to upgrade.

 

[ViViDboarder]

That sucks. I'd be pissed too if I was in your position.

I bought the Macbook Pro Rev. A and the new iMac 21" right after it came out. No show stoppers. The MBP had kernal Panics due to the Logicboard but I just sent it in and they fixed it in a couple days. The iMac SuperDrive doesn't like to take my disk, but I am being lazy. I'm sure they'll fix that too. That'd be an easy one, I just don't want to have to bring it in.

Failing harddrive though... That sucks. I'm surprised they can't just swap the HDD out for you and have your computer back in a day!

 

[eawmp1]

1) While not alone, you are in the distinct minority of Mac owners. Yes you can say you've read on here about so-and-so, but happy people don't complain and most mac owners have never heard of MacRumors.
2) Forget the shipping
3) The new model of anything can have problems. I had a 2003 Honda Accord that blew the transmission at 60,000 miles - Honda put a new model transmission in the 2003's that, well, didn't work out too well. I still own a Honda.
4) Don't complain about the upgrades - computers only keep that fresh smell for ~6-12 months until the next model comes out.

Good luck with the PC's!

 

[ViViDboarder]

1) While not alone, you are in the distinct minority of Mac owners. Yes you can say you've read on here about so-and-so, but happy people don't complaing and most mac owners have never heard of MacRumors.
2) Forget the shipping
3) The new model of anything can have problems. I had a 2003 Honda Accord that blew the transmission at 60,000 miles - Honda put a new model transmission in the 2003's that, well, didn't work out too well. I still own a Honda.
4) Don't complain about the upgrades - computers only keep that fresh smell for ~6-12 months until the next model comes out.

Good luck with the PC's!

And then 6 months later you can just buy a new Videocard or new RAM for a fraction of the cost of a new computer and be up to speed...

He was not referring to tech advancements but that there is no way to upgrade.

That is a legitimate concern one should have when buying a Mac. If I built a desktop PC on my own I could build it knowing what tech is out, what will be out, what I can upgrade later. With an iMac it's just not possible. That's why buying one near the end of it's lifetime would be a waste! You want to buy it near the beginning to get the most time with better tech. At the same time you'll be running the risk or using Rev. A hardware. Oh well!

 

[miniConvert]

My first Mac, a Rev A CD Mac mini, was a lemon. Lasted about 48 hours before it wouldn't even switch on anymore. I returned for a refund, like you, rather than mess around with replacements.

I ordered a new one. It took a few weeks to arrive, but arrive it did and it has been fantastic ever since. Not only that, but I've since bought many, many more Macs without issue.

The moral of my little story is that, well, **** happens. Hop online and order your new Mac.

 

[HawaiiMacAddict]

That's why buying one near the end of it's lifetime would be a waste!

He was talking about the possibility of a new iMac coming out this year, not purchasing a current iMac "near the end of its lifetime." If he wanted to do that, he'd have to wait some, uh, 3-5 years at least. I still have the iMac I bought in 2006, running Snow Leopard, and it still runs fine. The screen is only 20" so it has been relegated to secondary use, as I use my 27" iMac on a daily basis.

If what you meant was the window during which the current iMac is being sold, you should have been clearer. There is a difference.

 

[ViViDboarder]

He was talking about the possibility of a new iMac coming out this year, not purchasing a current iMac "near the end of its lifetime." If he wanted to do that, he'd have to wait some, uh, 3-5 years at least. I still have the iMac I bought in 2006, running Snow Leopard, and it still runs fine. The screen is only 20" so it has been relegated to secondary use, as I use my 27" iMac on a daily basis.

If what you meant was the window during which the current iMac is being sold, you should have been clearer. There is a difference.

I meant it's product lifetime. Yes, the computer will run fine no matter when you buy it. If it's unused at least.

 

[Editor-]

Am still astonished to see so much friendlyness in this thread. I mean, we are actually discussing this, that I like.

Let me be honest:
I knew about the issues concerning non-upgradebly computers
I knew about the fact that Apple will probably release a new iMac this year.
I did know that Apple an not be held responsible for the shipping costs
I do know that buying a Mac is a +€400 investment comparing to the same PC specs.

I knew all that, deffo did, but things like these make you think things through. And the things that I was worrying about back then (before I decided to switch) are those who make me decide to swap back to PC. For the same price I have 2 screens (48") and 2x the diskspace and graficscard that is double to tripple as fast and 2 GB extra RAM.

I do know that this ain't the place to say such things but it does make one wonder whether it is all worth it.

 

[arkitect]

Am still astonished to see so much friendlyness in this thread. I mean, we are actually discussing this, that I like.

