i7 27" died last night

[usnrrn]

So for three weeks a perfect iMac. Non f the yellowing or flickering at all. Last night was online and half the screen went see through grey and then blank. Tried restarting the computer and nothing. Faint sound of starting up ie drives and thats is. Screen is not coming on at all. Called a Apple care this am and was told to take it to the Genious Bar today. Appt set for 1430. We shall see. I have a feeling that I am up a creek without a paddle. This is my first Mac. Not happy that this has happened!!!

[aprofetto]

Brutal. I wouldn't worry though, it's still under warranty, worse case scenario, they deem it DOA and give you a new one.

[usnrrn]

Took it to the apple store and they said they will have to order in
parts. I am kinda unsure how they know what to order as all they did was plugged it in and saw that it does not work. Think he said that they were going
to order the video card, power cord and motherboard. So I am outta luck. Now livin in Hawaii I know that this is going to take forever!!! Not a good first impression for a Windows user who jumped ship to Mac!

[Zyniker]

Took it to the apple store and they said they will have to order in
parts. I am kinda unsure how they know what to order as all they did was plugged it in and saw that it does not work. Think he said that they were going
to order the video card, power cord and motherboard. So I am outta luck. Now livin in Hawaii I know that this is going to take forever!!! Not a good first impression for a Windows user who jumped ship to Mac!

Any industrial manufacturing process will have a certain percentage of units shipped that wind up being DOA. This is unavoidable, not even Apple is immune. Apple does, however, have a low percentage of DOA units. Keep us posted, though. Usually Apple is pretty good at fixing these things.

[Alvi]

It seems that this iMac series was just too good to be true, take it back to apple!

[J&JPolangin]

It seems that this iMac series was just too good to be true, take it back to apple!

...how, the OP has already had it for 3+ weeks...

[brendu]

These new iMacs seem to have the highest number of defective units of any apple product im aware of... Really unlike apple, and if it is a sign of things to come, quite troublesome...

[iLog.Genius]

These new iMacs seem to have the highest number of defective units of any apple product im aware of... Really unlike apple, and if it is a sign of things to come, quite troublesome...

Apple Rev. A products usually aren't good (I think you could consider this Rev. A no? new monitor, new hardware.) or that's what people are saying. Went through a few late-2008 unibody MacBook Pro's before getting one that was flawless in my eyes.

[The General]

Not a good first impression for a Windows user who jumped ship to Mac!

then switch back to windows

[sparkie1984]

then switch back to windows

thats a bit harsh!
i think hes within his rights to complain if a computer he has dies within 3 weeks!!!

if youd stuck with something, then changed it and had trouble with it you'd feel the same! especially as it seems apple are having a few teething troubles with this particular product.

to the op: it sucks mate but just bear with them and it'll be worth it once its all done and working again! get them to do the screen and cable too or youll be taking it back in another month once it starts flickering

[MrSEC]

then switch back to windows

Very helpful post. I can't say I blame him for being upset.I know it can happen with any product,but I can understand why he's not happy about this.

[stridemat]

I can imagine how disappointing it it, but OP for those 3 weeks did you not enjoy the mac experience? This is just a temporary glitch, Apple are one of the best companies when it comes to upholding warranties.

[MH01]

Any industrial manufacturing process will have a certain percentage of units shipped that wind up being DOA. This is unavoidable, not even Apple is immune. Apple does, however, have a low percentage of DOA units. Keep us posted, though. Usually Apple is pretty good at fixing these things.

Totally agree with in regards all companies suffering form DOA units, though your claims about Apple having a low percentage.... well they are just made up. And implying "not even apple is immune" , in an understatement, given Apples history with Rev A products. Apple is notorious with Rev A products that are plagued with problems.

The reason that they knew what to order straight away is cause the imac is like a huge laptop inside, if it goes DOA, its nearly always the logicboard that gets replaced. So do not be concerned that they did not investigate further, the fact is the so called "genius" staff, are anything but, they basically just follow written down instructions based on the symptoms and order all the parts that they may need. When i took in my 24 LCD they ordered everypart that "might" have led to the problem.

[elpmas]

3 weeks....damn...hopefully your machine doesnt work on the new parts, so they can just complete replace the device! tell us how this works out, gl!

[Kebabselector]

After only 3 weeks I'd be demanding a new one, that said if you're happy with it you might want to keep it.

[scroto]

these new imac's are the biggest pos I've ever seen and the root of all evil is that "amazing" monitor with it's "awsome resolution". Seriously they're all going to give up the ghost because they're defective but Apple will never admit it. Their ego is just too big.

[craig1410]

these new imac's are the biggest pos I've ever seen and the root of all evil is that "amazing" monitor with it's "awsome resolution". Seriously they're all going to give up the ghost because they're defective but Apple will never admit it. Their ego is just too big.

And the award for the most melodramatic and least useful post goes to...scroto! Congratulations!

Personally if the LCD was good I would rather have the machine repaired with new logic board and graphics card which I'm sure will already benefit from a few engineering changes. Quite often the quality standards employed during a repair are higher than those employed during manufacture.

In my experience Apple are second to none when it comes to sorting out issues with hardware and achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. Give them a chance to sort it out and in the meantime try to ignore the nay-sayers.

For the record, I have a Rev A 24" aluminium iMac and it is still running great after over 2 years.

Hope you get it sorted soon.
Craig.

