Week 11 unit arrives. All concerns unfounded

[Sir Cecil]

My new iMac 27" 2T arrived today. A week 11 model, it is my second unit for use at my alternative work location (the first is at home where I do 75% of my work). Any worries I had that I might receive a unit with the problems mentioned by other unlucky buyers have proved unfounded.
Only one day's use, but this is perfect so far. It improves even on my other unit which I've had since January and which I considered excellent. Those improvements are:
1) Total elimination of even a hint of light bleed in the corners when viewed with the panel angled correctly. The earlier model shows a very slight highlighting in the corners which I considered of no consequence and exactly like my previous (very fine) 24" Cinema Display, but this newer unit eliminates even that when carefully adjusted for viewing. DVD black bars at top and bottom of the screen have a very even look with all room lights dimmed.
2) Sony Optiarc DVD drive which I prefer to the very capable but slightly noisier-when-loading LD model.
3) Last but not least, EXCEPTIONALLY even and tinge-free display. The other unit is also tinge free but the lighting on this new one is so even across the whole width, height and edges, that it has an almost indefinable "solidity" to it. When viewing any flat color, light or dark, it's almost as if there is a solid piece of colored card beneath the glass, with no hint of variance in illumination. Sitting right next to the new unit, the earlier one seems very slightly "colder" and the newer seems to have a touch less blue and is apparently a tiny bit warmer, but not at all "yellow". Seeing this, I would suggest the newer unit is an even more inviting viewing experience than the other, and that some adjustments have indeed been made by Apple in the last couple of months. Of course, I won't be using the units side by side, so this is of no great consequence as both are fine. The difference I'm talking about would not be noticed by 98% of people, I'm sure. Nevertheless, if I had to choose to keep only one of the units, I'd pick the newer one, for that extra "something" I mentioned earlier which is hard to describe – a solidity of appearance that tells one this is as "right" as one has seen.
The new unit's hard drive (Hitachi) is slightly less silent than the earlier one, with a low-pitched hum that isn't a big deal. No pixel problems (as ever I haven't checked iSight as I have no interest in it). No scratches on the first couple of CDs loaded either.
If anything spoils the party in the next week or two, I'll add the info to this post, but on arrival, this one is better than I hoped for.

 

[Breezy2000uk]

Hello Sir Cecil,

Congratulations on receiving two excellent imacs! It's very reassuring to hear that you've had such a good experience. I'd love to see a picture of the computer if you happen to have the chance, although I'll understand if you a) can't be bothered, or b) don't want to attract hordes of lunatics who'll point out every speck of dust on the camera lens.

I haven't been so lucky as yet, but I'm hoping the replacement I get will be as good as yours! Thanks for sharing

 

[Sir Cecil]

Must report I have noticed scratches on three of six CDRs I burned this morning. Disappointing. They appear as a curved row of maybe half a dozen lines, about half an inch long. A pity, when everything else seems faultless.

 

[ttopp]

I would love to say im happy for you but alas i am extremely jealous. I will be taking my 4th replacement in to be looked at by the repair team at cancom. i hoped i wouldn't have to but i can see backlight bled in mine the last had very bad light gradient all over the screen were as this one has a block thats bad which sorto fills me with hope as i can see that you CAN get a good black on the screen. just unfortunate for me i haven't had a full screen one yet.. fingers crossed

 

[dunni]

Unfortunately, everyone's experience isn't the same as yours. I received a custom built week 11 unit on Tuesday to find a yellow tinged screen, a grey bar across the bottom and serious light bleed from the left side of the monitor. I brought it to the apple store, which was very helpful, and they couldn't believe that there were still issues with my imac after apple released a statement saying they had addressed the issue. They are replacing my screen next week, so we'll see if that changes anything.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

Must report I have noticed scratches on three of six CDRs I burned this morning. Disappointing. They appear as a curved row of maybe half a dozen lines, about half an inch long. A pity, when everything else seems faultless.

I've heard many other people have had their CDs and DVDs scratched too inserting them into the iMac. This seems to alos be quite prevelant as well. Several of my friends who own iMacs have ALL complained about this. You can take some electric tape or a band-aid and tape it aroundthe slit ofthe iMac. This will help prevent the incessant scratches the iMac causes. Too bad they designed the disc slot so narrow that it rubs and permanently damages your CDs. Some people have lost inreplaceable data due to this design defect.

Unfortunately, everyone's experience isn't the same as yours. I received a custom built week 11 unit on Tuesday to find a yellow tinged screen, a grey bar across the bottom and serious light bleed from the left side of the monitor. I brought it to the apple store, which was very helpful, and they couldn't believe that there were still issues with my imac after apple released a statement saying they had addressed the issue. They are replacing my screen next week, so we'll see if that changes anything.

It seems there are many people who have recevied a week 9, 10 and 11 with yellow tint and grey bars on their iMac screens.

Apple really didn not fix this issue. I don't think they really can or care to. You either have to live with a little yellow or get a refund. ALL the iMacs will have somedegree of yellow tint on them. It all depends on whether you really want to live with it or not.

