Product Inventory Delays?

[MacRumors]

Think Secret provides a product-by-product breakdown (http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0408channelinventory.html) of current Apple stock and it's availability to fulfill orders on time.
Channel availability of several Apple products is expected to be constrained during August and possibly into September, Think Secret has learned. While specifics vary from dealer to dealer, reports indicate that a majority of Apple's products are experiencing longer-than-normal shipping delays.

[Sun Baked]

There were some reports from new machine owners of the PPC970FX starting to show up recently in the 2.0GHz PowerMacs, and some reports of sudden delays in 1.8GHz people's BTO orders (sudden 1-2 day to 2-week switch).

Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.

It's a move that Apple needs to make as soon as they can, since the 90nm CPU should be less expensive than the 130nm part.

Of course it is also the back-to-school period...

[nagromme]

The article opens with "a majority of Apple's products are experiencing longer-than-normal shipping delays."

Sounds dire--but when you read on, most Apple products are still pretty easy to come by. To summarize:

The following have delays of at least a week or two if not more:

PowerMac dual-2.5
iMac G4 (duh!)
iPod Mini
30" displays (and 6800 Ultra DLL)

...While the following are generally available, at least IF you order from Apple directly:

PowerMac dual-2.0
PowerMac dual-1.8
12" PowerBook
Top-end iBook
iPod (4th gen.)
20" & 23" displays

...And these are readily available at Apple and resellers alike:

Xserve
Xserve RAID
15" PowerBook
17" PowerBook
Low-end iBooks
eMac

[herbman]

There were some reports from new machine owners of the PPC970FX starting to show up recently in the 2.0GHz PowerMacs, and some reports of sudden delays in 1.8GHz people's BTO orders (sudden 1-2 day to 2-week switch).

Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.

It's a move that Apple needs to make as soon as they can, since the 90nm CPU should be less expensive than the 130nm part.

Of course it is also the back-to-school period...

How does one tell? I have a dual 2.0 showing up tomorrow and am interested to find out whether it'll be the regular 970 or the FX.

[ryanw]

Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.

[Sun Baked]

How does one tell? I have a dual 2.0 showing up tomorrow and am interested to find out whether it'll be the regular 970 or the FX.Type in...

ioreg -l | grep cpu-version

to get the PVR/PID value.

Edit - Use the Terminal, and just using ioreg -l will print everything out.

[jwdawso]

Type in...

ioreg -l | grep cpu-version

to get the PVR/PID value.

Edit - Use the Terminal, and just using ioreg -l will print everything out.

From Ars -

$ ioreg -l | grep cpu-version
| | | "cpu-version" = <003c0300>
| | | "cpu-version" = <003c0300>

M.Isobe - IBM changed not only version number, but also PID (processor ID) of 970FX. Your processors are PowerPC 970FX (PID: 0x003C) revision 3.0.

[appleface]

Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.


when the 2.5s came out, i thought i noticed on apple's pm page that apple changed its info about the pm from using 130nm processors to 90nm processors. i just looked, and i can't find references to either size on apple's site. are the xserves have 90nm, right? but the dual 2.0 in the pm does not?

[Sun Baked]

i just looked, and i can't find references to either size on apple's site.

are the xserves have 90nm, right? but the dual 2.0 in the pm does not?The XServe G5s had the 90nm (PPC970FX) processor from the start, and a huge long wait for such a low volume product.

When M.Isobe first checked the 1.8 & 2.0 Rev. B PowerMac G5s, they still had the 130nm processor -- was either that or wait until Aug/Sept to kick the darn things out the door as 2.0-2.5GHz units.

Some people have recently reported getting new 2.0GHz PowerMac G5s with the PVR/PID value jwdawso referenced.

Even ThinkSecret says the XServe G5s are starting to flow, and if the 1.8/2.0GHz PMs finally are getting 970FXs -- it's good news for the iMac G5.

[DGFan]

Isn't it funny that even with all the whining, the dual 1.8's are more popular than the 2.0s.

[appleface]

will the performance effects of 90nm vs. 130nm be evident to the consumer in any way?

[Sun Baked]

will the performance effects of 90nm vs. 130nm be evident to the consumer in any way?Only in a lower Power Bill and cooler room, since the PowerMac space heater won't be sucking as many Watts or putting out as many BTUs.

[narco]

I ordered close to $4,000 worth of stuff from Apple at end of last month; everything came except for the iSight and Airport Express (both had a 3-4 week shipping time). I understand the Airport Express, but the iSight?

.narco

[Elan0204]

The products ThinkSecret mentioned as have delays are not exactly surprises. I normally expect more from a ThinkSecret news story, so I'm a bit disappointed with this article.

Let's just hope that Apple is able to keep their promise of new iMacs shipping in September.

[nagromme]

More to the point... when iMac G5s ship in September, lets hope IBM is past their recent difficulties and lets Apple ship them in mass quantities! I predict mass demand for... whatever it turns out to be...

[phillymjs]

...I'd like Apple to not announce a product and begin accepting orders until they have a few warehouses full of the damned things scattered around the country-- "just in time" inventory method be damned.

I'm a patient guy, but my dual 2.5 order is two months old now. I'm starting to get aggravated. Crushing demand for your product is a good thing. Crushing inability to ramp up production to satisfy that demand in a somewhat timely manner is a very bad thing.

And while we're talking about unavailable Apple products, let's not forget the iSight. I ordered one of those on June 9th with my G5, and that was cancelled from the order by Apple a couple weeks ago. Availability of the iSight is listed as "2-3 weeks," presumably when a new iSight will be announced.

That actually annoyed me more, because I figured I'd at least have the iSight to play with while I waited for the G5 to finally ship. As it stands, all I have is the damned AppleCare box. Whoo hoo.

Edit: Not long after posting this I found out that my G5 had indeed shipped from China. It arrived on Friday morning, 8/13, and the box is sitting here beside me right now. No, I won't be seeing daylight this weekend, how did you know? :-)

~Philly

[aldo]

Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.

I'm starting to feel exactly the same. I used to be really full of Apple-zealotness but latley I've quieted down and don't even know if my next desktop will be a Mac (when PC prices are so good). Tiger is nothing really special to me - search isn't a big part of my life. The G5 iMac also sounds stupidly highly priced. I could be wrong, but with pricing it's usually apple's motto of price themselves out of the correct market.

[Porchland]

Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.

I don't think that's true at all. Near a release cycle for the next version? The new 6 gig mini is due out in September? I agree that Apple has some supply chain issues but nothing that would cause someone to pass on a product to wait for the upgrade.

[ssamani]

Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.


