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New iMac on it's way! (Update)

K

klmckenzie03

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2008
49
0
Hello everyone!

My name is Kyle and I am new to Mac. Earlier this morning I ordered a 24" iMac 3 GHz model with 4GB of RAM and the NVIDIA graphics card. I stuck with the 320 GB HDD as I plan on purchasing an external LaCie RAID drive in the near future to place on my network. I topped my order off with a subscription to AppleCare as well as a discounted subscription to MobileMe which isn't scheduled to ship until mid July.

Sad to say I have been a Windows junkie my whole life and am finally convinced to make the switch! I am getting rather tired of Windows XP and Vista isn't even an upgrade option in my opinion. I have heard nothing but good things about Mac's and am very excited to finally see what everyone has been talking about! Even though this will be my first Mac computer this won't be my first Apple product. I currently own a 4th Gen iPod 20GB and a 4GB iPhone that I have been overly excited with since I purchased it a week after it's launch last year. I have also been using an AirPort Express to stream iTunes music for about 2 years now. These products seem to "just work" and I can't wait to add the iMac to my collection!

My only worry is that I will get a unit that suffers from the LCD issues I have been reading about on this forum. My fingers are crossed for an iMac with no pixel or gradient issues.

As far as my set up will go, I purchased and set up an IKEA Mikael desk just last weekend. While this seems like a pretty solid desk I am not 100% sold on the durability of the birch veneer. I'm pretty sure I will be returning it this week in favor of a Galant desk with aluminum legs and a frosted glass top. Does anyone have experience with the Galant system?

I will be sure to post pictures/impressions as soon as my iMac arrives which is scheduled to be here at it's earliest by the end of next week. This will be an eternity!
 
good for you

BTW Don't worry about the Screen most likely if it has a "problem" u being a casual user (I'm assuming u are a casual user) wont even know it.
 
Welcome aboard Kyle, I myself am about 8 months ahead of you let me give you some advise!

#1. You are going to run into quite a few features your missing or should I say are done differently than with windows. Copy / Move etc.. be patient you will get frustrated to some degree.

#2. Make a list of the applications you use on a daily basis for XP on paper and one by one find solutions in advance.

example: Winrar on PC I use Macpardeluxe and the Unarchiever for OSX.
Also on XP I used newsleecher and on MAc I use Panic's Unison.

There is alot to learn, but go slowly and do not expect this to be XP it is not. Learn one thing at a time and you will enjoy the OS. Never having virus, or spyware on my machine is pure HEAVEN!!!!!!

Almost any application you can find on XP is availalbe for OSX some are free (Finder Pop is a must for moving files etc..) while others will cost you a few dollars just test out all the applications and see what you like.

Welcome to the Informed side.. You can start enjoying your PC again!
 
Dorfdad said:
Welcome aboard Kyle, I myself am about 8 months ahead of you let me give you some advise!

#1. You are going to run into quite a few features your missing or should I say are done differently than with windows. Copy / Move etc.. be patient you will get frustrated to some degree.

#2. Make a list of the applications you use on a daily basis for XP on paper and one by one find solutions in advance.

example: Winrar on PC I use Macpardeluxe and the Unarchiever for OSX.
Also on XP I used newsleecher and on MAc I use Panic's Unison.

There is alot to learn, but go slowly and do not expect this to be XP it is not. Learn one thing at a time and you will enjoy the OS. Never having virus, or spyware on my machine is pure HEAVEN!!!!!!

Almost any application you can find on XP is availalbe for OSX some are free (Finder Pop is a must for moving files etc..) while others will cost you a few dollars just test out all the applications and see what you like.

Welcome to the Informed side.. You can start enjoying your PC again!
Click to expand...

That's a bit extreme IMHO. You'll naturally become accustomed to OS X and Macs. And, when you do have trouble, you can just post on here.

Welcome to MacRumors, enjoy your stay.

Tim
 
i made the switch about 8 months ago (also with an imac) and its been amazing the whole way, welcome to the club.
 
Hi,
Welcome - prepare to start enjoying computing again!

On the desk, I have had the Mikael desk from Ikea for a couple of years now and it's been fine, and great value for the price (£79 IIRC). However I have found that the veneer is a bit fragile and once breached it will absorb any moisture (eg. condensation from glass of water/beer) and then swells up. In particular I managed to rip off a bit of veneer just by sticking some electricians insulating tape to it for a couple of minutes and then pulling it off. I was soldering a couple of wires together and just used the tape to hold the wire in place over the edge of the desk.

