New iMac: Concerns

[CartoonChess]

Hello again. I'm creating a second thread because it isn't quite on topic. Anyway.

The new 3.06 iMac arrived today and while it is quite astounding, I must pose a few questions for the community. First off, this sound popping business preceding each little system sound when nothing's happened for a while couldn't be more annoying. There seems to be all sorts of stuff on the 'Net about when it was an issue in Tiger, but I couldn't find anything about Leopard or the new iMacs. Does anyone know if this issue has been resolved, or if Apple's even looking at it? Or if this machine is a dud?

Next, the screen is crazy. Crazy as in good! Frankly, I have a hard time turning down the biggest monitor (well, the 30" ACD, but oh well). Now, as I type this, I'm noticing these things less, but: The colour feels weird. Also, the pixels seem very defined. I say feel and seem because it may very well be completely subjective. Anyway, I heard everyone rant about the colour on the new glossies, but, I dunno, it almost looks less deep. More vivid, maybe. Perhaps brighter. But it's almost as though there's less contrast. A consequence of the loss of matte, perhaps? The other display thing is that I can swear the pixels themselves are more defined. Sitting next to this iMac G4, the onscreen elements appear the same size, but it's as though the pixel spacing or whathaveyou is more noticeable on the 24". Maybe it's just extremely crisp? I'm noticing it less, to be honest.

And here's the final thing: Birthdays in both Address Book and iCal have always mistreated me, but this new bug takes the cake. There's nowhere to enter the date/day of the birthday! Absolutely strange.

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints.

 

[CartoonChess]

Update

The birthday thing appears to be a system-wide date problem, but I don't see the issue in the International settings.

 

[Darkroom]

The birthday thing appears to be a system-wide date problem, but I don't see the issue in the International settings.

for the dates issue, check out Sys Prefs > International > Formats.

for the "strange color" you're seeing, check out this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/477160/

 

[CartoonChess]

Hey Darkroom,

As you said, I checked out the Formats but I can't seem to make a combination that makes the day show up. It's ignored every time.

As for the colour, I was just reading that thread earlier before posting. It appears to deal mostly with bleeding on the edges, of which this iMac luckily has minimal or none. My concern is with the entire display; but again, largely subjective.

 

[Darkroom]

Hey Darkroom,

As you said, I checked out the Formats but I can't seem to make a combination that makes the day show up. It's ignored every time.

As for the colour, I was just reading that thread earlier before posting. It appears to deal mostly with bleeding on the edges, of which this iMac luckily has minimal or none. My concern is with the entire display; but again, largely subjective.

the thread also discusses what appears to be a temperature gradient over the 24" iMac screen. mine, for example, is warmer in the middle (yellowish) and colder on the left (bluish).

 

[CartoonChess]

Well, I think my screen's pretty good, all things considered. Anyone know anything about the sound pops or that date problem?

UPDATE:

Called Apple about another issue and asked about the sound pop while at it. They had me reset the PRAM, but it didn't do anything. They couldn't think of any way to stop it, but also didn't consider it a worthy fault. At the same time, they wouldn't tell me if it was a common issue or not.

The date thing I fixed on my own by resetting the custom formats and redoing them.