Yeah but just think of the wait time on the upgraded product ;)

[Bear]

I'm starting to feel exactly the same. I used to be really full of Apple-zealotness but latley I've quieted down and don't even know if my next desktop will be a Mac (when PC prices are so good). Tiger is nothing really special to me - search isn't a big part of my life. The G5 iMac also sounds stupidly highly priced. I could be wrong, but with pricing it's usually apple's motto of price themselves out of the correct market.You already know the prices of the G5 iMac? That's amazing. And it's amazing you know that it's overpriced.

Actually we won't know what the prices are until around the time they're announced. And we won't know if they're overpriced until we see how many orders Apple gets for it.

[Bear]

I'm starting to feel exactly the same. I used to be really full of Apple-zealotness but latley I've quieted down and don't even know if my next desktop will be a Mac (when PC prices are so good). Tiger is nothing really special to me - search isn't a big part of my life. The G5 iMac also sounds stupidly highly priced. I could be wrong, but with pricing it's usually apple's motto of price themselves out of the correct market.I'm not sure your pricing comparison is accurate. At various points I've configured PC's and Macs (both Laptops and Desktops) and gotten similar pricing. For Laptops, the camparison was to Dell, Toshiba and IBM.

Is there a game you're itching for that isn't out on the Mac?

Also, Tiger doesn't just include the "search" feature. It includes other features as well. What is WinXP going to give you that MacOS X doesn't?

[Converted2Truth]

...
PowerMac dual-2.5
iMac G4 (duh!)
iPod Mini
30" displays (and 6800 Ultra DLL)
If my 6800Ultra doesn't ship till September, I am going to cancel my order. I've had 2 months to ponder if i really need a 600 $$$ VC upgrade...

[pkradd]

Apple is damned if they do, damned if they don't. The problem on the G5 rests solely with IBM. At the last quarterly conference call - you can listen to it via Quicktime, you'll hear Apple execs complain about IBM and how G5 based product will be constrained for the last quarter of the year. It now looks like Apple's hope that yields of processors would improve is not as yet happening. For those who need to wait, it comes with the territory with Apple. Unlike the other manufactuers, Apple does use a lot of proprietary elements. But you already knew that. If you got along with your present computer, you can get along with it a few weeks or a month or so longer. Apple's bread and butter these days are laptops and in that regards they're in better shape. The company that makes them for Apple also produces other laptops... Dell, HP, etc. Supplies are fairly reasonable depending on availability of LCD screens. iPod minis are in short supply because Hitachi is just increasing production on the drives. This is a well-known situation and things should improve towards the end of the year. However, Apple, to their credit, did announce constraints on iPod minis for the foreseeable future. Think Secret's report just confirms what Apple said... the company was honest about supply and told the truth... if anyone cared to listen.

P.S. Don't be surprised if the new iMac ships in late September, in very limited quantities. Again, it's all in IBM's hands at the moment.

[tigers]

This'll be my first Mac purchase and I'm eagerly anticipating the G5's arrival.

When I placed the order at apple.com it said the estimated ship time was 3-5 days, but once the order was placed, the estimated ship time showed as Aug. 17th--11 days to ship.

I wasn't happy about that (Apple seemed a bit misleading about 3-5 days to ship, but 11 days isn't so bad in the end I suppose) but then I read this article and now I'm really questioning if I'll have my new G5 next week or not.

I'm wondering if anybody's ordered a G5 2.0 in the last week or two and whether or not they've received it or not.

[kenaustus]

We all know the problems associated with the 90nm G5 processors and the hard drives for the iPod mini. If you think customers are frustrated think about how the good folks at Apple feel! (I bet that Steve J keeps his hair cut short so he can't pull it out.)

In terms of products like iSight and Airport Express, how do you project (a $5 word for "guess") what the demand is going to be when you commit to production quantities? Remember when the ipod mini was introduced? Everyone said it was way over priced and would never sell. Apple had to make major commitments before the announcement and they didn't commit to buy every HD produced. Fair enough.

Another "problem" is that PC users are starting to look at, and buy, Macs. A lot probably decided to look after using an iPod. Others learned about it from friends. Regardless, the impact of this growing market is very difficult to project when committing to production capacity.

Apple learned a very costly lesson a few years ago when they had warehouses loaded with unwanted inventory. Just in time approaches has served them well, in terms of avoiding this problem and the primary times consumers suffer are when component suppliers cannot meet unexpected demand, or there are unanticipated technical production problems - like the 90nm G5.

So what's a customer to do? I've been waiting for a G5 iMac since January and I'll continue to wait because that is the computer I want to replace an old 450 Dull at home. I figure that it will be announced on August 31st or early September and I'll buy it the day it is announced. I also know that availability will be very soon after the announcement as Apple has publicly stated that gross margins will drop a bit because the initial G5 iMacs will be air freighted into the country.

Other consumers will also need to decide what they really want, and if it is worth waiting for. Some might decide to go to a PC (no way am I going back to that mess) and some will decide to wait it out because they feel their new Mac will be well worth the wait. Those that get out of the backorder line, however, may find it very difficult to get back in.

All in all Apple is going through a rough time in terms of component availability. Think of where they would be if there had been no problems with the 90nm chips, plenty of HDs for the iPod mini and supplier able to deliver on needed components for products like AE. Think about that and you can understand the frustration at Apple, and how it is greater than ours.

[wdlove]

This'll be my first Mac purchase and I'm eagerly anticipating the G5's arrival.

When I placed the order at apple.com it said the estimated ship time was 3-5 days, but once the order was placed, the estimated ship time showed as Aug. 17th--11 days to ship.

I wasn't happy about that (Apple seemed a bit misleading about 3-5 days to ship, but 11 days isn't so bad in the end I suppose) but then I read this article and now I'm really questioning if I'll have my new G5 next week or not.

I'm wondering if anybody's ordered a G5 2.0 in the last week or two and whether or not they've received it or not.

Congratuatlion''s on the order of your new Mac. Many have posted that you can't really count on what the order update site says. It's best to check to see what yoru next E.Mail from Apple has to say. You could always call Apple directly.

[psxndc]

Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.

Ya know, I love the U.S's education system and all the 'emotion' that revolves(?) around being a patriot and all the other flag-waving stuff, but I am definitely losing confidence in The U.S. school system's ability to "deliver". Sure, we have the hottest universities around at the time of school rankings, but by the time students are able to graduate it's already obvious they haven't mastered basic spelling.

;)

joke. it's just a joke.

-p-

And I'll give you credit for evolves, since it's plausible that is in fact what you meant.

