iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) Order Thread

[decypher44]

Congrats on the new iMac! Mine is out for delivery today too, very exciting day. From what I've read from other memory upgrade threads it seems prudent to ensure everything is 100% with the stock iMac (included ram) before then shutting down to upgrade it. Maybe you did do all this before removing the plastic .

In my case I have four sticks coming (also today) but I am likely going to be a little neurotic about it and add each matched pair one at a time in the recommended xoxo pair configuration. (I'll look it up when the time comes.)

The sticks are all Crucial and the same size and order, so there is very small chance of match issues, but something looks off at some point then doing it step-by-step it will have seemed wise. If not, I'll probably feel I wasted 10 minutes.



Are you coming from a MacBook and are accustomed to a trackpad? If so, I'd recommend the external Magic Trackpad if you can budget it – especially if you find you don't warm up to the mouse. I actually picked the trackpad in my BTO configuration as I didn't want the mouse – I have an old dusty Magic Mouse anyway. I've been using an external trackpad for years and (personally) prefer it. Bonus: unlike the mouse, you can still use the trackpad while it is charging.

(Yes, now I will have two trackpads but my iMac vs work MacBook need to serve different purposes and will both be regularly setup. I sometimes also use the trackpad from my iPad. Better two as I can keep them paired to different devices, rather than a mouse I'd never use.)

Anyway, enjoy your new Mac!

Thanks! No, I upgraded the ram before turning it on. The issue was how I was trying to turn it on (holding power button forever, then again, which was just resetting it. I'm used to noise coming from things when I turn on the power. This baby is SILENT. Everything works great. I was up until 3am last night playing with it, and back at it today. Have an external SSD partitioned and Time Machine already working. Did an iPhone backup to test out before Friday. Synced everything I have (which is embarrassingly a LOT! hahaha). Oh, had to update OS right out of the box. Went smoothly. Seriously, this thing is amazing!

I'm getting more used to the mouse. I think if I had to complain about something, it would be the infamous charging port at the bottom. That must be the biggest bone-headed move by Apple in recent years. But, oh well.

Good luck with yours, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine!

 

[Peet_B]

Yeeehaaa, just ordered my first ever iMac ?

I went with the 8-core i7, Radeon 5700, and the rest is all standard (yes, including a 512GB ssd (is that upgradable in the future btw?))
Right now it says delivery between November 10th and November 17th, but since lots of people have similar dates and get them way earlier, I'm hoping to be one of them

 

[hoodafoo]

Thanks! No, I upgraded the ram before turning it on. The issue was how I was trying to turn it on (holding power button forever, then again, which was just resetting it. I'm used to noise coming from things when I turn on the power. This baby is SILENT. Everything works great. I was up until 3am last night playing with it, and back at it today. Have an external SSD partitioned and Time Machine already working. Did an iPhone backup to test out before Friday. Synced everything I have (which is embarrassingly a LOT! hahaha). Oh, had to update OS right out of the box. Went smoothly. Seriously, this thing is amazing!

I'm getting more used to the mouse. I think if I had to complain about something, it would be the infamous charging port at the bottom. That must be the biggest bone-headed move by Apple in recent years. But, oh well.

Good luck with yours, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine!

You got yours fast! I think mine didn't make the plane last Friday and had to sit over the weekend. I ordered mine on the 10/10 and supposed to arrive 10/23. We'll see..

 

[Magnusch]

I wait since 3 weeks here in europe - Germany for mine, hope they will deliver it next week.
I have to say that I doesn`t ordered directly from apple, just a reseller.

Maybe the vesa mount is the reason for the delay...

 

[j0ha]

I wait since 3 weeks here in europe - Germany for mine, hope they will deliver it next week.
I have to say that I doesn`t ordered directly from apple, just a reseller.

Maybe the vesa mount is the reason for the delay...

I ordered mine form MacTrade.de in Germany, also a reseller, 4,5 weeks ago, still not here...

 

[Magnusch]

I used the same trader, it seems that apple is not very fast with the production in ireland at the moment.
I asked them today about the status of my order and they informed me that my imac is scheduled for the first week in November.

Nevertheless I hope the imac will be silent and in good condition when it will arrived.
Luckily I have my mbp here to work with...