[monokakata]

You're in Honolulu? Really, Apple (like everybody who's shipping smallish items) is going to use an air service. If they're quoting you that long a wait, I'm sure it's because of some parts backup problem somewhere.

I'm in Hilo. My 27" I7 was bad, and I'm waiting for #2. If that one's bad, that's it for a long time. I'll get a refund and wait.

I don't understand some of these fanbois giving you crap for complaining. I've been in the computer world (including in a computer-dependent business) for nearly 30 years. I suppose that I've ordered and had delivered at least 20 or 30 PCs (and Macs), motherboards, etc.

The iMac was the first one that ever arrived defective. Somewhere I have a spreadsheet laying out my Mac experience, and it's not pretty. The iMac was my only defective-on-delivery problem, but only my Mac Pro 1,1 and my 17" MBP (early 08) have been trouble-free. The others (dual G5, titanium PB, G4 mini, Intel mini, 3 x 15" MBPs, early Intel MB, Airport Extremes (yes, plural), 24" iMac . . . all have had problems, some of them crippling, all of them annoying.

I'm sticking with Apple, but reluctantly. Their quality control is as unimpressive as their designs are impressive.

[usnrrn]

Thanks for the support guys (except for that one dude The General). The 2 weeks that I used the iMac were amazing. It works and looks great. I will hang in there. Always a little worried that they have to open the compter and repair whatever. Hopefully that does not open a whole new can of worms. I will keep you all posted with what happens.

Johnathon

[MovieCutter]

These new iMacs seem to have the highest number of defective units of any apple product im aware of... Really unlike apple, and if it is a sign of things to come, quite troublesome...

Apple Rev. A products usually aren't good (I think you could consider this Rev. A no? new monitor, new hardware.) or that's what people are saying. Went through a few late-2008 unibody MacBook Pro's before getting one that was flawless in my eyes.

It seems that this iMac series was just too good to be true, take it back to apple!

Got anything to back that up besides half-assed anecdotal evidence based on a Mac-enthusiast site???

[Btom]

Got anything to back that up besides half-assed anecdotal evidence based on a Mac-enthusiast site???

Like what for example would satisfy your fully sophisticated taste, I wonder?

[WilliamG]

Got anything to back that up besides half-assed anecdotal evidence based on a Mac-enthusiast site???

Damn right. I've owned everything Rev. A from Apple. The original iPhone, unibody MacBook Pros, MacBook Air, iMacs, Time Capsules etc, and they've all functioned fine. The only catastrophic failure I've had was when my iPhone original screen stopped responding in a horizontal line across the screen (dead spot), but that was quickly replaced under warranty.

No, Apple isn't perfect, but nowhere near as bad as the level some people make them out to be. Remember, you're much more likely to go on the message boards to complain than you are to praise.

[Shivetya]

then switch back to windows

2K hardware that fails so soon doesn't deserve loyalty.

OS X is rarely the problem, its the damn hardware that is. This new generation does seem to be generating a lot more complaints (though knock on wood my i5 has been fine)

[Xtremehkr]

These new iMacs seem to have the highest number of defective units of any apple product im aware of... Really unlike apple, and if it is a sign of things to come, quite troublesome...

Everytime a new product comes out that looks like it is going to be a huge success MacRumors gets flooded with new people having problems.

Almost all of the established posters seem to buy new products and install update software without any of the problems that these other posters do.

I think MacRumors has been inundated with trolls from other companies who have nothing better to do than attack their competitors using nefarious means.

I would like to see some hard numbers released from Apple about how many problems they are finding, and how many machines are being returned.

My i7 has been flawless from day and there are no good reasons as to why this iMac would be so much harder to put together than any other version of the iMac. The last 2 or 3 generations have basically been the same design. It's not like they're building space shuttles here.

[HyperX13]

Everytime a new product comes out that looks like it is going to be a huge success MacRumors gets flooded with new people having problems.

Almost all of the established posters seem to buy new products and install update software without any of the problems that these other posters do.

I think MacRumors has been inundated with trolls from other companies who have nothing better to do than attack their competitors using nefarious means.

I would like to see some hard numbers released from Apple about how many problems they are finding, and how many machines are being returned.

My i7 has been flawless from day and there are no good reasons as to why this iMac would be so much harder to put together than any other version of the iMac. The last 2 or 3 generations have basically been the same design. It's not like they're building space shuttles here.


Yeah maybe we should start a thread with who has luck with their i7s? One thing holding me off from buying a new 27 inch iMac are these posts here.

[Xtremehkr]

Yeah maybe we should start a thread with who has luck with their i7s? One thing holding me off from buying a new 27 inch iMac are these posts here.

There are several already, but there is no organized effort to keep people seeing those. I received my i7 on December 1st and have not had a single problem.

It would be a real shame is anyone passed on an iMac because they read blatantly false information from a competitor who couldn't compete on the merits of the product, and instead resorted to creating issues out of nothing.

[HyperX13]

There are several already, but there is no organized effort to keep people seeing those. I received my i7 on December 1st and have not had a single problem.

It would be a real shame is anyone passed on an iMac because they read blatantly false information from a competitor who couldn't compete on the merits of the product, and instead resorted to creating issues out of nothing.

I just talked to my pcconnection rep (aka mac connection). They only had 4 come back since they started carrying the i7s about 1 month ago. They sold hundreds. I will probably buy one soon.

