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the "I ordered an iMac" thread

iyacyas said:
I went to the Apple store last night to purchase my new 24" 2.93GHz iMac with 4G of 1066Mhz DDR3 ram and 640GB SATA. When I got their they had both the new model listed above and the old model (2.8Ghz CPU, 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 ram and 320Gb SATA). So I thought I'll test them myself before I make the purchase. Ok so here we go, now my testing may not seen all that indepth or even accurate but it does raise some serious questions for me that maybe someone else can answer. I rebooted both models, waited about 3 minutes after reboot just to make sure that all software was stable (probly not necessary). I then opened iMovie 09 on both machines (I assumed both had all apple updates, I forgot to check) and selected their preinstalled sample movies which are identical on both models. Then I went to share and exported both to the documents folder in the exact same format, I think quicktime. I then had my beautiful assistant/president (AKA my wife) start one at the same time I started the other. The results with about 3 minutes of their video, on the old iMac took about 5 minutes to complete... And the new iMac model took just at 3 minutes longer to complete the exact same process under the same conditions and starting at the same time. I also opened iPhoto and selected a randem album that they had, again same album on both machines. I opened the edit mode in full screen. Then I simply held the right arrow key down to scroll thru the pictures, you would not believe how much faster the old model seemed blaze thru the pics compared to the new model. Again this may not be a true bench mark but I urge you to go test for yourself. The verdict for me, Well I walked out with a brand new 2.8GHz previous model for $1400. Sure hard to beat that as it was $1800 on Monday. I set it up last night and WOW I should have got this a year ago. If anyone has insight as to why the new model may have seemed so slow please tell me now so I can take this back and exchange...
Click to expand...

Are you sure it was the 2.93GHz and not the 2.66GHz? The 2.93GHz should render movies faster than the 2.8GHz, and should also scroll through pictures faster with the stand-alone graphics card versus the onboard graphics of the 2.66GHz and the older card of the 2.8GHz. If what you say is true, there are gonna be some very angry folks when the benchmarks come out! :(
 
Arghh

You guys have surely been following the Mac scene closer than me lately, so maybe you'll be able to answer this question-
What graphics card did the old 2.66Ghz use?
I'm really tempted to get the refurb 2.66 for $999, quite a deal.
BUT...
On the main refurb listing it shows-
"20-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera"

But when you click on that model, in the details it says-

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory

Is it the XT or the HD Pro? From what I understand, there is a pretty significant speed difference between the two.
 
Hi guys, I don't have understand a thing, the 24" high-end models have LCD or LED display?
 
Every iMac still has LCD with CCFL backlighting, so no LED. Only the 24" Cinema Display (which is a fancy name for "just a monitor") has LED backlighting.
 
Skorpion24 said:
Hi guys, I don't have understand a thing, the 24" high-end models have LCD or LED display?
Click to expand...

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens with Light Emitting Diode (LED) back lights.

So... both! LED's are much faster to warm up and produce the correct brightness.
 
I have a question for those of you who have ordered one of the new imacs already. I want a 3.06 GHz model with a Radeon 4850 GPU, so it should take about six weeks to ship. I assume that they don't charge your credit card until your order ships, correct? Also, can you cancel your order before it ships? Just incase I find out that, "Oh crap this can't go on my credit card."
 
trose said:
You guys have surely been following the Mac scene closer than me lately, so maybe you'll be able to answer this question-
What graphics card did the old 2.66Ghz use?
I'm really tempted to get the refurb 2.66 for $999, quite a deal.
BUT...
On the main refurb listing it shows-
"20-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera"

But when you click on that model, in the details it says-

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory

Is it the XT or the HD Pro? From what I understand, there is a pretty significant speed difference between the two.
Click to expand...

2600 PRO is underclocked version of the 2600 XT. It sounds ridiculous (and it's even more ridiculous) but PRO is worse than XT
 
Deckard42 said:
I have a question for those of you who have ordered one of the new imacs already. I want a 3.06 GHz model with a Radeon 4850 GPU, so it should take about six weeks to ship. I assume that they don't charge your credit card until your order ships, correct? Also, can you cancel your order before it ships? Just incase I find out that, "Oh crap this can't go on my credit card."
Click to expand...

Payment is made before anything happens, I think. You can cancel 'em but I'm not sure do they charge for it
 
Hellhammer said:
2600 PRO is underclocked version of the 2600 XT. It sounds ridiculous (and it's even more ridiculous) but PRO is worse than XT
Click to expand...

Ack! Now I'm really confused.

In the 20" 2.66 Details it says 2600XT 256MB
In the 24" 2.8 Details it says HD 2600 PRO 256MB

So... the 20" has the better video card?
 
Hellhammer said:
Payment is made before anything happens, I think. You can cancel 'em but I'm not sure do they charge for it
Click to expand...