 

[hoodafoo]

Anyone else got a free 1-year subscription to Apple TV+ with their new iMac or was I lucky? It was a nice surprise as I was totally unexpecting it

 

[Peet_B]

Anyone else got a free 1-year subscription to Apple TV+ with their new iMac or was I lucky? It was a nice surprise as I was totally unexpecting it

I didn’t get a year free TV+, but I got AirPods for free though

 

[chilady1]

Just ordered a new iMac to replace my mid-2011 iMac which I have loved to death. It's time!

Items to be Shipped​ ​ Shipment 1 Ships: 1–2 weeks Delivers: Nov 10 - Nov 17 by Standard Delivery​ ​ 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display​ With the following configuration: Standard glass 3.3GHz 6-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory 1TB SSD storage Gigabit Ethernet Magic Mouse 2 Magic Keyboard - US English Accessory Kit​

 

[hoodafoo]

Just ordered a new iMac to replace my mid-2011 iMac which I have loved to death. It's time!

With the following configuration:

Standard glass
3.3GHz 6-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz
16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory
1TB SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard - US English
Accessory Kit
​

I, and I think everyone else on this sub, would suggest you cancel the order and redo it with 8GB and buy 3rd party RAM for a fraction of the price. It's about $120 for 32GB and a lot less if you need only 16GB​

 

[chilady1]

I, and I think everyone else on this sub, would suggest you cancel the order and redo it with 8GB and buy 3rd party RAM for a fraction of the price. It's about $120 for 32GB and a lot less if you need only 16GB​

Thanks I appreciate that advice will do

UPDATE: Thank You so much hoodafoo - I did cancel the order and went back (per your advice) and order the base configuration of 8GBs for RAM. God were you right - I have already ordered my 64GB (2 X 32) for $220 which is about what it was costing me for the 16GB. I will probably order another 64GB in a couple of months to bring the machine up to 128GB total. The RAM should be here before the new machine and already found a tutorial from 9 to 5 MAC that shows how to install the RAM which by the way, looks uber easy. Great catch and thanks for saving me $$$$.

 

[iMi]

Apple verges on the incompetent with the handling of my order. The saga continues. Originally ordered 9/17. Shipped 9/25. UPS lost the package and Apple would not do anything about it until around 10/5 when they finally processed a replacement. UPS is still “investigating.” How do you lose a $3,100 computer?

Specialist # 1 The replacement would be “expedited.”
Specialist # 2 There is no such thing as “expedited” orders. Will arrive between October 27th - November 3rd.
Senior Specialist # 3 Called me on his own, which was surprising. It will certainly arrive sooner than the quoted dates. Shipping is “expedited” now. Here’s $150 off the order as good will.

Order is still “processing” as of today — the 27th.

Specialist # 4 It should arrive by November 3rd at the latest. Apple is doing everything they can... ********. Let’s see what actually happens.

 

[hoodafoo]

Apple verges on the incompetent with the handling of my order. The saga continues. Originally ordered 9/17. Shipped 9/25. UPS lost the package and Apple would not do anything about it until around 10/5 when they finally processed a replacement. UPS is still “investigating.” How do you lose a $3,100 computer?

Specialist # 1 The replacement would be “expedited.”
Specialist # 2 There is no such thing as “expedited” orders. Will arrive between October 27th - November 3rd.
Senior Specialist # 3 Called me on his own, which was surprising. It will certainly arrive sooner than the quoted dates. Shipping is “expedited” now. Here’s $150 off the order as good will.

Order is still “processing” as of today — the 27th.

Specialist # 4 It should arrive by November 3rd at the latest. Apple is doing everything they can... ********. Let’s see what actually happens.

Shouldn't you be mad at UPS and not Apple?

 

[decypher44]

Shouldn't you be mad at UPS and not Apple?

I’d say both. UPS for the loss, Apple for taking so long to ship out units. Mine took about three weeks. That’s crazy. Not even a BTO.

I hope you get yours soon, iMi. You’re gonna love it!!

 

[iMi]

Today’s update says “we will update status of your replacement order once we receive your return.” You could not make this up. What the hell is going on with Apple?

 

[vett93]

I should add I got a really good deal yesterday on ram during Amazon Prime days. Crucial 64GB (2x32GB) kit CT2K32G4SFD8266 for $164 USD (not their official Mac kit, but confirmed a-okay by other forum users.) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZLCC6J8 – I ordered 2 kits, 128GB total.

Decided to post fresh versus edit for people who are following the thread for new messages.