[MovieCutter]

Like what for example would satisfy your fully sophisticated taste, I wonder?

Evidence of sales to return/repair ratios from retail stores and the supply chain of Rev A products versus Rev B or C products for a start. Having worked in Apple Retail for 3 years, I saw no difference in the rate of returns or repairs for Rev A products over any other revision...so yeah, that'd be a start...:rolleyes:

[09iMac=Fail]

Having worked in Apple Retail for 3 years, I saw no difference in the rate of returns or repairs for Rev A products over any other revision...

I hope that is not the reality. I'm waiting and hoping that Rev B iMacs are far more reliable and more trouble free than they have been for the first 3 months. Otherwise, it will be a mini for me.

[MovieCutter]

I hope that is not the reality. I'm waiting and hoping that Rev B iMacs are far more reliable and more trouble free than they have been for the first 3 months. Otherwise, it will be a mini for me.

Why would you hope that's not the reality. It IS very likely the reality. It's just the influx of new buyers signing up on Apple's forums MR to complain about issues that is giving the perception there is some system wide defect in iMacs when very likely not the case. Until you know the number of systems sold then compare that to the number of returns/repairs, you have no reason to think the current Rev A iMac is inherently problematic. Have fun with your mini though. My 27" iMac is perfect.

[HLdan]

Why would you hope that's not the reality. It IS very likely the reality. It's just the influx of new buyers signing up on Apple's forums MR to complain about issues that is giving the perception there is some system wide defect in iMacs when very likely not the case. Until you know the number of systems sold then compare that to the number of returns/repairs, you have no reason to think the current Rev A iMac is inherently problematic. Have fun with your mini though. My 27" iMac is perfect.

Excellent post!! :) I wish more people on this forum would step into reality and stop taking these negative posts about the iMac and making them law. I find it interesting that a few forum posts against hundreds of thousands of sales a product can literally trash a product as if the problems were widespread because under most cases it's not.

[09iMac=Fail]

.... you have no reason to think the current Rev A iMac is inherently problematic. Have fun with your mini though. My 27" iMac is perfect.

WRONG. Of all the 27" screens I have seen in person with my own 2 eyes, the majority of them had poor displays that couldn't evenly show a solid color. For me, that is an issue. I'm cautiously waiting since I would prefer to go the iMac route over the mini. I do a lot more research than simply coming here. I'm glad you got a perfect iMac!

Excellent post!! :) I wish more people on this forum would step into reality....

I've stepped into reality, and that reality has shown me that it's still a gamble on whether or not I'll get a good screen. Not based on this site, but the iMacs I have seen in person. I don't want to deal with returns right now so I am waiting. I wish I could tell myself that I have seen more beautiful iMac screens than bad ones, but I'd be lying. Sorry if it bothers you. :rolleyes:

[Btom]

Evidence of sales to return/repair ratios from retail stores and the supply chain of Rev A products versus Rev B or C products for a start. Having worked in Apple Retail for 3 years, I saw no difference in the rate of returns or repairs for Rev A products over any other revision...so yeah, that'd be a start...:rolleyes:

We are on the same page on the return evidence. A clear statement from Apple would make me go and buy i5 in an instant. But Apple ain't talking...

On the other hand people sending units back three, or four times are definitely scarring me. I don't have time for that.

Unless they are really trolls, sent by the competition that is (and who that would be??...). But then you, with your perfect iMac could also be a troll, sent by Apple. Can you prove, that your unit is really flawless? Do you even have one?
So as you can see blaming trolls is a double edge sword...

Tom B.

[InfoSecmgr]

Got anything to back that up besides half-assed anecdotal evidence based on a Mac-enthusiast site???

Very true. The people who post here are the complainers for the most part. We will never really know the true failure rates, but honestly, I have only seen maybe 20 people complaining on this site of defective iMacs. How many have they produced? It can't be THAT bad of a failure rate.

I'm not saying I wouldn't be upset if my iMac died, though. I have been more than happy with my current iMac (2007), and since reading the reports would I hesitate buying a new one? Sure, but not for long.

[MovieCutter]

WRONG.

Yeah, not so much.

[HLdan]

We are on the same page on the return evidence. A clear statement from Apple would make me go and buy i5 in an instant. But Apple ain't talking...

On the other hand people sending units back three, or four times are definitely scarring me. I don't have time for that.

Unless they are really trolls, sent by the competition that is (and who that would be??...). But then you, with your perfect iMac could also be a troll, sent by Apple. Can you prove, that your unit is really flawless? Do you even have one?
So as you can see blaming trolls is a double edge sword...

Tom B.

You are perfectly welcome to take this anyway you want but your type of post defending the concept of the competition not trying to sabotage Apple's newly released products , coupled with your recent registration on MR will put a lot of people off and they will point fingers right at you for being the very one that they are accusing of this conspiracy.

Are you serious? People with good iMacs are considered trolls or employees of Apple for saying their machine is problem free? Apple makes way too much money to put into advertising and they are way too successful to stoop so low as to hire employees to write good things about their products on MR.:rolleyes:

[archipellago]

You are perfectly welcome to take this anyway you want but your type of post defending the concept of the competition not trying to sabotage Apple's newly released products , coupled with your recent registration on MR will put a lot of people off and they will point fingers right at you for being the very one that they are accusing of this conspiracy.

