Ive been waiting over one year now for Leopard to come out so that I could buy my first Mac. Well, I decided that I couldnt wait any longer and that I would order before the Leopard rush (besides, I get the education discount so Leopard wont cost much). I bought the 24 iMac 2.8, and I couldnt be happier!
I was very concerned about the issues many report regarding the 24, so the first thing that I did was test it. There are no dead pixels and no yellowing, but the left and right side of the screen are less bright than the middle (this is only noticeable on solid backgrounds; its no problem at all for normal computing). The top of the unit does get very hot, but that is to be expected.
The new slim keyboard is awesome, its much more comfortable than I expected, considering that I hate laptop keyboards. The mighty-mouse, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Im going to give it a month or two to see if I get used to it, but there are several things I dislike. First, the lack of buttons; second, the scroll ball doesnt always work unless you press just right; third, the side button is difficult to use; and last, the right click doesnt work very well.
The 24 screen is amazing, I dont think Ill ever be able to work on a small screen again. Importing my iTunes was a bit of a pain, having to manually edit the XML file to get the play-lists and ratings to copy over.
I knew full well that the iMac was not a gaming machine, but the benchmarks for WoW seemed acceptable. With all settings maxed out, I get about 22fps in full screen WoW, which is somewhat disappointing, but acceptable considering the early driver version and Apples apparent lack of interest towards the gaming market. Heck, I almost bought a Mac Pro so that I could get a good gaming machine, but I was not willing to shell out the extra $1k for that (I could build a Win-box for that much). Anyway, I knew it wasnt going to be great and Im still very pleased overall.
As for shipping, I ordered it on Thursday afternoon, 9/27 and paid for expedited processing. I did have a custom order, so it had to come from China. Even with the Chinese Golden Week holiday and a FedEx expected delivery date of 10/8, I received it on 10/3.
I was very concerned about the issues many report regarding the 24, so the first thing that I did was test it. There are no dead pixels and no yellowing, but the left and right side of the screen are less bright than the middle (this is only noticeable on solid backgrounds; its no problem at all for normal computing). The top of the unit does get very hot, but that is to be expected.
The new slim keyboard is awesome, its much more comfortable than I expected, considering that I hate laptop keyboards. The mighty-mouse, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Im going to give it a month or two to see if I get used to it, but there are several things I dislike. First, the lack of buttons; second, the scroll ball doesnt always work unless you press just right; third, the side button is difficult to use; and last, the right click doesnt work very well.
The 24 screen is amazing, I dont think Ill ever be able to work on a small screen again. Importing my iTunes was a bit of a pain, having to manually edit the XML file to get the play-lists and ratings to copy over.
I knew full well that the iMac was not a gaming machine, but the benchmarks for WoW seemed acceptable. With all settings maxed out, I get about 22fps in full screen WoW, which is somewhat disappointing, but acceptable considering the early driver version and Apples apparent lack of interest towards the gaming market. Heck, I almost bought a Mac Pro so that I could get a good gaming machine, but I was not willing to shell out the extra $1k for that (I could build a Win-box for that much). Anyway, I knew it wasnt going to be great and Im still very pleased overall.
As for shipping, I ordered it on Thursday afternoon, 9/27 and paid for expedited processing. I did have a custom order, so it had to come from China. Even with the Chinese Golden Week holiday and a FedEx expected delivery date of 10/8, I received it on 10/3.
