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I just set up my new iMac (i9, Vega, ssd)

Some reviews same it’s silent however I can hear something. Very faint but still can hear it. Is this normal?
Well it does have a fan that idles at a low speed. It’s very quiet, by all reports, but it isn’t silent.
 
Finally made a decision. Ordered yesterday:

27”
i9
Vega
8GB with 32GB more crucial memory coming from amazon
2TB SSD
Apple care

Delivery estimate 4/11-15

So, obviously nice to be able to make these choices. I was going to do the 512GB SSD but decided to buy truly equivalent external (say Samsung x5) was, while cheaper than Apple’s internal, still expensive, so I preferred to keep as much internal storage as I can.

My biggest motivator is to future proof the machine and even the large SSD had that in mind. I spend hours on these forums (thank you to everyone on their amazing knowledge and input here) and researching and now look forward to hopefully avoiding all that for another 8 years and more if I’m lucky. My 2011 lasted me almost 8 years, and one of my biggest priorities is for my new one to do the same, while making my photoshop and home video projects as easy as possible to work on, and therefore actually get finished.

Another factor that helped was that Amex currently is running a promotion on their Plan It so I can spread it out over 2 years with no fees or interest. So I started looking at the various upgrades from a monthly cash outflow over the next 24 months, as well as a hopefully practical life of 5-8 years.

Now if I can make my 10-year old Volvo keep going another handful of years...

Wow, already thinking of replacing that poor car, you have not enjoyed it enough. My ford Focus is now 17 years and still going. How many miles/Km on it?

On the other hand my 2011 iMac is kind of dying (I would at least need to replace the SSD and that would make it for me) but I decided to go for a thinner machine with a 5K and more horse power. My car on the other hand still gets me everywhere as fast as a new car, just not as shinny, imagine they put speed limits to bandwiths like on roads :D:D
 
So Expercom CS was great..... modified my order to get the base 8 GB, so now my total savings vs ordering from Apple is $538. Just ordered the Crucial 32 GB RAM from Amazon for $189 + tax, so now I’ll have 40 GB for $100 less than the price for the 32 GB I originally ordered from Expercom.
Have you seen any movement on your Expercom order? I ordered from them on Monday as well
 
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Have you seen any movement on your Expercom order? I ordered from them on Monday as well
I ordered from Expercom on Friday the 29th, and my order still shows as “pending.”

Out of an abundance of caution, I telephoned them this afternoon, and they confirmed my assumption that they’re still waiting to receive the iMac from Apple, and that once it arrives in Utah and is ready to ship back out to California, they’ll charge my card and update my order status online.
 
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Have you seen any movement on your Expercom order? I ordered from them on Monday as well

Ordered from Expercom on Sunday night. No movement on my order as of yet. That however is ok by me. It will give me some time to get a bit more money saved. Here in Pa. ordering from the Apple Store puts my 21.5” Configuration at 4/15 to 4/17 Delivery. I’m kind of assuming it the same for custom orders placed through Expercom.
 
Have you seen any movement on your Expercom order? I ordered from them on Monday as well

No, and I spoke to them today about it because I paid extra for 2-5 day shipping. Unfortunately, they have to wait to get the iMac from Apple, even if they are not installing anything into it. That’s 7-10 business days. THEN they ship it to you by the method you select, so in my case, another 2-5 business days. I assumed the 2-5 days referred to the whole process. :(

Overall still happy about the money I saved, but now have to be more patient.
 
Can those who already received their computers please tell how is the screen quality on 2019 iMacs? How uniform are they, especially when displaying pure white color? I work with user interfaces a lot and couldn't find a 2018 macbook pro, which would have a decent screen for that. Thinking about purchasing the 2019 iMac and would appreciate if you could share your experience.
 
Another factor that helped was that Amex currently is running a promotion on their Plan It so I can spread it out over 2 years with no fees or interest.

@Kfamily Ooh, I wasn't aware of that promotion. I have an Amex card and was aware of the Plan It feature and how it works. But I just looked on my account and can't find anything about a 24 months no fees or interest. Do you know if you have to be invited to use it, or any other info you can share about how to get that promotion? I tried the pre-purchase calculator, but it just shows it the normal way with the monthly plan fees ("interest") applied. Thanks!!
 
@Kfamily Ooh, I wasn't aware of that promotion. I have an Amex card and was aware of the Plan It feature and how it works. But I just looked on my account and can't find anything about a 24 months no fees or interest. Do you know if you have to be invited to use it, or any other info you can share about how to get that promotion? I tried the pre-purchase calculator, but it just shows it the normal way with the monthly plan fees ("interest") applied. Thanks!!
I think I was made aware of it through an email but not sure actually. On the app if I scroll down to an eligible purchase (over $100 I think) and click plan it, it shows me this message at the top and shows me zero fees as well as the “would be” fees.

I’d call them and ask, we’ve always had great customer service experiences with them. It says terms apply so perhaps we have different accounts? I have the blue cash everyday.

Good luck!
 

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I ordered from Expercom on Friday the 29th (after the close of business), and my order still shows as “pending.”

Out of an abundance of caution, I telephoned them this afternoon, and they confirmed my assumption that they’re still waiting to receive the iMac from Apple, and that once it arrives in Utah and is ready to ship back out to California, they’ll charge my card and update my order status online.[/QUOTE

My 21.5" shipped today via UPS. Estimated delivery 4/12. Good Luck to everyone else who ordered.
[doublepost=1554517784][/doublepost]My 21.5" Custom Configuration shipped today via UPS. Good Luck to everyone else who ordered.
 