Are you serious? People with good iMacs are considered trolls or employees of Apple for saying their machine is problem free? Apple makes way too much money to put into advertising and they are way too successful to stoop so low as to hire employees to write good things about their products on MR.:rolleyes:


lol... wow!!

Very true. The people who post here are the complainers for the most part. We will never really know the true failure rates, but honestly, I have only seen maybe 20 people complaining on this site of defective iMacs. How many have they produced? It can't be THAT bad of a failure rate.

I'm not saying I wouldn't be upset if my iMac died, though. I have been more than happy with my current iMac (2007), and since reading the reports would I hesitate buying a new one? Sure, but not for long.

my local reseller doesn't have a 27" iMac on display.

They haven't had one without some kind of issue, yellow mainly.

[MovieCutter]

We are on the same page on the return evidence. A clear statement from Apple would make me go and buy i5 in an instant. But Apple ain't talking...

On the other hand people sending units back three, or four times are definitely scarring me. I don't have time for that.

Unless they are really trolls, sent by the competition that is (and who that would be??...). But then you, with your perfect iMac could also be a troll, sent by Apple. Can you prove, that your unit is really flawless? Do you even have one?
So as you can see blaming trolls is a double edge sword...

Tom B.

I'd take a picture for you, but that'd be a waste of time trying to appease someone who can't be appeased....thanks for your constructive and intuitive post...:rolleyes:

[Xtremehkr]

09iMac=Fail with a name like that I find it extremely difficult to take you seriously. Reading random untrue accusations about 'all iMacs' makes it clear why you're here.

[Sir Cecil]

Ask any of the zealots to provide evidence that even 1% of iMacs are faulty.
They cannot.
I ask them now – show evidence that even a mere 1% of the new model iMacs are faulty.
Silence. Apart from the sound of them thinking "Duh, how can I possibly defend my non-stop assertions that ALL iMacs are faulty if I can't even show that 1% are no good? Woe is me!"

my local reseller doesn't have a 27" iMac on display.

They haven't had one without some kind of issue, yellow mainly.


Please provide the name and location of the reseller, if you would be so kind. I wish to speak to the manager and see what he has to say.

[archipellago]

Please provide the name and location of the reseller, if you would be so kind. I wish to speak to the manager and see what he has to say.



not a chance he has an aversion to people like you...

[WeegieMac]

Even for a Rev A product, the failure rate on these 27" iMacs is horrendous.

I know there's plenty of people with perfect machines, but there seems to be a larger than average amount of people across the web complaining of machines with faults ranging from screen tint and cracked screens to being DOA.

It does't give the greatest impression to a switcher when some Mac users dish out the Holier Than Thou attitude to Windows users, prompting some to switch.

[Sir Cecil]

not a chance he has an aversion to people like you...


Well, there goes his last grain of credibility down the drain.
Next?
Any other zealots want to make false claims and not back them up?

[archipellago]

Ask any of the zealots to provide evidence that even 1% of iMacs are faulty.
They cannot.
I ask them now – show evidence that even a mere 1% of the new model iMacs are faulty.
Silence. Apart from the sound of them thinking "Duh, how can I possibly defend my non-stop assertions that ALL iMacs are faulty if I can't even show that 1% are no good? Woe is me!"

It is fatuous to post nonsense like this.

The only people who can say with any certainty the actual return rate is Apple and clearly..

"they couldn't lie straight in bed"

people trust their own eyes and instincts, not random Apple apologists like you.

Well, there goes his last grain of credibility down the drain.
Next?
Any other zealots want to make false claims and not back them up?

why..?

because I don't want to expose him to you?

he deals with enough problems with repairs each day. Speaking to you can only make anybodies day who suffers it..worse.

[spcdust]

not a chance he has an aversion to people like you...

Ahhhh, knew this thread woukd attract you archipellago, as sure as a fly is attracted to *****.

Guys, to give you some context archipellago, by his own admission, doesn't even own any Apple products. He makes some spurious claims that he did 3-4 months ago but sold them all as he hates Apple so much (even this information is open to debate as his posts are very contradictory).

Now, ask yourselves, why is someone who hasn't had any Apple products for so long such a prolific poster on an Apple forum - daily negative posts is is trade.

[Choctaw]

Apple is notorious with Rev A products that are plagued with problems.

I don't know what Rev A products means. Please tell me.
Thanks Choctaw

[archipellago]

Ahhhh, knew this thread woukd attract you archipellago, as sure as a fly is attracted to *****.

Guys, to give you some context archipellago, by his own admission, doesn't even own any Apple products. He makes some spurious claims that he did 3-4 months ago but sold them all as he hates Apple so much (even this information is open to debate as his posts are very contradictory).

Now, ask yourselves, why is someone who hasn't had any Apple products for so long such a prolific poster on an Apple forum - daily negative posts is is trade.

care to elaborate..?

[WeegieMac]

This site is like dogsh*t to a fly when it comes to Apple haters.

The thing that I find hilarious is that they spend their days/evenings on here, berating products they claim to have "previously owned" or "owned, hated, and sold" (truth = would like but likely cannot afford), instead of venturing out into the big wide world.

The majority of people on here like Apple products, some of us are extremely passionate (you would use the term "Fanboy"), while some of us are more objective. I've been using the Macintosh since 2004 and will not go back to using Windows because I don't like Windows compared to OS X and have as many Mac/OS X crashes as I can count on ten fingers. Not bad for almost 6 years of using the format. Unfortunately I still need to use Windows between the hours of 9-5 from Monday to Friday.

