Heat shortens the life of a computer (components). I can replace most of the components myself to get the maximum number of years out of my computers. But I cannot get inside the iMac to replace failed components that will eventually fail.
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Time to speak up about the disappointing iMac
- Thread starter inkswamp
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A reviewer at arstechnica says the iMac runs pretty cool. He doesn't care much for the display though. Link
If you have the necessary skills then you should be able to disassemble an iMac and replace the components. I have a degree in electronics and used to design test fixtures for laptops and LCD's and I also used to do laptop repairs so I feel that I have the necessary skills to repair an iMac but I would only contemplate this outside of my warranty when I've nothing to lose. Apple machines are regularly at the top of reliability tables so you can't get much better for reliability. This is, in my opinion, why they can offer a 3 year warranty via Applecare so cheaply.
I don't see why an iMac is much different to buying a laptop. With the exception of the hard disk which is usually replaceable on a laptop, you have the same issues.
On the subject of laptop's, I had to completely (and I mean COMPLETELY...) disassemble my wife's laptop (a Hi-Grade machine) twice to replace the DC power socket which had broken off the logic board. The first time I took it apart I didn't have the appropriate spare part so I made an adhoc repair. This lasted about 12 months when I had to repair it again but this time I had the correct part. It's still going strong today after 4 years of service.
I have also had to repair my old 18.1" TFT display about 4 times in the last 6 years due to capacitors failing on the inverter board. This was a known design flaw with this model (Compaq TFT8000) and luckily I had some spare parts.
As I said, the iMac is no different to a laptop - if it fails in warranty send it back for repair, if it fails out of warranty then repair it yourself if you can or send it to a repair shop if you can't! Also, make sure you back up your data.
Simple!!
You hit the nail on the head. I like the looks of the iMac, but I will NOT buy it. Heat is not the main issue.
I'm no genius but...
The gloss...the love it or hate thing that EVERYONE keeps bitching about. Here's what I think on the subject. Just so you know, I'm a cinematography student who knows a good amount about light, reflection, and contrast applied practically and logically. Also, this is my first post ever and I am NOT an expert on monitors.
1.) The not having an option for matte is tricky. While Apple's laptop line has the option, I am certain that the glossy screen in the laptop was not glass because adding glass would increase the weight by about 2 pounds. And, since none of us work in the plant where these iMacs are manufactured nor none of us designed them, I think that just adding a matte option is not as easy as it sounds. If it were, there'd be an option to get one. Think about trying to replace a 24" piece of flat, clean glass that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/16" to 1/4" in thickness with a 24" piece of matte plastic with the same thickness. I think which leads me to my next topic.
2.) Addressing the glass dealing with the reflection and contrast. The beauty of glass is it's clean and doesn't distort light, thereby making a monitor have a higher contrast ratio, which every creative person must appreciate. Why? Because the higher the contrast ratio, the greater dynamic range the monitor has. What does this have to do with reflections? Generally speaking, reflections happen because there is stronger light source behind you than what's in front of you, in this case a highly reflective piece of clean glass. A matte screen will reduce, if not almost take away, the reflection, but at a cost of the contrast ratio in 2 places. First, the matte screen itself lowers the contrast ratio, due to the nature of the plastic and it's mild light absorbing properties. Secondly, the light ambiance of the room in question will lower the contrast ratio by outside light hitting the plastic and lighting it up. You have light going both directions, out from the monitor to your eye, and in from outside light.
The amount it lowers is up to debate and/or it varies by each room and it's brightness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_ratio), but if the outside light is bright enough, your contrast ratio will be crap on a matte screen.
Those are thoughts on the subject. Feel free to agree or tear me a new one. I love a good debate.
The gloss...the love it or hate thing that EVERYONE keeps bitching about. Here's what I think on the subject. Just so you know, I'm a cinematography student who knows a good amount about light, reflection, and contrast applied practically and logically. Also, this is my first post ever and I am NOT an expert on monitors.