[weezer160]

Based on this article, it's making me feel uneasy about purchasing any G5 because by the time September rolls around (next month), it's only about 4 months until another updated is expected. Three months waiting (or more) to only have the "hot product" for four months. I suppose one might argue that next January, this shortage in inventory might happen again, but by then, hopefully, IBM will have "mastered" the 90nm fabrication process. :rolleyes:

I'm eyeing G5's only, because that's my next purchase. :)

[rdowns]

Just got this email from Apple.

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Thank you for ordering the new Counting Crows single from the iTunes Music Store! In keeping with established Apple Computer company policy, your shipment has been delayed.

The demand for this item has been incredible. We are shipping them as quickly as possible, but cannot meet the ship date we previously estimated for you. We now expect to ship your song on or before September 2nd.

Please rest assured that we fulfill all orders in the order they are received. If we do not hear from you prior to shipment, we will assume the revised date is acceptable, and will ship your order. We will notify you if there are any changes to the revised ship date. In the mean time, you might be interested in the new Brittany Spears single. As of this writing, demand has not been as high and we should be able to ship this immediately.

We appreciate your patience and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this delay has caused you. Thank you for your interest in Apple products!

Sincerely,
**The iTunes Music Store Team





:D

[whooleytoo]

Hula Hoops are giving away 2,000 iPod Minis over here as part of a larger giveaway - so evidently they couldn't be in too short supply..

[myapplseedshurt]

There were some reports from new machine owners of the PPC970FX starting to show up recently in the 2.0GHz PowerMacs, and some reports of sudden delays in 1.8GHz people's BTO orders (sudden 1-2 day to 2-week switch).

Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.

ALL procs now shipping are 90nm. 130nm are not even being made anymore.

It's a move that Apple needs to make as soon as they can, since the 90nm CPU should be less expensive than the 130nm part.

Of course it is also the back-to-school period...

not sure if that's true. I'll have to find out.

[myapplseedshurt]

....it's only about 4 months until another updated is expected.


you're absolutely right. by 200....

[rog]

Apple can't do anything right these days. The inability to ship products in the quantities there is demand for ultimately hurts their profits, and there is at least 1 major product every quarter that is in short supply. Now what is it, like 5, including their highest margin products. Maybe it's time for Steve to step aside. He's running the company into the ground.

[ign]

You wrote:
>Tuesday August 10, 2004 03:00 PM EST
>Posted by Mudbug

>Think Secret provides a product-by-product breakdown of current Apple stock and it's availability to fulfill orders on time :eek:

[Bear]

Apple can't do anything right these days. The inability to ship products in the quantities there is demand for ultimately hurts their profits, and there is at least 1 major product every quarter that is in short supply. Now what is it, like 5, including their highest margin products. Maybe it's time for Steve to step aside. He's running the company into the ground.Not everything that goes worn with a company is the CEO's fault. It may be the Operations or Manufacturing VP/Director who is at fault. Or it may really be out of Apple's hands.

In the case of thee iPod mini, it was Hitachi and the supply of the 4GB microdrives.
In the case of G5 machines, IBM had some fault there.
And in the case of the iMac, someone goofed and they didn't have the new machine ready to go when they ran out of inventory on the current(old) iMac line.
And as for the Aitrport Express, they had a super high demand on those as well. This falls under marketing/product planning.

So, blame the right people for the product shortfalls.

[kenaustus]

Apple can't do anything right?

Look at one major reason for delays in deliveries: very high demand.

Maybe you can blame Steve for making products that have too high a demand - replace him with someone who wants dull products, just like you get at Dull.

There is also a limitation on production facilities for a lot of products, like Airport Express. Could have helped if it was for Mac users only - this opening up Mac products to the masses of PC users does slow our deliveries down some. Maybe a CEO who gets rid of that PC market revenues? Sound good to you?

Another reason is Apple's push for some leading edge technologies, like the iPod mini HD or the 90nm G5. Should he have been safe (like the PC world) and stuck with the "safe" G4?

And, oh Lord, there is a new G5 iMac due out very soon. Apple is probably going to come out with some fantastic design that generates more demand that IBM can deliver chips for. If Apple would just stop designing products that are so cool supply & demand would be in a better balance. Maybe something like a Dull.

From where I sit as a Mac user and a VERY small shareholder, I believe that Apple is exploding with innovation right now. They will stay on the leading edge of technology, come out with products that excite people and, yet again, show the PC industry how to do it. As a small shareholder this makes me happy. As a Mac user I have learned to order very fast when something I want is announced - within hours of the announcement if possible. :D

[wdlove]

Apple can't do anything right these days. The inability to ship products in the quantities there is demand for ultimately hurts their profits, and there is at least 1 major product every quarter that is in short supply. Now what is it, like 5, including their highest margin products. Maybe it's time for Steve to step aside. He's running the company into the ground.

I just don't think that we can blame Apple for all of these delays. Definitely we shouldn't go after Steve, who is recovering from serious cancer surgery. From what I have heard it's suppliers like IBM that are having difficulty filling demand. It seems that some of the other chips are also not able to fill demand.

[seamuskrat]

Well, my iSight that had been on backorder for 4 weeks, and scheduled to ship on or before August 26, shipped today.
So, what does that mean?
Either I got a new batch of old iSights and I should return it shortly or its not being slated to immediate update.

I prdered from Apple directly.

[tunanut]

not that it's germain, but why would anyone order a big ticket (g5 and montior) from apple direct and pay tax? gotta love new hampshire. saved me 240+ clams! :)

[ccroo]

Hey Folks:

I typed in what was said to get the CPU number and I got:

00390202

What chip do I have?

Raoul

[Sun Baked]

Hey Folks:

I typed in what was said to get the CPU number and I got:

00390202

What chip do I have?

RaoulThat be the 130nm PPC970.

Apple shipped the first 1.8/2.0GHz Rev B machines with the 130nm CPUs, because that's all they had in the volume they needed at the time.

There have been some recent (August) reports of the newest machines finally getting the 90nm.

[ccroo]

Ah... That's why Apple kept things vague when the Rev. B's were released...

Thanks for finally clearing up a bit of confusion.

(Wish I had the newer chips, sigh....)

Raoul

[tigers]

not that it's germain, but why would anyone order a big ticket (g5 and montior) from apple direct and pay tax? gotta love new hampshire. saved me 240+ clams! :)

I ordered from the Apple site last Friday in the midst of our state sales tax holiday and Apple initially charged me sales tax, then refunded it back to me--thus no sales tax for me.

If they'd not honored our tax holiday, I'd have just driven up to Charlotte, NC to the Apple store there and partaken of their sales tax holiday. :D

On a side note, my Studio Display arrived today, but still no G5. The Apple site still says it'll be shipping on Tuesday, 8/17 so I'm hoping I'll have it by next Thursday. :cool:

[myapplseedshurt]

Hey Folks:

I typed in what was said to get the CPU number and I got:

00390202

What chip do I have?