However, you won't see me trolling Windows forums, spouting rubbish and voting "negative" on every news story simply because I can and without actually reading the damn article posted.

Some of these "haters" need to actually get a hint of a life ...

I don't know what Rev A products means. Please tell me.
Thanks Choctaw

Revision A, the first version of a certain product line, ie: the i7 iMac ;)

[BubaDragon]

So for three weeks a perfect iMac. Non f the yellowing or flickering at all. Last night was online and half the screen went see through grey and then blank. Tried restarting the computer and nothing. Faint sound of starting up ie drives and thats is. Screen is not coming on at all. Called a Apple care this am and was told to take it to the Genious Bar today. Appt set for 1430. We shall see. I have a feeling that I am up a creek without a paddle. This is my first Mac. Not happy that this has happened!!!

You might want to remind the guys at the Apple Store that if a unit dies in the first thirty days you are eligible for a new machine, not a refurb, or a repair.
While you may have to call Apple Care to take advantage of this. Just FYI...

[DarwinOSX]

Apple Rev. A products usually aren't good (I think you could consider this Rev. A no? new monitor, new hardware.) or that's what people are saying. Went through a few late-2008 unibody MacBook Pro's before getting one that was flawless in my eyes.

People say that as conventional wisdom and they are wrong. I've been buying Macs since 1984, always the latest model, and I can only think of 2 in all that time with issues. Both were replaced by Apple overnight. I have also worked at companies and universities that had thousands of Macs quite often Rev A's of whatever model with no issues. Just in the last few years I have consulted at Motorola, Oracle, and Cisco all of which use thousands of Macs and they have not sen Rev A issues of anything. Yes the 27" iMacs should not be having this problem but lets not go overboard with silly generalizations.

I just talked to my pcconnection rep (aka mac connection). They only had 4 come back since they started carrying the i7s about 1 month ago. They sold hundreds. I will probably buy one soon.

I would not believe that. Even if it were true that doesn't mean only 4 people had issues since many had Apple deal with their issue instead of returning them to Mac Connection.

I had an i7 from Mac mall that I returned because of screen flicker after 3 days of no issues. I'm deciding if I will bet another i7, an i5 that I have more chance of exchanging at an Apple store if I have issues, or see what the new laptops are like.

[09iMac=Fail]

Ask any of the zealots to provide evidence that even 1% of iMacs are faulty.
They cannot.
I ask them now – show evidence that even a mere 1% of the new model iMacs are faulty.
Silence. Apart from the sound of them thinking "Duh, how can I possibly defend my non-stop assertions that ALL iMacs are faulty if I can't even show that 1% are no good? Woe is me!"

That's a bit of a funny proposition coming from a guy who returned his iMac twice due to defects. :D You're now on your 3rd iMac, right?

On the flip side of that argument is where someone asks the other zealots to provide evidence that 99% of the new iMacs are not faulty. See what I'm getting at? Your argument is a bit of a stalemate. We'll just have to respectfully agree to disagree. :)

[urfish]

Perhaps another viewpoint will help folks considering buying one of these beautiful machines.

I started using macs in '92 for desktop publishing as it was starting to supplant our traditional methods of paste-up in a pretty meaningful way. I was a build it your self pc dude at the time tasked with keeping a room full of quadras, fxs, and classics running alongside the typical DOS AT boxes. Even back then the macs required significantly less effort to keep running and "just worked."

I quickly switched to a mac when I could afford my own. Unfortunately for me, my first mac was a clone (power computing 100 in '95), so I didn't get the real apple experience at home. But the machine was solid and lasted many years. After that I bought a G4 "yikes" which I only retired after a processor daughterboard upgrade about 3 years ago.

My current setup sees me with multiple ipods, an iphone, a powermac g5 dual 2.0 (Pci-X), 2x mac minis (one for entertainment center, one for my wife's primary computer) a macbook, an apple TV, and the responsiblity of specifying and purchasing any apples for my design company.

I also have 4 family members running macs that I'm responsible for remotely maintaining and recommending.

Across all these platforms, apple has proven time and time again to me that it not only produces excellent hardware solutions, but that these solutions are usually engineered to last longer than their PC counterparts.

That being said, all my experiences haven't been perfect. Out of the 3 powerMac towers I've purchased in the current aluminum enclosure, I've only had one that wasn't DOA. Apple took care of the other two, both of which had power supply issues (one dead, the other dying), very quickly and with exchanges. I had one (of 3) minis arrive DOA. Not sure what the issue was, it kept reading an overheat and shutting down. Same with my first ipod Touch. Too many dead pixels in my first one. Quick easy exchange.

Personally, I get the impression (yes, impression—I could be wrong) that most manufacturers these days use the end consumer as quality assurance. There's an acceptable number of failures and products don't get tested before they're shipped. Apple included.

This is why I've started buying apple refurbs. I've never had a DOA refurb, and I believe they carry the same warranty.

I very dearly wish to replace my aged dual 2.0 G5 with a new imac, but I too am given pause by the unusually loud, specific, and consistent complaints coming from end users.

Anyway, thought my experiences might help someone making their decision. Something like this (for me) shouldn't be a hurried purchase. Apple might remedy some of these issues in a Rev-B or a new firmware patch. Who knows. I know this is something I expect will last another 5 years. Waiting 6 months for a clearer picture doesn't bother me.

