My new iMac 2.8 is HERE! A fanboy's brief review

[BRLawyer]

Yes, I got it today after selling my good ol' iMac G5 ALS...for those of you still on fence, I am gonna cut it to you:

THIS MACHINE IS SIMPLY AWESOME!

Specs:
iMac 24", 4gb RAM, 500Gb HD, NVIDIA 8800GS, wireless keyboard and mouse, Creative X-Fi and JBL speakers.

Remarks:

- machine shipped from Czech Republic, package opening and setup FLAWLESS; NO noticeable gradient problems, NO stuck/dead pixels, NO installation issues;
- fast as hell in all senses, especially for someone coming from an iMac G5;
- BEAUTIFUL and BRIGHT screen; I haven't noticed any excessive glare even having a small window behind my back;
- importing all my stuff now, EVERYTHING so far works perfectly well, including wireless printer, network and Internet;
- VIRTUALLY SILENT in comparison with my iMac G5, both in terms of fans and HD activity.

In line with pretty much EVERY review out there, the new iMacs simply ROCK! These are easily the BEST, most BEAUTIFUL and fastest AIO desktops on Earth. Thank you Apple, again, for such FABULOUS products!

Again: for those on the fence because of a few problem reports, I can tell you...they are a minority and things always seem overblown in these forums.

I can assure you, the millions of iMac customers out there are just enjoying their excellent machines as much as I do now...no wonder the company is growing more than ANY OTHER maker in the market...GO APPLE!

[Morod]

You sound like you got exactly what you wanted. Good for you! Life is too short to put up with "almost good enough". Good on you! :)
Morod

[ww3proggy]

I also just received my 2.8 ghz iMac with 8800 and 500 GB. It looks good but I have two stuck pixels right in the middle of the screen. Is this something that Apple will replace my computer for? I'm glad yours came problem-free.

[BRLawyer]

I also just received my 2.8 ghz iMac with 8800 and 500 GB. It looks good but I have two stuck pixels right in the middle of the screen. Is this something that Apple will replace my computer for? I'm glad yours came problem-free.

Proggy, as I said, I haven't noticed any problem with the screen...as for stuck pixels, try some of the solutions proposed in these forums...just google for them and you might find a quick fix for it.

[nick9191]

I also just received my 2.8 ghz iMac with 8800 and 500 GB. It looks good but I have two stuck pixels right in the middle of the screen. Is this something that Apple will replace my computer for? I'm glad yours came problem-free.
No Apple wont replace only 2, but as said it should be too hard to get rid of them yourself. As long as their stuck not dead.

[ww3proggy]

Thanks guys. I'm working on it right now :)

[mhnajjar]

Yes, I got it today after selling my good ol' iMac G5 ALS...for those of you still on fence, I am gonna cut it to you:

THIS MACHINE IS SIMPLY AWESOME!

Specs:
iMac 24", 4gb RAM, 500Gb HD, NVIDIA 8800GS, wireless keyboard and mouse, Creative X-Fi and JBL speakers.

Congrats .. did you get the ram from Apple? why? I am thinkinkg of doing so.

[harry454]

i second his post with my 20 inch iMac, mines absolutely perfect, theres only a very small percentage of users who have issues, and the ones that don't, never post about it because they have nothing to complain about. A+ Machine and Congrats

[BRLawyer]

Congrats .. did you get the ram from Apple? why? I am thinkinkg of doing so.

Yes, straight BTO from Apple online with my order...the price was not that higher compared to third parties, so I chose this convenient way with no hassles...

[SaSaSushi]

Yes, I got it today after selling my good ol' iMac G5 ALS...for those of you still on fence, I am gonna cut it to you:

THIS MACHINE IS SIMPLY AWESOME!

In line with pretty much EVERY review out there, the new iMacs simply ROCK! These are easily the BEST, most BEAUTIFUL and fastest AIO desktops on Earth. Thank you Apple, again, for such FABULOUS products!

I'm glad to hear you're satisfied with your new iMac. I love mine too.

Again: for those on the fence because of a few problem reports, I can tell you...they are a minority and things always seem overblown in these forums.

I can assure you, the millions of iMac customers out there are just enjoying their excellent machines as much as I do now...no wonder the company is growing more than ANY OTHER maker in the market...GO APPLE!My first Mac was a 20" Core Duo (white) which had a logic board go bad 6 weeks out of the one year warranty (I had decided to save some cash on Applecare). That cost me a cool $550. :(

I had a bad display on my 24" iMac when it first shipped. Apple replaced it with a panel that had a bad backlight. Both the first and second panels had some level of left to right color gradient, worse on the second. Finally, the third panel seems great with no gradient and minimal backlight bleeding.

The 10.5.3 update has just managed to get the nVidia 8800 to bench at about the same speeds as the ATI 2600 in Core Image apps (Apple's own).

I love Apple's products as much as the next guy. Heck, after paying $550 to replace the logic board on my 20" Core Duo I auctioned it and shelled out the cash for my current 24" alumiMac. (I bought Applecare this time :p)

I'm just not going to jump up and down and do backflips and proclaim Steve Jobs as the second coming of Christ because Apple and its products are far from perfection.