Perhaps more importantly I think the iMac is at odds with the styling of the Mikael desk. I had a PC when I bought the desk but if I was doing it again I'd probably go for a glass desk of some sort - a bit more minimalist in design.

Anyway, enjoy the iMac (goes without saying that you will) and if you have any problems then let us know and we'll be happy to help!

Cheers,
Craig.

ps. I switched back in August 2007 when the new iMac came out andhave never looked back.
 
klmckenzie03 said:
Hello everyone!

My name is Kyle and I am new to Mac. Earlier this morning I ordered a 24" iMac 3 GHz model with 4GB of RAM and the NVIDIA graphics card. I stuck with the 320 GB HDD as I plan on purchasing an external LaCie RAID drive in the near future to place on my network. I topped my order off with a subscription to AppleCare as well as a discounted subscription to MobileMe which isn't scheduled to ship until mid July.

Sad to say I have been a Windows junkie my whole life and am finally convinced to make the switch! I am getting rather tired of Windows XP and Vista isn't even an upgrade option in my opinion. I have heard nothing but good things about Mac's and am very excited to finally see what everyone has been talking about! Even though this will be my first Mac computer this won't be my first Apple product. I currently own a 4th Gen iPod 20GB and a 4GB iPhone that I have been overly excited with since I purchased it a week after it's launch last year. I have also been using an AirPort Express to stream iTunes music for about 2 years now. These products seem to "just work" and I can't wait to add the iMac to my collection!

My only worry is that I will get a unit that suffers from the LCD issues I have been reading about on this forum. My fingers are crossed for an iMac with no pixel or gradient issues.

As far as my set up will go, I purchased and set up an IKEA Mikael desk just last weekend. While this seems like a pretty solid desk I am not 100% sold on the durability of the birch veneer. I'm pretty sure I will be returning it this week in favor of a Galant desk with aluminum legs and a frosted glass top. Does anyone have experience with the Galant system?

I will be sure to post pictures/impressions as soon as my iMac arrives which is scheduled to be here at it's earliest by the end of next week. This will be an eternity!
Click to expand...

I'm a little bit confused, how come it only comes with a 320GB HDD? The 3.06ghz I'm ordering in a few weeks time comes with 500GB HDD as standard? Do you only get a 320GB in the USA?
 
Thanks

Wow! Didn't figure this thread would generate so many posts in so little time. Thanks everyone for making me feel welcome!

sassenach74 said:
I'm a little bit confused, how come it only comes with a 320GB HDD? The 3.06ghz I'm ordering in a few weeks time comes with 500GB HDD as standard? Do you only get a 320GB in the USA?
Click to expand...

As far as this goes the answer is Yes & No. On Apple's web store there are two 24" iMac options. A TOP of the line model and then a "lower end" one. The absolute TOP of the line 24" iMac does come standard with the 500GB, while the lower end one comes standard with the 320GB. The lower end one can be spec'd out exactly the same as the top of the line model in every other aspect. This is the configuration I purchased. While not a huge savings I figured I really wont be needing the 500GB, plus should I ever need to format it wont take quite as long.
 
Wirelessly posted (PPC; 240x320; HTC_TyTN/1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.7))

Ah right, after I posted I realized this could have been what you did, thanks for confirming. Really hope your iMac arrives quickly and trouble free, I'm so looking forward to getting mine next month.
 
klmckenzie03 said:
Hello everyone!

My name is Kyle and I am new to Mac. Earlier this morning I ordered a 24" iMac 3 GHz model with 4GB of RAM and the NVIDIA graphics card. I stuck with the 320 GB HDD as I plan on purchasing an external LaCie RAID drive in the near future to place on my network. I topped my order off with a subscription to AppleCare as well as a discounted subscription to MobileMe which isn't scheduled to ship until mid July.

Sad to say I have been a Windows junkie my whole life and am finally convinced to make the switch! I am getting rather tired of Windows XP and Vista isn't even an upgrade option in my opinion. I have heard nothing but good things about Mac's and am very excited to finally see what everyone has been talking about! Even though this will be my first Mac computer this won't be my first Apple product. I currently own a 4th Gen iPod 20GB and a 4GB iPhone that I have been overly excited with since I purchased it a week after it's launch last year. I have also been using an AirPort Express to stream iTunes music for about 2 years now. These products seem to "just work" and I can't wait to add the iMac to my collection!

My only worry is that I will get a unit that suffers from the LCD issues I have been reading about on this forum. My fingers are crossed for an iMac with no pixel or gradient issues.