Raoul

That my friend is called a "processor version number" or PVR. Tomorrow, I'll see what chip rev that equates to.

[myapplseedshurt]

That be the 130nm PPC970.

Apple shipped the first 1.8/2.0GHz Rev B machines with the 130nm CPUs, because that's all they had in the volume they needed at the time.

There have been some recent (August) reports of the newest machines finally getting the 90nm.

Let me tell you something... and your going to have to trust me on this.
the "new" 90 nm 970's shipping right now are NOT radically different from the original 970. The only addition was something called PowerTune (there was even a rumor thread about that on this site). PowerTune will allow the 970 to be used in lower power boxes, that's it. Actually, it can hurt performance due to the overhead of switching frequencies back an forth, depending on the situation. The other problem is that the 90nm version is a smaller die, which is harder to cool. Hence, the cooling system might be bigger for the newer procs, but I'm not sure about that. There are some bug fixes in the 90nm products, but nothing that will make the system more stable. There is a significant change to the chipset, but I can't talk about that. :)

[Sun Baked]

Let me tell you something... and your going to have to trust me on this.
the "new" 90 nm 970's shipping right now are NOT radically different from the original 970. The only addition was something called PowerTune (there was even a rumor thread about that on this site). PowerTune will allow the 970 to be used in lower power boxes, that's it. Actually, it can hurt performance due to the overhead of switching frequencies back an forth, depending on the situation. The other problem is that the 90nm version is a smaller die, which is harder to cool. Hence, the cooling system might be bigger for the newer procs, but I'm not sure about that. There are some bug fixes in the 90nm products, but nothing that will make the system more stable. There is a significant change to the chipset, but I can't talk about that. :)We want the new news...

Everybody saw the stuff on PowerTune, and there were some of us wondering if Apple would ever implement it -- considering there are some interesting new dynamic thread balancing features and a dynamic clock-gating circuits in the Power5 -- which will hopefully find it's way into the GR-UL.

Also we want to know about the U3-Lite, what new features are in the Memory Controller replacing the U3H in the PowerMac9,1 and if there is a change in the HT PCI-X Tunnel.

[kenaustus]

Another point on Apple being conservative on shipping dates. I had to order a 23" display for a major project that needed more screen space than I have on my 15" PB. Was old 3 - 5 days to ship so I added $30 for overnight shipping when I ordered this afternoon. Just got an e-mail saying it had been shipped. Will be on my desk within 18 hours of calling in the order! :D

Also go word that the shipping time for the AirPort Express has gone down. If anyone wants one NOW is the time to order fast. The more people that learn about it the longer the wait in the future.

[edesignuk]

And we won't know if they're overpriced until we see how many orders Apple gets for it.Apple will sell them no matter what they charge, hell, people were still paying top $$$ for the G4 iMac (old, expensive piece of stupidly out dated technology) up until a couple of months ago. Some people are just so in love with the Apple brand that they can't see past it, and will buy no matter what they are actually going to get for their money.

[kenaustus]

Apple will sell them no matter what they charge, hell, people were still paying top $$$ for the G4 iMac (old, expensive piece of stupidly out dated technology) up until a couple of months ago. Some people are just so in love with the Apple brand that they can't see past it, and will buy no matter what they are actually going to get for their money.

Since I am replacing Dulls at work (got a PB) and at home (G5 iMac ordered on Day 1) I can assure you I am ready to pay top dollar. I'm willing because I have that in the Dull world you get problems that cost you more that the "extra" you pay for a Mac. Try having data corrupted and have to reformat and reinstall Windows - then go through all your data (accounting programs for 2 companies) to ensure that there are no problems. Once is enough to more than pay that "extra" for a Mac.

Time is money, especially when you own small one man companies like I do. Problems with PC cost me far more than a Mac ever will - even if I went with a 2.5 PM. What I get for my money is something that works day in and day out, year end and year out. People want to buy a Dull because it's cheaper (until they move you up with "enhancements) then let them have at it. I may be in love with the Apple brand, but I'm far more in love with the stability it brings me in my work.

Oh, and by the way, this afternoon I ordered a 23" display from Apple today for a huge project that is too big for by 15" screen alone - and it will be on my desk in the morning. :D

[edesignuk]

Since I am replacing Dulls at work (got a PB) and at home (G5 iMac ordered on Day 1) I can assure you I am ready to pay top dollar. I'm willing because I have that in the Dull world you get problems that cost you more that the "extra" you pay for a Mac. Try having data corrupted and have to reformat and reinstall Windows - then go through all your data (accounting programs for 2 companies) to ensure that there are no problems. Once is enough to more than pay that "extra" for a Mac.We have a couple of thousand "Dulls" at work (as well as another few thousand HP/Compaq). We have very few problems with Windows (XP Pro), our main support issues are application specific, and we have very few hardware failures.

[Bear]

We have a couple of thousand "Dulls" at work (as well as another few thousand HP/Compaq). We have very few problems with Windows (XP Pro), our main support issues are application specific, and we have very few hardware failures.Good for you. My last experience with Winblows was Win2K. Due to the inability of device drivers to work well together (yes, both were certified drivers - they were never apparently tested on the same system at the same time) I had to restart the Win2K system at least once a day, if not twice. I also have more stuff hanging off my Powermac than I had on the Winblows box.

Between that and the security and design flaws in windows, it's enough to make someone stay well away from Micro$oft products.

Since I switched to Macs (Started with OS 10.1) I have had maybe two OS crashes, and plenty of uptime. Also, for what I'm doing, a PC (desktop or laptop) would have cost about the same as a Powermac or a Powerbook.
PCs are only cheaper when you strip them down. I also haven't had to buy as many third party applications or shareware as I would have to get to make a Winblows box usable for me.

So in summary, the costs for the machines also depends on what software you need for them. It also depends on how well required hardware and software interact with each other.

[Bear]

Apple will sell them no matter what they charge, hell, people were still paying top $$$ for the G4 iMac (old, expensive piece of stupidly out dated technology) up until a couple of months ago. Some people are just so in love with the Apple brand that they can't see past it, and will buy no matter what they are actually going to get for their money.And some people see exactly what they will be getting and like what they see.

Also, as it has been stated elsewhere, compare the real price of a similarly configured Winblows box to a Mac and you'll see how close the pricing becomes. And when comparing some laptop to apple's Powerbooks, remember to compare the weight as well. It does cost money to get the lighter laptops.