How does the Crucial 128GB RAM work for you? I just ordered an iMac of the same spec as yours from Apple. I also plan on getting the same RAM dimms from Crucial.

 

[sean+mac]

How does the Crucial 128GB RAM work for you? I just ordered an iMac of the same spec as yours from Apple. I also plan on getting the same RAM dimms from Crucial.

So far, so good! Keep in mind I had confirmed from the other MacRumours 2020 iMac memory thread that this should be a safe bet based on the experience of other users.

Here's my detailed response:

I had setup the iMac first with the installed stock memory just to make sure there we no issues and then proceeded to swap in the Crucial sticks once the machine was up and running. I had trouble getting it to boot on my multiple first attempts post-upgrade, but I then reseated the memory and it was fine (I am pretty sure one stick was loose, whoops.)

I had resisted using an Apple Pencil to open the door as I had seen in a video or article, but every other pointy (but not sharp) object within reach seemed to just not quite be thin-enough-yet-strong-enough to open it.

Once you do change the memory the first boot does take an extra 45s-60s where it'll be a black screen, so don't panic!

I haven't run any benchmark software, but it has been holding up well to some of the heavier tasks and games I've thrown at the machine so far. (Cities Skylines is one that will eat up all of memory you can give it by building a very populous town. Smooth like butter.)

Super glad I got it at Prime Day deal. I had a few brands from a few shops queued up/tracked in a spreadsheet and it was the perfect deal at the perfect time – especially with my Mac shipping ahead of schedule. Until then I was leaning towards 2x 32GB for the short term. Shipping wise it worked out well too: the memory ended along with the iMac, on the same UPS delivery. (I had the memory shipped to Canada via US Amazon.com as the Canadian site didn't get the deal.)

 

[chilady1]

So far, so good! Keep in mind I had confirmed from the other MacRumours 2020 iMac memory thread that this should be a safe bet based on the experience of other users.

Super glad I got it at Prime Day deal. I had a few brands from a few shops queued up/tracked in a spreadsheet and it was the perfect deal at the perfect time – especially with my Mac shipping ahead of schedule. Until then I was leaning towards 2x 32GB for the short term. Shipping wise it worked out well too: the memory ended along with the iMac, on the same UPS delivery. (I had the memory shipped to Canada via US Amazon.com as the Canadian site didn't get the deal.)

I have ordered the same Crucial RAM as you - unfortunately I wasn't able to get that great price. When I clicked on the link in your response the price is now $223. However, I will be tracking this for perhaps Black Friday pricing to see if I can get an additional 64GBs to round out the memory to 128GB. I have already purchased 64GBs as I await the delivery of my iMac expected sometime around mid-Nov.

 

[Juzo Fuwa]

Finally got to order the iMac that’ll replace the dead iMac on my desk ??.

Here’s The specs:
3.8GHz 8 Core i7
8GB of RAM
2 TB SDD
Radeon Pro 5700 XT w/ 16GB of memory
Standard Glass

It cleared customs and is hanging out in Anchorage Alaska right now. Delivery is scheduled for Monday. 32GBs of OWC RAM will hopefully get here between Friday & Monday. Can’t freakin wait ??.

 

[hoodafoo]

So far, so good! Keep in mind I had confirmed from the other MacRumours 2020 iMac memory thread that this should be a safe bet based on the experience of other users.

Here's my detailed response:

I had setup the iMac first with the installed stock memory just to make sure there we no issues and then proceeded to swap in the Crucial sticks once the machine was up and running. I had trouble getting it to boot on my multiple first attempts post-upgrade, but I then reseated the memory and it was fine (I am pretty sure one stick was loose, whoops.)

I had resisted using an Apple Pencil to open the door as I had seen in a video or article, but every other pointy (but not sharp) object within reach seemed to just not quite be thin-enough-yet-strong-enough to open it.

Once you do change the memory the first boot does take an extra 45s-60s where it'll be a black screen, so don't panic!

I haven't run any benchmark software, but it has been holding up well to some of the heavier tasks and games I've thrown at the machine so far. (Cities Skylines is one that will eat up all of memory you can give it by building a very populous town. Smooth like butter.)

Super glad I got it at Prime Day deal. I had a few brands from a few shops queued up/tracked in a spreadsheet and it was the perfect deal at the perfect time – especially with my Mac shipping ahead of schedule. Until then I was leaning towards 2x 32GB for the short term. Shipping wise it worked out well too: the memory ended along with the iMac, on the same UPS delivery. (I had the memory shipped to Canada via US Amazon.com as the Canadian site didn't get the deal.)