As far as my set up will go, I purchased and set up an IKEA Mikael desk just last weekend. While this seems like a pretty solid desk I am not 100% sold on the durability of the birch veneer. I'm pretty sure I will be returning it this week in favor of a Galant desk with aluminum legs and a frosted glass top. Does anyone have experience with the Galant system?

I will be sure to post pictures/impressions as soon as my iMac arrives which is scheduled to be here at it's earliest by the end of next week. This will be an eternity!
Click to expand...

It's nice to know that someone is switching. When you get your mac,the first thing you should do is to convert the mouse to two buttons. Go to System Preferences and then Keyboard and Mouse to do this. It should be fun getting used to your new system.
 
youre gonna love ure iMac:D thats all i can say cuz i know i love mine and there has to be something wrong with someone if they dont love theres haha
 
New iMac on it's way! (Update)

My apologies for not updating this thread sooner. I have some good news and bad news...

First the good news!

I did receive my iMac on Friday the 27th of June and had it set up and running by Sunday. This being my first mac I am quite impressed with the operating system. I am still getting used to a few things but when it all comes down to it I definitely like Leopard better than Windows XP.

I find the wireless keyboard is a little tricky to type on at first but I'm starting to get used to it slowly. The mighty mouse is a little strange however. I am not sure if maybe the one I got is defective but when using the ball to scroll down all that I have to do is roll the ball down to scroll down. The strange thing is scrolling up. When I want to scroll up I have to actually push the ball down into the mouse and then roll the ball up. This is sometimes quite difficult. Is this normal or is my MM broke?

Now on to the bad news...

Just as I was afraid, my iMac does have some screen issues. First issue is I noticed one dead pixel down near the dock area. Not such a big deal as it isn't that noticeable, however, still irks me. The second issue is a noticeable gradient across the screen. I have a horizontal gray bar that runs about halfway across the screen on the right side. This is only noticeable on a white background. The thing that bothers me most about this is that when moving a window from the left side of the screen over to the right there is a significant difference in brightness.

This probably wouldn't bother me so much except for the fact that I did pay almost $2,500 for this machine. At my workplace we have a few hundred workstations all using Dell E178FP monitors that retail for about $200. After using at least 30 different stations at work never have I ever witnessed any sort of gradient issue such as the one my iMac has. If Dell can produce a monitor for about $200 with no gradient issues why can't Apple duplicate this on their much more pricey machine?

All in all this is unacceptable to me considering the high cost of this machine and I would like to try to get a replacement. Being that this is a BTO machine I know that it cannot be returned, but theoretically can be exchanged if the machine is damaged. My main question here is what dept. at Apple do I need to call and what exactly do I need to tell them in order to make this process go smoothly? Do you think they will let me exchange? I am still within the 14 day period. I don't really want any sort of hassle from Apple and the nearest store is over an hour away so with gas at $4 a gallon that is somewhat out of the question as well. Mainly I just want what I paid for, a quality machine with no screen issues. If Dell can do it I know Apple can.

Thanks in advance, Kyle
 
apple is slipping on their quality it seems like just about everyone who buys an imac has screen issues. I'm on my way to buy an imac in an hour and i'm scared that i'm going to get a bad screen. I know i can probably get it returned quickly especially since i have a store nearby but i just hate the hassle.
 
klmckenzie03 said:
My apologies for not updating this thread sooner. I have some good news and bad news...

First the good news!

I did receive my iMac on Friday the 27th of June and had it set up and running by Sunday. This being my first mac I am quite impressed with the operating system. I am still getting used to a few things but when it all comes down to it I definitely like Leopard better than Windows XP.

I find the wireless keyboard is a little tricky to type on at first but I'm starting to get used to it slowly. The mighty mouse is a little strange however. I am not sure if maybe the one I got is defective but when using the ball to scroll down all that I have to do is roll the ball down to scroll down. The strange thing is scrolling up. When I want to scroll up I have to actually push the ball down into the mouse and then roll the ball up. This is sometimes quite difficult. Is this normal or is my MM broke?

Now on to the bad news...

Just as I was afraid, my iMac does have some screen issues. First issue is I noticed one dead pixel down near the dock area. Not such a big deal as it isn't that noticeable, however, still irks me. The second issue is a noticeable gradient across the screen. I have a horizontal gray bar that runs about halfway across the screen on the right side. This is only noticeable on a white background. The thing that bothers me most about this is that when moving a window from the left side of the screen over to the right there is a significant difference in brightness.