And remember when Apple dropped the price on the 23" HD Cinema Display to $2000 (US)? I believe at that point, they were very much on the low end of the price scale for a screen of that size, resolution and quality.

I will agree with you on one thing: People can become blind to things when they don't want to see something.

Oh, in another thing related to prices, what costs more, buying a machine that all your software runs on? Or buying a machine where you have to buy all new software? For me, it wasn't a big deal when I switched to Macs, as a lot of what I had to pay for on Winblows was already included and the couple of pieces of software I had to upgrade had new versions available and it was a reasonable charge to do it as a cross platform upgrade. At this point, It would cost me a lot more in software costs to switch back to Winblows.

Remember, hardware cost isn't everything.

[wdlove]

I ordered from the Apple site last Friday in the midst of our state sales tax holiday and Apple initially charged me sales tax, then refunded it back to me--thus no sales tax for me.

If they'd not honored our tax holiday, I'd have just driven up to Charlotte, NC to the Apple store there and partaken of their sales tax holiday. :D

On a side note, my Studio Display arrived today, but still no G5. The Apple site still says it'll be shipping on Tuesday, 8/17 so I'm hoping I'll have it by next Thursday. :cool:

Did you state have a limit on your purchase to qualify? Here in Massachusetts it's $2500. Apple sent a message to let us know that they are participating.

[tigers]

Did you state have a limit on your purchase to qualify? Here in Massachusetts it's $2500. Apple sent a message to let us know that they are participating.

Nope, none that I know of.

[stockscalper]

Anybody who says Windoz machines are stable is trolling for Microsoft.

[tigers]

Just got an email from Apple today that my new G5 2.0 shipped today. Exactly one week from order to shipment.

Overall, that seems pretty good given what I've read in this thread and elsewhere about Apple's woes meeting demand.

[JPigford]

I've been a PC user for 15 years and finally decided to switch to mac. I spent $5000 buying a new mac and buying new mac versions of all my software. I ordered the computer on 8/4 and Apple tells me it will take 5-7 business days to build and then ship it by 8/13. Then today (the 14th) I get an e-mail saying my order has been pushed back to 8/31 due to supply delays. Here's the spec's of my system:

Dual 2.0GHz PowerPC G5
512mb RAM
250GB Harddrive
NVIDIA Geforce 6800

Is there a particular item there that could be setting things back?

Just got an email from Apple today that my new G5 2.0 shipped today. Exactly one week from order to shipment. I'm just wondering b/c if he got what I got...how come his order got shipped before mine?

[numark]

I'm just wondering b/c if he got what I got...how come his order got shipped before mine?
The Geforce 6800 card isn't readily available currently. They'll probably trickle out slowly and randomly at first as Apple gets the first few batches in. Soon they should be getting enough in that there won't be too many delays for the 6800, but until then we'll just have to wait.

I'm in the same boat too...I ordered a DP2.0 w/ Geforce 6800 a few days ago. However, my shipping date has always been quoted as Aug. 31. Hopefully, though, Apple will get around to building the computers faster and ship them out earlier. A long shot, but it may yet happen.

[JPigford]

The Geforce 6800 card isn't readily available currently. They'll probably trickle out slowly and randomly at first as Apple gets the first few batches in. Soon they should be getting enough in that there won't be too many delays for the 6800, but until then we'll just have to wait.

I'm in the same boat too...I ordered a DP2.0 w/ Geforce 6800 a few days ago. However, my shipping date has always been quoted as Aug. 31. Hopefully, though, Apple will get around to building the computers faster and ship them out earlier. A long shot, but it may yet happen.
I called Apple and asked if they could tell me what part was holding things up but they never would tell me. I then asked if I could downgrade video cards and then when the new one was ready if they could ship it to me and she said it wouldn't speed up my order any. Hopefully they'll be able to ship it by the 31st.

[wdlove]

Just got an email from Apple today that my new G5 2.0 shipped today. Exactly one week from order to shipment.

Overall, that seems pretty good given what I've read in this thread and elsewhere about Apple's woes meeting demand.

That is quite an amazing story. You must have ordered a stock 2.0 G5. Most are having to wait 4 - 6 weeks. In your case you won't have time to be impatient.

[tigers]

That is quite an amazing story. You must have ordered a stock 2.0 G5. Most are having to wait 4 - 6 weeks. In your case you won't have time to be impatient.


Here's what I got (already received my monitor this past Thursday). It was a custom order:


Processor 065-4931 2.0GHz PowerPC G5
Memory 065-4976 1GB MB DDR400 (PC3200)-2X512
Hard Drive 065-4925 160GB Serial ATA-7200rpm
Optical Drive 065-4928 8x Super Drive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Graphic Support 065-4892 ATI Rad9600 XT x/128MB DDR
Gigabit Ethernet PCI 065-5080 None
Fibre Chl PCI 065-4491 None
Modem 065-4650 None
BlueTooth 065-4142 None
Airport 065-1899 None
Keyboard Language 065-4923 Apple Keyboard & Mouse
Mac OS Language 065-4896 Mac OS X
Server Mac OS Language 065-4494 None
Custom SW I 065-4683 None
Custom SW II 065-4909 Final Cut Express
Country Kit 065-4894 Country Kit

[JPigford]

That is quite an amazing story. You must have ordered a stock 2.0 G5. Most are having to wait 4 - 6 weeks. In your case you won't have time to be impatient.I really think a lot of people's lenghty wait times (including mine) is due to the NVIDIA video card. Apple was just doing what they do best...which is sell products they don't actually have possession of yet. If I had known that the NVIDIA cards weren't shipping until September I would have gladly picked a different card.

[seamuskrat]

[seamuskrat]

I just got my new iSight after a 4 week delay.

It has a magnetic clip for the aluminum displays, but other than a manual with directions and this clip, it looks the same to the ones I have seen before, although it MAY be smaller, I do not have one to compare it to.

[rog]

I just don't think that we can blame Apple for all of these delays. Definitely we shouldn't go after Steve, who is recovering from serious cancer surgery. From what I have heard it's suppliers like IBM that are having difficulty filling demand. It seems that some of the other chips are also not able to fill demand.
Well who do we blame, al Queda? Seriously the buck has to stop somewhere. The larger problem is they routinely announce things months before they believe they will ship, pretty much guaranteeing 3 months of dead sales for that product or the one it replaces. Then things trickle in not necessarily due to overwhelming demand, but because they simply don't have the ability to meet even a small demand. The 2.5s for example are barely trickling in weeks after they were due to ship in volume. What ever happened to waiting to announce things only after you've built up a healthy supply. Then you keep customers happy and have product to sell. Do you really think potential wintel converts who need a new computer say, well I am interested in an iMac so I'll just wait 4 months for something that may or may not be released? No, they say, forget this, and buy another PC any number of which they can get that day for much cheaper--result: another lost sale and potential revenue stream for years to come.

