iMac 2020, 5700XT - graphical glitch?

[dspdoc]

Ironically, it was his chief designer's obsession with form that let to Apple's greatest QC disaster of all time, the Butterfly keyboard.

Steve was long gone by this time. I never said he was perfect. What I miss is the tyrannically pursuit of perfection. I am not a fan of Ive. Steve was known to ‘lose his mind’ over issues and demand that people work around the clock until there was a solution. That’s what I miss. Now the number one pursuit seems to be keeping stockholders happy.

 

[PieTunes]

I expect near perfection from a $5000 AIO.

If this machine is perfect with the sole exception of this graphical glitch, doesn't that meet your expectation of "near" perfection anyway? It's doubtful that every single Apple product you've ever owned over the course of your life always been 100% perfect and without fault or issue. In this case, perfection was strived for yet the target was missed. It happens, sadly.

At any rate, of course it sucks that this happened to us, and what makes it worse is that we were the early adopters of the brand new machine which puts us all in the difficult position of keeping it and hoping it's able to be fixed via software, or return it. Encountering a "low on the radar" glitch on a newly released system during the first 14 days is not a good experience for sure. But we all have our personal tolerances for how we would rate the issue, and in either decision it's a gamble. Looks like most of us here are keeping them and taking the wait and see approach.

I agree the sentiment that the ball was dropped with this issue, regardless of the severity of the graphical glitches encountered, they're still graphical glitches. Apple is aware and I'm crossing my fingers they are able to make good on it.

 

[dspdoc]

If this machine is perfect with the sole exception of this graphical glitch, doesn't that meet your expectation of "near" perfection anyway? It's doubtful that every single Apple product you've ever owned over the course of your life always been 100% perfect and without fault or issue. In this case, perfection was strived for yet the target was missed. It happens, sadly.

At any rate, of course it sucks that this happened to us, and what makes it worse is that we were the early adopters of the brand new machine which puts us all in the difficult position of keeping it and hoping it's able to be fixed via software, or return it. Encountering a "low on the radar" glitch on a newly released system during the first 14 days is not a good experience for sure. But we all have our personal tolerances for how we would rate the issue, and in either decision it's a gamble. Looks like most of us here are keeping them and taking the wait and see approach.

I agree the sentiment that the ball was dropped with this issue, regardless of the severity of the graphical glitches encountered, they're still graphical glitches. Apple is aware and I'm crossing my fingers they are able to make good on it.

No, GUI issues don‘t get anywhere close to “near” perfect in my book. Miles from it. You’re right, my tolerance is not your tolerance. I too am hoping for a speedy fix. My concern however is that this becomes a fix for BS only. As stated in one of my other posts; I have seen this ‘Apple’ movie before. Many times...

 

[PieTunes]

No, GUI issues don‘t get anywhere close to “near” perfect in my book. Miles from it. You’re right, my tolerance is not your tolerance. I too am hoping for a speedy fix. My concern however is that this becomes a fix for BS only. As stated in one of my other posts; I have seen this ‘Apple’ movie before. Many times...

I'm confident that should this in fact be a software fix, Apple will do it for Catalina as well. It wouldn't make sense, at least to me, that Apple would not implement the fix for the base macOS version that the system supports and comes preloaded with.

 

[CE3]

I saw the horizontal white lines 2-3 times during setup on Thursday but haven’t seen them since (5700XT)

 

[ADGrant]

At any rate, of course it sucks that this happened to us, and what makes it worse is that we were the early adopters of the brand new machine which puts us all in the difficult position of keeping it and hoping it's able to be fixed via software, or return it. Encountering a "low on the radar" glitch on a newly released system during the first 14 days is not a good experience for sure. But we all have our personal tolerances for how we would rate the issue, and in either decision it's a gamble. Looks like most of us here are keeping them and taking the wait and see approach.

It is because we chose to be early adopters that we got to experience this defect. That is alway the reward for being early adopters. Just like buying that shiny new BMW during the first model year of its design.

Even without this defect, the iMac is far from perfect. They could have fitted a much better cooling system. My biggest beef with the design though is the screen has to be removed to access the internals.

So why did I buy it? Because it represents the best value for money for a high end Mac. The Mac Pro is absurdly expensive, the iMac Pro is outdated, the Mac Mini might be the most overpriced Mac in Apple‘s line up.

