RESOLVED: Crucial Memory Upgrade Issue...Help!

[Buerkletucson]

That's too bad. Here in Japan Apple sends a courier with a specialized shipping container to the customer's door and overnights it both to and from the service center in Tokyo. You just hand them the iMac when they ring the doorbell.

Also, I've had a few service calls under AppleCare over the course of my 11 years as a Mac user, including expensive LCD panel replacements and Apple has never refused service once.

Are you in the US? I'm an American citizen living long term in Japan and I can say that service is just generally poor in the USA in comparison, period. I can't speak for Apple US specifically.

That's nice....

Apple will not accept a 27" iMac being sent in directly to them in the USA.......
I have a Late-2015 that has been crashing on me and I've had it to the Apple store multiple times......the last time I wanted to send it back to Apple to work on and they said it's not possible and they won't accept it on the large machines.
But, it's OK for us to lug them through a shopping center mall to the Apple store multiple times.

 

[CaptRB]

So here's what happened...

They checked the machine and indeed one of the slots is bad. Could not be easily repaired. Given that I've had a less than ideal experience they gave me the following:

Free SSD drive upgrade (512GB SSD from the original 2TB FD)
Free Apple TV

So basically they gave me 350 dollars for my trouble and now I wait for a new machine again. I really had no issue with the 2TB drive, but the 512 SSD was a free upgrade and I have tons of external storage standing by anyway. I'll likely still upgrade that drive in two years, but free is free. Apple then spoke to the manager and asked her to see if there was an accessory I wanted (which I really didn't), so I'll likely give the Apple TV to a friend.

When the 15" touchbar was returned they actually gave about 250 dollars extra over what I actually paid, so at this point I'm up 600 dollars, but I STILL had to buy a new MacBook Air and go back to using the Air/Imac combo, so Apple's the bigger winner.

Hopefully this will bring this drama to a close!


R.

 

[kdoug]

So here's what happened...

They checked the machine and indeed one of the slots is bad. Could not be easily repaired. Given that I've had a less than ideal experience they gave me the following:

Free SSD drive upgrade (512GB SSD from the original 2TB FD)
Free Apple TV

So basically they gave me 350 dollars for my trouble and now I wait for a new machine again. I really had no issue with the 2TB drive, but the 512 SSD was a free upgrade and I have tons of external storage standing by anyway. I'll likely still upgrade that drive in two years, but free is free. Apple then spoke to the manager and asked her to see if there was an accessory I wanted (which I really didn't), so I'll likely give the Apple TV to a friend.

When the 15" touchbar was returned they actually gave about 250 dollars extra over what I actually paid, so at this point I'm up 600 dollars, but I STILL had to buy a new MacBook Air and go back to using the Air/Imac combo, so Apple's the bigger winner.

Hopefully this will bring this drama to a close!


R.

LOL at your change of heart to the SSD from Fusion. I was with you all the way on the fusion drive until I started reading the incredible speeds of the blade SSD and how dang risky it'll be to add it down the road. Since I already have a dual USB 3.0 docking station and iTunes, photos and videos on one of them it just seemed to make more sense. I still believe the 1TB ridiculously too expensive.

 

[CaptRB]

LOL at your change of heart to the SSD from Fusion. I was with you all the way on the fusion drive until I started reading the incredible speeds of the blade SSD and how dang risky it'll be to add it down the road. Since I already have a dual USB 3.0 docking station and iTunes, photos and videos on one of them it just seemed to make more sense. I still believe the 1TB ridiculously too expensive.

Actually, I had time to try the machine with the 2TB fusion and it was more than fine. I opened 30 RAW files and it was like lightening. I honestly went to the SSD because it was a freebee and there was no other area to upgrade since I already bought the memory. I now have external SSD waiting, so an internal 1TB SSD would be a big waste. The 512 will be more than fine, but so was the 2TB FD.
Since I got do run some initial tests, I will report back if the SSD makes any difference at all for high-end photo work. I can't see that it will.


R.

 

[deeddawg]

I opened 30 RAW files and it was like lightening.

Just have to kid you on this one...

lightening
noun, Medicine/Medical.
1.
the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.
[doublepost=1505182269][/doublepost]

the incredible speeds of the blade SSD and how dang risky it'll be to add it down the road

From what I'm led to understand, unless you can find a blade SSD from a dead mac, you can't add one down the road at this time. Perhaps someone will figure it out, but for now if you want that blade SSD speed you need to buy it built that way.

That said, whether it makes a difference in real world usage will depend heavily on what it is you do. Opening thirty RAW files might be ~1GB of data read depending on the camera. SATA SSD @ 500MB/s vs blade SSD at whatever they do (2GB/s?). 1/2 sec vs 2 sec. Big whoop. Generally I'd think other system operations would occlude the difference.

Note - I'm NOT arguing for one vs the other. Just thinking out loud and maybe offering perspective. Personally if I end up buying an imac this year I'm still divided between blade SSD vs fusion, though probably would lean toward the SSD as it'd leave the 3.5" bay open for a future upgrade with a larger SATA SSD.

 

[CaptRB]

Just have to kid you on this one...

lightening
noun, Medicine/Medical.
1.
the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.
[doublepost=1505182269][/doublepost]

From what I'm led to understand, unless you can find a blade SSD from a dead mac, you can't add one down the road at this time. Perhaps someone will figure it out, but for now if you want that blade SSD speed you need to buy it built that way.