That's fanboy behavior. Oh wait, you said you are a fanboy, sorry. :p

[PcBgone]

Wow What a coincidence...I got the same machine, however I didnt get the ram from apple...its coming from newegg..

After reading some of the forum posts about the screen issues, I did have some doubts...but I love this machine, its absolutely GORGEOUS!

I would tell anyone thinking about it but holding back because of the negativity of the screens to pull the trigger...

Im certainly happy I did.

[iJohnHenry]

Didn't get the big bugger myself, but I certainly have no complaints after coming from a PC *pitue* background.

[minik]

I have the same reaction as OP does.

Enjoy!

[D4F]

Glad to hear all is good man :)
Have fun!

[supercooled]

A review without pictures? What year is this, 1988? :D

[BRLawyer]

Congrats on everything! I'm jealous!

Thanks! :)

Just some additional updates after a couple of days' usage:

- I can't believe how SILENT this machine is! Even at high loads, it's hard to tell if the machine is asleep when the screen is turned off!

- Screen is indeed really bright, but the good thing is that there is NO glossy concern even with an open window and natural daylight behind me..!

- Due to lack of optimization and updated coding from Aspyr (already acknowledged in an Apple Customer Support thread), Call of Duty 2 never gets above 50fps with the 8800GS, whereas I can play Call of Duty with everything maxed out..! They said the 8800GS is a newer card and CoD2 was developed way before...go figure...:rolleyes:

- NO artifacts or graphics glitches whatsoever with normal operation so far...10.5.3 must have REALLY corrected any issues that some people had with the 8800GS...

- I tried downloading the CrossOver Mac demo but it doesn't run on the 10.5.3, I presume...it always crashes on startup.

All in all, a GREAT machine!

[tanism]

Congrats! Can't wait to receive mine in a few days!

[minik]

A review without pictures? What year is this, 1988? :D

or youtube video. :D

jk

[ww3proggy]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

2. Is there any way to dim the screen even more than all the way down? In my room at night even at the lowest brightness setting it still is a tad too bright.

[D4F]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

2. Is there any way to dim the screen even more than all the way down? In my room at night even at the lowest brightness setting it still is a tad too bright.

Calibrate it and set to windows style gamma (2.2 I think)

[BRLawyer]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

2. Is there any way to dim the screen even more than all the way down? In my room at night even at the lowest brightness setting it still is a tad too bright.

1. No, I don't think so. But from what I could see, the keyboard cable is more than enough for connecting to the back of the iMac; I don't use it though, as I have an Apple wireless keyboard.

2. Yep, it's bright indeed, and I always prefer to turn on some side lamp to avoid too much stress on the eyes. Anyway, you may also use two apps for dimming the iMac's display even more...either Shades or Brightness Control will suffice.

Edit: I am currently using ScreenShade and it does the trick too.

[SaSaSushi]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

No, you will have to buy a USB extension cable. This is another of my pet peeves with the iMac. The Apple Keyboard's cable IS ridiculously short.

2. Is there any way to dim the screen even more than all the way down? In my room at night even at the lowest brightness setting it still is a tad too bright.

Yes, with software you can simulate a darker screen but as for actually reducing the brightness of the backlight itself there is no way other than the brightness controls on the keyboard or in system prefs.

Some do complain about the 24" aluminum iMac being too bright but I don't find this to be the case myself. I run it at about 60% brightness level.

[Grokgod]

I just got one actually I got a 20" also from FRY's to compare

The 24" screen is FAR better in everyway from the 20", a sad comment on APPLE's way of short ending people,hope it stops soon.


But mine unit seems to have a fan on constantly, I am not enjoying that at all, compared to my previous 20"

Is your 24" fan on always?

and the screen is TOO bright, not good for the eyes, I have mine all that way down and still.

Does anyone know where to find wattage on cpus from previous generation Imac to compare with the new versions?

... okay the fan just shut off, whew, thats better, I guess it heats up the unit if you were playing a dvd?

[Fuchal]

This will "dim" your screen further:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12134/darkadapted-x

[Darkroom]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

really? i owned an iMac G3 and an iMac Intel (White) prior to this iMac 2008, and none of them came with a usb extension... however, i do agree with you that the cord is too short. i'm using my 1ft extension that came with the elgato eye tv on my keyboard, eventhough i wish i had a longer one so i could hide it better.

2. Is there any way to dim the screen even more than all the way down? In my room at night even at the lowest brightness setting it still is a tad too bright.

i'm assuming you want the display still lit but just much dimmer than it is... but if you are like me and hardly ever turn your computer off, you can set one of your screen corners as a hot corner to activate screen sleep, so it actually turns off the display but the computer is still running. whenever i'm going to bed i just throw the cursor up to the top right corner and that's that.

[minik]

Alright couple questions for you...

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

That's very interesting. I never thought/looked for that USB extension cable inside the iMac accessory box. The standalone Apple Keyboard ($49) does come with the USB extension cable same as the Mac Pro.

Does Apple sell it?