They do not actually charge the card until it ships. they just put a hold on the amount to make sure when it ships that you have that much available on your care. You can cancel at any time prior to shipment. you can make changes anytime prior to shipment....
 
the_fellowship said:
I ordered the refurb iMac 20" 2.66GHz this morning (UK), it should arrive tomorrow (4th). I'm glad I didn't wait for the "upgraded" iMac since it's more expensive and for my needs (not a gamer or 3D specialist lol) it doesn't make much difference.

My Mac Mini (2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo 1GB RAM - bought last year) has been "promoted" to my media centre machine running Boxee in my living room :) lol
Click to expand...

My refurb iMac has just been picked up and ready to go back to Apple due to the "screen buzzing" issue when lowering the display brightness. Since it's a refurb I can't get a replacement, only a refund. So I'm now leaning towards the new Mac Mini since I already have a Dell 20" monitor and don't need the extra speed for my needs (plus will save £300). Maybe a blessing in disguise!
 
randy98mtu said:
:D Glad to know I wasn't the only one. I walked in the door and my wife said "Oh geez, I should have known."

Pick up an external. I got a 1TB MyBook Home Edition from Dell this week for $119 shipped. It showed up in 2 days!
Click to expand...

Actually, i will be purchasing the 1TB MyBook Mac Edition on Amazon today for the same price to use with Time Machine!
 
iyacyas said:
I went to the Apple store last night to purchase my new 24" 2.93GHz iMac with 4G of 1066Mhz DDR3 ram and 640GB SATA. When I got their they had both the new model listed above and the old model (2.8Ghz CPU, 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 ram and 320Gb SATA). So I thought I'll test them myself before I make the purchase. Ok so here we go, now my testing may not seen all that indepth or even accurate but it does raise some serious questions for me that maybe someone else can answer. I rebooted both models, waited about 3 minutes after reboot just to make sure that all software was stable (probly not necessary). I then opened iMovie 09 on both machines (I assumed both had all apple updates, I forgot to check) and selected their preinstalled sample movies which are identical on both models. Then I went to share and exported both to the documents folder in the exact same format, I think quicktime. I then had my beautiful assistant/president (AKA my wife) start one at the same time I started the other. The results with about 3 minutes of their video, on the old iMac took about 5 minutes to complete... And the new iMac model took just at 3 minutes longer to complete the exact same process under the same conditions and starting at the same time. I also opened iPhoto and selected a randem album that they had, again same album on both machines. I opened the edit mode in full screen. Then I simply held the right arrow key down to scroll thru the pictures, you would not believe how much faster the old model seemed blaze thru the pics compared to the new model. Again this may not be a true bench mark but I urge you to go test for yourself. The verdict for me, Well I walked out with a brand new 2.8GHz previous model for $1400. Sure hard to beat that as it was $1800 on Monday. I set it up last night and WOW I should have got this a year ago. If anyone has insight as to why the new model may have seemed so slow please tell me now so I can take this back and exchange...
Click to expand...

Weird. My local Apple retailer (london drugs... ugh) has a seriously defective iMac as their display model. I was trying to use it but it was sooooooo slow even opening a folder and copying a file. The tech said he's not sure what's wrong with it, but he's not about to start replacing parts because if it doesn't get fixed he's docked for an unnecessary repair on his Apple Tech Certification. What a great way to sell Macs. This is no Apple Store mind you.

Anyhoo, I'm ordering the 3.06GHz with the Radeon 4850 on Monday. It just makes sense that it'll fast!
 
Jaunty said:
Congrats! Did you get the Higher Edu discount? If so can you confirm the pricing for your model?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes I did - a whopping 20%! :D According to the invoice they emailed me, I got the iMac itself for a very reasonable £1529.15. In total, I received something along the lines of £350 in discounts because I bought the AppleCare package and a Mini DisplayPort to DVI-D adapter with it.

One VERY happy Apple customer here. Best decision I made (technology-wise) since I first bought a Mac. :)

EDIT: Yeah, the iMacs have gone up in price, for uncertain reasons (most likely the awful weakness of the GBP atm) but this machine is blisteringly quick. Put into the context of using my ailing late '06 Macbook as my main machine, which was beginning to show it's age in more intensive applications and games, the new iMac with it's 3.06Ghz CPU, nVidia chipset and this GT 130 graphics card is the mutt's nuts. Value of this machine to me is far higher than the price I paid, student discount or not.
 
antdfsc said:
I bought the old 2.8 24" from the clearance section in the ED store, and even though it was still available last night, Apple upgraded me to the new 2.93 24 inch, for the same price, and It is getting delivered tomorrow.... Anyone else get such a steal? I was going back and forth between the old model and the new base model, glad I went with the old one!
Click to expand...

Congratulations on that deal!! Has anyone else received this upgrade after ordering the older version this week? Also, has anyone received this upgrade after ordering a REFURB version this week?
 
trose said:
Ack! Now I'm really confused.