The other alternative would have been to build my own but that would have meant using Windows 🤮

 

[Haplodepatrijn]

After years of working with 21‘ iMacs, I decided finally to buy the 27‘ as the last in line. i had such good experience with all my imacs that the possibility of faulty machines had slipped my mind. So now I’m encountering a situation in which I’m confused and puzzled. I’m dying to buy the 5700 xt model but some inner feeling says not to fearing a will have to return the machine if it’s hw and the hassle to reinstall everything all over again.
‘

 

[dspdoc]

After years of working with 21‘ iMacs, I decided finally to buy the 27‘ as the last in line. i had such good experience with all my imacs that the possibility of faulty machines had slipped my mind. So now I’m encountering a situation in which I’m confused and puzzled. I’m dying to buy the 5700 xt model but some inner feeling says not to fearing a will have to return the machine if it’s hw and the hassle to reinstall everything all over again.
‘

Your fears are not unfounded. Welcome to the camp that we are all in right now. Hopefully Apple feels some pressure to get this fixed right away. I doubt it though...

 

[jobinhosyntax]

It is because we chose to be early adopters that we got to experience this defect. That is alway the reward for being early adopters. Just like buying that shiny new BMW during the first model year of its design.

Even without this defect, the iMac is far from perfect. They could have fitted a much better cooling system. My biggest beef with the design though is the screen has to be removed to access the internals.

So why did I buy it? Because it represents the best value for money for a high end Mac. The Mac Pro is absurdly expensive, the iMac Pro is outdated, the Mac Mini might be the most overpriced Mac in Apple‘s line up.

The other alternative would have been to build my own but that would have meant using Windows 🤮

But you can use much the same software in Windows. For the price of this iMac you get much better GPU performance with the new Nvidia cards and a 16 core Ryzen 4950 on the horizon which both eat anything Apple have to offer, in a case that will actually cool them so they are optimised to perform. The 57000XT is under clocked let alone the graphical issues users are experiencing, they could have ported the iMac Pro cooling but didn't want too. It all just reeks of complacency, so much so I'd rather not give them my cash. It still might happen...

I cancelled my iMac and am now considering the above, Windows has improved and all my software is compatible, thankfully.

 

[kkh]

We all look at this a little differently. And that's fine. Depends on how we use the machine.

I got used to my prior iMacs being super-solid. No glitches in any I've owned. This fooled me into feeling like I was not an early adopter with this iMac. I felt like I was upgrading rather than getting a first generation anything. And of course this is flawed thinking on my part. A new machine is a new machine. I should know better.

I do not expect perfection with any software. Software is impossibly difficult to get right. Software projects are impossibly difficult to plan and stay on top of. I know this first hand. However, I do expect what I purchase from Apple to be free of obvious glitches such as the frigging window corners and the white lines. How does that pass QA? Or was it instantly flagged by Apple as: "This is an easy fix we will do later. Let's continue to push these out." If so, fair enough. Again, I assume very little to no time was spent actually testing with the Pro 5700 XT. It's just what it seems like to me. While the PC version of the card has been out for a while, according to AMD, this was released early August. Once again, the drivers were time-stamped early July. Not that any of that necessarily matters.

The car analogy is inadequate or not quite right. I've owned several BMWs over the years and yes, they too have all come with their little quirks and bugs. But I also do not spend days installing software, setting up email accounts, and loading my car full of personal information, while attempting to make sure everything stays in sync from one machine to the next. If there's a problem with my BMW, I drop it off, get a free loaner from them for as long as it takes, and all problems have always been fixed promptly anyway. They outright issue recalls as needed, organize their network of service locations via service bulletins so there is an overall awareness of issues worldwide, and so on. Also, a car is… well, it's a car. Whether it's a Ferrari Monza SP or a Toyota Corolla. My expectations with a computer that I use for work are a bit different. My least favorite thing in the world is **** that does not work as advertised. Because you just wasted my time -- something I have a finite amount of.

Off-topic side note: I am also having issues with the built-in mic. Works for Slack calls, Zoom, Ring Central, but not for Google Meet. Not that I much care about it working for Google Meet — that actually makes me happy, kind of. But I also just noticed that it does the same for FaceTime calls! As soon as I try to initiate a FaceTime call, it gets muted. Almost muted, that is. If I outright yell, the “virtual LEDs” in the system settings go up a bit, suggesting it’s not 100% off. It's like a -60dB dim or something. As soon as I quit FaceTime or Google Meet, the LEDs move up and down as expected, to indicate it's what you'd expect in terms of level. Anybody else?

 

[dspdoc]

We all look at this a little differently. And that's fine. Depends on how we use the machine.

I got used to my prior iMacs being super-solid. No glitches in any I've owned. This fooled me into feeling like I was not an early adopter with this iMac. I felt like I was upgrading rather than getting a first generation anything. And of course this is flawed thinking on my part. A new machine is a new machine. I should know better.