[SaSaSushi]

i'm assuming you want the display still lit but just much dimmer than it is... but if you are like me and hardly ever turn your computer off, you can set one of your screen corners as a hot corner to activate screen sleep, so it actually turns off the display but the computer is still running. whenever i'm going to bed i just throw the cursor up to the top right corner and that's that.

Do you know about the control-shift-eject keyboard shortcut, Darkroom? ;)

I, like you, was using the screen corner to turn off the display but to me this Leopard feature is much more like having an actual on/off switch for the display.

[Darkroom]

Do you know about the control-shift-eject keyboard shortcut, Darkroom? ;)

I, like you, was using the screen corner to turn off the display but to me this Leopard feature is much more like having an actual on/off switch for the display.

cool!! good to know :D

[Grokgod]

I found some interesting information that I found hard to believe on the APPLE website.

It states that the contrast ratio for the 20" and the 24" LCD's are 800:1 and 750:1.

I was dumbfounded by this considering that the 20" Lcd is so inferior in every way that I was confused by the meaning of these numbers.

Anyone have any information on this?

Thanks

[Darkroom]

I found some interesting information that I found hard to believe on the APPLE website.

It states that the contrast ratio for the 20" and the 24" LCD's are 800:1 and 750:1.

I was dumbfounded by this considering that the 20" Lcd is so inferior in every way that I was confused by the meaning of these numbers.

Anyone have any information on this?

Thanks

contrast ratio is stupid and doesn't mean much, it's just marketing... just google it and you'll see. but do keep in mind that iMac use LCD screens, not plasma screens, so the blacks are expectingly not going to be super black.

[themoonisdown09]

1. Did your computer come with a USB extension for the keyboard? All my other Macs have but this one did not and the shorty on the keyboard won't reach behind my desk so it is hidden.

I bought a USB cable extension from Best Buy. It was more than I wanted to pay to be able to use the keyboard, but it works.

[Darkroom]

I bought a USB cable extension from Best Buy. It was more than I wanted to pay to be able to use the keyboard, but it works.

yeah Best Buy / Futureshop / Staples often over price their cables. not talking about Monster HDMI cables here either, even their home brand 6ft USB cables are $20ish...

there are options... like this one: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1176839&CatId=444

[Mollemand]

Yes, I got it today after selling my good ol' iMac G5 ALS...for those of you still on fence, I am gonna cut it to you:

THIS MACHINE IS SIMPLY AWESOME!

Specs:
iMac 24", 4gb RAM, 500Gb HD, NVIDIA 8800GS, wireless keyboard and mouse, Creative X-Fi and JBL speakers.

Remarks:

- machine shipped from Czech Republic, package opening and setup FLAWLESS; NO noticeable gradient problems, NO stuck/dead pixels, NO installation issues;
- fast as hell in all senses, especially for someone coming from an iMac G5;
- BEAUTIFUL and BRIGHT screen; I haven't noticed any excessive glare even having a small window behind my back;
- importing all my stuff now, EVERYTHING so far works perfectly well, including wireless printer, network and Internet;
- VIRTUALLY SILENT in comparison with my iMac G5, both in terms of fans and HD activity.

In line with pretty much EVERY review out there, the new iMacs simply ROCK! These are easily the BEST, most BEAUTIFUL and fastest AIO desktops on Earth. Thank you Apple, again, for such FABULOUS products!

Again: for those on the fence because of a few problem reports, I can tell you...they are a minority and things always seem overblown in these forums.

I can assure you, the millions of iMac customers out there are just enjoying their excellent machines as much as I do now...no wonder the company is growing more than ANY OTHER maker in the market...GO APPLE!

Good stuff. Congratulations! I love my 3.06 too, and it's barely 5 hours old :D

One thing though: Did you say X-Fi?
Where? When? How?
Obviously I missed something?

Best to you and your new widow-maker - Have fun :p

[BRLawyer]

Good stuff. Congratulations! I love my 3.06 too, and it's barely 5 hours old :D

One thing though: Did you say X-Fi?
Where? When? How?
Obviously I missed something?

Best to you and your new widow-maker - Have fun :p

Yep, Creative X-Fi Xmod, the sound enhancement USB module...pretty good actually! :)

http://www.x-fi.com/products/xmod/

[mhnajjar]

Yep, Creative X-Fi Xmod, the sound enhancement USB module...pretty good actually! :)

http://www.x-fi.com/products/xmod/

Do you need that with an iMac? How much of a differance did it make? :)

[BRLawyer]

Do you need that with an iMac? How much of a differance did it make? :)

Well, I had external speakers already, and only after using an X-Fi you realize how improved sound is (in most cases). Besides, all reviews of X-Fi said that the improvements in compressed music files ARE REAL and NOTICEABLE.

Not bad for a piece of cheap USB kit.

[mhnajjar]

Well, I had external speakers already, and only after using an X-Fi you realize how improved sound is (in most cases). Besides, all reviews of X-Fi said that the improvements in compressed music files ARE REAL and NOTICEABLE.

Not bad for a piece of cheap USB kit.

I'll give it a shot ... thanks :)