That said, whether it makes a difference in real world usage will depend heavily on what it is you do. Opening thirty RAW files might be ~1GB of data read depending on the camera. SATA SSD @ 500MB/s vs blade SSD at whatever they do (2GB/s?). 1/2 sec vs 2 sec. Big whoop. Generally I'd think other system operations would occlude the difference.

Note - I'm NOT arguing for one vs the other. Just thinking out loud and maybe offering perspective. Personally if I end up buying an imac this year I'm still divided between blade SSD vs fusion, though probably would lean toward the SSD as it'd leave the 3.5" bay open for a future upgrade with a larger SATA SSD.

Hopefully this next machine is okay. The SSD was free, so I can't complain. I also have an brand new i5 iMac here with just the 1TB FD, so I'll also compare with that as well.

Anyway....Apple did take care of me yet again, so I'm not unhappy. I'd probably be a bit happier if the 2TB FD version was sitting here working though. It was blazingly fast. If the SSD is quicker in some way or another I really don't care.

I was talking about cars to a friend yesterday. I have a Charger Hellcat with a ZL1-1LE coming next year. Few cars are faster. We've hit a plateau where you can buy an all-out race car right off the rack. Computers and cameras have hit a plateau that is very similar. I don't see any big leaps and haven't in some time. So when folks jump up and down about faster drives using apps that I already know work very fast with older drives, I can't get to excited about it. Even my 2011 i7 machine was STILL fast and capable when I sold it last year. The bigger leaps have been with the new displays.


R.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Anyway....Apple did take care of me yet again, so I'm not unhappy. I'd probably be a bit happier if the 2TB FD version was sitting here working though. It was blazingly fast. If the SSD is quicker in some way or another I really don't care.

Wasn't the 512GB SSD a free upgrade that Apple offered you for your trouble which you accepted?

Anyway, I'm glad to hear your situation was resolved satisfactorily.

 

[kdoug]

Wasn't the 512GB SSD a free upgrade that Apple offered you for your trouble which you accepted?

Anyway, I'm glad to hear your situation was resolved satisfactorily.

Not to mention the free Apple TV.

 

[CaptRB]

Wasn't the 512GB SSD a free upgrade that Apple offered you for your trouble which you accepted?

Anyway, I'm glad to hear your situation was resolved satisfactorily.

Yes, they gave me the SSD upgrade for free. The store manager put me on the phone with a customer relations supervisor who also apologized for the whole mess and then told the manager to give me something off the shelf for up to 200.00 and I grabbed the Apple TV.
So now it'll be a 27" i7 with 580/8gb, 512SSD and 24 GB of RAM. Overkill for my photo work, but the longevity of the system should be pretty good.


R

 

[posguy99]

So now it'll be a 27" i7 with 580/8gb, 512SSD and 24 GB of RAM. Overkill for my photo work, but the longevity of the system should be pretty good.

Pointing out that there is no such thing as "overkill" for photo work. I'd add more RAM. And you'd have regretted the fusion drive before long.

 

[CaptRB]

Pointing out that there is no such thing as "overkill" for photo work. I'd add more RAM. And you'd have regretted the fusion drive before long.

I'm working with Nikon D810 with a Nikon D850 on the way, but I also work with Canon gear on some jobs.

I primarily shoot for catalogue. Since even a i7 notebook with a standard drive and 8GB of RAM can handle these files, it's not likely that the 2TB FD drive or 16GB of ram would have been limiting factors.

The only way that happens is with a new Nikon camera with double the resolution and that's many years away. I have friends using higher end gear on older systems as well.

So there's just no way a photographer is going to run into issues on this. It's something people like to say, but professional shooters like me know it's simply not true. LR can't even use the extra RAM. Batch processing works fine and fast, even on an OLD machine with a standard drive in PS. The camera tech envelope is covered for years to come. When a Nikon D950 comes out, it'll be time for a new computer anyway.


R

 

[Apple_Robert]

It would be a good idea to edit your thread title to "resolved."

 

[CaptRB]

It would be a good idea to edit your thread title to "resolved."

As soon as the replacement Mac is here, up and running with the crucial memory, I will mark it resolved.


R

 

[CaptRB]

So the new machine came.

As said....

iMac 27" i7 with 580 8GB, 512SSD and 24 GB of ram

Shipped with 8GB ram and this time the Crucial RAM went into the slots easily and clicked into place. Machine booted in seconds and it's all working like a charm. Running this Mac with a Dell 4K screen and it's all working beautifully.

I think it'll be about a year before I have the courage to try another MacBook Pro. So long as this all keeps working, I'm happy.


R.

 

[Tanyaviola]

I know this is an old thread but I’m having the same problem with my new 2019 iMac. But the slots are fine because I tried the original ram in all the slots and it booted fine. I tried absolutely every configuration of the new Crucial memory and all I got was a black screen for minutes....just the fans in. Nothing. I’ll likely return the memory.

On a side note, Apple replaced the hard drive on my last iMac and it only lasted 8 months. They gave me nothing. I spoke with the highest tier of customer relations and she offered me a $30 discount if I spent at least $100 on stuff I don’t need 🙄

Glad you had a good experience!