Best of luck with your decision, and let's hope that we're all wrong and that this isn't a downward trend apple's facing as they try to scale operations up to manage the increased demand for their products.

[spcdust]

care to elaborate..?

I'm just calling you out.

This forum is to help users yet you offer no help what so ever, the only post you write is how rubbish Apple is - end of. Your contribution to this forum is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and it's an indictment of your personality that you feel the need to frequent this forum. My excuse for being here is I own an iMac, I want to hear what other users have to say and offer assistance where I can - I really cannot see what your motivation is?

[Btom]

.....
Are you serious? People with good iMacs are considered trolls or employees of Apple for saying their machine is problem free?
......

HLdan,

Exactly the same situation as with people discussing problems, who are being accused of being trolls send by competition, whiners, and in general party poopers.

Tom B.

I'd take a picture for you, but that'd be a waste of time trying to appease someone who can't be appeased....thanks for your constructive and intuitive post...:rolleyes:

I was trying to be humorous, don't know if it worked. In any case picture is not necessary (and since it can be faked, too).
What I am trying to say is, that from about twelve 27" iMacs I have seen on display in various stores around where I live, more than half had VISIBLE yellow tinge (~~ 5% - 10% blue missing) at the bottom of the screen. Also, the screen flickering thread on the Apple own support site is already 3000 post long and counting (my comfort threshold would be ~1000 posts). Apple firmware update didn't seem to slow the threat down, that's why I am not having this warm and fuzzy feeling yet...

Tom B.

Perhaps another viewpoint will help folks considering buying one of these beautiful machines.
....

urfish,

Thanks for this very informative post!

Tom B.

[HLdan]

why..?

because I don't want to expose him to you?

he deals with enough problems with repairs each day. Speaking to you can only make anybodies day who suffers it..worse.

You're protecting a reseller from a customer? OK!!!:rolleyes: What for? Cecil is just like any other customer. Makes no sense for you to be protecting a reseller unless the reseller doesn't exist along with the rest of your stories.

[archipellago]

You're protecting a reseller from a customer? OK!!!:rolleyes: What for? Cecil is just like any other customer. Makes no sense for you to be protecting a reseller unless the reseller doesn't exist along with the rest of your stories.


believe what you like, you will anyway.

I was told in confidence, so whilst I can mention the story, Anonymity keeps that confidence.

no reason to lie, I only asked in store as I haven't seen a yellow iMac in the flesh... ironic no.?

[HLdan]

I was trying to be humorous, don't know if it worked. In any case picture is not necessary (and since it can be faked, too).
What I am trying to say is, that from about twelve 27" iMacs I have seen on display in various stores around where I live, more than half had VISIBLE yellow tinge (~~ 5% - 10% blue missing) at the bottom of the screen. Also, the screen flickering thread on the Apple own support site is already 3000 post long and counting (my comfort threshold would be ~1000 posts). Apple firmware update didn't seem to slow the threat down, that's why I am not having this warm and fuzzy feeling yet...

Tom B.

Well Tom, I live the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm within 30 minutes of 5 Apple stores. I've been in 3 of them, along with Best Buy and Fry's Electronics. Out of the 3 stores I've seen 8 of the 27" iMacs, I've checked them out using the plain grey background. I don't need a stupid test page. If I did then that proves my eyes don't see any issues on their own and I have a very good pair of reading glasses. None of them had a yellow tinge. I did notice only 1 machine had a flicker issue and Apple has addressed that. Since then I've seen nothing.

Also, I think you might want to check into reality in terms of those 3000 posts you see Apple's discussion page. You do realize that the same people post more than once, more than twice, more than 10 times a day? It would only take 30 people with 100 posts each (and that's nothing to a very vocal complainer) to create 3000 posts.

I understand your point that people with problems deserve to be heard as much as people with no problems but your defending the wrong set of people here and that worries me. You're quick to jump to the defense when someone accuses new registrants of MR to be an employee of a competitor that is doing their daily due diligence by posting FUD about Apple's new products. Doesn't make sense that you'd do that. What for? You shouldn't feel threatened about it unless you were one of them. After all, you are a new registrant and you certainly are defending it. You're not looking too good here. ;)

[Sir Cecil]

I haven't seen a yellow iMac in the flesh.

So endeth the lesson. Clearly there is no point for anyone to heed a single word this fellow has ever uttered on the subject.

[archipellago]

I'm just calling you out.

This forum is to help users yet you offer no help what so ever, the only post you write is how rubbish Apple is - end of. Your contribution to this forum is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and it's an indictment of your personality that you feel the need to frequent this forum. My excuse for being here is I own an iMac, I want to hear what other users have to say and offer assistance where I can - I really cannot see what your motivation is?

I've helped loads, mainly by PM and mainly away from Apple. That is 'assistance', you may not like it.

I've even helped other UK'ers with small claims procedure on faulty Macs, that failed 14 mths into existence after Apple UK effectively gave them the finger.

saving them time and considerable sums of money.

I have no truck with anyone who wants to use Apple products or OS X.

I don't like companies NOT standing behind their products and/or deceitful and downright misleading advertising.

I could go all day on that one...

So endeth the lesson. Clearly there is no point for anyone to heed a single word this fellow has ever uttered on the subject.

"Do you need to fall off a cliff to know that it hurts..?"