View attachment 975620

That's a beast of a machine! You must be one serious web surfer! ?

 

[sean+mac]

That's a beast of a machine! You must be one serious web surfer! ?

Lol, I do like to keep a lot of tabs open! But it is helpful to have access to that specific blend of local compute power for my use cases (current and anticipated over the lifetime of the machine.)

I just deleted my lengthy “justification” (use cases) reply – ultimately it doesn’t matter to me if people would agree or disagree with my rationale. Trust me, I’ve seen the i7 vs i9 thread arguments and don’t wish to stir that pot.

I will admit the ram was 2x what I planned to configure, although I was always going to go with 2x32GB to leave the door open. Prime Day got that ram to a cost where I just said “why not” and pulled the trigger on one more pair. I was ordering memory that same week it was close to delivery.

(I did skip the network upgrade! I had no need for that.)

My one regret... posting the full system specs screenshot. I just wanted to show the ram being picked up by the iMac as expected. ?

 

[iMi]

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. What would be the best way to escalate this issue beyond "senior specialists." Customer relations? Back in the day you could just email Steve Jobs and they would get back to you right away.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Ordered Sept. 17
UPS lost the shipment
Few days later Apple created a replacement
Delivery expected between 10/27-11/3
Status changes to "we'll update you when your return is returned"
There is no ****ing return
Another call to "support." Sorry. Miscommunication with UPS. Ready to ship. Will arrive by 3rd.
Today "we've updated your delivery dates to 11/11-11/17
Senior specialist (again). 30 min on the phone. Typing. I'll have to transfer you to sales and they will help resolve the issue.
Sales: starts everything over... verify identity. What's the problem? That whole ********
Supervisor will call you when they get in at 8:00AM
No Call
On the phone again now. Supervisor will call you in 24 hours. ****, no. Not getting off the phone.

Update:

Transferred a bunch of times. Ended up calling corporate. Asked for Customer Relations... No problem. Got transferred to senior "specialist" in... tech support. Nice enough fellow. He went to work, on my behalf, called me back 30 min later. Great news. It's still being built but shipping soon. Will arrive between 11/11-11/17 via expedited shipping.

You. Have. To. Be. ****ing. Kidding. Me.

I am beyond frustrated at this point. Any ideas on where to go next?

 

[hoodafoo]

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. What would be the best way to escalate this issue beyond "senior specialists." Customer relations? Back in the day you could just email Steve Jobs and they would get back to you right away.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Ordered Sept. 17
UPS lost the shipment
Few days later Apple created a replacement
Delivery expected between 10/27-11/3
Status changes to "we'll update you when your return is returned"
There is no ****ing return
Another call to "support." Sorry. Miscommunication with UPS. Ready to ship. Will arrive by 3rd.
Today "we've updated your delivery dates to 11/11-11/17
Senior specialist (again). 30 min on the phone. Typing. I'll have to transfer you to sales and they will help resolve the issue.
Sales: starts everything over... verify identity. What's the problem? That whole ********
Supervisor will call you when they get in at 8:00AM
No Call
On the phone again now. Supervisor will call you in 24 hours. ****, no. Not getting off the phone.

Update:

Transferred a bunch of times. Ended up calling corporate. Asked for Customer Relations... No problem. Got transferred to senior "specialist" in... tech support. Nice enough fellow. He went to work, on my behalf, called me back 30 min later. Great news. It's still being built but shipping soon. Will arrive between 11/11-11/17 via expedited shipping.

You. Have. To. Be. ****ing. Kidding. Me.

I am beyond frustrated at this point. Any ideas on where to go next?

I think you've done all you can. It's time to get the FBI or Secret Service involved as this is getting seriously serious.

 

[chilady1]

Alright, alright, alright!!!!! Houston - we have shipment! Let the tracking begin!

 

[krisoy52001]

I just ordered the base model. It was the upper limit of my budget. Should be here tomorrow by courier. That cost an extra nine bucks (Monday would have been free).

I bet it’s being couriered from my local Apple Store. It was an option for in store pickup tomorrow, but I’m avoiding indoor stuff beyond 30 seconds to drop off a package.

I am very excited!

Did you get it?