1.) The not having an option for matte is tricky. While Apple's laptop line has the option, I am certain that the glossy screen in the laptop was not glass because adding glass would increase the weight by about 2 pounds. And, since none of us work in the plant where these iMacs are manufactured nor none of us designed them, I think that just adding a matte option is not as easy as it sounds. If it were, there'd be an option to get one. Think about trying to replace a 24" piece of flat, clean glass that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/16" to 1/4" in thickness with a 24" piece of matte plastic with the same thickness. I think which leads me to my next topic.
2.) Addressing the glass dealing with the reflection and contrast. The beauty of glass is it's clean and doesn't distort light, thereby making a monitor have a higher contrast ratio, which every creative person must appreciate. Why? Because the higher the contrast ratio, the greater dynamic range the monitor has. What does this have to do with reflections? Generally speaking, reflections happen because there is stronger light source behind you than what's in front of you, in this case a highly reflective piece of clean glass. A matte screen will reduce, if not almost take away, the reflection, but at a cost of the contrast ratio in 2 places. First, the matte screen itself lowers the contrast ratio, due to the nature of the plastic and it's mild light absorbing properties. Secondly, the light ambiance of the room in question will lower the contrast ratio by outside light hitting the plastic and lighting it up. You have light going both directions, out from the monitor to your eye, and in from outside light.
The amount it lowers is up to debate and/or it varies by each room and it's brightness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_ratio), but if the outside light is bright enough, your contrast ratio will be crap on a matte screen.
Those are thoughts on the subject. Feel free to agree or tear me a new one. I love a good debate.
I saw a deadthread sticker on a new iMac, it said never go back, you can never go back.
New 24" 2.8GHz iMac 4GB RAM 750GB HDD BT MM - Just Awesome. No glare, rich vibrant colors. Makes my 19" LaCie electron blue CRT seem dull, dark, and out of focus.
This is the machine I've been waiting for, and it is perfect. Or it will be at the end of October.
New 24" 2.8GHz iMac 4GB RAM 750GB HDD BT MM - Just Awesome. No glare, rich vibrant colors. Makes my 19" LaCie electron blue CRT seem dull, dark, and out of focus.
This is the machine I've been waiting for, and it is perfect. Or it will be at the end of October.
I´m hoping for a correction in the Paris event (or the release of Leopard). Even I´m not that much confident of that, it is a really smart move if that do it.
Things they should think about:
1- Consumer+Pro is an error! Diferent world with diferent needs and preferences.
2- This new look is not that great. It´s ok, but not gorgeous (as the design of any Apple product shoudl be).
3- I sugest they make 2 iMacs, and maching the new design direction (into Leopard) of Aluminium and Black: One all black iMac (for consumers/gamers), and one all aluminium iMac (for professionals).
3- Glossy screen doesn´t work for everyone (that´s a fact). Make an option glossy/matte (making glossy as default on consumers iMac, and matte as default on professionals iMac).
4- Ram: make 2GB standart (at least on the 24" version)
5- Make acessories design to mach the looks of the iMac. It´s absurd that we have a white mouse, a silver and white keyboard and a black and aluminium iMac.
6- That GPU is not enough for gamers. Apple said that want to get into the gamers market, but if they want to do it they need better grafics (this is not a Nintendo Wii)
IMPORTANT: Think about what we (people who buy Apple stuff) expect from Apple: great products (in design, performance and inovation).
I don´t want to see cheaper Apple products if that means cutting on design, performance or inovation. I´m wiling to pay more to have a great product, that´s way makes it special and that´s Apples identity. You take that away, and you end up just like dell or hp.
Things they should think about:
1- Consumer+Pro is an error! Diferent world with diferent needs and preferences.
2- This new look is not that great. It´s ok, but not gorgeous (as the design of any Apple product shoudl be).
3- I sugest they make 2 iMacs, and maching the new design direction (into Leopard) of Aluminium and Black: One all black iMac (for consumers/gamers), and one all aluminium iMac (for professionals).
3- Glossy screen doesn´t work for everyone (that´s a fact). Make an option glossy/matte (making glossy as default on consumers iMac, and matte as default on professionals iMac).