I do not expect perfection with any software. Software is impossibly difficult to get right. Software projects are impossibly difficult to plan and stay on top of. I know this first hand. However, I do expect what I purchase from Apple to be free of obvious glitches such as the frigging window corners and the white lines. How does that pass QA? Or was it instantly flagged by Apple as: "This is an easy fix we will do later. Let's continue to push these out." If so, fair enough. Again, I assume very little to no time was spent actually testing with the Pro 5700 XT. It's just what it seems like to me. While the PC version of the card has been out for a while, according to AMD, this was released early August. Once again, the drivers were time-stamped early July. Not that any of that necessarily matters.

The car analogy is inadequate or not quite right. I've owned several BMWs over the years and yes, they too have all come with their little quirks and bugs. But I also do not spend days installing software, setting up email accounts, and loading my car full of personal information, while attempting to make sure everything stays in sync from one machine to the next. If there's a problem with my BMW, I drop it off, get a free loaner from them for as long as it takes, and all problems have always been fixed promptly anyway. They outright issue recalls as needed, organize their network of service locations via service bulletins so there is an overall awareness of issues worldwide, and so on. Also, a car is… well, it's a car. Whether it's a Ferrari Monza SP or a Toyota Corolla. My expectations with a computer that I use for work are a bit different. My least favorite thing in the world is **** that does not work as advertised. Because you just wasted my time -- something I have a finite amount of.

Off-topic side note: I am also having issues with the built-in mic. Works for Slack calls, Zoom, Ring Central, but not for Google Meet. Not that I much care about it working for Google Meet — that actually makes me happy, kind of. But I also just noticed that it does the same for FaceTime calls! As soon as I try to initiate a FaceTime call, it gets muted. Almost muted, that is. If I outright yell, the “virtual LEDs” in the system settings go up a bit, suggesting it’s not 100% off. It's like a -60dB dim or something. As soon as I quit FaceTime or Google Meet, the LEDs move up and down as expected, to indicate it's what you'd expect in terms of level. Anybody else?

Sounds like you might have discovered another bug. 🤦‍♂️

 

[KrazyKanuck]

Have we concluded that everyone on this thread drives a BMW?

 

[filmgirl]

So many people are so readily willing to let Apple off the hook for delivering a half-baked machine. Why is this? As an Apple ‘connoisseur’ of over 25 years I still cannot get my head wrapped around this phenomenon and I see it all the time on MR. I’m genuinely curious? Don’t people realize that by always giving Apple a ‘pass’ and finding some ‘workaround’ that it’s like we are patting them on the back and encouraging bad behavior? We make them weaker by doing this. It only leads to poorer and poorer QC. I can just hear the Apple execs saying, “Oh they love us. They’ll get over it”. This isn’t a smart approach for any of us no matter how much we enjoy our beloved Apple or how ‘good’ the machine is despite being released with terrible bugs. I hope everyone here is letting Apple know just how disappointed you are and that you expect a fix soon.

I'm not giving Apple a pass — I’m just trying to be patient until we can figure out the source of the issue. The reality is, I can’t buy a machine that runs macOS from anyone other than Apple and I want a Mac and need a Mac to do my work. If this isn’t resolved in a way I feel is appropriate, I have no problem demanding that they exchange this machine for either an iMac Pro or a 16” MacBook Pro.

I'm also not necessarily encouraging new buyers to get the 5700XT until we have more info. If that’s the GPU you need, I’m comfortable advising those buyers to wait.

But those of us who already have the machines and need them and like them, we're sort of stuck until we find out how this is going to be resolved. I’m not giving Apple a pass, I’m simply being pragmatic about what can be done instantly.

 

[filmgirl]

Have we concluded that everyone on this tread drives a BMW?

I don’t drive by choice, but I grew up a Mercedes person and would probably be looking at a Tesla if I wanted a car right now, and frankly all of the luxury car makers are the same with this kind of stuff, so yeah, I think you have a point about the types of cars people who are very particular about their $5k AIO computers gravitate towards 😂😂😂

 

[torifile]

Have we concluded that everyone on this thread drives a BMW?

I had one for a while. Moved on to a Golf R. Loooooove it

 

[Shaman777]

for those who think 2020 is the best solution ☝️.

I keep doing model tests 2019 vs 2020 before returning 2020. today I was surprised Render 25 seconds video/1080p in Apple Motion 5.4.5 iMac 2019 did in 1:24, iMac 2020 1:57 😂🤷🏻‍♂️

...and yes, the fan in 2020 is noticeably louder and more often, in general, this is 100% fact !!!

