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My iMac arrived! 21.5" i5 BTO, first impressions

S

SiMBa37

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 5, 2010
235
0
New York
First off,

After 25+ years of using PC's this my first apple computer (not including my iphone or ipad). It took long enough to get here, ordered it on 8/9/10, and it arrived today 8/20/10. It was shipped from Newark, CA.

I was only able to use it for about an hour, so far I'm very impressed. It's very quiet, very fast, and the screen is gorgeous. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking for any screen issues, but for fun I did the gizmodo white screen/gray bar test and it looked pretty flawless. No dead pixels either. No buzzing or brightness noise. It looks incredibly sleek, I can't think of a Window's PC that rival's its sexy look.

In the next few days/weeks I'll be teaching myself how to use OS X and trying to install windows 7 via bootcamp, trying out iLife programs, and handbrake.

I know there are a lot folks with legitimate issues with their iMacs, I'm glad that I'm not one of them. This one's definitely a keeper.
 
Cool! I hope you enjoy that machine, I am getting an i5 MacBook Pro soon and I am super excited!!!
 
SiMBa37 said:
First off,
In the next few days/weeks I'll be teaching myself how to use OS X and trying to install windows 7 via bootcamp, trying out iLife programs, and handbrake.

I know there are a lot folks with legitimate issues with their iMacs, I'm glad that I'm not one of them. This one's definitely a keeper.
Click to expand...

Cool glad you're enjoying it.

Here's a challenge, try NOT installing Windows you may decide there isn't a need!
 
Enjoy! I'm in the exact same boat here. I have a new 27" i5, which is my first Apple computer, and will never go back to the PC. I really am trying to figure out what took me so long. :confused:
 
SiMBa37 said:
I know there are a lot folks with legitimate issues with their iMacs, I'm glad that I'm not one of them. This one's definitely a keeper.
Click to expand...

Hi!

Congratulations on your new imac!

By the way, who is the manufacturer of the harddrive in your computer? Thanks. :)
 
Convert here too! Started using these things about 3-4 years ago at work because thats the laptop they gave me. Ever since been using work laptop to work laptop every year and its always been a macbook pro. I finally bought an i7 iMac for myself and this thing is beautiful. I know how you feel, glad your happy with your purchase!!
 
Congrats SiMBa for getting an excellent iMac! ;) I've been quite happy as well. I've now got everything set up and even the keyboard issue I had resolved itself: I couldn't get the iMac to recognize the USB receiver of my diNovo keyboard at times but after I ran disk utility and repaired disk rights it started to work consistently.

I don't have any dead pixels nor backlight bleeding either. I do have a bit of the yellow tint issue with the middle of the bottom of the screen but it is quite mild (you can clearly see that the grey bars are of different shade but the difference isn't huge and the yellow tint is very mild). I did think about maybe trying to exchange this but to be honest I'm so happy with this iMac that it would seem like a risk more than an opportunity. I'm not a photographer so I don't need a perfect screen anyway and today 100% perfect screen are a rarity anyway. This iMac is dead quiet as well so I really do want to hold on to this iMac.

I've been very happy with this purchase and this does feel like the perfect computer for me: after using Windows since forever it feels weird that I have a computer that is fast, works and doesn't freeze/give error messages.
 
Tigerman82 said:
Congrats SiMBa for getting an excellent iMac! ;) I've been quite happy as well. I've now got everything set up and even the keyboard issue I had resolved itself: I couldn't get the iMac to recognize the USB receiver of my diNovo keyboard at times but after I ran disk utility and repaired disk rights it started to work consistently.

I don't have any dead pixels nor backlight bleeding either. I do have a bit of the yellow tint issue with the middle of the bottom of the screen but it is quite mild (you can clearly see that the grey bars are of different shade but the difference isn't huge and the yellow tint is very mild). I did think about maybe trying to exchange this but to be honest I'm so happy with this iMac that it would seem like a risk more than an opportunity. I'm not a photographer so I don't need a perfect screen anyway and today 100% perfect screen are a rarity anyway. This iMac is dead quiet as well so I really do want to hold on to this iMac.