4- Ram: make 2GB standart (at least on the 24" version)
5- Make acessories design to mach the looks of the iMac. It´s absurd that we have a white mouse, a silver and white keyboard and a black and aluminium iMac.
6- That GPU is not enough for gamers. Apple said that want to get into the gamers market, but if they want to do it they need better grafics (this is not a Nintendo Wii)
IMPORTANT: Think about what we (people who buy Apple stuff) expect from Apple: great products (in design, performance and inovation).
I don´t want to see cheaper Apple products if that means cutting on design, performance or inovation. I´m wiling to pay more to have a great product, that´s way makes it special and that´s Apples identity. You take that away, and you end up just like dell or hp.
This is the machine I've been waiting for, and it is perfect. Or it will be at the end of October.
It will be once they remove that black border. I'm no design guru, but I mean, I just dont see why the put that there y'know? I wish they take it off in subsequent revisions. Or that I learn to live with it. Otherwise, also thinking of getting one come Leopard
I'm not sure I understand the complaints I've seen about the black border, except that it's an extremely reflective black border. That, I understand. Is that your point?
I think black surrounding the screen is preferrable to white, although the fact that this black will reflect everything like a mirror is a major bummer.
It will be once they remove that black border. I'm no design guru, but I mean, I just dont see why the put that there y'know? I wish they take it off in subsequent revisions. Or that I learn to live with it. Otherwise, also thinking of getting one come Leopard
The black border is fine with me, and I think it looks sharp. I got mine already, just looking forward to adding Leo to it.
It will be once they remove that black border. I'm no design guru, but I mean, I just dont see why the put that there y'know? I wish they take it off in subsequent revisions. Or that I learn to live with it. Otherwise, also thinking of getting one come Leopard
Have you ever been to a movie theater? They lower the lights so you can see the picture, but even more importantly the area around the screen is black and all the walls in the theater are very very dark colors. If the walls in a theater were white, the whole room would be flashing the colors reflecting off the screen thereby making the movie watching experience very distracting (like it isn't distracting already with cell phones and people talking, but I digress). Have you ever walked down a neighborhood street at night and seen the flickers of the television from the street? That's just a living room...imagine that inside an entire theater.
The black around the boarder helps increase contrast the same way the black boarder around a movie theater screen increases contrast. That's why I think it's there.
I have never seen so many negative postings. I bought the new 20" IMac, and I love it! It's the nicest computer I've ever owned. Not only do I like how it performs, I love the look of it. I love the "glossy" monitor, and I love the black border.
I read a posting that compared the monitor to a mirror. I guess if you are uglier than sin than a mirror could be a bad thing.
I read a posting that compared the monitor to a mirror. I guess if you are uglier than sin than a mirror could be a bad thing.
Still waiting for my iMac, but I saw my first glossy screen at last when I bought a Macbook over the weekend. I have to say that under the lighting conditions in my house, unless I look for the reflections, I don't see them. My eyes seem to automatically tune them out and I have to say, the glossy screen is very bright and vibrant, a bit of a (pleasant) shock from using matte screens for so long.
I'll see how the iMac looks tomorrow.
I'll see how the iMac looks tomorrow.
I'll quote i make movies, who posted just before you:I read a posting that compared the monitor to a mirror. I guess if you are uglier than sin than a mirror could be a bad thing.
"If the walls in a theater were white, the whole room would be flashing the colors reflecting off the screen thereby making the movie watching experience very distracting"
If I'm seeing reflections on that shiny black border of room lights, windows or my own ugly face, I call that distracting in the same way white walls of a theatre would be distracting.
Considering the popularity of backlit keyboards (which I think are silly) one would think that most computer users sit in the dark while working. If that's the case, I'm sure there's no reflection problem with the new iMac.
You make some good points in your post (about contrast being good). I agree that a glossy screen makes images appear with more contrast, which looks good, in most cases. I also agree that reflection is generally caused when you or what's behind you is brighter than what's behind the glass that's in front of you. There lies the problem.