Good. Glad to see it too…
We're not all rabid f**b**s

I do know that this ain't the place to say such things but it does make one wonder whether it is all worth it.

But now you are definitely trying to stir the hornets nest…

 

[BigBagaroo]

Got my 3rd i7 today, and this one actually looks good so far. No yellowing or noise! Can't wait to put in 8GB more RAM into it, and 1.5 month after purchase, I got a keeper, it seems.

Impressed with the Apple Support; they were very polite and absolutely no hassle. Not so impressed with Apple QA. :-/

It was the same guy from TNT Express that both delivered and picked up all my iMacs, so in the end he was just calling and saying "Hey, its me, I'm at your house in 30 minutes."

If this was my first Mac, I would have been pretty pissed and just walked away as well, but now that I love the iLife applications etc., it will take more to pull me away.

 

[bossxii]

Hello everyone,

I feel the urge to type my frustrations down, and I got the feeling that you'll be the unlucky ones to read them.

I started my iMac adventure in the beginning of December last year. Always have been a Windows user, am not really a fan of it..just grew up with it. The brand new iMac's 27" convinced me to swing and give it a go, so I ordered.

I was following the shipment status and all of a sudden my first frustration was there. UPS announced me 6 days in a row that they would deliver, so I took 6 days off my student's job, just to make sure that someone would be home in case they would bring it. On the 6th day I've had it and called Apple, they said that I could pick it up. So I left and went to UPS Brussels, when I arrived there they mentioned "I'm sorry, we can not find your package". Seriously, when you have been waiting for all time, something like that hits like a bomb. So I yelled at him that I would wait, no matter howmany hours it takes..took them 1 hour and 40 minute to finally find it.

I installed the iMac and immediately heard a very noisy hard drive. Did all the squeaked tests and found 8 dead/stuck pixels in the iSight. The dead pixels .. that I could live with but the noise became louder and louder. So I returned my iMac and immediately took the refund path noticing howmany of you all had second, third and even fourth failures.

What disturbs me the most is that:
1. After all this time Apple still seems to manage to produce computer with pretty severe issues

2. the way how Apple has been handling this. After almost 3-4 months of complaints they still manage to make the same mistakes.

Why exactly am I swapping back? Well my local Apple reseller told me that I should wait a couple of more months to have a decent chance against the bad odds. At first I was willing to do so, because yeah, this is a Mac right? But now, I'm not anymore.. don"t want be buying a system in March that is almost not upgradeble and find out in October, or when it might be, that there is another brand new iMac.

Will I give Apple another chance? Ah well, maybe next time, in a couple of years they deserve another one.

I'll start by saying yes that sucks that UPS screwed up on the shipping aspect of it and that Apple shipped yet another iMac with issues.

Forums would have us (those with an iMac issue, yellow tint here) believe a HUGE number of iMac's are all trashed and pc's of ****. I don't know a % and no one does so I won't even bother tossing one out. Reality is there are people getting perfectly working machines with no issues. I do believe this version (27") has some serious quality control issues and it's probably more than just a few machines considering I personally have swapped twice and still have the yellow tint on my 3rd machine. I'm no math wiz but pretty sure the law of averages says I should buy a lottery ticket or this is fairly widespread issue .

As for giving Apple a chance or not, if I was first time user, I'm sure I would be cussing Apple and walk away to build another PC. Having used Windows based computers for 20+ years. I have used Applecare on one of my Macbooks, logic board issue, but aside from that the PowerPC macs, iPhones, iPods and the relatively large number of laptops between myself and my brother in law and his 3 kids (all now with MB or MBP's) I simply haven't seen a track record of bad quality to make me walk away.

I've watched my brother piss away a few thousand dollars on Dell laptops for his kids and his Dell pc and have more issues then I have time to even type. I have built and used PC's for many years and used to be an avid gamer who used them and was always about the latest and greatest tech for them. I made the full on switch to Apple/Mac's in 2006/07 with a Macbook and moved everything but gaming to them. I can't see myself ever using windows as my main OS anytime soon. I have suffered thru more than my share of hardware failures and Windows BSOD, Virus, Malware etc.. to never see any OS with a registry agian.