[JPigford]

Do you really think potential wintel converts who need a new computer say, well I am interested in an iMac so I'll just wait 4 months for something that may or may not be released? No, they say, forget this, and buy another PC any number of which they can get that day for much cheaper--result: another lost sale and potential revenue stream for years to come.Exactly. I've been using PC's for 15 years and a couple weeks ago finally decided I'd convert to mac...including buying all new "mac" versions of tons of software. I spent over $5000 buying a new PowerMac G5 and new software and I was told it would take 5-7 business days to build my mac and then ship it. Then the day after it was supposed to ship they e-mail telling me they've pushed back the ship date 2 more weeks. Do I feel confident that I made the decisions to switch to mac? Not at all. I didn't pay $5000 to be sold something they don't even have (the GeForce 6800). If it keeps getting pushed back I won't hesitate to cancel my order.

[wdlove]

Exactly. I've been using PC's for 15 years and a couple weeks ago finally decided I'd convert to mac...including buying all new "mac" versions of tons of software. I spent over $5000 buying a new PowerMac G5 and new software and I was told it would take 5-7 business days to build my mac and then ship it. Then the day after it was supposed to ship they e-mail telling me they've pushed back the ship date 2 more weeks. Do I feel confident that I made the decisions to switch to mac? Not at all. I didn't pay $5000 to be sold something they don't even have (the GeForce 6800). If it keeps getting pushed back I won't hesitate to cancel my order.

I hope that you will try to be patient. Apple is known for announcing products prior to being ready to ship. I have no doubt that you will be very pleased. When you Mac arrives, the long wait will surely be forgot.

[macsrus]

I hope that you will try to be patient. Apple is known for announcing products prior to being ready to ship. I have no doubt that you will be very pleased. When you Mac arrives, the long wait will surely be forgot.

Apples problem about shipping is....
They dont even start producing the products unil they have sufficent orders

So they will announce a new product then wait until they get a certain level of orders...
Then they send the orders to manufacturing....
Annoying yes... but what can we do about it?

[tigers]

My dual 2.0 G5 arrived today. Ordered 8/7/04 and arrived today, 8/16/04.

Not bad I suppose given some of the problems I've been reading about. Haven't had a chance to set it up yet as I'm still at work, but I should have a fun filled evening of getting to know my new G5 and OS X. :D

[wdlove]

My dual 2.0 G5 arrived today. Ordered 8/7/04 and arrived today, 8/16/04.

Not bad I suppose given some of the problems I've been reading about. Haven't had a chance to set it up yet as I'm still at work, but I should have a fun filled evening of getting to know my new G5 and OS X. :D

At least you have less than an hour till you leave now. I can hardly imagine what your evening will be like. Very sure that you will enjoy Mac OS X, icing on the cake to your G5. If you have a chance please post pictures?

[tigers]

At least you have less than an hour till you leave now. I can hardly imagine what your evening will be like. Very sure that you will enjoy Mac OS X, icing on the cake to your G5. If you have a chance please post pictures?

I'll do my best to post some Mac pr0n on here--although my wife has indicated I have to help her out tonight with some painting in the dining room, so we'll see. LOL

[MrRN]

uggghh.. well my monitor oder has again been pushed back another 10 days. STOP THE MADNESS!!! I'm so jelous of you who have gotten yours Shazam

[wdlove]

I'll do my best to post some Mac pr0n on here--although my wife has indicated I have to help her out tonight with some painting in the dining room, so we'll see. LOL

I understand, it's best to keep peace in the family and help the wife paint. Then maybe the next night she will take the pictures of you are your new G5.

[kenaustus]

uggghh.. well my monitor oder has again been pushed back another 10 days. STOP THE MADNESS!!! I'm so jelous of you who have gotten yours Shazam

Looks like the current inventory was wiped out. I ordered a 23" last Wed and got mine Friday - but I did put in for overnight on the order because of a rush project. It might ship faster than you think - keep hoping.

Oh, and by the way - the 23" is glorious!

[tigers]

http://www.atkinsfamily.org/ebaypics/wholearea_th.jpg (http://www.atkinsfamily.org/ebaypics/wholearea.jpg)

Click the image for a larger pic...

Off to the other forums to try and learn how to use this thing...

[kjgnola]

Thank you ROG someone had to say it.

While Steve may not have had direct responsibility, he is definitely accountable for the delays. Kinda comes with the territory of being the CEO, big bucks equal big time finger pointing.

If anyone should be called to the carpet for the problems though it should be Tim Cook. These are all operations problems and he is supposed to be a "whiz" according to Fortune. Hopefully what they have been doing is building stock of processors (at least processors!) while preparing for the release of the new iMac.

I find myself in the position that some of you have mentioned, switching over from Dull. Mine died while I was in Europe and I need to replace it. I switched out from my hell called the Thoughtpad and now have a PowerBook 12" and love it so much I want to go all Mac at this point.

Point of note for those waiting on the AirTunes Express, I was ready to order online and saw the wait time and ... long story short I found one at CompUsa and it is up and running beautifully. Just a thought, not trying to promote anyone.

[weezer160]

you're absolutely right. by 200....

What do you mean by that "200"? Just curious. I hope by next summer with the rev c designs IBM will have mastered 90nm fabrication. It's just hoping. But I've decided not to order a dual 2.5 anytime soon. Next summer for sure, though. My credit card is probably maxed out on the home improvements I'm doing. :(

[tunanut]

i waited and waited thru the rumours of new monitors for my new g5 to replace my pretty reliable but oh-so pokey PM 8600. finally, they were announced. yippeee! so i placed an order. pc connection said they were not in stock so i ordered it anyway thinking they'd ship together (ha). as it was, i got the new monitor 2 wks ago and there is sits on my floor as i await the DP 2.0 g5. oh the agony. :mad:

[wdlove]

i waited and waited thru the rumors of new monitors for my new g5 to replace my pretty reliable but oh-so pokey PM 8600. finally, they were announced. yippee! so i placed an order. pc connection said they were not in stock so i ordered it anyway thinking they'd ship together (ha). as it was, i got the new monitor 2 wks ago and there is sits on my floor as i await the DP 2.0 g5. oh the agony. :mad:

How many years of service did you get from your 8600? Is your DP 2.0 G5 a stock Machine? When did you order, thought the they have been shipping for a while now? What size and kind of monitor did you purchase?

