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Is anyone actually getting a good 27" iMac

F

Fikeies

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2010
8
0
Are there any really good iMac's out there that don't have any of the problems that seem to be frequently reported? I just received my 2nd attempt from Apple to provide me with a worthy machine (1st had the grey bar & yellow tint) and no luck, got the noisy HDD issue, yellowing, and bad backlight bleeding. This is turning into the biggest waste of time and if it wasn't for the fact that I really want this machine I'd bail completely on it.

Am I just being too picky on these issues that don't compromise performance or should I try again? Is anyone actually getting a good machine?

Fortunately, I am leaving town for 2 weeks so another return wouldn't be a big deal but I'd hate to think I'd get a worse machine than what I have now.

Thanks!!
 
My i7 is, as far as I can tell, perfect. I gave it a few checks when I got it, not noticed anything has changed since so I'm happy.

The HDD is a seagate, so I expect it to clunk a lot.
 
Got my first iMac ever today, and I think it's perfect. Haven't noticed any issues with it, and i'm not gonna check intense for it.

The hdd noise isn't disturbing me, my house actually sounds more. Haha, the radiators and stuff..
 
Maybe I am lucky but my iMac is perfect. In the last 5 years I have bought 3 imacs and 2 mac books and every one has been perfect.
 
took me 4 tries to get PERFECT, however all previous were "minor" issues, hard disk noise twice and power supply buzz once. All liveable perfect machines but i live so close to a store I just said why not and after 3 almost perfects i now have a perfect.

Never once seen a screen issue yellow nor dead pixels and everything worked well just those random noises can drain once you notice them. I would not stress about the "issues" apple is really good with returns and service so even if you get a bad one just get a replacement! my 2 cents
 
bartelby said:
My i7 is, as far as I can tell, perfect. I gave it a few checks when I got it, not noticed anything has changed since so I'm happy.

The HDD is a seagate, so I expect it to clunk a lot.
Click to expand...

How do you find out the brand of the HDD?
 
IMO, you have better luck getting a good machine in an Apple Store. I had to BTO' shipped to me and they were terrible as far as the displays (yellowing / gray banding). The ones from the Apple Store had pretty good displays, but some other issues.

I would not mail order an iMac.............
 
HDD model is: ST31000528AS. Can you tell the manufacturer from that?

Thank you
 
Lowered Expectations

You may have to lower your expectations a bit in order to get an imac you are happy with (or at least can live with).

For me, after 4 machines, my standards went down considerably (I have an iPhone and iPad and had formed opinions of quality based on those devices, which was not realistic, it seems) :

Yellow tinge= not jumping out at you, but likely still there if you look hard enough.

Grey Banding= none

Hardrive = WD; would likely not be able to handle the seagate

Power Supply Dog Whistle = Barely audible if nothing else is on (i.e. late at night) Not that audible to me (been playing amplified electric guitars for a few years.)

Backlight bleed- probably gunna have it, but should not be so bad it looks like a theater spotlight!

----
overall, the imac I settled for is, I am hoping, quite usable and will be for some years to come. However, it certainly doesn't earn any admiring/glowing looks from me as the Apple Marketing leads you to believe, or as other Apple products like the iPAd/iPhone do (I still get impressed and have to smile sometimes when I flick my iPad on, and it's over 3 months old).

In the end, the imac is "just a computer box". And as such it is a pretty darn good one. Just not really all that "magical". :)

-Iamthinking
 
I think some people have unrealistic expectations of what to expect. No technology is 100% perfect and computers have mechanical parts so I'm not sure a lot of the complaints are justified. I have a good i7, no noticeable yellowing but I'm sure I'd notice something if I stared at a white background looking for imperfections but this is not a real world test. There is a very minimal but audible fan noise so my Mac is not completely silent but for a powerful CPU like the i7 I would say the lack of noise is impressive, others might complain it's not silent.

I have a 2tb hitachi drive, when it reads/writes I can hear it seeking but I'd be surprised if you couldn't. It's a mechanical part with metal heads moving across metal platters, with an iMac it's also inches away from your face at ear level. I'm not quite sure what the iMac hard drive complaints are but I would be gobsmacked if anyone has a totally silent drive when it's under stress.

I'm very happy with my Mac, it exceeds my expectations for performance/noise and quality and I can be very picky. My first iMac had a buzz with the power supply but it was handled very well and quickly by apple and I'd have no hesitation to recommend a 27" to anyone.
 
i5 Quad 27" with 8GB bought as a refurb saving a bundle and very happy indeed. The screen is amazing and the machine is completely silent.
 
I got my first iMac last week - 27", i7, 2TB, SSD BTO. After months of lurking and fretting over all the yellowing, cracked screens, hard drive noises, random power failures, etc. widely reported here I decided to order one - finally. It arrived and as far as I can tell it is flawless - there is a bit of fan noise but nothing like my PC and is not loud enough to be heard over even low music from iTunes. Very happy with my decision and the purchase of the machine. The only issue is undoing 25 years of PC use and thinking - I did not RTFM and took two days to figure out how to eject a DVD!
 
My iMac 27" was perfect until I noticed a stuck pixel. It's only one stuck pixel near the top of the screen that is not noticeable unless I really look for it. Can happen with any LCD display. I still own a Samsung 19" monitor I bought a while ago that has 3 or so dead pixels on the display but, at the time, wasn't enough where they would replace it. At least Apple has good return policies and customer service with these issues. Other than that, my iMac is perfect.

I think part of the problem with Apple products is Apple holds itself to such a high standard and markets themselves as such that when problems do occur people are put off more since they were expecting perfection and a problem-free machine.
 
I've had absolutely no issues with mine. I bought it from an Apple store. I've had it since June. Very quiet (light, consistent, almost inaudible), clear crisp and true color display. So far the experience has been great, other than my ineptitude.
 
Hm.

Mine is fine - no yellowing, no bleeding, no missing pixels.

One thing: hard drives make noise. They're mechanical devices. They have tiny motors in them and moving arms for the read/write heads.

Hard drives can be noisier than usual.


Whenever I hear on here that people are complaining about hard drives I try and remind them they should have gotten SSD drives since they have no moving parts.
 
aliensporebomb said:
Mine is fine - no yellowing, no bleeding, no missing pixels.

One thing: hard drives make noise. They're mechanical devices. They have tiny motors in them and moving arms for the read/write heads.

Hard drives can be noisier than usual.


Whenever I hear on here that people are complaining about hard drives I try and remind them they should have gotten SSD drives since they have no moving parts.
Click to expand...

I agree. Any PC you buy will have hard drive noise. Sorry. Until SSDs get cheaper and get higher capacity, mechanical hard drives will be the norm.
 
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