Tony Hancock 1959

[spcdust]

I've helped loads, mainly by PM and mainly away from Apple. That is 'assistance', you may not like it.

I've even helped other UK'ers with small claims procedure on faulty Macs, that failed 14 mths into existence after Apple UK effectively gave them the finger.

saving them time and considerable sums of money.

I have no truck with anyone who wants to use Apple products or OS X.

I don't like companies NOT standing behind their products and/or deceitful and downright misleading advertising.

I could go all day on that one...


Actually you do have a use, it's all the hot air you generate. Your credibility is non existent and to be quite frank I do not actually believe a word you say. You go on about how bad Apple is, how their customer service is useless and how you've taken them to the small claims court on several occasions. Heaven only knows what you're doing wrong as despite any issues I've may have had with any Apple product I've owned the one constant is the good quality of their after sales customer service. Perhaps it's your attitude that needs changing in your dealings with these companies as getting to a state when multiple small claims proceedings are necessary suggest something is amiss.

Not only do you not own any Apple products yet post on a daily basis on an Apple forum it now seems you also make enquiries, during the day, at Apple resellers regarding Apple goods which you have vowed never to own? I mean come on, you are just farcical.

Bottom line archipellga, your advice is a worthless as the British Pound and posters should ignore your pointless and misleading posts.

One final thing, is it the once or twice you've been banned from these forums?

[Sir Cecil]

On the flip side of that argument is where someone asks the other zealots to provide evidence that 99% of the new iMacs are not faulty. See what I'm getting at? Your argument is a bit of a stalemate. We'll just have to respectfully agree to disagree. :)

Preposterous. Like if a mugger is being asked in court for his alibi and then turns to the judge saying "Well, where were YOU that night judge".

Sad.

[09iMac=Fail]

Preposterous. Like if a mugger is being asked in court for his alibi and then turns to the judge saying "Well, where were YOU that night judge".

Sad.

Actually, it is nothing like that, and I'm not surprised one bit that you can't comprehend the argument. Sad.

There is no way possible anybody (outside of Apple) can say with factual data that 1% of new iMacs are faulty. There is also no way a person can say with factual data that 99% of new iMacs are free of any defects. Seems like a simple concept to me. Any speculation about numbers is just that, speculation, and on this board it has ranged from .08% to 100% from various posters.

No one here will ever know the numbers. If I ask you to prove with evidence that 51% of the new iMacs are defect free, you can't! What exactly does that mean? NOTHING!

Asking somebody to provide evidence that a certain % of new iMacs are either faulty or perfect is a waste of time, and an argument that leads to nowhere.

[canes960]

Well now you have lost all your data. But at least you get another brand new iMac.

[Btom]

Well Tom, I live the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm within 30 minutes of 5 Apple stores. I've been in 3 of them, along with Best Buy and Fry's Electronics. Out of the 3 stores I've seen 8 of the 27" iMacs, I've checked them out using the plain grey background. I don't need a stupid test page. If I did then that proves my eyes don't see any issues on their own and I have a very good pair of reading glasses. None of them had a yellow tinge. I did notice only 1 machine had a flicker issue and Apple has addressed that. Since then I've seen nothing.

Also, I think you might want to check into reality in terms of those 3000 posts you see Apple's discussion page. You do realize that the same people post more than once, more than twice, more than 10 times a day? It would only take 30 people with 100 posts each (and that's nothing to a very vocal complainer) to create 3000 posts.

I understand your point that people with problems deserve to be heard as much as people with no problems but your defending the wrong set of people here and that worries me. You're quick to jump to the defense when someone accuses new registrants of MR to be an employee of a competitor that is doing their daily due diligence by posting FUD about Apple's new products. Doesn't make sense that you'd do that. What for? You shouldn't feel threatened about it unless you were one of them. After all, you are a new registrant and you certainly are defending it. You're not looking too good here. ;)

For some reason I feel each time anybody is pointing at any issue with iMac, it strikes some collective nerve. I understand brand loyalty and all, but don't be ridiculous accusing people having real problems of being some kind of James Bonds. I don't wish anybody to have to write a post "My iMac died last night", or to have to send third unit back for replacement.

Tom B.

[MovieCutter]

Preposterous. <snip>

Actually, it is nothing like that <snip>

I think you two ought to just shoot each other in a duel to the death instead of cluttering up the forum with the same BS arguments....especially iMac09-fail-lameass-username, or whatever you were going for.

[HLdan]

For some reason I feel each time anybody is pointing at any issue with iMac, it strikes some collective nerve. I understand brand loyalty and all, but don't be ridiculous accusing people having real problems of being some kind of James Bonds. I don't wish anybody to have to write a post "My iMac died last night", or to have to send third unit back for replacement.

Tom B.

What you replied to me has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. I KNOW there are people on here with real problems, that's not what my post was about. I'm talking about new registrants on MR that come here to sabotage Apple's products each time a new model comes out and you have no issue with defending against that logic which holds you quite suspect. Based on many of your posts, you fit the bill pretty well, IMO.