[tunanut]

How many years of service did you get from your 8600? Is your DP 2.0 G5 a stock Machine? When did you order, thought the they have been shipping for a while now? What size and kind of monitor did you purchase?

Let's see, close to 9 years I'd reckon. Had a few problems w/it under warranty and Apple sent out a tech for on-site replacement of the zip drive. Those were the days, eh?

I ordered my DP 2.0 about 3 wks ago from PC Conn, not direct from Apple so it's a stock machine. Swallowed hard and bought the 23" aluminum. Nice box but with no DVI adapter (was told it's included -- NOT)...useless. Just informed that the 2.0s are backorded until 8/27 thru Ingram I guess. Rats.

[AntoineG]

I just got my new iSight after a 4 week delay.

It has a magnetic clip for the aluminum displays, but other than a manual with directions and this clip, it looks the same to the ones I have seen before, although it MAY be smaller, I do not have one to compare it to.

As we can see on the apple online store the iSight delay are due to the magnetic clip for the new displays that are now included...
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71001/wo/lZ6myqv9HdEo3KYyEt4YpBEAe3h/0.0.9.1.0.6.21.1.2.1.3.0.0.1.0

"Magnetic Personality
To attach your iSight to the new displays, Apple now offers a magnetic mounting solution. This stand is available in new iSight boxes this summer, and included in the mounting kit accessory package."

[alexf]

Let me tell you something... and your going to have to trust me on this.
the "new" 90 nm 970's shipping right now are NOT radically different from the original 970. The only addition was something called PowerTune (there was even a rumor thread about that on this site). PowerTune will allow the 970 to be used in lower power boxes, that's it. Actually, it can hurt performance due to the overhead of switching frequencies back an forth, depending on the situation. The other problem is that the 90nm version is a smaller die, which is harder to cool. Hence, the cooling system might be bigger for the newer procs, but I'm not sure about that. There are some bug fixes in the 90nm products, but nothing that will make the system more stable. There is a significant change to the chipset, but I can't talk about that. :)

What? How can that be? What about all this talk about how the 970fx and how it is an improvement in many ways?

And why would the cooling system potentially have to be bigger if these chips run cooler and consume less power? :confused:

[morespce54]

I'm starting to feel exactly the same. I used to be really full of Apple-zealotness but latley I've quieted down and don't even know if my next desktop will be a Mac (when PC prices are so good). Tiger is nothing really special to me - search isn't a big part of my life. The G5 iMac also sounds stupidly highly priced. I could be wrong, but with pricing it's usually apple's motto of price themselves out of the correct market.


Yep. I was thinking the same...

:eek:

[wdlove]

As we can see on the apple online store the iSight delay are due to the magnetic clip for the new displays that are now included...
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71001/wo/lZ6myqv9HdEo3KYyEt4YpBEAe3h/0.0.9.1.0.6.21.1.2.1.3.0.0.1.0

"Magnetic Personality
To attach your iSight to the new displays, Apple now offers a magnetic mounting solution. This stand is available in new iSight boxes this summer, and included in the mounting kit accessory package."

The session has timed out. Is it easy to purchase a magnetic clip separately for an older iSight?

[seamuskrat]

I received my new iSight package last Saturday. It does come with the new magnetic clip and works with any number of magnetic devices. I have mine on a metal bookshelf.

[BlueRevolution]

Delays? Yeah, I've noticed that... my power mac dual 1.8 ghz was supposed to come in 1-2 weeks, but it didn't end up coming for around 6 weeks, leaving me with nothing but a w*ndows 98 machine that couldn't get its little 433 mhz mind around the idea that a crash does not necessarily have to follow the difficult task of BOOTING THE DAMN MACHINE

[/rant]

[MacinDoc]

What? How can that be? What about all this talk about how the 970fx and how it is an improvement in many ways?

And why would the cooling system potentially have to be bigger if these chips run cooler and consume less power? :confused:
Since the chip is smaller, there is less surface area from which to transfer the heat, so the cooling system must be more efficient. It's sort of like food that's too hot - it will cool faster if you spread it out on your plate instead of piling it all in the middle. That's why the 2.5 GHz 970FX needs liquid cooling.

[tunanut]

Okay, my last notice from PCConnection was my dual 2g desktop was supposed to ship Friday last. Sales rep calls and said Apple now says the delivery date is open-ended. Middlmen like Ingram are apparently out of stock so now I'm getting annoyed. Does anyone know of a source for the dual 2gigs? I'm sitting here with a 23" flat panel (which I thought would be the big delay) and no desktop on the horizon. This is may be good news for Apple in the demand arena, but makes them look a little undependable from the customers point of view. :mad:

[zelmo]

Okay, my last notice from PCConnection was my dual 2g desktop was supposed to ship Friday last. Sales rep calls and said Apple now says the delivery date is open-ended. Middlmen like Ingram are apparently out of stock so now I'm getting annoyed. Does anyone know of a source for the dual 2gigs? I'm sitting here with a 23" flat panel (which I thought would be the big delay) and no desktop on the horizon. This is may be good news for Apple in the demand arena, but makes them look a little undependable from the customers point of view. :mad:

I went to CompUSA yesterday to pick up a power supply for some junky PC, and they had 4 dual 2.0 units on the shelf in their Apple section. The guy said they had at least another dozen in back, but they had no 1.8 or 2.5 boxes at all. They also had three lonely 15" G4 iMac's that no one wanted to buy.

[tunanut]

I went to CompUSA yesterday to pick up a power supply for some junky PC, and they had 4 dual 2.0 units on the shelf in their Apple section. The guy said they had at least another dozen in back, but they had no 1.8 or 2.5 boxes at all. They also had three lonely 15" G4 iMac's that no one wanted to buy.

Well, after reading your observation, pm, i too went to CrapUSA to check it out (grudgingly). They in fact had one lunched dual 2 on the shelf which they were offering a paltry 100 bux off of for the open box. My deal with PCConn includes the widely offere extra gig of RAM so that's a loss, plus the sales tax of 150 clams is another downer, but the big thing is I'd rather eat glass than buy anything I may have to return from them, the homedepot of computer stores. I've seen the hassles people have with returns there and I've vowed to try never to by anything from them more complex than a ream of paper or a book, so a CPU I'd use for my work, well, when it's your livelyhood, you need the support of a dealer with a good rep.

[Lord_Bremen]

My 30 inch just got pushed back to 10/25...anyone have an idea when they might start shipping them? Will they give us a free DVI-ADC adapter until it arrives?