I've been very happy with this purchase and this does feel like the perfect computer for me: after using Windows since forever it feels weird that I have a computer that is fast, works and doesn't freeze/give error messages.
Click to expand...

I hear ya man. I think you and decided on the i5 at about the same time when those geekbench scores came out. I honestly haven't had time to use it as I've been visiting my folks this weekend away from the house. But I'm looking foward to setting up itunes, importing my music, and installing some software. Hopefully tonight when I get back I can check out the brand of hard drive I had.

One small issue that came up was I was expecting the superdrive to suck in my cd/dvd just like my car stereo. But I found I have to stick my disc in 80% of the way for the imac to suck it in. Then on first boot up it took it forever for it to read a music cd, the drive kept trying to spin it over and over. After I updated the software and rebooted, that seems to have gone away though. Anyone else have that problem? This is my first iMac so I have no frame of reference.
 
SiMBa37 said:
One small issue that came up was I was expecting the superdrive to suck in my cd/dvd just like my car stereo. But I found I have to stick my disc in 80% of the way for the imac to suck it in.
Click to expand...

It took me by surprise as well. At first I thought there was another dvd inside or that I was pushing it in the wrong way around. I didn't have the rest of those problems you described though although I did do all of the updates beforehand.
 
SiMBa37 said:
System profiler says its a Western Digital drive. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.
Click to expand...

Based on the model number the system profiler gives me, I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HDD. I've read that those Seagate HDDs are usually the loud ones but this is extra queit.
 
SiMBa37 said:
After 25+ years of using PC's this my first apple computer (not including my iphone or ipad). It took long enough to get here, ordered it on 8/9/10, and it arrived today 8/20/10. It was shipped from Newark, CA.
Click to expand...

This was my first Apple computer as well although I have set up and played around with my mother's Mac Mini. It's amazing (coming from Windows XP) how much more effortless everything is with a Mac. It seems like OS X needs only one step to do something that would require several steps from Windows.

One of the biggest griefs I always had with Windows (aside from the error messages) was that my files were scattered around the HDD. I had a ton of folders and icons in my desktop and I didn't really know where everything was. With OS X everything feels more systematic. OS X also has that aesthetic quality that I think lacks from Windows. It's like moving from an untidy old house (XP) to a modern design house with everything in order (OS X). I know it's not fair to compare XP to Snow Leopard as Windows 7 is the proper counterpart but, having used Win7 a bit, I don't think it's that different from XP.
 
I, too, just got my first Mac desktop. Bought the i3. Felt I could save the $200, and spend it instead on RAM and HDD upgrade. Took me about 15 minutes to get it running, once I had time to open the box. I have a MBP, so am not totally new to Macs, but the performance of this machine is right up there. I am impressed!

This is the latest step in my converting all my computers to Cupertino Machines.

Also sprung for the large trackpad, and so far, I find the combination of that and the Magic Mouse to be quite useful. I regularly switch back and forth between the 'pad and the MM.

I do not regret making the switch!
 
I'll be unpacking my new iMac 27 i7 this evening!

Just received mine 1/2 hr before heading off to work, I did the order one week
ago and it's here already!!! shipped from the US, through to Canada via
Calgary then onto Vancouver and over to Vancouver Island great service Apple!:)
 
Well, mine it's here.

Is the 21,'5, but it's really big for my desk.

I haven't noticed noisy HD, and it is Seagate.

But, I have noticed same dust spots behind the screen.

And I think that I have some dead or stuck pixels...

:(
 
Not sure what to make of the dust, I didn't see any on mine. Trying calling apple and/or going to a genius in the store?

So far have got to play with the iMac a bit more, although not as long as I want to. I installed windows 7 ultimate via boot camp (and only using the upgrade dvd), and it works quite well. Although had some problems in windows recognizing my wireless keyboard. I'm downloading parallels 5 today, will see how it works.

I had accidentally double important my music into itunes, so it took me forever to delete all the duplicates, but I think I got it down. I'm looking forward to trying out handbrake. So far it seems so much more intuitive compared to windows based systems.
 
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