 

[ADGrant]

But you can use much the same software in Windows. For the price of this iMac you get much better GPU performance with the new Nvidia cards and a 16 core Ryzen 4950 on the horizon which both eat anything Apple have to offer, in a case that will actually cool them so they are optimised to perform. The 57000XT is under clocked let alone the graphical issues users are experiencing, they could have ported the iMac Pro cooling but didn't want too. It all just reeks of complacency, so much so I'd rather not give them my cash. It still might happen...

I cancelled my iMac and am now considering the above, Windows has improved and all my software is compatible, thankfully.

XCode doesn’t run on Windows but yes a lot of other software does. But I don’t like Windows, I find it irritating. The design is a mess, Microsoft‘s QA is a shambles and its not Unix. It still has drive letters 🤣 (Windows, the 80s called, they want their floppy discs back). The slashes in file paths go the wrong way. The line endings are CR + LF instead of just LF.

 

[haddy]

I had one for a while. Moved on to a Golf R. Loooooove it

Well I feel the same way about my Suzuki Swift Sport

 

[KrazyKanuck]

I don’t drive by choice, but I grew up a Mercedes person and would probably be looking at a Tesla if I wanted a car right now, and frankly all of the luxury car makers are the same with this kind of stuff, so yeah, I think you have a point about the types of cars people who are very particular about their $5k AIO computers gravitate towards 😂😂😂

Well, that makes at least two non car-owners on here. 👍

 

[dspdoc]

Have we concluded that everyone on this thread drives a BMW?

Guilty as charged. M340i 😌

 

[kkh]

It is interesting though. I'm much more forgiving when it comes to cars. With computers... it's kind of like the work that I do on a computer... there's this notion that perfection (via unlimited edits) is attainable. Of course it is not. Because... well... not going to go too deep here. So, I guess I expect the tool to be as "perfect" as it can be, too. At least what I paid for. I paid for a 100% functioning system. I paid for a nice hammer. Give me a nice hammer. With "perfect", in this case, I simply mean: "no obvious bugs and glitches when compared to my previous iMac... just... more... speed". Don't make it feel like I just went backwards. You can't even do rounded corners anymore? I have to look at glitchy lines now? What!? It's like I'm personally embarrassed about this machine being glitchy. Anyway. I guess we will wait and see what happens. Also: I must point out that the only issues I have ever had with Apple products have been video card related. And those video cards have always been provided by third parties. The sooner it is all Apple, the better.

 

[kkh]

I saw the horizontal white lines 2-3 times during setup on Thursday but haven’t seen them since (5700XT)

Thanks for reporting this. Do you have an external display attached? Any issues with sharp or flickering window corners? If you saw the lines initially, they are likely to return.

 

[kkh]

Guilty as charged. M340i 😌

Did it come with door dings and windshield wipers that would go on/off intermittently, even when it wasn't raining?

 

[madmin]

Well, that makes at least two non car-owners on here. 👍

Make that three of us, I haven't owned a car for a long time. In fact I decided to keep running my 2017 iMac for the time being and spent the money on a folding eBike instead

 

[TommyBoyAZ]

I’m genuinely curious what people want Apple to do when a fix isn’t available or ready yet? Obviously, people can return the machines, but is the issue beyond the 14 day mark?

Because maybe I’m being naive, but this feels like a very clear Apple Care scenario. I need the machine for work so I’m not going to return it (and I’ll have a second 4K display attached at all times anyway), but if the problem got worse or if new versions shipped out did somehow solve the issue, I would simply push Apple to exchange my machine — regardless of when it was purchased.

Or are people just concerned that the issue won’t be resolved? That I can understand — and although I feel confident Apple is aware and working on the situation, I’m less confident placing how high this is on the priority list.

So again, what outcome do people want right now, when it’s clear there isn’t a solution that can solve the problem this instant?

I purchased the new iMac right when it was released, Maxed it out with the nano glass and all the bells and whistles. Mac came in (Loved the mac) but then noticed the glitching.. I contact apple right away (first week) and told them of the issue, (this was back in late August) and they said this is the first they heard of the issue and that would be tracking any issues with the newer model... They are sending a new one, which i should receive on 9/16/2020. If the new one has the same issue, i will send it back and just get a refund. As much as i love the apple products i have a 2019 i can use here as well.

The outcome that everyone ultimately wants is a mac that works glitch free. Im hopeful that the replacement will be fine, but if not it goes back. I am not paying 5k for machine that has an issue with no root cause identified. Hopefully when the issue is ironed out i can repurchase the new iMac..

If i knew it was SW for sure then i would just keep it with the expectation a fix would soon be out, but right now whether it is HW or SW no one really knows.. I feel it is safer to just refund it until it has been acknowledge and fixed by apple.