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Wow, already thinking of replacing that poor car, you have not enjoyed it enough. My ford Focus is now 17 years and still going. How many miles/Km on it?

On the other hand my 2011 iMac is kind of dying (I would at least need to replace the SSD and that would make it for me) but I decided to go for a thinner machine with a 5K and more horse power. My car on the other hand still gets me everywhere as fast as a new car, just not as shinny, imagine they put speed limits to bandwiths like on roads :D:D
125,000 miles and it is a Volvo from their Ford era. I would LOVE to get 17 years out of it so fingers crossed. But, the repairs are seeming to come more often and be more expensive, and generally it just seems like it has to work harder than it used to, all of which reminds me of what is happening with my 2011 iMac that I am replacing. At some point it’s best to quit pumping money in the old machines and move on!
 
I think I was made aware of it through an email but not sure actually. On the app if I scroll down to an eligible purchase (over $100 I think) and click plan it, it shows me this message at the top and shows me zero fees as well as the “would be” fees.

I’d call them and ask, we’ve always had great customer service experiences with them. It says terms apply so perhaps we have different accounts? I have the blue cash everyday.

Good luck!

Ah, ok. I haven't bought anything on it in a while, so I don't have the option to check. Same card here. Yeah, I'll get in touch with their customer support and ask them if I have it available. And I agree, I've used their online CS a few times, and they've always been super helpful and easy.
 
The only gripe I have with my new 21.5" 4k machine, vs my old 2010 machine that it's replacing, is the speaker/sound quality is awful through the built-in speakers.

I use external speakers at home, but have never had to carry a portable speaker when I'm travelling to get 'okay' sound out of the 2010 machine.

With the new machine, the sound is so 'thin' (obviously due to having a tapered bezel) that it's almost pointless having the speakers at all - or maybe they could have make holes in the front or back of the case and sent the sound out there!
 
I just helped my mom order hers. She had an early 2008 iMac and it was dying. I was able l save it in December and got it running again because I didn’t want her to get a 2017 iMac when it was almost 2019.

She got a 21.5 inch with:
  • 3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz
  • 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
  • Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
  • 512GB SSD storage
  • Magic Mouse 2
  • Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
I got her 16 GB of RAM since I can’t upgrade it. 8 might be enough for her, but not sure down the line. Her last iMac was a 2008 and I did upgrade the RAM myself.
 
I’m going to order to lowest spec with 2tb fusion. Then throw in another 8 or 16gig ram myself. So 207,000yen plus the cost of Ram. I’m getting tired of overpaying Apple so this is my way of protesting! Haha.

But I won’t do any heavy lifting as it’s just for home. Got a MBP for work.
This iMac is for streaming HD sport, watching movies, internet browsing and other miscellaneous small things. I have a large music movie and photo library that hits over 1tb so the 2tb fusion should do the job for now.

I’ve never gone low spec before so this will be interesting. I think I will sell it before the AppleCare runs out.
 
Can those who already received their computers please tell how is the screen quality on 2019 iMacs? How uniform are they, especially when displaying pure white color? I work with user interfaces a lot and couldn't find a 2018 macbook pro, which would have a decent screen for that. Thinking about purchasing the 2019 iMac and would appreciate if you could share your experience.

I did an Eizo monitor test and it was excellent for uniformity.
 
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I just placed an order for 27":

8-core i9
32GB
Vega
2TB SSD
Mouse+Trackpad
Keyboard with numeric
AppleCare+
2 year additional warranty through City Costco Visa (5 years total)

It's fairly decent overkill for my current needs and I feel some guilt, but it should last me 10 years and I know every time I'll sit in front of this beast, I'm going to smile and feel good. BTW I did not feel like going for Pro and preferred to get 2TB SSD instead.

What helped me to decide?

My daughter's education discount, plus that additional $1000 from where I wanted to be, is actually only $100 per year for that projected life span, and I spend $250 per month on my family 5 cell lines (3K per year - crazy!), to put it in the perspective. I hope this may help others in their decision making and thanks again for all the detailed analysis of different options.
 
I really can't determine if I should buy the base 27" 2019 iMac + 512 ssd or go for the 9th gen i5 + 512 ssd; the popular choice of i9 and Vega is way out of budget right now. I want to replace my ten years old early 2009 24" iMac... maybe even a refurbished 2017 could still be okay.
 
I’m going to order to lowest spec with 2tb fusion. Then throw in another 8 or 16gig ram myself. So 207,000yen plus the cost of Ram. I’m getting tired of overpaying Apple so this is my way of protesting! Haha.

But I won’t do any heavy lifting as it’s just for home. Got a MBP for work.
This iMac is for streaming HD sport, watching movies, internet browsing and other miscellaneous small things. I have a large music movie and photo library that hits over 1tb so the 2tb fusion should do the job for now.

I’ve never gone low spec before so this will be interesting. I think I will sell it before the AppleCare runs out.

Since you added 300$ to the base 27 inch model configuration in order to get to 2tb fusion why didn’t you just add 200$ more to a total of $2299 and got the TOP TIER 27 inch 2019 iMac that comes with a better 9th gen processor and 8gb gpu along with 2tb fusion built in?
 
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