As for Apple still having the issue 3 or 4 months after it was first posted on some forums. My guess would be Apple may have thought it has a few iMacs with issues until a couple of months went by before realizing how many claims are being called in or returned machines. At this point they have hundreds of thousands of machines in the pipeline headed to Apple stores, Best Buy etc... They have to work thru the problems and that could take a while, they have not once told me "your crazy it's not an issue" or "sorry nothing we can do for you, no one has called in about a yellow tint issue". Both the Applecare "experts" and the Apple store managers both acknowledged there is a problem, and they have offered me several options to deal with it. Granted they don't have a fix as of yet, at least officially, but to refund my money, swap out until I'm happy, send this one off for repairs etc.. the choice is mine. They know they have an issue and are dealing with it. **** happens with mass produced products, Apple has not shown me any reason to stop using their products via bad customer service so I guess it boils down to what your willing to deal with to end up with what I consider the best 27" desktop/all in one on the market today.

I have priced out the "PC" equal to a i7 build and the kicker is the 27" IPS panel, expensive sob's for sure. In the end similar priced computers as far as hardware goes. Bottom line for me though is really the OS X vs Windows, I prefer the OS X and that's my choice which we all have to make for ourselves.

Do what makes you happy in the end that's all that matters. Good Luck.

 

[Editor-]

I have priced out the "PC" equal to a i7 build and the kicker is the 27" IPS panel, expensive sob's for sure. In the end similar priced computers as far as hardware goes. Bottom line for me though is really the OS X vs Windows, I prefer the OS X and that's my choice which we all have to make for ourselves.

Do what makes you happy in the end that's all that matters. Good Luck.

I do agree that such screen (without yellow tinge) must be one of a kind. But on the other hand, I realise now that 2-3 inch differences won't be that different. And too bad there isn't OSX for Windows pc because I could easily pay €200 to have such thing. OSX truly is something to fall in love with.

What I do find funny is that some user say the following:

Yes, I have yellow tinge and 3 broken iSight pixels but I don't return the mac because I'm afraid to get something in return that is even worse

As for Apple still having the issue 3 or 4 months after it was first posted on some forums. My guess would be Apple may have thought it has a few iMacs with issues until a couple of months went by before realizing how many claims are being called in or returned machines.

Myeah but they should still do an official newspost about this all. Some news, but no..a patch that doesn't fix all the computers out there.

This is what I came up with, for almost the exact amount of money that I wanted to spend on my Mac:
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/1908/computerspecs.jpg

 

[bossxii]

This is what I came up with, for almost the exact amount of money that I wanted to spend on my Mac:
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/1908/computerspecs.jpg

Very nice Congrats, as I said.. in the end it's what makes you happy.

Yes I also wish OS X was like Windows form the distribution standpoint, but Apple would not be making the kind of profit just of OSX as they are by keeping it on their own proprietary hardware. Oh well that's the choice we all get to make

Enjoy your new machine!

 

[SilenceBe]

I was following the shipment status and all of a sudden my first frustration was there. UPS announced me 6 days in a row that they would deliver, so I took 6 days off my student's job, just to make sure that someone would be home in case they would bring it. On the 6th day I've had it and called Apple, they said that I could pick it up. So I left and went to UPS Brussels, when I arrived there they mentioned "I'm sorry, we can not find your package". Seriously, when you have been waiting for all time, something like that hits like a bomb. So I yelled at him that I would wait, no matter howmany hours it takes..took them 1 hour and 40 minute to finally find it.

I must say that UPS in Belgium is extremely bad as a courier service. DPD, DHL, Fedex = great, UPS = trouble. Not once I had a positive experience with them! They also don't have many (local) hubs like the other couriers.

* packages getting lost to reappear days later
* status updates telling me that I wasn't home while I was
* lying that they had the wrong shipping address (when you complain about the previous point) and they can't change it, 30 minutes later the doorbell... .

 

[IndustrialSpace]

Sorry to hear.

Obviously, the shipping issues are UPS' fault. Hardware, on Apple. It might have been worth a try to at least get one repalcement.

Be sure to let Apple know what you've detailed here. It's important to provide customer feedback so they know what direction to head in for the future.

Best with the PC. Hopefully, you'll reconsider and order an Apple when things are in better order.

 

[Adam0306]

don"t want be buying a system in March that is almost not upgradeble and find out in October, or when it might be, that there is another brand new iMac.

I hate to tell you this but with any technology whether computers, phones, tv's or whatever, the minute you walk out of the store with it, it becomes outdated because technology is constantly changing.

 

[scroto]

The amount of money I've spent on one Mac is far less than what I spent on any one PC. Why? I would constantly think I needed to upgrade my PC so over 4 years I could have bought at least two powerbooks. I bought a powerbook that lasted me 4 years until I opted to upgrade.

I call BS, you're telling me you spent thousands in upgrades? What were these upgrades? If true it's your own fault, you could have bought a new PC every year for that much money.