This probably wouldn't bother me so much except for the fact that I did pay almost $2,500 for this machine. At my workplace we have a few hundred workstations all using Dell E178FP monitors that retail for about $200. After using at least 30 different stations at work never have I ever witnessed any sort of gradient issue such as the one my iMac has. If Dell can produce a monitor for about $200 with no gradient issues why can't Apple duplicate this on their much more pricey machine?

All in all this is unacceptable to me considering the high cost of this machine and I would like to try to get a replacement. Being that this is a BTO machine I know that it cannot be returned, but theoretically can be exchanged if the machine is damaged. My main question here is what dept. at Apple do I need to call and what exactly do I need to tell them in order to make this process go smoothly? Do you think they will let me exchange? I am still within the 14 day period. I don't really want any sort of hassle from Apple and the nearest store is over an hour away so with gas at $4 a gallon that is somewhat out of the question as well. Mainly I just want what I paid for, a quality machine with no screen issues. If Dell can do it I know Apple can.

Thanks in advance, Kyle
Click to expand...

I got mine ordered as well. Should be here this week... I do hope mine will have no screen issues. According to one poll on this forum , many people said they had no issues, I wonder did they have no issues or did they not look for them. I`m like you switching from PC to MAC. And what you wrote about the $200 dell screens is all true.. At my office we got cheap screens as well and they have no gradient, bleeding or stuck pixel issues. Does that mean IMAC uses cheaper screens then the $200 dells? So what are we paying for then? And people who say that well you should have gone with MAC PRO if you want to do PRO work are mistaken. to pay $2000 for an IMAC and have screen and sound issues is something i cant comprehend. Seriously for $2000 i can build myself some serious PC for some serious job. But i`m trying to escape windows issues so i`m willing to try and buy overpriced IMAC.. :) will see how it goes... also.. what makes me mad is that this issue has been since they were first released mid of 2007.. one year later same problems , nothing fixed. Apple just doesnt care...
 
Does anyone know if they are going to give me any sort of hassle when I tell them that I want a replacement being that it was BTO?
 
Ok so today I finally had a chance to call Apple to see about getting this iMac replaced due to the screen gradient.

The first rep I talked to had me do various troubleshooting steps in order to get this "issue" to go away. Halfway through the process he mentioned to me that "It must be a hardware issue". I'm not sure what gave him that notion as I mentioned to him first of all that it is visible in any application and most noticeable on a white background, LOL. Anyway, the last step he wanted me to try was with my computer unplugged from the wall he wanted me to hold down the power button while I plug the machine in. He warned me that the fan would be blowing at full speed when the computer turned on and not to be alarmed. I assumed that this would eventually go away. Boy was I wrong!

The next thing he did was transfer me to some other department and the lady was questioning me about my screen issue and I mentioned to her that whatever the previous rep did screwed up my fan and I had never heard it spin up this fast before. She asks me what I have running at the time and I reply "Nothing". I completed one final power cycle and the high speed fan persists. The rep mentioned to me that she can replace my logic board and my LCD panel.

I told her that this sounded like a rather long process and requested that we just do a total exchange on the machine. She agrees and states that I will be hearing from an escalations department within 1 business day with steps on what to do from here. I find it hilarious that I called Apple to resolve a single issue and they messed up my machine even more!

My fingers are crossed for the replacement. Hopefully it will not be worse than the first one!
 
klmckenzie03 said:
Does anyone know if they are going to give me any sort of hassle when I tell them that I want a replacement being that it was BTO?
Click to expand...

As with all companies there are days on the assembly line where one person may slack off and cause a defect to happen. Apple will happily repair your machine. All you need to do is walk in to your local Apple store or call 1-800-APL-CARE.

You may return your machine within 14 days of the purchase. Apple will give you support on the phone for 90 days. You have hardware support/replacement for 1 year. To extend these services to 3 years please buy Apple Care.

According to Consumer Reports Apple is #1 in technical support (Desktops-81%, Laptops-83%), where as Dell comes in at 2nd in Desktops at 56% and Lenovo comes in 2nd with Laptops at 66%. Apple also has the highest Satisfactory Rating.
 
klmckenzie03 said:
Does anyone know if they are going to give me any sort of hassle when I tell them that I want a replacement being that it was BTO?
Click to expand...

Wasn't any problem when I returned my first one. 20 minutes of TS over the phone (3 different people) and FedEx label return within 24hr. Had the new Mac 8 days from delivery of the first one.
 
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