 

[Sir Cecil]

I've heard many other people have had their CDs and DVDs scratched too inserting them into the iMac. This seems to alos be quite prevelant as well. Several of my friends who own iMacs have ALL complained about this. You can take some electric tape or a band-aid and tape it aroundthe slit ofthe iMac. This will help prevent the incessant scratches the iMac causes. Too bad they designed the disc slot so narrow that it rubs and permanently damages your CDs. Some people have lost inreplaceable data due to this design defect.

Not sure that's the cause. The other unit, with the LD drive, has caused no scratches on any of dozens of discs I've burned. So I place the blame on he Optiarc drive.
Anyway, I have a LaCie DVD/CD outboard drive also, so I'll use that where care is essential.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

Not sure that's the cause. The other unit, with the LD drive, has caused no scratches on any of dozens of discs I've burned. So I place the blame on he Optiarc drive.
Anyway, I have a LaCie DVD/CD outboard drive also, so I'll use that where care is essential.

You mentioned that the scratches were circular in nature, so perhaps it is purely internal. Weird if it is though. However, I was under the impression that this had more to do with the external slot, whereas users were slipping the disc in with a slight forward bend which permitted contact with the edge of the slot.

Not being initimately familiar with the mechanical movement of the disc to reader, I wonder if there is some sort of mechanism which somehow "manually" handles it once you slip it in and then transfers it to the optical eye apparatus.

Anyway, this certainly sounds like a bad thing as I like to keep my discs in pristine order. I've over a few hundred DVDs at home and I handle them very gingerly.

Has Apple commented in some capacity as to the reason for this?

 

[SaSaSushi]

Not sure that's the cause. The other unit, with the LD drive, has caused no scratches on any of dozens of discs I've burned. So I place the blame on he Optiarc drive.

Contact with the case is absolutely not the cause of any scratches unless you have a defectively assembled machine. The only way a disc could make contact with the edges of the slot upon insertion on the data side would be if you were applying constant forward pressure to the disc as it was being pulled in by the drive. With a properly assembled iMac there is plenty of clearance on both sides of the disc as it is being pulled in and ejected.

The shape and pattern of the marks on your discs are also not indicative of insertion scratches.

I have the Optiarc drive as well and it makes no such marks on discs so you may want to have Apple look at it. That sounds like it might be a problem drive.

The LG drives, for their part, have been reported to have some compatibility issues with Toast Titanium.

 

[Sir Cecil]

Just to add that, experimenting for a while, I'm coming to the conclusion that this is something that happens on insertion of the disc, rather than during play or ejection.
As you insert the disc, it is grabbed and enters the machine in a rotating manner. If one is leaning the outer edge of the disc slightly towards the rear of the machine, I believe it scrapes during this automatic part of the entry. Loading a disc this way gives scratches almost every time. However, leaning the outer edge of the disc a tiny bit towards the front of the unit when loading, I see no scratching at all. And none of the discs loaded that way show any marks on ejection either.
So I suggest anyone with this problem simply loads discs with a slight lean forwards, rather than back. Definitely seems to eradicate the problem for me.
Of course, such actions shouldn't be necessary and it's a design glitch, but not so big that it can't be overcome, from what I'm observing.

 

[MT0227]

Is there any evidence of the gray banding at the lower portion of the display?

 

[Sir Cecil]

Is there any evidence of the gray banding at the lower portion of the display?

I looked for it, but don't see it. Used various tones but all look free of any banding.

 

[Mr. Biggles]

Just to add that, experimenting for a while, I'm coming to the conclusion that this is something that happens on insertion of the disc, rather than during play or ejection.
As you insert the disc, it is grabbed and enters the machine in a rotating manner. If one is leaning the outer edge of the disc slightly towards the rear of the machine, I believe it scrapes during this automatic part of the entry. Loading a disc this way gives scratches almost every time. However, leaning the outer edge of the disc a tiny bit towards the front of the unit when loading, I see no scratching at all. And none of the discs loaded that way show any marks on ejection either.

Buy some felt tape. I got some from a local Rockler Woodworking shop. It's a 1/16"/2mm thick. Trim to width required. Problem solved for a $1.00.

 

[MT0227]

I looked for it, but don't see it. Used various tones but all look free of any banding.

This is good news!

 

[AdamA9]

Must report I have noticed scratches on three of six CDRs I burned this morning. Disappointing. They appear as a curved row of maybe half a dozen lines, about half an inch long. A pity, when everything else seems faultless.

I've heard many other people have had their CDs and DVDs scratched too inserting them into the iMac. This seems to alos be quite prevelant as well. Several of my friends who own iMacs have ALL complained about this. You can take some electric tape or a band-aid and tape it aroundthe slit ofthe iMac. This will help prevent the incessant scratches the iMac causes. Too bad they designed the disc slot so narrow that it rubs and permanently damages your CDs. Some people have lost inreplaceable data due to this design defect.

I noticed mine does this too, except the scratches are in a straight line across the disk

 

[gidz]

Week 11 unit waiting to go back to Apple

I wish I had your luck!! Unfortunately my 3rd replacement 27" i7 iMac is also a week 11 build from this year and it has the exact same yellow screen issue that the other 2 had. So allthough it sounds like the issue is getting better it is def not a fixed problem yet.

What has been an allmost bigger issue for me than the screen problems has been the really poor level of customer service I have been getting from Apple's Customer Relations department. Everytime I think they can't possibly do something else wrong (or just very badly) again they manage to surprise me by doing exactly that.