In the 20" 2.66 Details it says 2600XT 256MB
In the 24" 2.8 Details it says HD 2600 PRO 256MB

So... the 20" has the better video card?
Click to expand...

This was discussed and debated way back when these machines first came out in this post here and in the post it links to:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4040167/

Happy reading.

Sounds like the both the 20" and 24" have an underclocked Mobility 2600XT, of which its performance best matches that of a Desktop 2600PRO, so Apple calls it a 2600PRO as it's not as fast as a fully-clocked 2600XT.
 
Just placed and order for 24" imac

3.06GHZ INTEL CORE 2 DUO
4GB 1066MHZ DDR3 SDRAM-2X2GB
NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 130 512MB
1.0TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
APPLE WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE
WL KYBD & USER'S GUIDE
COUNTRY KIT,IMAC 24
Ships: 2 - 4 Business days
Delivers: 11 Mar - 17 Mar

I couldn't wait any longer for ATI 4850 GPU.
 
I am 100% sure...

iyacyas said:
I went to the Apple store last night to purchase my new 24" 2.93GHz iMac with 4G of 1066Mhz DDR3 ram and 640GB SATA. When I got their they had both the new model listed above and the old model (2.8Ghz CPU, 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 ram and 320Gb SATA). So I thought I'll test them myself before I make the purchase. Ok so here we go, now my testing may not seen all that indepth or even accurate but it does raise some serious questions for me that maybe someone else can answer. I rebooted both models, waited about 3 minutes after reboot just to make sure that all software was stable (probly not necessary). I then opened iMovie 09 on both machines (I assumed both had all apple updates, I forgot to check) and selected their preinstalled sample movies which are identical on both models. Then I went to share and exported both to the documents folder in the exact same format, I think quicktime. I then had my beautiful assistant/president (AKA my wife) start one at the same time I started the other. The results with about 3 minutes of their video, on the old iMac took about 5 minutes to complete... And the new iMac model took just at 3 minutes longer to complete the exact same process under the same conditions and starting at the same time. I also opened iPhoto and selected a randem album that they had, again same album on both machines. I opened the edit mode in full screen. Then I simply held the right arrow key down to scroll thru the pictures, you would not believe how much faster the old model seemed blaze thru the pics compared to the new model. Again this may not be a true bench mark but I urge you to go test for yourself. The verdict for me, Well I walked out with a brand new 2.8GHz previous model for $1400. Sure hard to beat that as it was $1800 on Monday. I set it up last night and WOW I should have got this a year ago. If anyone has insight as to why the new model may have seemed so slow please tell me now so I can take this back and exchange...
Click to expand...

Mike in Kansas said:
Are you sure it was the 2.93GHz and not the 2.66GHz? The 2.93GHz should render movies faster than the 2.8GHz, and should also scroll through pictures faster with the stand-alone graphics card versus the onboard graphics of the 2.66GHz and the older card of the 2.8GHz. If what you say is true, there are gonna be some very angry folks when the benchmarks come out! :(
Click to expand...

Yes I am 100% sure it was 2.93GHz and not 2.66Ghz. I actually did more testing than stated before, I actually was amazed and tested the same old model against a different 2.93Ghz model and got almost same results +/- had to be seconds. I then tested a different old 2.8GHz model against the new 2.93GHz and near identical results. I also tested against MacPro 15" unibody not sure the speed but it also took around 5 minutes to complete, but I did not test this one directly against the new iMac as far as starting both rendering at the same time. I also asked the apple people who were their and they had no clue. I only ran across one 2.66GHz 24" there and didn't really even touch it. I'm going back to play some more. I want to make sure that both have lasted software updates. Still I am very pleased with the old model I got last night, but like I said my luck Snow Leopard will require 2or3GB of memory and 320GB hard drive space, lol... I already have to get rid of my Photoshop 7 now, boo-hoo. I'll use the money I saved on the old iMac to get cs3 or cs4.
 
I am having trouble deciding whether to ge tthe 20" or 24". I am worried that the 24" might be to big in my room, did anyone feel this way when they bought a 24" iMac?
 
Oh yeah...

93MPH said:
I am having trouble deciding whether to ge tthe 20" or 24". I am worried that the 24" might be to big in my room, did anyone feel this way when they bought a 24" iMac?
Click to expand...

Unless you room is only 18" high and 20", If you can get the 24" get it IMHO. I just did not really appreciate it until it was home and sitten on my to small of a desk. I will not give it up, I am building a desk around it this weekend. It's the same way they should build a home, First you buy your furniture then they can build around that.
 
8 Gb Ram?

How come no one is getting the 8 GB RAM? If I buy the base 20" NEW iMac will it support 8 GB RAM?

If I buy the base with the standard 2GB can I order third party RAM and switch it to 8GB? Would that make it crazy fast?!?!

Remember I am still a newbie!
 
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