Generally about half of the image on the screen I'm working on (movie I'm watching, or whatever) is darker than the room light behind me, unless I'm reading text on a white background. So I'm seeing reflections in the darkest part of the image unless the room is dark. Since I don't usually work on my computer in the dark, this is a problem.
I have not been a big fan of the iMac in the past, nor am I a current fan. However, if Apple doesn't plan to offer anything in the mid-range for desktops other than the iMac, I might have to think about buying one some day. There is no way I would consider one with a glossy screen and I'm sure there are lots of others like me. I'm just adding my voice to the chorus. Except for this major drawback, I think the new iMacs are quite nice.
Good point .... the answer being that the closer to perfection a product is .... the more glaring and frustrating and obvious the flaws become ....
People will always notice a tiny zit on the face of a beautiful women ..... where as nobody would pay attention to a hundred massive zits on the face of Rosie O'Donnell
It Worked!!
I bought the new 24" 2.8 ghz with 750 gb and I really wanted to love it. In fact, I liked the new keyboard, the silence of the screen, the quickness of the computer, but I could not get past the glossy screen. I have 20/20 vision (or used to until last week) and had to return it.
However.....I fell right into Apple's plan, I bought a more expensive MacBook Pro!
I bought the new 24" 2.8 ghz with 750 gb and I really wanted to love it. In fact, I liked the new keyboard, the silence of the screen, the quickness of the computer, but I could not get past the glossy screen. I have 20/20 vision (or used to until last week) and had to return it.
However.....I fell right into Apple's plan, I bought a more expensive MacBook Pro!
I just got my 20 inch iMac yesterday and I have no major complaints. I'm a switcher so I'm still figuring things out, but one thing I did notice off the bat was the heat.
The computer getting warm doesn't bother me so much as the DVDs overheating. I had one in the superdrive for about an hour and after I popped it out it was noticeably hot.
The computer getting warm doesn't bother me so much as the DVDs overheating. I had one in the superdrive for about an hour and after I popped it out it was noticeably hot.
Now, this is problem I have. If you're working on some dark stuff or watching a movie that's dark, in my opinion, a matte screen isn't going to fix it because you're losing your blacks all over the place. You will see the matte screen, just like I do on my iBook right now because I have 3 bay windows in my room and the sun is setting. Granted, my situation is very extreme as nothing is brighter than the sun, but I use it to illustrate a point.
What you think is black won't truly be black unless you check it. I guess you could open a .jpeg or some other reference that represented true black so you can compare, but I think that wouldn't be very accurate. I've been to 2 professional post production houses for my films and the edit labs at my school. All of them are dark...not pitch black, but they have dimmable lights so they can see the monitors fine. If you're doing creative work and color is very important in the line of work you're in, you should be doing something about your work environment. You should be able to have some control of the overhead lights so you can work comfortably without straining your eye. There are easy ways to fix the glare, like dimming the lights, or putting up something dark behind you, like artwork or a large wooden bookshelf or something, or painting the walls a dark color, or rearranging the placement of the iMac so it won't have so much glare. Change is good.
At the same time, if what you're doing isn't so geared on accurate color representation and dynamic range of the color field, then yes, the reflections would be super annoying. At the same time, CRTs and tube tvs have been around for years and people seemed to get by. LCDs have only been a part of the mainstream since 1999 or so. And I know that if I was this specific about color, I wouldn't use an iMac and I'd use a MacPro with reference monitors, but I don't have that kind of money. Hell, I'm buying the 24" iMac with student loan refund check. But I do think the iMac is professional enough to suit my editing and color correction needs. We'll see once I get it and get Final Cut Studio 2.
that´s not true.
They droped the market segment of people who need matte screens (or just dislike the glossy ones), this segment are the pro and semi pro user that work with image editing/composing, or event industrys in the area.
And this are a big big part of Apples market share. So tell that this isn´t a mistake? ...
And about games, Apple said that wanted games into Mac and they are going to play a big role now. Is with this gpu that low that want to atract gamers into macs?
So, what´s their target now? People who want to see movies on the computer? (aka big screens with oversaturated colors)