[tunanut]

update: i gave up on pcconn after they changed the ship date on me twice cuz apple is having supply probs. ordered from apple and they say 5-7 days. we'll see. :rolleyes:

[CholEoptera36]

I received my new iSight package last Saturday. It does come with the new magnetic clip and works with any number of magnetic devices. I have mine on a metal bookshelf.

Hey that's a great idea seamuskrat. I'm going to purchase one with my new iMac G5, and have a number of things around that I could clip it to. You just gave me some really kool ideas, thanks ;)

[wdlove]

My 30 inch just got pushed back to 10/25...anyone have an idea when they might start shipping them? Will they give us a free DVI-ADC adapter until it arrives?

Maybe there should be a thread started for those that are waiting for the 30" Cinema Display.

[Bobbie Dooley]

Yo yo yo yo yo -

Let's start with the iMac G5. Very Tasty. They are saying 4 weeks to ship. Factor in some BS and say it ships in 6 weeks (nobody should be surprised if it takes even longer than that). So for those who are comparing this vs. a PC, you need to look out at what you can get in about 2 months for the same money. It's easier to have a competitive advantage for a product you announce now, but deliver in 2 months.

That said, processor performance is beyond the tasks of most users these days anyhow... well with the exception of video. But even for basic photo editing, unless your jacking a 40 meg file, most modern day desktops work fine for most photo editing.

My argument is that processor performance is becoming a less significant factor in evaluating desktop performance. Design, stability, application availability - those are more important considerations when buying a new desktop.

So, I think that product availability, delays in product rollouts or order fulfillment in established products.. well it sucks.. but it's not a barrier to growing sales.

Apple's predictament is that they are at the mercy of their vendors. Apple, by nature of being a design/marketing firm, can only deliver what their vendors can deliver for them.

Peas out, Macintosh Daddy.

[kjgnola]

While it is true that apple can only ship product that they actually receive the parts for, this all comes back to simple supply chain management. Not only am I a new bie here but also to the mac world. (only been away from pc's for aobut 6 months now) What I do know is that it is possible to do things better in regards to shipping. I may not be smart enough to do it, but there are some out there that could. Apple does a lot right, but growing sales through slow delivery is not something I think they would put on a resume.

[aidamahn]

Maybe there should be a thread started for those that are waiting for the 30" Cinema Display.

good idea. maybe a 6800 and 30" wait thread, like the much popular 2.5 ghz powermac shipping thread ;)

[aidamahn]

My mother is going to be ordering a 1.0 ghz 12" ibook, are there any wide spread delays on those? My 2.5 G5's hasn't shipped and it was ordered june 17th which makes me nervous becuase this will be her "switcher mac", i don't want her to get flustered by any big delays. :confused:

[arrowhead]

Exactly. I've been using PC's for 15 years and a couple weeks ago finally decided I'd convert to mac...including buying all new "mac" versions of tons of software. I spent over $5000 buying a new PowerMac G5 and new software and I was told it would take 5-7 business days to build my mac and then ship it. Then the day after it was supposed to ship they e-mail telling me they've pushed back the ship date 2 more weeks. Do I feel confident that I made the decisions to switch to mac? Not at all. I didn't pay $5000 to be sold something they don't even have (the GeForce 6800). If it keeps getting pushed back I won't hesitate to cancel my order.

apple nowadays has started looking more and more like apple of early-to-mid 90's before Jobs returned. they had the products that people wanted but had a lot of problems at the factory shipping them out to the customers. the rest was basically the history as most of you all know what happened. michael dell once said in an interview that pc loses its value by roughly 15 to 20% per week just sitting on the store shelves. i thought that was really true whenever i looked local newspaper ad's (i live in san jose area.) for prices for various pc related components. now that apple gladly takes orders from people but doesn't ship them for 4 to 6 weeks or even longer. that, to me, is completely ridiculous. the delay to launch new imac G5 was and will be a good example, and i expect the first rev release to have some problems as usual. (buying a mac is almost like buying a new car - never buy one just after they did a complete redesign.) it is a shame because i love mac....

[etherest]

I was just looking at http://store.apple.com for an Airport base station. I noticed that they no longer list the powered over ethernet one or the one without the modem. Are they just having problems making them or is the Aiport base station due to be updated?

[zelmo]

update: i gave up on pcconn after they changed the ship date on me twice cuz apple is having supply probs. ordered from apple and they say 5-7 days. we'll see. :rolleyes:

How is your ship date looking? I hope you get your box real soon. Waiting is a pain, especially once you finally make that decision to drop a few thou on a new box. not much worse than having to sit there and second guess your decision while the ship date slips and slips...

[kenaustus]

This has been a year for changing out business computers for me and I have been fairly lucky with Apple so far:

BTO 15" 1.5 PB ordered in mid April and in my hands in less than 10 days for the new model. iPod (for me) shipped in 2 or 3 days after having my name put on it.

23" display for the PB in August, told shipping in 3 - 5 days. Was in a panic for it so I said overnight and it was on the desk the next morning.

BTO iBook ordered Aug 31st, standard shipping, and delivered Tuesday. It was ready for delivery Monday, but that was a holiday. Wife's iPod (with name) arrived a day faster.

BTO iMac ordered 6 AM on day 1 and looks like 9/29 or sooner. This may be delayed, but that's OK as I will be overseas on a business trip at that time and it takes about 2 weeks to catch up after a trip. From what I have read, components are not the problem with the iMac, but "the problem" was not discussed. I would not be surprised if Apple was not ramping up the production quickly, but having their engineers watch over the line as it slowly is ramped to a normal speed. They definitely have the left one on the chopping block with this the G5 iMac and are going to be careful with what is going out the door in the first month.

I can't complain. Both the PB and display were "new" models. BTO iBooks (recommended for the larger HD, BT, WiFi) ship rather fast - especially since back to school has calmed down some.

30" displays are a problem and will continue to be until the GPU is delivered to Apple. Read somewhere that Apple has the displays in a warehouse ready to ship - which must piss Apple off almost as much as IBM has this year.

Overall Apple puts a lot of effort into balancing the need to deliver current products fast with the equally important need to avoid the inventory problems of the past that could have killed the company. New technology with limited production (iPod mini, G5s, 30" GPU) have been the killers in terms of hurting the Mac customers. This problem is a direct responsibility of the component supplier, except for the iPod mini where demand was far beyond the capacity of the HD factory to deliver.

The one area where Apple "can't do it right" is in releasing new products and/or discussing their roadmap. When they don't everyone gets pissed and when they do everyone gets pissed. (At least they Aussies can enjoy it when they get pissed . . .) In the current situation they have released the products and advised potential customers of the ship date based on their best information from component suppliers. I'll live with it if the iMac is delayed a bit - as least i FINALLY know what it looks like!