The issue here is not people complaining about a specific issue, it's about CERTAIN forum members, especially newbies post FUD saying things like, "This is the worse product Apple has ever put out", OR, "Apple is screwing their customers because they refuse to acknowledge that they screwed up".
I've even seen posts like, "I feel so sorry for you that you got burned by Apple and that they won't make good on such a crappy product" .
Oh, and my favorite one, "The poor LCD manufacturer is not at fault here, Apple is sending out defective products and it's their fault, they refuse to admit that they screwed up and this is ridiculous for a $2000 computer"

My examples are not from people that truly have issues and are coming here for help, those examples are what you'd see from a FUD spreader. There's no need for such melodramatic posts other than to fulfill an agenda. :p

[Btom]

What you replied to me has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. I KNOW there are people on here with real problems, that's not what my post was about. I'm talking about new registrants on MR that come here to sabotage Apple's products each time a new model comes out and you have no issue with defending against that logic which holds you quite suspect. Based on many of your posts, you fit the bill pretty well, IMO.

The issue here is not people complaining about a specific issue, it's about CERTAIN forum members, especially newbies post FUD saying things like, "This is the worse product Apple has ever put out", OR, "Apple is screwing their customers because they refuse to acknowledge that they screwed up".
I've even seen posts like, "I feel so sorry for you that you got burned by Apple and that they won't make good on such a crappy product" .
Oh, and my favorite one, "The poor LCD manufacturer is not at fault here, Apple is sending out defective products and it's their fault, they refuse to admit that they screwed up and this is ridiculous for a $2000 computer"

My examples are not from people that truly have issues and are coming here for help, those examples are what you'd see from a FUD spreader. There's no need for such melodramatic posts other than to fulfill an agenda. :p

None of the above quotes are mine, but I guess I am guilty by association for "...fitting bill pretty well...", since I am a "...new registrants on MR..." (but really for asking some "inconvenient" questions)?

Tom B

[Choctaw]

Revision A, the first version of a certain product line, ie: the i7 iMac ;)

Thanks for the info..........not like some who post here I don't know everything, but ask for help.

[usnrrn]

So I was called at about 2100 last night to be notified that my i7 was repaired and ready for pick up. I went to the Apple store this evening after work to get my computer. I stood around for a while what I felt was being ignored (I had not made an appointment at the Genius bar) and eventually caught the eye of someone who asked if I needed help. I said I was here to pick up my computer. She asked who called me and I did not know the answer to this. I handed her my ID and she went out back and after 5 minutes returned with the computer. She handed me a paper to sign said there you go and dismissed me. I asked her to hang on a moment to find out what was wrong with my iMac. She looked at the paper and read they replaced the Video card, logic board and power supply and then said ok! As she prepared to walk off I asked if I could plug in the iMac to make sure it worked. She grabbed a cable, key board and mouse and did this. I made sure that my data was intact and it was. She shut the computer down and as she turned it around I noticed that there were come scratches on the corner of the Mac as well as some other scuffs. She said it was not scratched and tried to buff them out. Some of them mostly came out but one larger one on the corner did not. She pointed this out to another person and they said they would keep the computer and have the back aluminium case replaced. I said that I would hold off and she said they would make a note in my file about this.

So I know you are bored about reading this. I think my computer looks good screen wise right now. I do not think there is any yellowing of flickering at this time. We shall see how it goes over the next few days/weeks et cetera. I am kind of blown away at the dimissiveness shown at the store. I explained that I am new to Apple and so far my iPhone had to be replaced due to some fault, then the iPhone power cord and then the iMac. Not a good track record over the last three months at all. Lets hope it was just bad luck and I can truly enjoy my computer from here on.

[Choctaw]

not a chance he has an aversion to people like you...

During my long life span of 68 years I have met may situations where someone would tell me they knew such and such as an absolute fact. However when pressed to come up with the proof……….they waffled. I frankly see nothing wrong with telling us the store name and letting an inquiry be made as to their positive and negative experience with iMacs ………prospective buyer always question reliability of new products. Just my opinion.

[miniConvert]

I am kind of blown away at the dimissiveness shown at the store.
Unfortunately not every employee is going to be a customer service tzar, and even when they are they could be tired/busy. You were persistent and got a positive outcome, so I'd say that's all par for the course.

Sucks about the scratch. My local authorised service centre made a bit of a hash of one of our white iMacs, it's really irritating when things like that happen - especially for those of us that take such good care of their belongings. I'm glad they've offered to replace the casing for you; quite right, too.

[talmy]

An argument against high failure rates is that it kills company profits. Replacing those parts for the OP's system would wipe out most if not all the profit Apple made on his machine. Indeed, if the (maybe) million iMacs sold the past quarter were all defective we wouldn't have seen Apple posting record profits.

I've got a "perfect" 27" i7, at least as perfect as I can tell, that I've had for over two months now. We also have a "Rev A" 17" G5 iMac that was also considered trouble prone but it's been running for 5 years now without ever needing a repair.

[Choctaw]

Sucks about the scratch..... it's really irritating when things like that happen - especially for those of us that take such good care of their belongings. I'm glad they've offered to replace the casing for you; quite right, too.

Through the years when I have something that I want to leave for repairs I do the following. Have the place I am leaving my equipment with inspect and take a good look at my equipment……then state on my receipt that it is in good order showing NO observable scratches, dents or damage. If there is scratches or dents we document it right then and there.

I sell used guitars and mail them with a signed statement from someone other than myself..(a music store etc) describing what they find….that way if the buyer says it’s damaged upon arrival…it’s proof that it left my hands in good order…thus a claim on UPS or FedX. It does help to have paper work to back up what type of condition your stuff is in at the time you turn in over to some often careless repair shop. If they don’t want to do it that way…….find another place.